A Brand Visionary

The early 90s were a turbulent time for Burger King. The company struggled from declining sales and customer counts, and the revolving door of the executive suite did nothing to assuage tensions between management and franchisees. However, Jim Adamson’s appointment to CEO marked a pivotal moment for Burger King. His “Back to Basics” campaign became the catalyst for a highly successful six-year run that boosted average restaurant sales growth and stole market share from McDonald’s. But without Jim McLamore playing diplomat between executives and franchise owners, I’m not sure Burger King would have been able to correct course.  

Around this time, I was asked to lead the US marketing team after nine years in various marketing and operational roles. Having spent the majority of that time working directly with franchisees, I was confident I understood the business and franchise community as well as anybody. It’s one thing to be confident when you’re at the frontlines and not responsible for strategy and marketing, but being the navigator in the eye of a storm is an entirely different animal. Every day presented a new challenge, especially when it came to franchisees.

Jim McLamore was a regular attendee at regional/national franchise meetings, offering candid assessments of the business and advice for getting Burger King back on track. This was my first introduction to Jim. Despite being very nervous when we first spoke, I soon realized how much our opinions aligned on strategy, marketing, and franchisee relationships, and working with him directly became easy. Jim would travel around the country meeting with franchisees and then call me to debrief. His feedback —good or bad— was direct and straightforward. Always business, never personal.

I began inviting Jim to meetings at the Burger King offices to review critical elements of our marketing strategy. My intention was to not only solicit feedback, but also get his help advocating for new marketing programs to franchisees. As we were working on a complete overhaul of the menu, franchisee buy-in was essential to implementing these new programs effectively. Many of the changes would be challenging and expensive for franchisees after years of sales and margin declines: we wanted to invest in product quality improvements, agree on national value meal price points, eliminate menu items, and introduce new ad campaigns.  However, Jim’s engagement and support of these programs helped enormously. Franchisees trusted his judgment and were willing to get behind such drastic changes if he believed they would produce results. And personally, Jim’s guidance made me a more confident leader and taught me valuable lessons on communication and relationship building. The Back to Basics campaign needed Jim’s support to breathe new life into the company. 

To Jim, the Whopper transformed Burger King from a restaurant into a brand. Flame-broiled, bigger, better burgers made “your way,” paired with a side of fries and a Coke. This was Burger King’s heart and soul. And Jim spent much of the early 90s convincing management and franchisees that staying true to the brand would ultimately drive results.  

Jim was equally passionate about the franchise community. He built the entire Burger King system in partnership with franchisees and therefore understood how important they were to the brand’s success. In fact, he considered them customers: if the company treated franchisees well, they in turn would take care of their own customers. It pained him to see such a fractured and strained relationship between franchisee and franchisor, and he worked tirelessly to get the two sides to work together more effectively. Throughout this process of mending bridges, Jim taught me to be a better listener and to not be afraid of accepting franchisee input.

With Jim’s help, franchisee relations improved, along with results. By 1999, Burger King boasted six consecutive years of positive comparable sales, increased share of traffic in the QSR burger category (from 17.2% in 1993 to 21.9%), and growing system sales (from $5.6 billion in 1993 to $8.5 billion). 

My time at Burger King transformed me into the leader I would be for the rest of my career, and many of those lessons and skills I learned from Jim. His unwavering dedication to the brand and to the people showed me just how important both components were to overall success. 

Paul Clayton, May 2019

1984 – 1993:  Various marketing and operational roles

1993 – 1994:  Vice President, US Marketing

1994 – 1997:  Senior Vice President, Worldwide Marketing

1997 – 2000:  President, North America