How McDonald’s Moves at the Speed of Culture with Digitas’ Michelle Niblock

On this episode of Breaking Through the Mayhem, Adam sits down with Michelle Niblock, SVP and Client Lead at Digitas, representing Publicis and leading the McDonald’s business. Michelle dives into how McDonald’s stays culturally relevant by moving at the speed of fans—from playful real-time CRM moments (like the viral “seemingly ranch” Taylor Swift activation) to reviving nostalgia with digital-first initiatives like Monopoly.

She explains why she deeply believes in CRM, loyalty, and using data responsibly to create meaningful value for customers, not just conversions. Michelle also breaks down how Digitas’ SWAT (Shareworthy and Trending) product helps brands identify culture-right moments they can authentically own. She shares her excitement about AI’s power to unlock creativity—not replace it—and predicts a rise in AI wearables that improve both everyday convenience and emotional well-being.

From Bills fandom to cultural insights to where marketing is heading next, Michelle brings sharp strategy, optimism, and a human-first POV to one of the world’s most iconic brands.

TRANSCRIPT

Adam Katz
Wow, we're here live at Adweek for Breaking Through the Mayhem podcast. This is exciting.

Michelle Niblock
It's great.

Adam Katz
Who do I have with me right now?

Michelle Niblock
Hey there, this is Michelle Kiblock. I am a client lead SVP over at Digitas, representing Publicis Group though, and overseeing the McDonald's business.

Adam Katz
Do you know what's crazy? Like having you first, like of the whole day. How do you feel about that?

Michelle Niblock
I mean, first is definitely the best, right? Like to think I'm aspiring just like my favorite football team, Buffalo Bills, we're rising to the top, going to be number one this year.

Adam Katz
Is this the year you guys win it all?

Michelle Niblock
This is the year. You know, it's the last year in our home stadium. We're building a new stadium.
So I think it's time for Josh Allen to take us all the way.

Adam Katz
I happen to think he is too, but the question is like, are you upset you're getting a new stadium?

Michelle Niblock
You know, a little bit. I think there's always a little bit of sadness with that nostalgia, but ultimately time to turn a new leaf.

Adam Katz
Well, speaking of like nostalgia and trends and everything that's going on, I feel like the world is like moving towards Michelle. Like if that makes sense, you know, like you basically, you're all about like speed, culture, strategy, and things like that working on the McDonald's account. Do you feel like the world's moving more in your direction now than ever before?

Michelle Niblock
I mean, I don't know if my team would like to give me that credit that it's all moving towards me, but I certainly think this idea, this notion of moving at the speed of culture is something that has been present in our world, certainly on the McDonald's side for the past few years. We are very tuned in with our fans. We like to call it kind of listening to our fans and really leaning into our fans' voices and making sure that we're bringing forward everything that's relevant to them and the strategies that we pursue and ultimately how we reach out to our customers.

Adam Katz
Super cool. I mean, we love that. And can you give us an example of like a moment that you've leaned into that shows the way that you guys look at culture and the way you move fast?

Michelle Niblock
Yeah. Well, don't make fun of me. This one's probably a little bit old at this point, but with Taylor's new release this week, I feel like we have to lean in.

Adam Katz
She's just Taylor now.

Michelle Niblock
She's Taylor, yeah. So if you bring yourself back to the early days of her and Travis dating, there was this moment where she was mid-game and they flashed the camera to her and they showed her eating some chicken tenders and ketchup. And I think the phrase was seemingly ranch. So, you know, we can't always lean into these moments of culture, but when they're super relevant to our brand, and I would go ahead and say chicken and sauces was something that we could definitely own at McDonald's. We wanted to lean in. So we actually were able to deploy in really quick time across our own channels, a fun, playful module that launched in the app and said, come get your chicken nuggets and seemingly ranch in the app.
And we launched that across, like I said, our own channels. We did a push notification for our, you know, close to 40 million active users that are using the app and also tied it into the organic social channels. So just a really fun moment in culture.

Adam Katz
That's so cool. Do you get like a big rush when that happens?

Michelle Niblock
Oh, we love it. We love it. I think also, you know, it's hard, certain channels and certain platforms always get the spotlight. So when you're able to shine a little bit of light on more of those, I'll call them up and comers, like owned CRM channels. I think it's something really special.

Adam Katz
That's so cool. At least for me, like, I feel like McDonald's is crushing it because in my area, there's like 50 cars on the drive-thru every single time.

Michelle Niblock
Let's go.

Adam Katz
Now, obviously it's all because of your marketing, but like the snack wraps at its moment, all these things. I just saw that the Monopoly came back.

Michelle Niblock
Oh yeah.

Adam Katz
What's going on with that?

Michelle Niblock
I mean, have you played yet?

Adam Katz
I haven't played yet because I never win these things, but like I was thinking maybe this is my year to get boardwalk and retire versus doing this, but like, tell us how that kind of came back because nostalgia obviously is playing big into McDonald's moment. When you have snack wrap, you now have this kind of, how is that playing into what you guys are up to today?

Michelle Niblock
Yeah, absolutely. I think it's the nostalgia piece, but it's also this recognition that right now customers are really craving value and there's more ways to bring value to customers than just, you know, a dollar menu. So I think that this really allowed us to lean into some of the tools that are best providing value, which is digital, our digital platforms, but do it in a really fun way that still engages with culture.
I mean, we're partnering with so many different brands to bring fun prizes. We're offering a hybrid approach where you can still buy the meal physical, but you've got to log those peels in the actual digital app. So really encouraging customers to kind of lean in and use our systems and ultimately what that does is allow us that kind of cyclical nature with the data. We're able to make every experience that you have with us from that point forward that much more relevant.

Adam Katz
It's unbelievable. Like when you do all these, obviously people always ask you about McDonald's, speed, culture, insights. What do you wish people asked you that they don't so that they would know more about Michelle and what she does at work?

Michelle Niblock
Well, I feel like people never ask me if I believe in it. Do you believe in what you do?

Adam Katz
Do you believe that what you do makes people buy six piece chicken nuggets?

Michelle Niblock
Now you're making me sound like a big bad marketing girl, but I think I do believe in this notion of CRM. I do believe in the notion of loyalty and that brands really can do better by us. I think one of the most powerful things out there is our data and the mass at which we are able to collect it now we've got a responsibility to do something with it. And I think it's really unique to be able to see it both as a consumer and as a marketer. Because you kind of have this split brain of like, all right, I see the power, but then I'm like, wait a minute, am I comfortable with that? Do I want them to know that I'm running every morning or a huge bills man or whatever it is? But I think ultimately, because I do believe in that, I feel really strongly that data is really going to guide ultimately how we're able to deliver those more speedy cultural moments.

Adam Katz
Obviously, Digitas does a lot of amazing work around trends analysis and all these different social things. And I think it's called SWAT, right? Oh, yeah. Right. How much involvement have you had in SWAT? And how does kind of the overarching idea mixed with a brand come together as you guys move to the next phase of your agency?

Michelle Niblock
Yeah, well, we'll give a shout out to our awesome social strategy team who is just crushing it with this product. So SWAT, SWAT stands for shareworthy and trending. And ultimately was our way to keep a pulse on what's going on in the world for specific brands, for specific moments, and be able to deliver back those real time movements, those real time trends to brands in a way that allows them to stay relevant with their customers. So I guess I would bring it back to this Taylor example. Like there's so many things that are happening out there that I don't know that we could really claim if I put my McDonald's hat on that would make sense for us to lean into. But there's certain times, certain trends that are just so unique and so true to who we are. That's really what SWAT helps do is connect those trending moments to things that are relevant to brands.

Adam Katz
And do you personally, like when you're working with SWAT, like how does that marriage, that's what I was trying to understand, between the overarching idea and you on a brand come together? Do they meet with you here and there to figure out how to roadmap? Like where does your involvement come in?

Michelle Niblock
Yeah, so it's not something that we use for McDonald's right now. But for the clients that really lean into it at Digitas, what they'll typically do is set up core topics, core goals, things that the brand is really, maybe cohorts or audience segments that they're really looking to resonate with. And we'll assign a scrappy social team that is using some specific social tools that I won't get too into the weeds on, but are able to really identify like what those things are that are going to resonate with their audiences and activate them in near real time.

Adam Katz
What excites you the most about the next few years in marketing?

Michelle Niblock
You know, I hate to be the one that your first guest on here has to claim AI, but here we are. I think it's just the ways that AI is allowing us to move at speed is crazy. And what it's going to do is not replace our people, but allow our people to get that much more creative and put their brains to use in the ways that we want them to use them versus having to waste time, you know, versioning creative or spending too much time proofreading. Like instead, they really get to dig in. So if we connect that to something like a tool like SWAT, just imagine the speed that we're able to not only identify those insights, pinpoint which ones are most resonant with each one of our audiences, maybe on even getting to that one-to-one basis and being able to deliver those content pieces that really are most resonant.

Adam Katz
Can you make a prediction on what you think a new trend is going to be?

Michelle Niblock
Oh God, you're making an assumption that I'm trendy.

Adam Katz
You are. Look at your outfit. Come on. What's next?

Michelle Niblock
What's next? Oh my gosh. I didn't prep for this one. I think that AI wearables are going to get more common. Wow. I say that even with, I just rode the subway up here from, we'll call it little Italy. I think it's a little bit more Chinatown where my hotel is. But there are these ads in the subway right now for a friend. Have you heard of it? It's like an AI necklace. And I think it's been really catching the headlines because people are actually going and graffitiing on them and writing, no, like we don't want the robots. But what it's meant to do is really provide, well, so they claim like a friend for you. So I think it's just this idea that AI doesn't have to be scary, but can actually be something that helps you across a myriad of professional.

Adam Katz
So your prediction, not only wearables, is that mental health is going to improve because you're going to have a companion when you need it.

Michelle Niblock
I hope so.

Adam Katz
So that's your hot take. I love that. You're such an optimist. I love that.

Michelle Niblock
It's the Buffalo in me.

Adam Katz
There you go. Well, thank you so much for joining us today.

Michelle Niblock
Thank you.

Adam Katz
And being the first. Never easy.

Michelle Niblock
Have a great rest of your day though. You too.