Fernando Machado

Since I was a kid I embraced the duality of liking numbers and art, from my non-stop drawing throughout my childhood to competing in the math olympics while at high-school in Brazil. Maybe this is why I feel comfortable with navigating both the business and creative worlds.

I have a passion for growing brands and businesses. I believe that brands can represent much more than the products they sell. With around 105 Lions in Cannes (5 GPs involving 2 different brands) and 11 D&AD Yellow Pencils (involving 3 different brands), I am a mature global marketer who pushes the creative boundaries to drive business growth.

I worked for about 18 years at Unilever. Starting as an intern in a factory, I moved up the ranks working on almost every single product category at Unilever. In 2013, I was awarded as Grand Brand Genius by Adweek and as International Marketer of the Year (M&M Global). In my last 4 years at Unilever, together with the incredible Dove team, I led the groundbreaking "Dove Real Beauty Sketches" campaign (6 bn impressions, 20 Lions in Cannes incl. the Titanium GP, 2 D&AD Yellow Pencils, 1 North America Grand Effie).

Now at Burger King, the challenge is to infuse the brand with purpose, modernize the design, train the marketing team and generate brand love through innovation and advertising. The good news is that it seems that our plan is working. BK’s business is consistently growing ahead of the industry. And campaigns like Proud Whopper (13 Cannes Lions, 1 Grand Clio and 1 D&AD Yellow Pencil in 2015), McWhopper (17 Cannes Lions in 2016, 6 D&AD Yellow Pencils, 1 GRANDY, 1 North America Grand Effie, 8.9 bn impressions), Burning Stores (Print & Publishing GP in Cannes 2017), Google Home of the Whopper (>10 bn impressions, Direct GP in Cannes 2017) are resonating with the audience creating lots of talk-ability and brand love. In fact, Burger King became Client of the Year at the D&AD in 2016 and Creative Marketer of the Year in Cannes 2017.