Jennifer "JJ" Healan
Vice President, US Marketing, Brand, Content + Culture
McDonald's USA
“To thine own self be true” is a motto by which Jennifer “JJ” Healan lives her life. This unwavering belief has helped guide her throughout a multifaceted career building some of the world’s most iconic brands, creating a place for them in culture through industry-leading work.
She worked at The Coca-Cola Company for 15 years, both in North American and Global roles, where she led all advertising, content and creative excellence for the legacy brand, including new global campaigns for Coca-Cola, Fanta, Powerade and Schweppes.
Jennifer started her most recent chapter in February 2020, when she joined the U.S. Marketing team for McDonald’s as Vice President of Brand, Content and Culture. This role includes all consumer touchpoints – national and local advertising, retail, design, social, digital and multi-cultural marketing. In her short tenure, Jennifer is honored to have found McDonald’s brand voice in the middle of a pandemic; to have shown up with the right words and the right actions: from distributing 13+MM Thank You Meals to first responders, healthcare workers and educators, to standing in solidarity with Black and Asian communities with the brand’s “One of Us” and “Stop Asian Hate” statements; and to have launched the iconic Famous Orders platform (Travis Scott, J Balvin, BTS, Saweetie, Mariah Carey and this year’s latest evolution with Cardi B + Offset) which brought McDonald’s to the forefront of youth culture, as well as the newest platform idea that captured childhood love of the Happy Meal with a new experience for Gen Z through The Cactus Plant Flea Market Box.
Under Jennifer’s creative leadership, McDonald’s was named #2 on AdAge’s Marketer A-List in 2020 and 2022.. In 2022, EFFIE awarded McDonald’s the US Brand and Marketer of the Year and in 2023, made Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list. In 2021, she was personally awarded AdAge’s Brand Leader of the Year and named a Business Insider Rising Star and Jennifer received the AdWeek 50 Luminary Award in 2022.
She worked at The Coca-Cola Company for 15 years, both in North American and Global roles, where she led all advertising, content and creative excellence for the legacy brand, including new global campaigns for Coca-Cola, Fanta, Powerade and Schweppes.
Jennifer started her most recent chapter in February 2020, when she joined the U.S. Marketing team for McDonald’s as Vice President of Brand, Content and Culture. This role includes all consumer touchpoints – national and local advertising, retail, design, social, digital and multi-cultural marketing. In her short tenure, Jennifer is honored to have found McDonald’s brand voice in the middle of a pandemic; to have shown up with the right words and the right actions: from distributing 13+MM Thank You Meals to first responders, healthcare workers and educators, to standing in solidarity with Black and Asian communities with the brand’s “One of Us” and “Stop Asian Hate” statements; and to have launched the iconic Famous Orders platform (Travis Scott, J Balvin, BTS, Saweetie, Mariah Carey and this year’s latest evolution with Cardi B + Offset) which brought McDonald’s to the forefront of youth culture, as well as the newest platform idea that captured childhood love of the Happy Meal with a new experience for Gen Z through The Cactus Plant Flea Market Box.
Under Jennifer’s creative leadership, McDonald’s was named #2 on AdAge’s Marketer A-List in 2020 and 2022.. In 2022, EFFIE awarded McDonald’s the US Brand and Marketer of the Year and in 2023, made Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies list. In 2021, she was personally awarded AdAge’s Brand Leader of the Year and named a Business Insider Rising Star and Jennifer received the AdWeek 50 Luminary Award in 2022.