About Duncan Fulton
In a December 2018 interview, Duncan Fulton, then recently appointed Chief Corporate Officer of Restaurant Brands International, discussed the company's priorities and challenges. He stated that the number one priority established by the executive team was rebuilding the relationship with Tim Hortons' restaurant owners, acknowledging that the brand had experienced "a little bit of a slip" in recent years. Fulton described Tim Hortons as having "an incredible iconic place in Canadiana and culture" and argued that every restaurant in the world would want the brand's status. He also addressed international expansion, particularly in China, saying there is "nothing but opportunity internationally" and that the company would tailor the brand market by market, such as offering a churro instead of a donut if a local market wanted it.
Fulton also spoke about growth strategies, noting that the company was testing a dedicated kids menu for Tim Hortons, which he called "Canada's Family Restaurant." He characterized Restaurant Brands International as "fundamentally a growth company," citing its stock price increase since its IPO as evidence. In a separate 2012 appearance at the Banff Media Festival, while serving as Senior Vice President of Communications and Corporate Affairs at Canadian Tire Corporation, Fulton described branded and digital content as "the game changer" and "the heart of all marketing." He said that companies can influence but no longer control content creation, as people will create and share content regardless.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Duncan Fulton's recent appearances.
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Transcript (5 segments)
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Interviewer0:00
What do you think about branded content that entered the entertainment industry so quickly? Do you think that's really been a game changer?
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Duncan Fulton0:07
I think branded content and digital content in every aspect is the game changer. I mean, two years ago you didn't have companies panicking about their content strategy. Today, certainly our content strategy, our content management system, our media management system tied to content management—it's everything. It's the heart of all marketing that we're going to be doing. So it really changes the content strategy going forward. Changes the game completely. I think it is incredibly beneficial to put companies, marketers, advertisers, content producers, publishers, vendors all in the same place, because so often you go to these conferences and you just talk to yourself. You don't learn anything when you talk to yourself. So when you put everyone in the same room and everyone that has a dog in the hunt, and they start sharing information, you're going to learn from what each other needs. It's about people creating content and sharing it with each other, and you're going to be lucky enough as a company to be able to influence that, but you're not going to be able to control that anymore. So whether or not companies create and share content, people are going to do it for them.
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Interviewer1:19
Have you been to the festival before? It's my first year. It's fantastic. Have you been to Banff at all?
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Duncan Fulton1:25
I have been to Banff a number of times, but I'm coming back next year for sure. This is a great festival.
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Interviewer1:29
Awesome, awesome.
