READ TODAY\u2019S FULL MEDIA INSIDER COLUMN HERE<\/a><\/p>\nThe McDonald\u2019s experience<\/p>\n
Brown started at McDonald\u2019s Australia in 2020 as chief marketing officer and was promoted to chief customer officer two years later.<\/p>\n
He was credited in an Australian Marketing Institute article with playing a key role in the launch of the MyMacca\u2019s Rewards loyalty programme, and the relaunch of McCafe, which now sells about one in four coffees across Australia.<\/p>\n
![\"All]()
All Blacks Luke Jacobson and Will Jordan speak to media ahead of this weekend’s first test. Photo \/ Anna Heath. <\/p>\n
The McDonald\u2019s mobile app has become far more than a digital ordering tool; it sits at the centre of the company\u2019s global growth strategy. <\/p>\n
The app combines mobile ordering, payment, delivery, personalised offers and the MyMcDonald\u2019s Rewards loyalty programme, allowing the fast-food giant to build a direct relationship with customers rather than relying solely on in-store transactions. <\/p>\n
Every interaction generates valuable first-party data about customer behaviour, preferences and purchase patterns, enabling McDonald\u2019s to tailor promotions, drive repeat visits and increase spending.<\/p>\n
The commercial significance is immense \u2013 there are more than 200 million active loyalty members globally \u2013 and it\u2019s exactly the sort of platform and data that Brown wants to build with the All Blacks, Black Ferns and NZR.<\/p>\n
Building direct digital relationships with fans, rather than relying solely on broadcasters and social media platforms, will be a critical plank in NZR\u2019s commercial growth.<\/p>\n
In one of the first and most significant steps in that process, Brown is overseeing the relaunch of the app formerly known as NZR+.<\/p>\n
NZ Rugby has pulled together NZR+ and allblacks.com into one \u2013 a seemingly obvious move to a more cohesive digital strategy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a huge opportunity to build our understanding of our fans; I like to call it the connected fan,\u201d says Brown. \u201cThat\u2019s a fan that has been willing to provide first-party information (for example, name, date of birth, location).<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we have to reward those fans who are willing to do that by providing them experiences, utility, content, etc that deepen their engagement with New Zealand Rugby and the teams in black. <\/p>\n
\u201cBy doing so, we create a virtuous flywheel around how I call time spent and then ultimately money spent \u2013 that they\u2019re willing to spend their time within our digital ecosystem, finding out about players, watching content, getting information about schedules, maybe reviewing and looking at our merchandising. <\/p>\n
\u201cWatching long-form content etc but then ultimately how we can then, in a respectful way, commercialise those opportunities either through ticketing, retail, merchandising, or with commercial partners. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe more we know about our fans, the more valuable we can be to them, and then the more value we can then talk to our commercial partners about.\u201d<\/p>\n
The biggest question remains as to what the app will have as a unique content selling point. With NZR\u2019s access to rich player data, one potential area could be to incorporate exclusive information, in real time, into live-scoring blogs.<\/p>\n
And while NZR is talking to Netflix and others about a potential fly-on-the-wall documentary, there must also be opportunities to have it appear on the app, even after a window of exclusivity for an international streamer or broadcaster?<\/p>\n
Brown indicates that a Netflix deal is by no means confirmed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re having a number of really interesting conversations with a range of platforms and production companies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an interesting pipeline of opportunities of which that is one, but it\u2019s one of many conversations that we\u2019re having.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs I get more into the role, I think we can then talk to what is and isn\u2019t locked away.\u201d<\/p>\n
When it comes to fan engagement, NZR is looking to build its digital sessions by 20% this year.<\/p>\n
Its social strategy is equally critical. As Brown says, the organisation also needs to meet the fans where they are.<\/p>\n
The All Blacks have 10.2 million followers, and the Black Ferns have 1.4 million followers across Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. The All Blacks\u2019 YouTube channel has more than 1.35 million subscribers, a number that grew 25% in 2025.<\/p>\n
Those numbers, aligned with those who are signed up to the new All Blacks\/Black Ferns app lay a base to pitch to commercial partners.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Brown sees five key pillars driving NZR\u2019s commercial revenue growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cBuilding a deeper understanding of our connected fan; ensuring that we have a fan experience and we have a detailed understanding of the journeys that we want those fans to take; creating world-class magnetic content; unlocking the potential in the women\u2019s game, which I think is huge; and then evolving our commercial architecture to unlock more commercial revenue.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is a triangle of pressure for Brown \u2013 traditionally, All Blacks might have been reluctant to engage commercially, although that has changed dramatically in the past 20 years. At the same time, no one wants commercial requirements to affect performance. Brown also has to consider the fans and the overall brand.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ability for the teams to perform at the highest levels is an absolute accelerator for our commercial strategy,\u201d says Brown, recognising the different pressures.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ability to work with the players and the high-performance teams to support the commercial strategy is definitely part of my approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of that is talking, sharing, discussing and bringing them in so they can feel some ownership as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand\u2019s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brown isn\u2019t really coming from burgers though; he\u2019s coming from one of the world\u2019s most sophisticated customer-data and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2246,5263,1558,8136,72978,3088,6217,3938,13503,36862,1958,2082,2740,2944,2936,14571,32515,10167,1073,184924,5969,117,111,139,69,6777,3109,242367,65162,6327,6926,39023,213,656,1361,223,165,1961,810,4767,6923,5264,377],"class_list":["post-507129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-2246","tag-all","tag-been","tag-blacks","tag-buildup","tag-commercial","tag-cooking","tag-executive","tag-fan","tag-fifa","tag-focus","tag-for","tag-former","tag-inside","tag-insider","tag-kick","tag-machine","tag-mcdonalds","tag-media","tag-medias","tag-much","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-performance","tag-public","tag-quieter","tag-relatively","tag-rugby","tag-season","tag-sense","tag-sports","tag-strategy","tag-that","tag-the","tag-their","tag-this","tag-up","tag-weekend","tag-what","tag-whites","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}