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Agatha Yap in supersize media performance
You would think that an interview with McDonald's would be a fairly lighthearted and easy-going affair.
But Agatha Yap certainly got some 'upsized' questions when she appeared in an interview on Money FM 89.3.
The 40th anniversary of the fast food chain in Singapore might have been the pitch, but presenter Elliott Danker didn't let the opportunity pass to serve up some difficult questions, refreshing for Singapore radio.
Yap, who is Senior Director, Marketing & Digital Innovations of McDonald’s Singapore, took it all in her stride and answered the tough questions with ease, which is why we have nominated her for the Hong Bao Media Savvy Awards 2019 in the Best Broadcast Interview category this week.
Scroll down to read my reasons why.
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The Hong Bao Media Savvy Awards 2019 resumes with our second round of nominations. At the same time, Hong Bao Media has launched the awards in Malaysia and fine-tuned the categories to:
- Best Broadcast Interview, in association with Meltwater
- Best Online Interview, in association with Shootsta
- Best Conference Presentation, in association with Dianomi
- Best Live Webcast, in association with The Streaming Company
We launched the Hong Bao Media Savvy Awards to recognise senior local leaders for their communications skills, and to showcase authentic and credible home-grown communicators.
These are shining examples for other local business leaders, and to build a culture of excellence in communication, to maximise the potential of Asian companies in the Asian Century.
Each week until November 30, 2019, we are shortlisting a local corporate figure who has demonstrated excellence in a media appearance for the Hong Bao Media Savvy Awards 2019.
Click on the link below to enter yourself or another Senior Business Leader.
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Here are four observations on her performance:
- Structure - Despite being thrown few questions simultaneously, Yap managed to take control of the situation by addressing the question in order using flagging. Not many people would be able all parts of a question that the journalist asked.
- Bridge - The interview was pleasantly critical, and while the presenter Elliott Danker did offer the sort of kid glove handling we're used to in Singapore his questions were surprisingly strong, such as the advent of plant based meat substitutes, McDonald's profit margins, the change in ownership of the franchise at the end of 2016, what McDonald's is doing about plastic straws, and whether self service kiosks will do mature workers out of a job. Yap handled them all with aplomb, remaining genuine yet on-message. It would be hard to fault her on scores of both authenticity and brand safe messaging.
- Candid, authentic and apologetic at the right moment - But Yap didn't keep up any pretense about the server crash when there was a rush on their pyjamas promotion. She was honest in her contrition that they needed to do better.
- Colour - Yap had some interesting stories about the origins of the nasi lemak burger, bringing the chocolate pie to Singapore from Korea and Japan, and the scrambled egg burger concept from Hong Kong. Just as she pointed out McDonald's remains true to its brand built on burgers and fries, Yap was a safe pair of hands in discussing these localised offers.
If you know Agatha Yap, share this article with her and congratulate her on being nominated for the Hong Bao Media Savvy Awards 2019.
