KFC parent company Yum brands has named Katherine Bond-Debicki as the QSR’s new CMO for Canada.
According to an email from the company, the former marketing director – who was promoted in December – now has greater oversight of KFC’s entire marketing portfolio in Canada, including brand communications, e-commerce, performance and digital marketing, as well as food and innovation and social responsibility initiatives.
She takes over the marketing leadership from Samantha Redman, the QSR’s former global director of brand advertising who transferred to Canada from Yum’s Dallas office at the end of 2016. Redman left the company in December and has returned to her native South Africa.
Bond-Debicki has worked on the KFC brand for nearly seven years, having joined the QSR’s team in the U.K. and Ireland in 2014 and then Canada in 2017. She was named marketing director early last year, around the time that previous marketing director Jason Cassidy left Yum Brands for Tim Hortons.
During her time with KFC Canada, Bond-Debicki has led initiatives ranging from educating consumers on how its food is made to leading the launch of the QSR’s first plant-based menu item. She also collaborated with her counterparts in global markets on a campaign that removed “finger-lickin'” from KFC’s slogan in light of pandemic safety concerns.
The company also says Bond-Debicki helped “modernize [KFC’s] retail strategy and delivered strong growth.” In Yum Brands’ Q3 results, the company reported that sales for the quarter in Canada had improved by 7% year-over-year.