New McDonald’s marketing mampaign features Southwest Region VP Ofelia Melendrez.

McDonald’s introduced a new national advertising campaign featuring Ofelia Melendrez, Vice President of the Greater Southwest Region who began her McDonald’s career as an intern, which spotlights real life employees and celebrates career opportunities at McDonald’s.

A central part of the campaign is a commercial airing on national Spanish-language television networks that profiles the career path of Melendrez, Vice President of McDonald’s Greater Southwest Region’s operations team, focusing on Quality, Service, and Cleanliness to improve overall customer satisfaction. The spot was produced by dRM, McDonald’s Hispanic advertising agency based in Coral Gables, Florida.

Melendrez began her career in 1992 when McDonald’s Los Angeles region recruited the California State University Fullerton graduate through the McDonald’s Internship program. Through the years, Melendrez has served in a number of positions including International Field Service Manager in Latin America. Most recently, she served as Southwest Region director of operations, where she drove sales growth by leading an initiative to extend McDonald’s hours of operation.

“I had the misconception, at the time, that McDonald’s only provided short-term job opportunities,” said Melendrez. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that McDonald’s is a place of tremendous growth and career development. I have been able to work in Latin America as well as in McDonald’s home office. And no matter where I have been I have always been proud to be a part of McDonald’s commitment to positively impacting the communities in which we do business.”

People find fulfilling and rewarding careers at McDonald’s. Thirty percent of franchise owners, 50 percent of corporate staff, and 70 percent of restaurant managers started as crew. Forty percent of McDonald’s top management team got their start in McDonald’s restaurants, including McDonald’s Corp. CEO Jim Skinner.

“This campaign underscores the intense pride that we feel for our employees at all levels throughout the organization,” says Bill Lamar, Chief Marketing Officer, McDonald’s USA. “Ofelia’s story is just one example of many. We are proud of the opportunity that we offer at McDonald’s and of those employees that strive for excellence everyday they’re on the job.”