CHICAGOBUSINESS.COM I APRIL 1, 2024
Need a CFO? This firm lets you rent one. Third Road Management based in Glen Ellyn is offering part-time chief financial officers to midsize businesses looking to boost growth By Mark Weinraub
After burning through four employees in the chief financial officer position in four years, Todd Eichholz, owner and CEO of A&A Paving in Roselle, decided to go smaller to fill that big position. “I have made some bad hires in the past because I didn’t truly know the best questions to ask,” Eichholz said. “I did not know how to spot-check and to be able to manage and coach that person. I always had an anxiety. I know I need someone in that position. I am scared to hire that position because I know that is my one kind of weakness as far as
The Travis Scott meal saw a lot of success when it was launched in 2020. | MCDONALD’S
managing my team.” Eichholz turned to Third Road Management, a Glen Ellyn-based company that provides midsize businesses with part-time CFOs to help boost growth. “These businesses are literally everywhere you look,” said John Frank, founder and CEO at Third Road. “They need somebody in the room that thinks like an analyst, that asks probing questions that could tie together the numbers with the experiences on the ground.” The company, whose CFOs typically spend between one and
Inside McDonald’s taking subculture marketing Homeowners bigger deductibles as From anime to streetwear, the fast-food giant has focused on bringing bubbling trends to the masses | By Erika Wheless, Ad Age
F
or anime fans, the name “WcDonald’s” isn’t new. The fictional version of McDonald’s has shown up in anime since the 1980s as a way for shows to reference the fast feeder without being sued. It is the kind of legal runaround that might have corporate lawyers ready to pounce. But for its newest campaign, McDonald’s embraced the trademark trickery. The chain put the WcDonald’s moniker at the heart of an effort that includes a new sauce, mangainspired packaging and four short anime episodes that McDonald’s will distribute on a special website. “I’m sure that would have been a hard conversation to have a few years ago with the legal team,”
said Tass Tsitsopoulos, group strategy director at Wieden+Kennedy New York, McDonald’s lead U.S. creative agency that was involved in the campaign. Now, “We want to take this copyright problem and use it to connect with fans.” The campaign, which debuted last month, is an example of how the world’s largest fast food chain has loosened the reins on its once heavily scripted marketing approach as it taps into rising trends in a move to drive loyalty in communities such as anime enthusiasts, streetwear savants and more. McDonald’s has moved away from a marketing See MCDONALD’S on Page 19
See CFO on Page 18
insurance rates soar
It’s a risky trade-off of ‘shouldering more of the burden’ in order to keep monthly costs down By Dennis Rodkin
With the cost of insuring a home rising fast, homeowners are taking policies with a bigger deductible that cuts their monthly payment but boosts their outof-pocket costs in the event of a claim, a new study shows. “It’s a trade-off that (people) are making with insurance premiums going up so much,” said Jeff Wingate, executive vice president of Chicago-based Guaran-
teed Rate Insurance, which released the analysis of about 50,000 U.S. homeowners insurance policies March 13. “The customer is then shouldering more of the burden” if they wind up having to make an insurance claim, Wingate said. In the years 2019 to 2023, as average annual homeowners insurance rose by about $615, to $1,723, large numbers of policyholders See DEDUCTIBLES on Page 8
VOL. 47, NO. 13 l COPYRIGHT 2024 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. l ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
SPORTS Personal seat licenses could fuel the Bears’ ambitions for a new stadium. PAGE 3
REAL ESTATE Wrigley rooftop owners are proposing a 29-unit apartment building across from ballpark. PAGE 4