Oversaw the evolution of Wendy's marketing and advertising technology stack, integrating Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Mulesoft, Datorama, and Branch to craft a personalized omnichannel experience during a tenure in which digital sales grew 13x.
01
Challenge Wendy's, a $2B quick-service restaurant brand with more than 6,800 locations, was moving customers toward digital ordering, mobile, and personalized offers. The marketing and advertising technology that supported those channels had grown up tool by tool: customer messaging, data integration, campaign measurement, and mobile deep linking each lived in separate systems with no shared view of the customer. As Head of Digital Analytics and Digital Product Owner, I was responsible for evolving that stack into one that could deliver a personalized experience across web, app, email, and advertising.
02
Action I oversaw the evolution of the marketing and advertising technology stack, integrating four platforms around a shared view of the customer:
Salesforce Marketing Cloud: Established Marketing Cloud as the platform for customer messaging and journeys, so that email and mobile communications could be personalized from the same customer record.Mulesoft: Used Mulesoft as the integration layer connecting the marketing platforms to each other and to the digital products, replacing point-to-point connections with managed APIs.Datorama: Brought advertising and marketing performance data together in Datorama, giving marketing and agency partners one place to measure campaigns across channels.Branch: Integrated Branch for mobile deep linking and attribution, so that advertising, email, and web traffic could land customers in the right place in the app and be measured end to end.Connection to Analytics and Personalization: Aligned the stack with the digital analytics practice and the on-site personalization and predictive modeling work, so that behavioral data collected on Wendys.com and in the app could inform marketing and vice versa.03
Results The evolved stack gave Wendy's a connected foundation for personalized omnichannel marketing:
Four Platforms Integrated: Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Mulesoft, Datorama, and Branch operated as one connected stack rather than four separate tools.Personalized Omnichannel Experience: Customer communications, advertising measurement, and mobile attribution shared a common view of the customer, enabling personalization across channels.13x Digital Sales Growth: Across my tenure at Wendy's, digital sales increased 13x. That result reflects the combined digital program, including the Wendys.com relaunch, location data, personalization, and this stack, rather than the stack work alone.Industry Recognition: The same body of work earned recognition as one of AdWeek's Hottest Digital Marketers.In their words Recommendations from people who were there, in their own words.
As the team matured, he transitioned to a stakeholder role of this new team/practice while negotiating and advocating for new technologies and partnerships with the goal of unearthing the potential of marketing and analytics technologies for Wendy’s. Rey Isla
Software Engineering + Emerging Technology Leader at AEP
Product colleague · Wendy’s
January 2019 Read full recommendation from Rey Isla Michael has proven himself to be an invaluable resource to both the digital experience group as well as Wendys as a whole. Bret Gregersen
Engineering Leader
Engineering colleague · Wendy’s
August 2018 Read full recommendation from Bret Gregersen In our time together at Wendy's, he gave support to our internal teams by applying the right amount of pressure, advocating for our work, creating new opportunities for us to lead, and ensuring that we get due credit when taking a risk on us paid off. Jina Yu
User Experience Designer
Design colleague · Wendy’s
March 2023 Read full recommendation from Jina Yu I had the opportunity to work with him at Wendy's on the same team when he was the Product Owner for our digital applications. Michael's breadth and depth of knowledge, especially in the Agile space was unparalleled within the organization. Louis Lartey
Product management leader
Product colleague · Wendy’s
August 2018 Read full recommendation from Louis Lartey He also has a rare combination of strategic brilliance and operational excellence - in plain speak he can define the mission, rally people around it, and also execute against it. Ben Thorp
Software Engineer
Engineering colleague · multiple engagements
March 2023 Read full recommendation from Ben Thorp Michael is a uniquely talented resource, with depth of both business acumen and technical understanding, which are complimented by his leadership abilities. Bret Phillips
Technology Director, Level20 at Progressive Insurance
Cross-functional colleague
August 2018 Read full recommendation from Bret Phillips With any adversity we faced- he used those times as learning opportunities and calmly pivoted on to the next task at hand. Crystal Lape
Clarity PPM Functional Lead Consultant
Project teammate · Wendy’s.com
August 2018 Read full recommendation from Crystal Lape Michael is so aware of the need for both culture and process to work together to make an organization outstanding. Floyd Appleman
Small business owner at Rustic Apple Art
Cross-functional colleague
April 2019 Read full recommendation from Floyd Appleman The speed in which he was embraced by the business/stake holders was incredible to watch. Jason LeGris
AI engineering / Engineering Leader
Cross-functional colleague
February 2019 Read full recommendation from Jason LeGris Michael is a smart, driven digital expert with great business acumen and understanding of agile processes and outcomes. He is able to lead digital teams and connects well with leadership to ensure the right outcomes are achieved in the right way. Liz Geraghty
Chief Marketing Officer
Leadership colleague · Wendy’s
March 2023 Read full recommendation from Liz Geraghty He got our group organized and on track, we ended up delivering a site built for commerce and conversions with a load time that went from 3.8 seconds to 1.6 seconds. Sushil K
IT professional
Project teammate · Wendy’s.com
December 2018 Read full recommendation from Sushil K Questions Which platforms made up the Wendy's marketing technology stack? Salesforce Marketing Cloud for customer messaging, Mulesoft for integration, Datorama for marketing and advertising performance data, and Branch for mobile deep linking and attribution.
Is the 13x digital sales growth attributable to the stack alone? No. The 13x increase in digital sales is Michael Mancuso's attested result across his Wendy's tenure and reflects the combined digital program, including the Wendys.com relaunch, location data management, personalization, and the marketing technology stack.
How did the stack connect to the rest of Wendy's digital work? The stack was aligned with the digital analytics practice and the on-site personalization and predictive modeling work, so behavioral data from Wendys.com and the app could inform marketing across channels.
Back to case studies
In development
An end-to-end platform for dental practices.Front desk, clinical charting, insurance, checkout and reporting on one FHIR-based record. Built by a small team directing AI agents inside governed foundations.Product overview 
App Store deployed · Preparing for commercial launch
Eight benefit accounts on one card.Health, commuter and wage-law benefits on a single payment card, with a member app and an admin portal. Run by one person directing AI agents across product, engineering and compliance.Product overview