The Burger King Stalks Us
Brand: Burger King
Execution: TV
Link: Click Here - The link is to Adland Ad-Rag which requires a small payment to view spots
Target: Big eaters
Rating: **
Reviewer: David
Description:
A lumberjack cuts down a tree in the forest with a chainsaw. As it falls, it reveals the Burger King - a man wearing the costume of a king with an oversized plastic face. The Burger King stares silently at the lumberjack who looks surprised. After a moment’s pause, the Burger King reveals a sandwich behind his back which he hands to the lumberjack. The spot cuts away to a product shot of the “Meatnormous Omelet Sandwich.” Shots of the lumberjack eating the sandwich are interwoven with cut shots of the sandwich being constructed. “Meat on top of Meat on top of Meat” is the billing for the sandwich. The final shot shows the lumberjack and the Burger King log-rolling on a pond together like best friends. “Wake up with the King” is the tagline.
What Works:
The folks at Burger King have certainly generated lots of buzz for these ads. Not only is the blogsphere buzzing about the King, but ‘King talk’ has invaded everyday conversations. The not-unintended side effect is to remind people that Burger King exists, something that previous ad campaigns did not do effectively. This spot is linked to a strategy of bucking health trends and focusing on bigger, meatier food for Burger King. A small percentage (less than a fifth) of fast food patrons account for a huge portion of fast food sales. These folks are male and grown and eat huge portions at these restaurants. Burger King has made a strategic move to market directly to these people and it has largely paid off. For the first time in decades, Burger King looks to have the upper hand on McDonalds.
The spot itself does not forget to link the Burger King back to the new brand positioning of ‘bigger, meatier food’ and the product shots do a good job of paying off the premise. The style and tonality of these spots is also distinct and would be difficult for a competitor to copy.
What Doesn’t:
Now that BK has introduced a new friend into our life, how do we feel about him? And more importantly; (for this advertising blog ) what does the Burger King do for BK’s brand?
In the blogsphere and at barbeques around the U.S., the debate over the Burger King goes something like this:
“He’s cool. He’s there when you need him,” says the guy.
“He’s creepy. He’s a stalker. He freaks me out,” says the girl.
Of course this conversation does not divide perfectly along gender lines but the split is obvious enough that we must ask whether the effect is intentional? The answer - of course.
BK is playing to the core of their audience with the Burger King - those heavfy-eating males that are the bread and butter of the sandwich business. And they seem to appreciate the Burger King. Therefore this campaign meets the objective of ’solidifying the base.’
We must ask if this is a good long-term strategy for the brand, however. Many strong brands do not hesitate to alienate or turn away potential consumers outside of their base (think Harley Davidson, for instance). They do this because they know that it will strengthen their appeal to insiders and provide a halo that will attract more business.
But what about a brand where the insiders are regarded as neither aspirational nor experts by the rest of the brand users? In this case, marketing to the base can create a stronger, but smaller brand. If women with children are not attracted to the disturbingly silent Burger King, will they walk away from the restaurant.
These questions are not yet answerable. Nor is the question of why BK walked away from “Have it your way” which was in the recent past after decades of bad-idea BK campaigns had failed to erase it from the popular memory. “Have it your way,” spoke to a fundamental difference in both philosophy and operations between Burger King and McDonald’s. It gave consumers a clear and defined choice which inherently favored Burger King. The spots featuring the personified Burger King do no such thing. Although the jury is very much out on this campaign, our feeling is that Burger King has stepped across an invisible boundary and may feel the pain much later.
Branding Bottom Line:
The Burger King gets our attention, but we’re breaking into a cold sweat.
May 14th, 2006 at 10:36 am
I am a mother of 5 children. When they were young I always took them to BK, which I prefered because I like my burgers a specific way and Micky Ds always took too long for special orders.
I dislike what you have done to the BK image. I think the King is creepy and a bad move for the company’s image. I also recently saw a few of the new commercials with the whopper family. I thought they were cute until I saw one that showed the whopper jr with a girl. Who is in charge of your advertising? They should be fired! It is the women and mothers in families that decide to bring their kids to fast food restaurants and with this new line of advertising you are alienating them! Our kids get enough crap from vidieos games and movies without seeing more in your commercials. Somwhere in this website I read how it is from childhood memories that adults develops their likes and dislikes and I believe by alienating families you are doing more harm than good to your business. Another thing is, I
am very active in my community and as long as your commercials are conterversial and anti family (like the one with the girl) I will boycott your business and so will my family along with anyone I can tell my point of view!
June 28th, 2006 at 10:46 pm
Everytime I see a Burger King restaurant, I think of the Burger King freak-show commercials. The food is good, but now I eat elsewhere.
August 7th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
[…] However, the last Crispin Porter campaign we did not like and did not understand was for Burger King and we feel more confident in our assessment of this campaign after seeing the terrible operatingreported by Burger King after a year of running the ‘King’advertising. […]
July 12th, 2007 at 3:06 am
yes, i am an extremely overweight youth, and the king is like a friend to me. whenever i eat at BK i think of the nice man, feeding me french fries, a sticky milkshake and a giant triple stack burger. hes my bestest buddy. i couldnt live without him, i need 4 burgers a day, and my mother has to go to BK at 7 in the morning and order my meals for the day. i love being overweight, and the king makes me feel like its okay.
July 13th, 2007 at 10:11 am
thanks for sharing, Jacob
November 29th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
As a mother and former teacher- I am appalled that Burger King would think an ad portraying a killer group of mothers-going after the King in a car- is a suitable ad. It is negative for your company- for mothers and a terrible example for our children. It is not funny! Where is your thinking????
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:17 am
hi, i am a teen, and i go to burger king because i love fast food. burger king is advertised to MANY people, not just bible thumping mothers *cough* laura *cough cough**. the king is a great way to get people to go to bk, he’s hilarious!! humor is a great thing in this country, when we have better times. why try to take it away? oh, and by the way, im not your average, stereotypical obese teenager. i am a model. i go to bk at least once a week. beat that ms. mcmanus!
January 26th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
[…] Some people may question the use of The King, and say that the character is polarizing. But I think the opposite. Maybe it’s a highbrow thing and I’m just trying to come off as smart, but you really don’t need to advertise to the lowbrow audience too much, they’re already set up in a booth with a Whopper meal. And saying that Burger King is pulling a “New Coke” and putting it’s tail behind it’s legs with the new Whopper Freakout campaign is ridiculous. It’s more of the same, The King appears, looks ridiculous, it’s funny, go buy a Whopper. This is not a clever attempt to make the audience feel an emotional connection between Burger King customers and their Whoppers. […]
April 16th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
i used to work at cp+b so maybe i’m biased, but these ads are great. i will also say that mcdonald’s does a great job as well. bk will never be mcdonald’s , it won’t rival it’s market share. it should be the little bit of a renegade brand. also the tag line is have it your way. it’s not a competitive advantage anymore, everyone offers you the option of having it your way. sure i had great memories of mcdonald’s when i was 8, when i was a teenager i went to bk, cause it was different.
i think it’s a great sign that over protective moms hate the campaign. most of them never go or go so infrequently that it doesn’t really matter. and how much can an 8-yr old eat. i bet when he hits puberty he’s gonna devour some juicy whoppers, rather than have some sissy mommy pants burger