In other words, thank you America, for compelling our elites to put the strategic back into strategic advertising.
Gawker has been on this story for a while, and they point out that the advertisement firm in charge of creeping out the country was the award-winning team at Crispin Porter Bogusky. Unfortunately for BK and Crispin, they don't award marketshare at advertisement gatherings and in this most crucial category, the company is not keeping track:
McDonald's is a behemoth, so maybe catching up isn't possible, with or without a marketing campaign that seems designed to scare children. But really, the main lesson here is that people should stop trying to make fast food cool. It's a convenience, not a social indicator. But instead of doing something very boring -- advertising human food with humans and food, rather than an overgrown mannequin charming his way out of restraining orders -- BK gave us gems like the Burger King Flame Body Spray. Because what every young Americans secretly desires is to make possible this exchange:Between 2003 -- the year before Burger King hired Crispin as agency of record -- and 2008, Burger King's share of the burger-chain market fell to 14.2% from 15.6%, according to Technomic, while McDonald's share rose to 46.8% from 43.6%. McDonald's has posted average annual sales growth of 6.3% compared with BK's 2.9% gain during that period.
Girl: "What are you wearing?"In memorium, here's one of the worst commercials I've ever seen:
Boy: "Burger King."
Girl: "Marry me?"
Did you ever think that business execs simply get bored, even when things are working? It seems as if so much of life works that way.
The Big Mac is good, but almost everyone I know prefers the Whopper. That message still resonates, but "it's boring."
Thus we have the Freak Show that BK has subject us to for so long...
I love the TenderCrisp Chicken Sandwich. Might be my favorite fast food sandwich out there. But even such delicious indulgences as the TCS do not excuse the King Kong ad.
I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with the assessment of this campaign. I find the ads inventive, original, and if nothing else memorable. Do they make me crave Burger King any more than McDonald's or Wendy's or Taco Bell? No not really. But then again, neither do the horribly outdated, demographic pandering, boring ads from McDonald's. I mean, have you seen McDonald's commercials?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1cXI1CXpS8
Come on. The king kong ad is really worse than that?
I think most people when deciding on where to get fast food probably base it entirely on convenience of location, service history, and quality of products, not on national ad campaigns. I'd rather have an advertisement that entertains, is wildly original, and doesn't take itself too seriously.
I was just signing in to agree with Omgular. When my friends and I saw the first of these ads about five years ago, we would have cheered had our sense of ironic detachment permitted.
It seems doubtful to me that anyone whose mind is not anchored in 1959 takes the literal content of commercials seriously, so it's the image, and the idea of an entertaining 30 seconds that's being sold and attached to the company name. Do I want a burger? No; I don't eat fast food (unless it's to be a good sport), but I wouldn't mind a world where this kind of advertising is rewarded.
On the other hand, swapping out all comparisons to The Leading Toothpaste for bizzare experiments in sketch comedy and replacing Four Out of Five Dentists with surreal mascots might get just as boring eventually. I suppose if you don't like it, you can always take a bathroom break.
The ads are very creative and interesting, the perfect counter to the bland "demographic pandering" ads from McDs, as Omgular so wonderfully put.
You cant blame a fast food business success or failure on ads alone- fast food is all about location, location, location. Off the top of my head, I can think of three McDs within a three mile radius of me, and only one BK. On top of that, BK is a bit more pricey than McDs, and with the economy taking a nosedive, people will downsize their fast food budgets, too. (Wendy's seems like a gourmet meal nowadays, doesnt it?)
To put it simply, McDs is Wal Mart, BK is Target. BK and Target have better ads, better food/products, and usually more attractive stores...but McDs and Wally World win because of lower price and volume of stores.
The BK thing is creepy enough to inspire nightmares. It is easily one of the worst campaigns I've ever seen.
The point is there's no value in these ads. They don't sell the product or service, they just entertain. That's fine I guess, but I still like the idea that you get something out of content, a semblance of information or argument, something persuasive not just vapidly sparkly or clever. Its telling that CPB has gotten more out of these ads then Burger King has. CPB can show of their sit-com/content skills under the auspices of being an ad campaign for a paying customer. McD's ads may suck, but you leave them knowing what was in them, either some notion of family, tradition, friends, stuff like that. What do you get out of a bobble head burger king kong except a youtube video while you eat your big mac?
Bdell, for the win.