Burger King
I put myself through 2 college degrees doing some of the worst jobs ever, but I have to admit I have a soft spot for those companies where I worked. I also had my fair share of restaurant work, maybe that is why I have such a passion for food. Even thought my first 3 restaurant jobs where not exactly gourmet, I learned a lot from them. KFC was my first job, Burger King my second, Red Lobster my third.
At Burger King, you where proud working there,we where not McDonalds,. We where the charbroiled burger people, we had the Whopper, the better burger. Everyone knew the whopper, people came looking for the whopper, people came to BK, yes people came to BK. I remember the line ups, I remember the strict rules on whopper assembly, I remember getting training on how to flip the top bun over the meat. I remember the maximum 10 minutes holding period. I remember to cook the beef patty fresh. I was there. I understood the BK brand. I understood the experience we delivered time and time again.
I was happy when BK launched the “They took away the whooper” campaign, it was excellent, at least it positioned the whopper as an item of value that was to be missed if ever taken away, BK again was about something they are good at.
Unfortunately someone at BK decided to be cute, perhaps too cute and lost sight of what this company is about. BK has lost market share, and closed branches since their king with the giant plastic head came about on TV. Then came their very dumb “angry gram” designed to yell and scream at Canadians http://www.angrygram.ca/index.php How bazaar. If that is not enough, BK decided to launch the “Flame” (perfume that smells like the whopper) a gimmick designed to get people to talk about BK, perhaps someone buying it will give it as a Christmas (joke) gift. Is this what the BK brand is now, a joke? come on, what happened to the proud company I worked at?
I am no branding expert, I am no usability expert, I have a lot to learn and I hope to continue to learn, but I know one thing. The BK brand is broken and it starts with their website, go to http://www.bk.com where is the navigation menu? What is the main message? What is this company about? What do I do at this site? The main message is……….. Whopper virgins?
Virgins!!! how appropriate, perhaps a good way to describe those who buy that perfume for personal use, congratulations BK you found your demographic.
My Dad got pissed when he went to Arbys recently and was told they were out of roast beef. It reminded me of the Whopper Freakout campaign. Personally, I like the Flame cologne idea though. I did a write-up of it at http://cakeblast.com/news/smell-the-flame-broiled-goodness/
I think it is dumb to compare Whoppers and Big Macs though. Whoppers are fully dressed..Big Macs are dressed with..extra bread blah. Anyway, good post.
Larry.
With all due respect.
On the Flame cologne, if you are a fan, that is great, but I stick to my opinion that its the wrong marketing campaign for BK and other than buzz, adds nothing to the bottom line.
On the can you compare the Whopper to the Big Mac. Well they are both burgers and you gotta compare burgers to burgers. Maybe one is better than the other, but you gotta compare them. What bugs me about this whole thing is the following. Frankly I dont think anyone gives a damn about the Big Mac, people go to McDonalds for the FRIES, nothing else. Take away the fries, and McDonalds goes bankrupt. Burger King had a great opportunity to take a market lead with an edible fast food burger, but they gave that up, now people talk about joints like “In n Out” etc… for a good fast food burger. BK got silly, I remember assembling Italian flavored chicken sandwiches (that where the NEW thing at BK), its Burger King, what are you doing selling fried chicken with Ragu on top? Its BURGER KING