New Direction for Burger King
This week it was announced the “King” from Burger King (you know- the creepy one you’d wake up next to in bed) was cut from the advertising direction for Burger King. It’s a bit of a relief, because at least for me. While it was kind of funny the first few ads, it got a little creepy and a little old.
The new advertisement can be seen below at Advertising Age, and was developed by McGarryBowen.
You’ll see the direction for this advertisement is totally different than anything we’ve seen from Burger King as of late. So, while a lot of people are signaling the end of the King with this new ad, I’m seeing a bigger picture here.
For years, we’ve seen Burger King go after the teen/young adult male market. Just look at the selection of ads below:
Whew! The second video makes me uncomfortable just watching it! I’m a bit surprised it got approved to air.
Notice the difference here though? This new ad puts Burger King amongst the slew of fast food chains striving to portray themselves as “healthy”. Marketing to a much larger audience, the ad puts emphasis on each fresh ingredient, makes use of dramatic lighting, and focuses entirely on the whopper’s fresh taste. Notice no talk of grease? No talk of being a man? Just having a whopper made fresh that tastes great?
For me, this advertisement doesn’t just signalize the end of the King, it hints towards a new strategic marketing direction for Burger King: capture a larger audience who want great tasting, fresh food.
I like the ad, but I question how much work it will take to entirely change their image. McDonalds has done wonders with this, but it has taken years. We will see how this advertisement holds up!
