I can’t remember the last time I had Burger King… or any fast food for that matter. I am quite immune to any of the fast food brands. In fact, I believe they have a tough job of marketing themselves considering that their food is actually not good for you (check out the book Fast Food Nation or the movie Super Size Me). Now, if you’re giving it to your kids… there are some extremists who are calling that child abuse. Yes, we live in a world of excess.
With all of that negativity, I simply can’t get enough of Burger King. They seem to have this incredible grasp of how to continually create and engage people in the online environment and maintain an interesting and curious advertising strategy that is certainly keeping me (and millions of others) engaged in their brand and talking about it.
The three big campaigns that stand out started with the now-legendary Subservient Chicken viral campaign – also known as The Tipping Point of online marketing as it truly hailed the arrival of viral marketing. This campaign was launched to promote their Tendercrisp chicken sandwich.
From there, Burger King unleashed Coq Roq – a fake hard rock band and their extreme music/lifestyle. This included some very Spinal Tap-like songs and incidents. Funny enough, the band Slipknot actually sued Burger King. “It is obvious that the television advertising and website are designed to conjure up the image and persona of a live performance of Slipknot,” wrote the band’s lawyer in a letter to Burger King.
Their latest campaign is the most obscure. I’ve always hated their new Burger King mascot (the dude dressed up as the Burger King) and now the King is hooking up with former Rockstar: INXS host Brooke Burke in a bunch of images and videos that have been slowly “leaked” on the Internet. You get Burger King and Burke hanging out at the beach, shopping and now, what looks like, a series of paparazzi shots showing their engagement.
Burger Kings has managed to get people talking about their chicken (instead of burgers), built hype for their pending IPO (which is due in the coming weeks) and kept fast food on the lips of consumers everywhere by leveraging new and interesting online campaigns that are truly creative, exciting and generating good and organic word-of-mouth buzz.
Now, Burger King has to figure out how to turn all of this positive advertising and PR into a truly great fast food experience.