Categories: Articles

Groupies Love The Coq – Burger King Goes Viral Again

Crispin Porter & Bogusky are already interactive marketing legends for their Subservient Chicken micro-site that was part of a Burger King marketing campaign for their BK Tendercrips. They have struck again.
Coq Roq was also created by Crispin Porter & Bogusky to launch Burger King’s latest, BK Chicken Fries. According to an Ad Age Magazine article, Burger King’s CoqRoq.com Triggers Controversy, the company has received many complaints and even changed content due to the website’s double entendres.
The theme of this campaign revolves around a fake rock band called Coq Roq that has songs like ‘Cross The Road’, ‘Bob Your Head’ and ‘Nice Box’. In the band’s “Gallery” there was a picture of some female groupies that originally said “Groupies Love The Coq,” but that has been changed to “Shots From The Road.”
Here’s the challenge: most people don’t get what the term “cock rock” really means and how funny this will actually be to their target market.
A good friend, Rob from Blistering.com, actually sent this email to the Ad Age Magazine journalist who wrote the Burger King’s CoqRoq.com Triggers Controversy article:
“‘C*ck rock’ is an eighties term to describe cheesy heavy metal hair bands. You know, the hair spray and spandex days, possibly some leather too. It’s just a play on words and it has nothing to do with the male anatomy. But the groupie thing is true, they love the coq!”
Her response: “…you kill me. Thanks for writing…”
You should check out the Coq Roq website where you can even download some Coq Roq ringtones: Coq Roq.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.