The Burger King has been removed from his throne!

[claws]

Originally Posted by Forbes.com
Fast-food chain Burger King is making a 180 degree shift in its marketing, with a decision to drop its "King" mascot and focus on — sit down before you read this! — product.

For years, Burger King had placed its bets on edgy commercials by creative powerhouse Crispin Porter + Bogusky, targeting men in their teens and 20s. Crispin's campaigns got a lot of attention, and plaudits from the advertising community. Unfortunately, however, advertising awards don't necessarily translate into sales, and Burger King has been badly lagging main rival McDonald's. According to consulting firm Technomic, Burger King's same-store sales declined 6% in the first quarter; compare that to a 3% rise for Mc Donald's.


This discrepancy in performance is not the result of McDonald's having more "creative" advertising or a hipper mascot (Ronald Mc Donald is many things — hip he's not). But while Burger King was trying to sell consumers an edgy brand image, McDonald's focused on something much more mundane: selling burgers, fries and coffee. The rest is marketing history.

Now, under new ownership, and with a new management and marketing team, Burger King is focusing on what matters: updating the stores, fixing its food and changing its image. As Alex Maccedo, SVP, marketing, put it to USA Today: "People want a reason to go back to Burger King ... There are no plans to bring the King back anytime soon."

Along with new management, Burger King has also hired a new ad agency, McGarry Bowen. Mc Garry's ads are often derided in ad industry circles as conventional, formulaic and unhip. The criticism isn't entirely unjustified ... but who cares? Last I heard, advertising is not about creating art house shorts; it's about selling stuff. Against that standard, McGarry's work tends to perform well. A new campaign by McGarry, launching this weekend, will introduce the California Whopper, made with guacamole.

Whether the new burger will catch on remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure: the marketing campaign will give it a shot at success. The entire TV commercial will focus single-mindedly on sights and sounds of the burger's ingredients being washed and diced.

And amidst all this slicing and dicing, "the King" finds himself like Charles I and Louis XVI ... a head shorter.

So, the new name will be ... Burger? 

[Criswell]

Seriously i'm getting sick of all the commercials that just focus on a food. Like all the new Wendy's commercials. Don't companies realize they need a mascot?

[Jim H]

The King was great.  A lot of those commercials were genius.  And Burger King has better food than McDonald's.  So there.

I haven't eaten at one in like six months, but still!

[AndyC]

It does make sense though. The creepy King mascot was more memorable than the product he was pitching. The commercials got attention, just not necessarily focused in the right direction.

It reminds me of an interview Dave Thomas did in the 90s, where he explained why Wendy's "Where's the Beef?" wasn't as great an advertising campaign as people might assume. The commercials were a huge hit, but Clara Peller was what people remembered, and the slogan took off independently of the product. It was good for Wendy's, but the restaurant chain was largely left out of the huge word of mouth generated.

[RCMerchant]

Werewolves didn't work too well for Burger Chef....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTsLwY6QpuY&feature=related

[Mr. DS]

I'll be honest, I don't care what the mascot is for any given place.  If I like the product I'll go there.  The mascot is kind of a nostalgic afterthought for myself.  I never really understood the hate towards the King.  I always thought Ronald  McDonald and his crew were just as creepy.

[AndyC]

I'll be honest, I don't care what the mascot is for any given place.  If I like the product I'll go there.  The mascot is kind of a nostalgic afterthought for myself.  I never really understood the hate towards the King.  I always thought Ronald  McDonald and his crew were just as creepy.

I think it was just the King's completely immobile face and total silence that made him creepy. And some of his habits, like getting into bed with people and waiting for them to wake up.

[Ozzymandias]

I'll be honest, I don't care what the mascot is for any given place.  If I like the product I'll go there.  The mascot is kind of a nostalgic afterthought for myself.  I never really understood the hate towards the King.  I always thought Ronald  McDonald and his crew were just as creepy.

I think it was just the King's completely immobile face and total silence that made him creepy. And some of his habits, like getting into bed with people and waiting for them to wake up.

Ozzymandias speaks: That was the work of the Crispin ad agency. They are the same ones a few years back who gave us the Orville Redbacker ads featuring a computer antimation Orville that looked more like a reantimated corpse. The Crispin agency has been fired by several companies because their edgy ads backfire some way.

I realize that the King in the recent ads was probably one of the fiberglass "Magic Burger King"  statues that stood out front or in the playground area. My question is did the actor who protrayed the King in the 70s ads get any compensation for his fiberglass image being used in these Crispin produced ads.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x38pq4tbKSs&feature=related


Ozzymandias has spoken!!!

[Chainsawmidget]

Ronald McDonald unavailable for comment. 

[Leah]

Ronald McDonald unavailable for comment. 

That made my day, good sir!

[BTM]

I'll be honest, I don't care what the mascot is for any given place.  If I like the product I'll go there.  The mascot is kind of a nostalgic afterthought for myself.  I never really understood the hate towards the King.  I always thought Ronald  McDonald and his crew were just as creepy.

I think it was just the King's completely immobile face and total silence that made him creepy. And some of his habits, like getting into bed with people and waiting for them to wake up.

Oh, come on, who could possibly find this creepy?



Oh, wait... never mind.

[Sleepyskull]

http://vimeo.com/15726194 This guy has made some great videos! Check out the The Tiffany Problem Most of them are NSFW.

[tracy]

Good riddance....the guy was really disturbing.

[RCMerchant]

Our President says farewell....