The marketing behind Burger King these days has impressed me. In the age of Tivo, Burger King has managed to find alternative marketing strategies to continually bring their name to the forefront, even when you skip through the commercials.
"The King" ad campaigns brought about attention when a strange oversized plastic King could be found in bed next to an unsuspecting person or just outside of their window to the catchphrase of, "Wake up with the King." The commercials were a bit odd, but definitely catchy. The commercials moved on with dry wit humor and occasionally I would find myself laughing at some of them. Burger King’s actual products remained in the commercials, but weren’t necessarily the main piece to the ad.
In November Burger King began offering Burger King Xbox and Xbox 360 games with their value meals in three different genres; action, fighting and racing. I thought it was in good fun and admired the cross promotion involved with a fast food chain. When I saw it was available on Xbox Live and that the game involved other Burger King mascots, I realized that Burger King was onto something.
A few days before Christmas, it was reported that 20 million BK Xbox games had been sold. For only being on the market exactly one month, that it not bad at all. Of course, it could’ve been the $4 price tag when compared to the usual cost of $60-$70 for an Xbox/Xbox 360 game, but I want to think that others also entertained the thought of playing The King. Since the games could only be purchased with a value meal, it means that BK brought a lot of people through their doors while pocketing a nice amount of change from the promotion.
While McDonald’s is only putting Nintendo mascot toys in their Happy Meals, BK has learned how to reach a demographic, especially when many times that demographic has their own money to spend. I like the way BK is thinking and using marketing strategies that none of their competitors are utilizing. I look forward to seeing how they intend to top this promotion.
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