BK is the only fast food restaurant that offers flame broiled meat. BK has started to introduce, in the US and Canada, new flexible batch broilers. These new broilers are able to cook 8 Whoppers patties all at once. The old broilers cooked patties one at a time on a conveyor belt. These new broilers allow restaurants to save a lot of money in energy costs (as much as 40%). There are several reasons for this, the first one being that the devices uses less gas. Additionally, they are enclosed, meaning that they heat quicker, stay hot longer, and do not allow heat to escape. Therefore the kitchen is cooler by about 5 degrees so less AC is needed).BK estimates that that these machines will breakeven in about 1 year. Something else that machine offers is the capability for new product development such as rib eye steak sandwiches, pork tenderloin and shrimp kebabs. BK’s most famous ad slogan, Have It Your Way, was created in 1974 to distinguish itself from its largest rival, McDonald’s. Over the next few decades BK ventured away from this slogan but they brought it back in 2004 (when they hired their new ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky). Customers can specify exactly how they would like their Whopper sandwich, and choose from a wide variety of toppings. According to BK’s website, there are over 221,184 ways for a customer to order a Whopper sandwich! <http://www.bk.com/companyinfo/content/corporation/facts.html>
The current BK menu includes the classic line up of hamburgers as well as chicken and fish sandwich items. The brand has had significant success with the chicken sandwich line due to the “Subservient Chicken” campaign and continues to describe this line in the growth stage. Breakfast has also been a growing market for BK with the introduction of the BK Breakfast Shots (similar to the BK Burger Shots, but with breakfast ingredients). Being #2 in the fast food industry, BK differentiates with product innovation. As mentioned above, BK Burger shots were introduced late 2008 and have been a successful addition to the menu. BK is also the only fast food hamburger restaurant to offer a vegetarian version of the Whopper with the BK Veggie. Other new products introduced in the past two years include Chicken Fries, Apple Fries, The Enormous Omelet Sandwich, Cheesy Tots and the Oreo BK Sundae Shake. In an effort to provide healthier options and attract the “Mom” audience, BK provides alternative side and entrée options for its Kids Meal. A co-branding effort with Kraft resulted in the addition of Macaroni and Cheese as an entrée. BK already had a contract with Hershey’s for various dessert options and added its Low Fat milk to the beverage line up. <http://www.marketingblurb.com/2008/07/burger_king_kids_meals_green_a.html>
As of 2004, BK’s Advertising Agency of Record is CP+B, whose client list includes Coke Zero, Domino’s, Geek Squad and Volkswagen. When BK decided to focus on the 18-35 male market, they also decided to change the mediums in which they advertised. Today, BK is known for its creative use of social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter as well as the many successful viral marketing campaigns that continue to generate buzz for the brand. The King was also reintroduced in 2004 to create nostalgia for the brand and hail the original King from the 1970’s. He is currently featured primarily in television spots. BK also partnered with other big-named brands to promote various menu offerings or giveaways with purchase. In 2001, BK partnered with DreamWorks and Nickelodeon to promote various movies through restaurant promotions and kids meal toys. In the fall of 2006, BK released a series of three Xbox games for $3.99 each, with the purchase a value meal. This promotion alone raised sales by 40% on value meals.
BK is an international brand with worldwide popularity. BK is primarily located in the United States with greatest growth occurring in the Latin America region. It operates stand-alone restaurants (company-owned and franchised) and also has locations in airports, highway rest stops, college campuses and mall food courts. The most recent deviation in placement came with the announcement of the Whopper Bar. This prototype, currently located at Universal CityWalk in Orlando, is much smaller than normal BK restaurants and is contemporary and circular in shape, similar to the layout of an alcoholic bar. To start, this derivative of the standard BK franchise will only be offered in strip malls, food courts and casinos.
Pricing strategies in the fast food industry tend to be value-driven, and BK offers competitive value compared to McDonald’s and Wendy’s. In comparing four standard menu items across the top three fast food hamburger restaurants – a signature hamburger, a chicken sandwich, medium fries and a kids meal – BK proved to be equal or cheaper in price than its competitors three out of four times. A key difference for Burger King was in it’s value menu which ranged in price from $1.00 to $1.49 whereas the other two offered all value menu items at $1.00.* *All pricing based on comparatives in the greater Orlando, FL area.
We reviewed all posts on epionions.com that mentioned BK from March 2007 to present. Within these 14 posts, we observed the following: The Good…64% of the posts contained comments by customers that were pleased with BK’s menu variety. They enjoy BK’s varied choices of entrees, sides and kid meal options. Respondents mentioned that they liked that BK was open later and also felt that BK had a multitude of locations. Additionally, customers enjoy BK’s “cheap” prices. The Bad…86% of the posts mentioned that BK was greasy, unhealthy, had high calorie foods, and was of poor food quality. 43% said that BK had inconsistent, slow and unfriendly service. One customer called the restaurant dirty. The Ugly…Overall, BK user rating was 3 stars out of a possible 5.
We used BlogPulse to measure the percentage of daily posts for Burger King in the entire “blogosphere.” This graph charts blogs posted from October 2008 through March 2009 having to do with McD’s, BK, and Wendy’s. On average, there are more blogs about McD’s than there are about BK (or Wendy’s). However, there are certain times when blogs about BK spiked, sometimes outnumbering McDonald’s. On November 14, BK launched a new campaign where thousands of wallets were “lost” around major US cities (most notably Orlando and Chicago). These wallets contained cash ($1 to $100 bills), coupons for BK food, a drivers license with The King’s picture on it, as well as directions to area Burger Kings. This campaign didn’t grab too much attention, but those that knew of it thought it was brilliant and truly unique. On December 12, 2008, BK launched its “Whopper Virgins” campaign. This campaign was centered around conducting taste tests (Whoppers v. Big Macs) with participants who were true hamburger “virgins.” These people lived in remote areas and had never seen or heard about hamburgers before (places such as Thailand, Romania, Greenland), making test results truly unbiased. BK brought their broiler to these areas so that they could make fresh burgers for the people to try. The campaign included a short documentary of these individuals’ reactions to the Whopper. Most people did not like this campaign, and there was a lot of negative backlash for BK. Some thought it was clever, but most described it as insulting, outrageous, and wrong. In late December of 2008, BK launched its Whopper Sacrifice campaign, which explains the spike in activity around January 11 th . If an individual was willing to delete, or ‘defriend,’ 10 of his/her friends in Facebook, then BK would send that person a coupon for a free Whopper. The 10 “sacrificed” friends would then receive a message alerting them that they were that abandoned for a free sandwich. However, Facebook’s user agreement policy states that individuals are not to be notified if someone defriends them. Therefore, BK was forced to cancel this innovative viral marketing campaign. However, in time that it was running, more than 233,906 friends were sacrificed, and over 23,000 coupons were sent out for free Whoppers. Reaction to this campaign was mixed: some thought it was very funny and clever, some thought it was stupid. Most people were not offended by it and saw it as a joke.
Due to the extensive use of the internet in its media strategy and the communication habits of its primary target, BK receives increasing buzz from its fans and haters, alike, on sites like Facebook, Twitter and Digg. The following of the brand is strong, as evidenced in these social medias, but BK also invests heavily in these source. On Twitter.com, an agency employee acts as the King offering directions, menu suggestions and entertaining banter for fans @theBKlounge. Digg is a social news website made for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the Internet, by submitting links and stories, and voting and commenting on submitted links and stories. On Digg.com, a story recapping the Whopper Sacrifice received an impressive 5,439 diggs.
To better understand the basic brand associations, we searched for Burger King on brandtags.net and grouped some of the most commonly associated words. In line with current campaigns and slogans, many of these consumers associate Burger King with such words as The King, Flame Broiled, Have It Your Way, and Whopper. On the other hand, Burger King is still first and foremost a fast food restaurant. It carries many industry negative connotations such as Fattening, Obesity, Gross and Second to McD’s. In response to the use of the revised King character in advertisements, the words Creepy King also carried a strong association. <http://www.brandtags.net/browse.php?id=46>
BK is widely present in all types of consumer-generated media. It is one of the most widely talked about fast food restaurant brands. BK recognizes that getting involved in every social networking site (such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and Digg) is the best way to reach its target market. In addition, hundreds of thousands of true BK fans have created Facebook pages (and groups) and various sites dedicated to their love of BK and its products. Most of the recent blogs about BK have to do with their advertising campaigns, not their products. People have taken a ‘Love It or Hate It’ mentality. The blogs are either filled with glowing remarks about the creativity and genius of BK ads, or they are filled with deep anger and disgust for the more controversial ads (most notably the Whopper Virgins campaign). Few people have said that all of these campaigns will make them a BK customer (either again or for the first time). However, plenty of people have expressed that will never eat at BK again, because of certain campaigns. Either way, these new ads have generated tons of buzz (both positive and negative) for the brand. Most consumers agree that even the most buzz worthy ads cannot overcome the perception of poor food quality that is often associated with Burger King.
To conduct our focus group, we invited 12 males participate who were all in the age range of 19-23. We felt that this forum would boast the most accurate brand perspective, as all members were within the parameters of the primary target. To start, we developed a list of approximately 10 questions, each with several sub-questions. As the conversation evolved, topics varied from this list somewhat, though all prepared questions were asked and discussed. In addition to the focus group questions, we also conducted a taste test. We had each of the 12 participants eat half of a cheeseburger from Burger King and its biggest rival, McDonald’s. We also had them taste french fries from both restaurants.
The response from this group was not the “fan fest” that we initially expected. Focus group respondents stated that new “boutique” fast food restaurants are healthier and offer better quality products, nicer atmospheres and better service. Moe’s, Chipotle, Chick-Fil-A and Whataburger were mentioned as brands that felt more genuine and less mass market. The ‘Have It Your Way’ slogan seemed slightly outdated to the group, as customized ordering is available anywhere. In terms of service, respondents noted that BK employees tend to be the reason for incorrect orders. Regarding BK advertising, the group agreed current ads are hilarious. However, the group also agreed that product focused ads, specifically those featuring new menu items, would entice them to visit over brand ads. Interestingly, respondents did not think that the current ads affected the actions they would take as consumers. The opinion of being “above” the influence of advertising is a common theme for this generation. The cheeseburger taste test revealed a very positive result for the BK brand. The BK burger was preferred 9 to 3. Respondents noted its famous flame-broiled taste as being superior and noted the product as juicy and filling. The McDonalds’ burger was conversely identified as small, bland, oniony and without any meat flavor. French fries were also tested wher McDonald’s product was preferred 8 to 3.
Although BK solely focuses on the young make audience, we thought that we would investigate the likelihood of recruiting mothers of younger children as customers. In –depth interviews were the most appropriate type of quantitative research to gauge the potential of this secondary target segment. All respondents were mothers with children in the 3-13 age range and all were asked the same questions, with slight variety depending on the tone of the conversation.
In terms of response, some moms thought the service at BK was acceptable, especially considering it is a fast food restaurant. Other moms, however, said that BK always has long lines. Some said BK was clean inside, but some said they don’t eat there b/c they think its too dirty. Overall, the expectations of the restaurant were fairly low to begin with. None of the moms viewed BK as being different from McD’s. The only notable difference was in the perceived convenience due to the sheer number of McD’s restaurants. All respondents were aware of the flame broiled taste associated with signature burgers. For some, the taste was preferred; for others it was insignificant. Most of the mothers were aware of McD’s healthy options due to the frequent advertisements for salads and apple dippers. However, the vast majority of them were not aware that BK offered similar healthier alternatives. They did not recall seeing similar advertisements for the different, healthy options that BK offers. Most stated that awareness of the healthy options would make them more likely to eat at BK with their families. In terms of feeding their children, the moms stated that they occasionally allow their children to eat the fattening hamburgers, although they would prefer to balance that choice with a healthier side, if possible. As for their menu preference, most of the time respondents did not want to eat hamburgers themselves (even if their kids have it) and would prefer a healthier salad.
Everyone we spoke with (the young males in BK’s target market, as well as the mothers with young children) associate fast food with poor quality, greasy and fattening products. They know it is bad for them. However, they still like to eat it and the moms are still willing to feed it to their children. The young males did not care too much about healthy options. If they are going to eat fast food, they want a burger and fries. They don’t care about eating something healthy. They said they wouldn’t mind if BK offered healthier options, as long as they keep their burgers and fries on the menu. Mom, on the other hand, were definitely interested in the healthier options, both for themselves as well as for their children. The loudest complaint from the males was regarding the inconsistency in service and the high chance or receiving an incorrect order, even if they ordered it “their way.” For this reason, they prefer to eat in so orders can easily be corrected. They also like to take advantage of the free refills! Conversely, moms think that BK has long lines and dirty dining rooms and therefore prefer the drive-thru. They tend to eat fast food when they are in a rush, and don’t typically have the time to eat inside.
Using Qualtrics as our survey tool, we surveyed over 200 people regarding fast food brand perceptions. Within the survey, we measured brand awareness, brand recognition, importance of perceptions and brand personality.
Survey respondents were 55% male and 45% female. The most frequent age group was 26-35. A majority of respondents consume fast food 2 to 3 times monthly, with few outliers stating daily consumption.
Our first question asked respondents to list the first five brands that come to mind when they think of fast food restaurants. As suspected, McDonald’s dominated the first response, although Burger King came in strong for the second response. Interestingly, this response also mirrors current industry market share. Leaders in each of the five spaces included: McDonald’s at 70.3% Burger King at 43.1% Wendy’s at 28.7% Wendy’s at 21.3% Taco Bell at 13.9% Overall, over 48 unique fast food brands were listed in this test for unaided recall.
In an effort to measure brand recognition, we provided 5 familiar fast food slogans for our respondents. When asked to identify the corresponding brands, the race was much tighter than the unaided recall. A close second, Burger King’s Have It Your Way slogan seemed to have fair recognition. The 1% difference was surprising, as McDonald’s share of wallet and share of voice are considerably greater than that of Burger King.
To better understand the priority of importance for our consumers, we asked respondents to rate six qualities on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being not important, 5 being very important). Based on the response, food quality and convenience were the top two most important reasons for choosing a particular fast food restaurant. Unfortunately, the Burger King brand did earn a winning high score in any of the six categories. As stated by the mom’s in our in-depth interviews, McDonald’s was the overwhelming winner in the convenience category.
Based on the Aakers Five Dimensions of Brand Personality metric, we asked respondents to rate the strength of 15 personality traits: Competence – Successful, Reliable, Corporate Excitement – Independent, Cool, Imaginative, Daring Ruggedness – Masculine, Tough Sincerity – Family-Oriented, Friendly, Wholesome, Honest Sophistication – Smooth, Good Looking Based on current advertising, we predicted that BK would rank high in Excitement and Ruggedness. As expected, Sincerity and Sophistication were low, although surprisingly Competence was higher than Excitement.
To follow up on the conversations with our in-depth respondents, we segmented out those females with children between the ages of 3 to 13 and asked them a couple of additional questions. When asked to rank the determinants in their choice of fast food restaurant when with their children, factors ranked Healthier Options (3.39), Location/Convenience (3.29), Child’s Preference (3.23) and Price (2.77). These answers were consistent with our in-depth interview responses. We also asked these moms to match brand to product offerings with the aid of three brand names: McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s. Menu items included Mandarin Oranges, Apple Slices, Onion Rings, French Fries, Macaroni and Cheese, Juice and Milk. As suspected, awareness levels of Apple Slices and Macaroni and Cheese (both healthier options) were minimal. Even for product carried by all brands, such as Juice and Milk, the association was the lowest for BK.
BK remains focused on the 18 to 35 year old male market, aware that other customer segments may suffer as a result. This strategy aims to increase incremental business with customers who are considered “heavy users” and likely consume Burger King four to five times a week. Continuing growth attests to the effectiveness of this 80/20 rule application. Through an extensive remodeling initiative, BK is also hoping to draw customers inside for a more exciting dining experience. True to its heritage, BK continues to innovate the dining room interior with flat screen tvs, contemporary design and revised menu boards. Overall, BK knows that it must differentiate on innovation – both in product and service – and continues to add limited time items to the menu for customer trial. These new products are what keep the brand fresh in the minds of its customers and keep them coming back for more. Through our primary and secondary research, we sought true consumer opinion associated with the brand. The results were surprising – even though BK touts an edgy vibe with adolescent humor, consumers still view the brand as a mass marketer with corporate personality (“Corporate” scored an average of 3.19 on the Brand Personality scale – one of the top 5 highest traits associated with the brand out of 15). Although its advertising campaigns receive great buzz, actual consumers are more likely to write about poor food and service experience than the subservient chicken website. This lasting impression of the poor food quality carries far beyond blogs and into daily conversation with peers.
The addition of a Late Night menu would cater to the needs of males who are looking for a potential 4 th meal or a bite to each post drinking. After all, there is nothing better than a greasy and filling burger after too much alcohol consumption! The Menu would include an indulgent variation of the signature sandwich, called the Late Night Whooper, which would a special cheese sauce and a toasted butter bun. The Late Nite Chick, a variation of the BK Tendercrisp, would also include the special cheese sauce. Conversely, in an effort to offer healthier items, we recommend that BK introduce the Whipper - a lower fat version of the Whopper on what bun with no mayonnaise. If the King can get “whipped” into shape, it will certainly improve his chances with the ladies! For those customers interested in higher food quality, we also recommend BK offer the first organic burger at an upcharge. This would make BK for the first mover into organic fast food among the competition and stay true to the culture of innovation.
In the past two months alone the number of new members over 35 has doubled. Marketers take note: the median age is now over 25, and the largest single group 35 to 44.
Regarding additional domestic growth, college campuses are the perfect fit for BK: Students have limited funds, so value is important to them. In addition, the 18-34 make target is available in high volume. Due to customer feedback, we recommend that BK restructure their menu slightly, specially for the value menu items. Because not all items are $1.00, the brand is viewed as more expensive, overall. The Late Night menu recommendation will include a slight price increase (5-10%) to bring in incremental revenue for the added convenience of late night day part service.
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