http://adage.com/article?article_id=126845
Fast Feeder Notches Sales Gain of 5.4%, Trouncing Even Ascendant McD's
'Freakout': BK says prank drove sales.
By Emily Bryson York Published: May 05, 2008
CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Burger King is giving rivals a solid thrashing -- and marketing is getting the credit.
While other fast feeders fault the recession and housing crisis for tepid sales, Burger King posted a healthy same-store-sales gain of 5.4% in its fiscal third quarter, well ahead of even McDonald's, which reported a comparatively anemic 2.9%. No. 3 burger chain Wendy's, now in the throes of an ownership change, saw same-store sales fall 1.6% at company-run stores in the same period.
Analysts are crediting Burger King's marketing with some of the gains.
"They're doing a super job on the advertising front," said UBS analyst David Palmer. "They're clearly connecting with the super fan that is the young, hungry male."
Burger King CEO John Chidsey said, "The current macroeconomic environment did not impact our top-line performance as consumers continued to seek our quality, convenience and affordability."
'Barbell menu strategy'
He credited the wildly popular "Whopper Freakout" campaign from Crispin Porter & Bogusky with driving sales through January and kid-friendly promotions involving SpongeBob SquarePants and Snoopy, from Campbell Mithun, with bringing families into the restaurants during the quarter. He added that the chain's "barbell menu strategy," with value-menu offerings such as the Whopper Jr. and the crispy-chicken sandwich at one end and premium fare such as the new BBQ Bacon Tendercrisp on the other, is also faring well.
It hasn't been an overnight turnaround for the King; this is its fourth consecutive year of positive same-store-sales growth. But until recently, it was McDonald's that was the industry's biggest engine of growth. The chain began a storied turnaround in 2003, and while its same-store sales are still on the upswing, the trajectory is slowing. McDonald's recently put the blame on the economy.
But even as gas prices climb and the economy gets more wobbly, UBS's Mr. Palmer expects Burger King to grow even stronger through the summer. It's got more new products in the pipeline, some blockbuster summer movie promotions lined up and is just starting a "reimaging campaign" to update the look and feel of its stores, some of which are 30 years old.
Mr. Palmer said the chain is benefiting from tactics that have boosted McDonald's bottom line in recent years, including longer hours and a wider breakfast value menu. Burger King has average sales of $1.5 million per store, compared with $2.2 million at McDonald's, so he said there's room for even more growth in the future. With lower sales at similarly sized stores, Mr. Palmer said, it's easier for Burger King to boost same-store sales by an extra $100,000 per store. McDonald's, on the other hand, may have to wait until its beverage initiative has launched nationwide to see sales bumps of a similar magnitude.
Movie tie-ins
Also on Burger King's side are alliances with some of the more hotly anticipated summer films: "Iron Man," "Incredible Hulk" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." For the last, Burger King is planning an Indiana Jones-themed sandwich: an Indy Double Whopper (two patties, pepper jack, bacon and Cajun mayo).
Upcoming are new-product plans aimed at kids. Burger King signed on to the Better Business Bureau's Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative late last year and will roll out "apple fries" in its locations nationwide this summer. The fresh-fruit offering is simply apples cut to look like fries, employing a proprietary technology that prevents them from turning brown. Burger King will also be adding a child-pleasing Kraft Macaroni & Cheese dish to the menu.
"Actually the majority of [the apple fries side] is going out à la carte and being consumed by adults as well," Burger King Chief Marketing Officer Russ Klein said on a conference call.
Early Web Traffic Is Still Better Than That of Earlier Viral Stunt but Chain Gets Some Bad Buzz too
By Emily Bryson York Published: December 10, 2008 Burger King declined to release specific traffic
information, but said that first-week site visits to Whoppervirgins.com exceeded
the number of first-week site visits to Whopperfreakout.com.
CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Burger King's "Whopper Virgins" are going viral, just as the fast feeder intended. But while the cheeky campaign has yet to take off, early numbers and engagement with the videos is promising, according to an online tracking group.
It's still early, but the chain's new campaign appears to have good traction online. According to Visible Measures, a group that rates engagement for viral videos, the Burger King documentary released Monday has been uploaded more than 30 times on five different video sites. At least 80% of these placements are user-generated, meaning that the video has been copied, re-posted or remixed. In aggregate, these placements have received over 130,000 views and more than 450 comments.
Early traffic tops 'Freakout' The data does not include Burger King's traffic at WhopperVirgins.com. Burger King declined to release specific traffic information, but said that first-week site visits to Whoppervirgins.com exceeded the number of first-week site visits to Whopperfreakout.com. Whopper Freakout eventually managed to boost sales of the chain's marquee menu item.
Burger King spokeswoman Lauren Kuzniar said WhopperVirgins.com traffic was up 130% on Saturday and Sunday. She credited the teasers for the documentary's release that had run online all last week. Ms. Kuzniar added that 3% of views have been on mobile devices; this is the first time that mobile has registered in the company's data.
So while the virgins have yet to break out, the signs are good, said Visible Measures. "While the viewer numbers are still relatively small, the amount of placement activity is relatively high, particularly for 30-second repurposed TV spots," said Matt Cutler, VP-marketing and analytics. "[It's] tough to tell at this stage if the campaign will take off, but viral placement activity is an encouraging first step in the process."
Mr. Cutler pointed out that the campaign is already generating conversation, with more than 100 Technorati results and more than 500 Google results.
But to really get going, he said, it's going to take time. "You don't usually see a video with millions of views in the snap of a finger," he said. "It gets out there, it gets viewed, copies spread, word spreads behind it, and it gets copied, and accumulates views, so you see more of an S curve." Right now, he said, "we're at the base of the S."
Brand rep takes a hit?Not surprisingly, the campaign has offended some people. According to BrandIndex, Burger King has been building positive buzz since mid-October from a ranking in the mid-teens to the low-20s more recently, "but [this] campaign seems to be interrupting that positive momentum," said Ted Marzilli senior VP-brand group at BrandIndex parent YouGovPolimetrix. He added that Burger King does not appear to be reaching that many new people with the campaign, though the ones it does have been talking about the campaign -- and not necessarily in a good way.
Positive chatter has fallen from 24 on Dec. 1 to 20 yesterday and Mr. Marzilli said that women are reacting negatively to the campaign. Good buzz among the ladies has fallen from 25 to 17 over the same nine-day period. Positive buzz is up with men (which generally comprise the company's core target of "Super Fans"), but only slightly, from 21 to 23. Perhaps most surprisingly, good buzz is down significantly among young people aged 18 to 34, the company's core demographic.
"Really, you paid people for this marketing campaign?" video blogger Phil Defranco asked in a posting with more than 500,000 views. "People who their palette has been accustomed to ... rocks?"
But comments like that must still be music to the fast feeder's ears. To a provocateur like Burger King and its agency, Crispin Porter & Bogusky, the only bad buzz is no buzz.
COMMENTS:
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!! This has got to be the worst ad campaign of the century. What in the world does it matter if people that have never seen or tasted a burger in their lives - choose a whopper over a big mac? And aside from that, isn't bad enough that fast food is causing a health and obesity crisis in the US? Now we have to sicken the rest of the world with it? Give me a break. –BOCA RATON, FL
It's a condescending, money wasting effort - another example of Crispin hubris. - New York, NY –NEW YORK, NY
Hi all: Matt Cutler from Visible Measures here. I just took a look at the latest #'s for this campaign and the view count has surged by almost 20,000 views (over 15%) in less than 24 hours. It will be interesting to watch how this trends over the next several weeks. If you're into this kind of thing, we publish viral video performance research findings on our blog (http://blog.visiblemeasures.com) about once a week. Thanks! –Boston, MA
I think it misses it's mark...but what can we expect from the same people who ran ads about "Man Laws"?? –Bend, OR
Great article. To add to the buzz metrics, Trendrr tracking shows that since Dec 5th, there are 17,000 new blog posts, 200 news articles, and nearly 70,000 new search results for "Whopper Virgin". http://www.trendrr.com/tag/whopper ...So they are doing something right.... –DENVER, CO
If your goal is to never offend anyone, you're in the wrong business. –St. Petersburg, FL
Whoppervirgins has absolutely no relevance to the target. It is nothing short of a very expensive gimmick. Shock and Sensationalism is what creative seems to be all about these days. What they don't tell you is how many of these whoppervirgins suffered from the ingestion of the king of transfats afterwards...in other words, I hope they gave them lots of western toilet paper as part of their residuals. –Toronto, ON
I thought this was brilliantly done. The production value is great, it's innovative, and it depicts its subjects in a very tasteful manner. While it's all a little tongue-in-cheek, it looks like everyone involved (taste-testers included) had a lot of fun. You should also note that a bunch of the people said that they had no preference, and the last guy even says that he still prefers seal meat. They aren't depicted as simple third world inhabitants - they come across as regular people, like us, enjoying a whopper. –Boulder, CO