Recently Mary J. Blige was in a commercial for Burger
King’s new Ranch Crispy Chicken Snack Wraps, in which she made a cover of her
hit song “Don’t Mind” with lyrics altered to be about the sandwich. This was
supposed to be seen as a good move by Burger King to capture customers with the
hit singer, but it blew up in their face. Bloggers and Blige fans were upset
about the commercial claiming it to be racist and offensive. With this news,
Burger King quickly pulled the commercial claiming licensing issues but this
makes marketers believe the restaurant chain is in deeper trouble than we’re
seeing. Five years ago, Burger King was the second largest fast food chain in
the U.S. but now Subway and Starbucks have taken its spot. The real problem for
Burger King is that they have no marketing strategy or brand. If you look at
the other fast food chains, you’ll see that they each have a specific brand
they hold:
McDonald’s – convenience food
Starbucks – coffee lovers
Subway – healthy fresh food
Wendy’s – the ‘burger with integrity’
Burger King – ????
It seems as though everyone has figured out which path to
take in order to be equal competitors, except for Burger King. Personally, I
don’t even think of hamburgers when Burger King is mentioned, I think of
chicken sandwiches because that’s what I’ve always gotten. And as a child, it
took me a while to realize their logo was shaped to look like a hamburger.
Burger King hasn’t done a great job at setting their brand. Do you think Burger
King can get the company out of this rut and back in the competitive market?
What are some marketing strategies they could use to get back in with the big
league fast food chains?
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