Over the years Burger King has played the loyal role of number two in the fast food world. The inability to reach the golden arches, in all its magnitude and glory, has set up the King as a classic example of a challenger brand. This poised position has opened up the door of advertising opportunities for BK, allowing the brand to be experimental, intentionally unorthodox and perhaps sometimes…just plain out of line. The creative allowances that have been given to this long-standing number two brand is part and parcel of the reason we all love to see what the King will do next in all his crazy antics.

It’s no surprise that BK’s advertising is deliberately eccentric and thus directly strives to reach a youth focused demographic – that much is obvious to any viewer of Burger King ads. The King has become as iconic to young people as the Taco Bell Chihuahua or the I’m a Mac guy. It becomes obvious from our Youthography Community that not only is BK known to employ slapstick humour, but young people have come to expect it.

“The King is a great add to BK’s advertisement. He is an appealing character and he always seems to be ‘at your rescue’. Also, the interaction between him and other characters in the commercial is always enough to put a smile on your face.” –female 24

Humour is key for young people in making an ad or an icon memorable. Although this seems somewhat self-evident, very few brands are able to appeal to the comedic sensibilities of an ever engaged, exposed and media immersed cohort. The Whopper Freakout is a good example of a simple concept taken to a funny place – what happens if you take Burger King’s most memorable item off its menu? Well, humour ensues. This is just the kind of lark that consumers expect from the King and thus fits quite well with its brand personality.

From a brand perspective, tactics such as the Whopper Freakout, the Facebook De-Friender/Whopper Sacrifice (which Facebook disabled), and the Angry Whopper make sense for the King, but does it help increase the amount of burgers they flip? According to young Canadians…maybe not. Considering the transparency in marketing to the modern citizen consumer, it’s no surprise that young people take BK’s viral vids as just another piece of the cluttered media landscape, rather than something which substantially influences their purchasing choices.

“The Burger King ads have potential to distribute yet they have done nothing in improving BK’s positioning as the best fast food chain or even improving its product appeal.” –male 21

“The King makes an appearance in the Whopper Freak Out to save the day, and the Angry Whopper ad continues the BK trend of viral, web-based advertising. Amusing and different — but they don’t make me crave a BK burger.” –female 19

By and large, Burger King’s advertising helps to strengthen its position in the minds of young people – it’s a brand and a product that is certainly targeted and tailored to them, and our Youthography Community-ers see this clearly. BK has taken this a step further by forging the brand to become iconic in its own sense (with Community members even reporting dressing up as the King as a popular Halloween costume). Increasingly savvy young consumers enjoy Burger King’s tactics but see them for what they are, exactly that – tactics. It appears that all the quirk and humour may not necessarily lead young consumers down the purchasing path that BK desires.

But, hey, they still report overwhelmingly in our quant studies that “advertising has no effect on them”.

Kanan Kothari (Manager, Research & Strategy) and Michael Adams (Manager, Research & Strategy) – Youthography

Youthography is North America’s leading full-service youth insights and planning firm. Any enquiries, suggestions or irate missives can be directed to mike@youthography.com.

THE ad of the moment: we watch Tiger’s familiar emotionless face listen to his father, known for being a strict disciplinarian but presented here as warm and supportive figure, asking him to reflect on his behaviour and unearth the purpose of past events. Despite the fact that we know Earl Woods is not talking about the events of the past several months (being dead and all), I am intrigued by the brand and its message. The fact the Nike is saying “We accept you Tiger and all your faults” by producing this ad actually allows for a more powerful collective message. Face adversity head on by acknowledging your actions, by having the courage to communicate and by reflecting on the implications of your behaviour. 

Simple: Ownership and self-awareness.          

Too bad the message will likely be over shadowed by the details of his personal scandal, marketing hype and his pending performance at the Masters.

Will the ad sell more product? Who cares?

Will Tiger be welcomed by the masses at the Masters? Not sure.

Will Nike continue to be a brand that is designed to inspire you and your actions? Likely.

This little ad gal says Earl Woods may make a connection or two with people (likely men) in our fine Western world that can, or wishes they could, relate to that father-son bond. But the undercurrent of the ad has the power of a father’s words in the aftermath of a painfully public f**k up, which sets Tiger up for some good ol’ fashion pressure.

Now Tiger, Just do it. (Win the Masters that is!) 

http://www.facebook.com/TropicanaCanada#!/TropicanaCanada?v=app_4949752878 

Tropicana shed some light (and plenty of OJ) on the permanent darkness Canadians living up north deal with during winter months.   First a Facebook group complete with photos and videos, and now their top TV spot, we checked it out and compiled our thoughts:

“ A cute idea, but not sustainable. It’s not like they’ve leave the article sun plugged in forever. Or during the times of darkness in the Arctic.”

“It’s also unlikely that the local stores even stock Tropicana. And I don’t even want to know the eco-footprint on this little gem of an idea.”

“It’s made a lot of the industry blogs: I think you guys are bang-on re: sustainability and carbon footprint.  Also: while the final execution does look cool, the whole thing somehow feels really forced to me.”

“But it’s a good ‘forced’.  It simply connects with the brand and tells a nice story for the viewer.  Instead of donating money or time to a cause, they delivered an interesting experience to the folks up north and, in turn, delivered an interesting experience to us.” 

“Happily they’re doing this through a real event, done docu-style and it’s a fairly authentically positive feeling all around. I liked it the moment I saw it on Creativity and, you know, I’m wild for the modern ads that are grounded in core human truths.”

 Summary:  Thoughtful and inspiring, but with practicality an issue.  They made people happy on an artistic level, but the faux sun won’t stay forever and the free juice will run out. 

On a note closer to the basics:

“Getting sick of hummable little folk ditties as soundtracks though.”

 As well, to gain a little more insight; some comments from the Facebook group:

“I cannot believe how unauthentic and frivolous this is. For the sake of the connection of an ad to your tagline, you disrespect the situation in which a community lives in, in northern Canada by “brightening one day” with a balloon. So the next day, the place is back in darkness (actual and metaphorical) and the Tropic…”-Maya

To the response of…

“There’s always someone to make a good deed look bad! I think it was wonderful to travel so far to brighten someone’s day, even if it was only one day!!”! -Dinah

 

Seems the thoughts are like night and day…