Mark McCulloch – the brand and marketing guru behind Supersonic Inc – gives his latest take on a marketing campaign by a prominent operator. Today, he looks at how Burger King capitalised on McDonald’s loss of its Big Mac trademark with a campaign, mocking up a Big Mac-inspired menu. Is BK’s bare-faced cheek to be admired or should the company be more focussed on promoting its own USP?
When McDonald’s suffered a real blow in legal terms over the trademark of their most famous creation, the Big Mac, Burger King was quick to kick its rival right in the grill.
BK must’ve been hoping, praying and prepping for this day where they could take the mickey our of Maccy D’s. A mere matter of hours after the decision was made, BK showed videos and imagery of a BK store mocked up their menu boards with burgers names which poked fun at the Golden Arches and sniped at why BK is better.
This was childish in my humble opinion and took Burger King from having a voice, clear strategy and always seemed to be taking the higher ground when marketing as the challenger brand (The Pepsi of the situation).
I love most of BKs marketing (the chicken burger push lately featuring their CEO was great) and I am a real fanboy of Fernando Machado who is fast making a name for himself as a leading light in global business and marketing.
The campaign to me was unnecessary, smacked to an in -oke and I always think if you want to succeed don’t slag off the competition, leapfrog them. To have the tallest skyscraper in the city build yours higher, don’t tear everyone else around you.
We did this back at lastminute.com where some bosses thought it was funny to have a pop at Expedia. It wasn’t, and was full of self congratulations rather than doing anything for your customer. It’s a cheap shot to say the least. The whole thing reminds me of Volkswagen’s “most other cars of a similar size want to be like a Golf”. What if VW lost the TM for Golf? Would other carmakers gain anything by running a campaign to take a shot at the king? Doubt it. Again, what are you hoping will happen from this effort and spend. To what end? Sure Adland may think its fun, but are they your real core customers?
It was a bit of fun but left me thinking less of BK for doing more promotion for Big Mac than it has had in a while. My insiders say that the ruling may be overturned at a future appeal. What a pickle. Sorry that was cheesy.
I’d be really interested to see what you all thought. Tweet me @supersonic_inc or Mark McCulloch on LinkedIn #markoutof10
Idea – 5/10
Effort vs Return - 4/10
Execution – 8/10
Impact – 4/10
Summary – 5/10. Build something, don’t knock others
Mark McCulloch co-founded brand and marketing agency WE ARE Spectacular Ltd in 2012 and now runs premium brand and marketing strategy consultancy Supersonic Inc. based in London and Brighton helping C-Suite level marketers and executives amplify their business across multiple sectors
Precis
Mark’s out 10: What’s the beef?
Mark McCulloch – the brand and marketing guru behind Supersonic Inc – gives his latest take on a marketing campaign by a prominent operator. Today, he looks at how Burger King capitalised on McDonald’s loss of its Big Mac trademark with a campaign, mocking up a Big Mac-inspired menu. Is BK’s bare-faced cheek to be admired or should the company be more focussed on promoting its own USP?
