Burger King is taking a page from Domino’s 2009 playbook and reinvigorating the brand by focusing on improving its food, customer service, and overall restaurant experience.
To highlight the changes underway, Burger King premiered its brand reset commercial, which introduces the new brand platform, “There’s a New King, and it’s You,” during the Oscars on Sunday night. The ad was made by BarkleyOKRP.
“The 90-second ad is almost like a documentary, which is why we thought debuting it during the Oscars would be a good opportunity to bring our story forward,” Burger King CMO Joel Yashinsky told Nation’s Restaurant News. “It has the feel and approach of three acts — the history of the brand as it grew and became part of the culture of America, then time fell off when we didn’t do everything right, and the third is recognition of going forward and putting the guest at the forefront and meaning it.”
To prove the brand’s commitment to reclaiming the flame, U.S. and Canada president, Tom Curtis, recently shared his real phone number—305-874-0520—and invited customers to send suggestions. According to Adweek, he’s received 30,000 messages so far and has personally replied to 2,000.
A small portion of the feedback is featured in the TV spot. One disgruntled Burger King customer asks, “How am I supposed to eat like a King, when you’re feeding me like a peasant?”
To its credit, Burger King has already acted on some of this feedback by firing its “creepy King,” updating the bun on its flame-grilled Whopper, and rolling out a new squish-proof box for the sandwich.
It’s also hard to overlook the importance of the soundtrack in the commercial. “Baba O’Reilly” by The Who is one of the most famous rock songs of the 1970s. That it now serves to amplify better flame-grilled burgers might be hard for some purists to stomach.
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