Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Poochie, er, The King scares the hell out of me



From USATODAY, "The big-headed ad icon has become the focus of BK ads, appearing in about 75 commercials so far.
"The King is in-your-face cool," says Christopher Muller, director of the Center for Multi-Unit Restaurant Management at Orlando's University of Central Florida. "But he's also very, very, very disturbing."
It's hard to get a bead on the character whose face is as expressive as a frozen Whopper patty.
Which is exactly what Burger King wants — a mascot that causes chatter and gets lots of play time on YouTube. "If we'd made him plain vanilla, like our friends with the clown, we wouldn't have generated the buzz," says Chidsey.
The company is in discussions with Hollywood producers to make a feature film, Above the King, about a teen troublemaker who lives above a Burger King.
"We've re-mystified the brand," says Russ Klein, marketing chief.
Perhaps too much. Franchisees in their 50s and 60s tell Chidsey they don't understand the ads. "I don't get them, either," says Chidsey, who advises them to go talk to their grandchildren. "They can explain the ads."
The hardest part of BK's marketing can be deciding where to draw the line. Klein had to nix one proposal for a TV spot with The King at the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain. His fear: What happens if The King gets gored?
Behind BK's buzz is its uber-cool ad agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, which turned The King into an icon three years ago.
At the time, Burger King's biggest problem was its bland image. "You wouldn't have wanted to walk around in a Burger King T-shirt," says Jeff Hicks, agency CEO.
Now, people not only walk around in The King T-shirts, but also wear his mask at Halloween."

1 comment:

Octopunk said...

Sigh. I hate when ad firms get tagged as "uber cool." But I do like the idea of needing your grandchildren to explain a joke.

"And the weird guy is, like, there. It's just so weird!"

Malevolent

 2018  ***1/2 It's 1986 for some reason, and a team of paranormal investigators are making a big name for themselves all over Scotland. ...