The campaign, designed by Ogilvy RedCard, is the brain-child of Steen Puggard, regional marketing director for Burger King, and aims to drive more customers into its restaurants. Some of the suggestions on the CD-Rom include putting 'Iâ„¢BK' on T-shirts and placing these on Ronald McDonald, placing large footprints to and from Burger King to McDonald's, and putting signs on empty benches that say 'gone to BK -- Ronald'.
If this all sound a bit tongue-in-cheek, that's no accident, said RedCard regional project manager Robert Doswell.
"Burger King is not afraid to use humour to talk to its customers," explained Doswell. "It wants to engage with people on the street and humour is a great way to get their attention and win them over." The campaign not only targets McDonald's, but Kentucky Fried Chicken; sugg- esting the placement of a large sign at a Burger King location near KFC that reads: 'It's why the chicken crossed the road.'
Other tactics are simply designed to get people thinking about food and getting more foot traffic into BK restaurants. They include signage and walking boards.
"We are fishing where the fish are," explained Doswell. "Our target audience will tend to move towards other fastfood outlets. They will not necessarily be looking to eat at that given moment until they are 'hit' by certain triggers -- for example, the smell of a burger, french fries or the McDonald's arches."
While there is no single demographic targeted, Doswell said there are different promotions aimed at different people at various times of day and locations, skewed towards neither sex nor age. Doswell said he believed the campaign would be effective because "we are all weak when it comes to food".
Burger King is targeting 100 stores in Asia. The chain has 11,000 restaurants worldwide and is in second place, behind McDonald's, in the competitive burger segment.
One idea that might not fly in Singapore is placing Burger King stickers on bus schedules to indicate store locations, which the Government might consider acts of vandalism.
Doswell conceded that some activations would not work in Singapore: "While we won't promote breaking the law, we always think that challenging the status quo is a good thing."
The campaign will have an initial one-month blast and will then be adapted and used on an ongoing basis, depending on results.