Kudos to Burger King for realizing that video games are another way many retailers are getting their message out and getting their core audience to “live” the brand. Just look at this news bit from e-Marketer.com that came across the email today about Burger King having just finished up a video game campaign. Their real genius was in coming up with a price point that would appeal to the audience:
"Certainly they're not after the sub-ten-year-olds, because the competition does that, without mentioning any names. But they want to get the 12-18 or 20 year olds, and those people play video games, and that's cool and that's trendy and that's where they want to spend their advertising money." The fact that the chain made the games a premium for food purchases also makes sense; the low price [$3.99] point (compared with $60 for full retail XBox 360 games) makes the purchase a no-brainer for people in the target demographic who already own the console.
The article mentions that Burger King’s other asset is the strong identity they have in their “Burger King” cartoon figure. It is just another way that savvy marketers are getting their image out. Last year Burger King managed to get the Burger King figure included in Esquire magazines Most Dubious Achievement Awards. As with the video games, it was a good target for their audience, in that Burger King’s demographics skew to a higher age demo than Mickey D’s.
My question: How much did Burger King pay to get into Esquire?
If you go to the Burger King website (which by the way, I think is not that great a website; looks to me as if the designer got his way too much) you will also see the Maxim Hometown Hotties (if you can find them on the Table Guest section). Another stab at their demographic of teenagers and 20-something men.
My question is, as the one-time father of teenage boys, do I want my twelve-year old son looking at Burger King's website to satisfy his sexual curiosities? That might be his only refuge if his parents have blocked other sites.
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