ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITY

Marketing Communications

MOD001178

STUDENT ID : 2127052/1
INTAKE : January 2021
PROGRAMME : BSc (Hons) Marketing
SUBJECT CODE : Marketing Communications
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction 2
2.0 Marketing Audit 2
2.1 External Audit 2
2.1.1 Political 2
2.1.2 Economic 2
2.1.3 Social/Cultural 3
2.1.4 Technology 3
2.1.5 Legal 3
2.2 Internal Audit 3
2.2.1 Competitors 3
2.2.2 Customers 4
2.2.3 Raw Material Prices 4
2.3 SWOT Analysis 4
2.3.1 Strengths 4
2.3.2 Weaknesses 4
2.3.3 Opportunities4
2.3.4 Threats 5
3.0 Burger King Malaysia’s Target Market 5
3.1 Geographic Segmentation 6
3.2 Demographic Segmentation 6
3.3 Behavioural Segmentation 6
3.4 Psychographic Segmentation 6
4.0 Market communication campaign objectives 7
5.0 Integrated Marketing Communication strategies 8
5.1 Website and application 8
5.2 Advertisement 9
5.3 Public Relation 10
5.4 Social Media marketing 10
6.0 Marketing communication budget and Gantt chart 11
7.0 Conclusion 13
Task 2 14
References 18

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1.0 Introduction
Burger King was founded by David Edgerton and James McLemore on the 4th of December
1954 in Miami Florida USA. It is generally known as the second-largest fast-food chain in the
world. As of 2020, there were 18,573 franchised restaurants and 52 company-operated
restaurants worldwide (Lock, 2021). In Malaysia, Burger King is under the management of
Cosmo Restaurants, one of the franchisees of Burger King. In this report, Burger King's
marketing audit and target market will be discussed, followed by a 6-month campaign plan. In
addition, the advertisements of current organisations will be analysed in the last section. 

2.0 Marketing Audit

2.1 External Audit
2.1.1 Political
The local government is constantly changing. On the 13th of September in 2021, the federal
government and Pakatan Harapan (PH) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on
Political Stability. The MoU is valid from the date of signing until the dissolution of the 14th
Parliament. There is no doubt that Parliament could be dissolved by the end of the MoU period
in July 2022 (Koh, 2021). For better or worse, political changes in Malaysia have also been
accompanied by changes in government policy, because the prime minister handles most of the
country's policies and regulations, and different prime ministers will affect a wide range of key
projects and policies. 

2.1.2 Economic
According to a report by the Department of Statistics Malaysia, Malaysia’s economic
performance in 2021 showed a recovery, growing by 3.1%, compared with a decline of 5.6% in
2020 (Mahidin, 2022). That's a good sign after a year of Covid-19 infections and subsequent
lockdowns. However, at the time of writing, the highly spread variant of Omicron is hitting
Malaysia with a cumulative daily caseload of over 30,000. It could affect the easing of
movement restrictions and thus the economic recovery. Furthermore, the outbreak has also
disrupted food supply chains. This led to interruptions in the production process. As a result,
food prices have risen, causing Malaysia to face inflation (Bala, 2022).

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2.1.3 Social/Cultural
In recent years, people are looking for healthy options when deciding on their meals. According
to a news report by The Star, GrabFood's Food Trends 2020/2021 report shows that 70% of
Malaysians choose healthier food for their meals, and 44% are willing to pay more for healthier
food. Also, orders for healthy food in 2020 tripled from 2019 (Durai, 2022). This trend makes
people avoid unhealthy and fast food. Furthermore, Malaysia is a multi-ethnic country with
Malays in the majority, followed by Chinese and Indians. Each group has its religion and way of
life. Therefore, businesses should understand the beliefs and values of their target market.

2.1.4 Technology
Since 2020, with the surge of the pandemic, people have started to switch to online shopping,
especially the millennials and generation Z. As the Covid-19 cases remain high, people prefer to
order on food delivery platforms like Grab Food, Foodpanda, Shopee Food, etc. (Durai, 2021). 
Additionally, to avoid too much close contact, some food businesses have adopted technological
automation tools such as self-ordering, payment systems, and online ordering and delivery
systems. The most common automated tools are self-ordering machines and online ordering
systems.

2.1.5 Legal
Operating a food business in a Muslim target market, the business needs to obtain a halal
certificate from JAKIM, which means that only halal ingredients are allowed in the food on the
premises. According to the Food Hygiene Regulations 2009, restaurants are required to ensure
food hygiene. Food handles require personal hygiene and avoid practices that may contaminate
food (Thangayah, 2009).

2.2 Internal Audit

2.2.1 Competitors
There is no doubt that McDonald's is Burger King's biggest competitor. Other competitors
include KFC, Domino Pizza, and more. With so many options on the market, customers can
easily switch from one company to another with low switching costs. Besides, the competitors

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were already aware of the digitization in Malaysia, such as Domino Pizza, McDonald’s had their
delivery teams and applications which allow customers to order directly from their apps. 

2.2.2 Customers
As mentioned earlier, the trend toward healthy food poses a major threat to Burger King's
operations as more customers are reluctant to buy Burger King products for health reasons.
Currently, Burger King only provides two menus for healthier options which are the salad and
mushroom veggie burger. 

2.2.3 Raw Material Prices

Due to the disruptions in the food supply chains, global food prices are increasing. Although the
government is taking steps to control food price hikes (Bala, 2022), the cost of production has
significantly increased. It could affect pricing, turning away a large segment of consumers who
may find their food too expensive to buy, especially during this pandemic. 

2.3 SWOT Analysis

2.3.1 Strengths
Burger King has a very strong brand image, as we know that it is one of the world’s most
recognizable brands. Despite the pandemic, Burger King Malaysia announced its expansion
plans and rebranded in February 2021 (Bala, 2022). This shows that it has the strong financial
strength, as many businesses have suffered layoffs or closures during the pandemic, but they are
planning to expand.

2.3.2 Weaknesses
Burger King's signature burger patty is its 100% flame-grilled beef patty. It's not a unique
product that other competitors can't offer today, and it's easily imitated by others. As we all
know, the fast-food industry is highly competitive and Burger King should be more creative and
innovative to stand out from its competitors.

2.3.3 Opportunities

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The economic recovery in Malaysia means Malaysians have more purchasing power to spend on
outside food. With the rise of health-conscious and tech-savvy people, Burger King Malaysia can
seize the opportunity to develop healthy menus and apps for its target audience.

2.3.4 Threats
As mentioned earlier, the unstable political status in Malaysia may affect the profitability of the
business. In a multi-ethnic market, Burger King may have overlooked some religious beliefs. In
addition, the changing consumer habit is significantly a threat to Burger King, if the healthy
trend continues to grow, the fast-food model may prove unsustainable.

Figure 1: SWOT Analysis summarise

3.0 Burger King Malaysia’s Target Market

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 Figure 2: Target Market Segmentation

3.1 Geographic Segmentation:

Burger King divides customers by region, while Burger King Malaysia targets customers who
live in urban areas of Malaysia. 

3.2 Demographic Segmentation:

Burger King is primarily aimed at a male and female audience between the ages of 18-35.
Typically, these clients are students and employees from the middle social class. Also, people
who like to have dinner with family. 

3.3 Behavioural Segmentation:

Clearly, Burger King is targeting people with a certain level of loyalty, who usually refer to
themselves as BK fans. Besides, these people also seek cost benefits and time efficiency. They
feel Burger King's products are more valuable than other competitors, some of them are after-
time efficiency, and they are concerned with a meal that provides enough energy calories in a
certain time.

3.4 Psychographic Segmentation:

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When it comes to lifestyle, the targeted people usually like to enjoy a nice environment, free Wi-
Fi, and air-con. Burger King also started targeting people who want to enjoy safe, tasty, and
healthy fast food.

4.0 Marketing communication campaign objectives

According to 2021 Dining and QSR rankings data from YouGov, McDonald's topped the list
with 50.9, followed by KFC with 46.9, and Pizza Hut in second with 30 (Amir, 2021).In this
ranking, Burger King is only 7th with a score of 22.9 (Ramadila, 2021). To be able to squeeze
into the top 3 in this competitive Malaysia market, Burger King Malaysia needs to start a 6-
month campaign, #BeTheKing. This campaign’s objectives are to:

1. Increase brand loyalty by 30% by introducing a new brand logo and app in the first two
months of the campaign. 

Although Burger King has a very strong brand image globally, the new visual identity for
Malaysia may go unnoticed by customers. In line with the company's plans for 2021, the
campaign will help to develop brand loyalty and let Malaysians know that Burger King Malaysia
is following the trends and is ready to serve them better than other competitors. 
 
2. Increase social media subscribers by 30% over a 6-month campaign.

In the era of digitization, most people spend most of their time on social media. According to
Animoto’s survey, different generations like to use different social media platforms and most of
them are influenced by a brand’s social media presence. Also, they found that Gen Z prefers to
use Instagram to follow brands, and Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X rely on YouTube when
making purchase decisions (Rozario-Ospino, 2020). 
 
3. Increase market share by 20% by launching new menus and coupons within 6 months.

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In the fast-food restaurant industry, competition is fierce. The campaign aims to strengthen the
influence of Burger King Malaysia to attract more customers to choose us over other
competitors. 
 
5.0 Integrated Marketing Communication strategies
The #BeTheKing campaign is aimed at young adults, adults, couples, and families between the
ages of 18 and 35. This section will demonstrate the integrated marketing communication tools
of website, advertisements, public relations, and social media marketing.

5.1 Website and application

First, we will redesign our website to be more informative and interactive for our customers. As
shown in Figure 5, the Burger King Malaysia website is overly simplistic and unappealing. To
keep up with the health-conscious trend, we can display the calorie intake for each burger, so
they can enjoy our burgers without worry. The site will also display a notice that we have banned
120 unnecessary artificial preservatives from our menus. In addition, the Burger King Malaysia
app will allow customers to order burgers through digital devices such as home smart devices
Google Home and Alexa, and even their smartwatches. They can order like a king anywhere in
the home or office. 

Figure 5: Burger King Malaysia website

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5.2 Advertisement
The campaign will feature Malaysia's top badminton singles player Lee Zii Jia as our campaign
endorsement. Badminton, as the most concerning event for Malaysians, has events throughout
the year. There will be no shortage of reports on Lee, and he has 888,000 followers on
Instagram, which will bring huge influence to the Malaysian market. We all know athletes are
very diet-conscious, so being able to hire him as a spokesperson is a further proof that our new
product is safe and healthy. In addition, we will place advertisements on digital billboards and
social media platforms. 

Figure 6: Lee Zii Jia who won the 2021 All England Open Badminton Championships for
Malaysia.

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Figure 7: Lee Zii Jia’s Instagram profile

5.2 Public Relation

To raise awareness of our new brand logo, we will be holding a press conference announcing our
campaign and endorsement contract with Lee Zii Jia. Additionally, we will schedule press kits
and interviews about new product launch to engage with our target audience and let them know
we understand their expectations.

5.3 Social Media marketing

The purpose of using social media marketing is to increase the digital presence of our brand and
drive traffic to our site. To attract the eyes of the young adults in Malaysia, we will imitate
Burger King’s ‘Burn That Ad’ (Figure 8) in 2019 in Brazil. We expect to give away 100,000
Whoppers to Instagram users who use augmented reality (AR) to burn competitors’ ads to reveal
a free Whopper burger coupon. Additionally, we will invite 10 famous YouTubers in Malaysia,
such as Jinnyboy, Isaac Osman, and more, to join this campaign and review our food products. In
addition, we will actively create content on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and
YouTube. 

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Figure 8: Burger King - Burn That Ad

6.0 Marketing communication budget and Gantt chart

For the website and app, we will pay the design company and the app production company
RM50,000 and RM100,000 respectively. These will take place during the first month of the
campaign to accompany integrated marketing communications in the following months.
Furthermore, we will be advertising on 10 digital billboards and social media platforms. Digital
billboard advertising is designed to increase awareness of our new brand, so we will only
advertise after the website and app are complete, the second month of the campaign. Each digital
ad costs RM700 per week. In order not to disgust the public, we only run one week of
advertisements per month to keep the public fresh, and the total budget for 6 months is
RM42,000. The purpose of social media advertising is to inform the target audience that we still
exist in Malaysia. Social media ads are charged on a click-through rate basis, to reach more
people, we set a budget of RM50,000. For athlete endorsement, we will budget RM600,000 for 6
months endorsement fee. Public relations will be done during the first month of the event to

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announce our upcoming event with a budget of RM20,000. For social media marketing,
RM1,570,000 will be used for the five-month 100,000 Whopper Give Away campaign priced at
RM15.70 per Whopper, while RM100,000 is for 10 YouTuber endorsements at RM10,000 per
person. The total budget for the #BeTheKing campaign is RM2,532,000.

Tables 1 and 2 below summarise marketing communications budgets and Gantt charts.

Table 1: Marketing communication budget

Budget Element  Budget Costs (RM)

Website and App

Website Redesign RM50,000

App Launching RM100,000

Advertisements

Digital Billboard (10 screens) RM42,000

Social Media Ads RM50,000

Athlete Endorsement RM600,000

Public Relation

Press Kits (1 month) RM20,000

Social Media Marketing

100,000 Whopper GiveAway RM1,570,000 

10 YouTubers Endorsement RM100,000

Total Cost RM2,532,000

Table 2: Gantt chart for #BeTheKing campaign

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 May June, July, August, September, October,
2022 2022 2022 2022 2022 2022

Elements

Website and App

Website Redesign

App launching

Advertisements

Digital Billboard

Athlete Endorsement

Social Media
Advertising

Public Relation

Press Kits

Social Media

Instagram AR
augmented filter

Whopper Give Away

YouTubers
Endorsement

7.0 Conclusion

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At the end of the campaign, Burger King will increase its brand loyalty and increase its market
share in Malaysia. People will be aware of our new visual identity and they will know that
Burger King is not just fast food, it is also a healthy option. Additionally, the customer database
will expand, allowing us to continue building relationships with customers after the campaign.
Burger King Malaysia's active social media will also help attract more people when we launch
new products or new promotions. Keeping up with the trend has not only helped Burger King to
enhance its image and profits in Malaysia but also increased the target market's trust in our
company.

Task 2
As we all know, Burger King has many franchises in more than 60 countries around the world.
In this section the recent advertising of Burger King in different countries will be discussed and
analysed whether it is standardised or adapted to meet local market conditions in Malaysia.
Figures 11, 12, and 13 are the screenshots from Burger King France, Thailand, and Malaysia.
Apparently, in France and Thailand, Burger King ads are advertised in the native language of the
locals. While Burger King Malaysia is using an international language, as Malaysia is a multi-
ethnic country, English is one of the compulsory languages for Malaysian education, so most
Malaysians can understand simple English. Furthermore, we can see that they are using different
talents in the video. For example, the French video is performed by a young Frenchman, while
the Thai video is performed by Thai actors, and the Malaysian video is performed by a
combination of Chinese and Malays.

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Figure 11: Burger King France Video ads - Les Stacker King

 
Figure 12: Burger King Thailand Video ads

Figure 13: Burger King Malaysia Commercial Video ads 2012

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Figures 14 and 15: Burger King Malaysia’s poster (Left) and Burger King Thailand’s poster
(Right)

Figure 16: Burger King UK’s poster

From the Burger King menu above (Figures 14 and 15), we can see that Burger King doesn't sell
pork burgers in Malaysia and there is a halal logo printed on the bottom left corner of the poster.
However, in the Thai and the UK posters, we can see that they are selling pork. This is because
Malaysia is a Muslim country and Muslims never eat pork due to their religious beliefs.
However, there are no such concerns in Thailand and the UK, where most of their people are
Buddhists and Christians.

Not only that, in different countries, Burger King launches different new menus. A survey
showed that chicken is the top choice of Malaysians and followed by seafood, with 71% of
Malays preferring cheese-flavored western food (Lee, 2020). Therefore, Burger King Malaysia
launches a Hokkaido Salmon Mentaiko Burger (Figure 17). In contrast, in many European
countries, the plant-based alternative food consumption trend is growing, Dr. Pauline Scheelbeek
said (New Food Magazine, 2021). For example, in the U.K. and Germany, they are launching a
plant-based meat burger menu, as shown in Figures 18 and 19.

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Figures 17, 18, and 19: Burger King Malaysia Hokkaido Salmon Mentaiko Burger (left), Burger
King UK Plant-based Katsu Chilli Whopper (middle), and Burger King Deutschland Plant-based
Long Curry (right).

Through the above analysis, Burger King is implementing an adaptation strategy in the
Malaysian market to adapt to local market conditions. They understand that the biggest market in
Malaysia is the Muslim market. To appeal to this target market, they obtain a halal certificate
from JAKIM. Furthermore, they know which flavors the target market likes, thus they will
introduce the flavors the market wants.

References
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Bala, S. (2022). Malaysia is taking steps to control rising food prices amid inflation, says
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steps-to-control-rising-food-prices-says-minister.html [Accessed 4 Mar. 2022].

Durai, A. (2021). What food have Malaysians been ordering online during the pandemic?
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Lee, S. (2020). Revealing Malaysia’s Biggest Food Trends. [online] www.oppotus.com.

Available at: https://www.oppotus.com/revealing-malaysias-food-trends/ [Accessed 10 Mar.
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Lock, S. (2021). Burger King: restaurants 2009-2018 | Statista. [online] Statista. Available at:
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Mahidin, M.U. (2022). Department of Statistics Malaysia Official Portal. [online]

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NVF4K2k3M1BWYU8vVTM0Zz09&menu_id=TE5CRUZCblh4ZTZMODZIbmk2aWRRQT0
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New Food Magazine (2021). Plant based alternative consumption doubles in UK. [online] New
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Ramadila, N. (2021). YouGov Dining & QSR Rankings 2021 Malaysia. [online] YouGov.
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malaysia/ [Accessed 6 Mar. 2022].

Rozario-Ospino, J. (2020). How Different Generations of Consumers Use Social Media

[Infographic]. [online] Social Media Today. Available at:

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https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/how-different-generations-of-consumers-use-social-
media-infographic/576243/ [Accessed 8 Mar. 2022].

Tan, J. (2021). Burger King MY invests RM30m to open 25 outlets, shifts focus to digital.
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year-end-shifts-focus-to-digital [Accessed 6 Mar. 2022].

Thangayah, C. (2009). FOOD HYGIENE REGULATIONS 2009. [online]

https://www.fmm.org.my/. FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY DIVISION MINISTRY OF
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%20Hygiene.pdf [Accessed 10 Mar. 2022].

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