EXTRA READING 5 (Source: Basic Marketing 02: Online marketing)

Advertising on the Web.

Case study: Burger King become online innovators

Burger King Company Information

Understanding a brand's legacy and present standing is akin to understanding a person's story
- it's endearing and downright respectful. Before starting today’s lession. We've compiled a
brief important information about Burger King that you should know to you can understand a
little about content of today’s lession.
Trade name Burger King
Type Fast food restaurant chain
Date founder Dec 4, 1954
Founders David Edgerton, James McLam
Headquarters Miami-Dade County, Florida,
Menu Whopper, Cheeseburgers,
Chicken Sandwiches, Salad
Items, Desserts, Beverages

Signature items Whopper, Chicken Fries, BK B

Core Value Quality, Integrity, Empowerme
Competitors McDonald's, Taco Bell, Su
Dunkin', Domino's.
Website www.bk.com

Background

When looking for companies who approach online

advertising in a creative manner that makes the most of the
unique attributes of the Web, there are few who do it as well
as the fast-food brand Burger King (BK) and their advertising
agency Crispin Porter + Boguski. They have pioneered a series of innovative and award-
winning online campaigns.

Subservient chicken
In 2004, one of BK’s first forays into online marketing was the Subservient Chicken
campaign, which featured the website <subservientchicken.com> where a man in a chicken
suit would do whatever you told him to do when you typed in a command. If you told him to
jump; he would jump. If you told him to flap; he would flap. If you got raunchy, however, he
would probably wag his finger at you. Now, what does this wacky idea have to do with
hamburgers? Well, a lot really. It was a fun way of BK to launch their TenderCrisp chicken
sandwich, and to combine it with their brand promise that you could “have it your way”.
When it comes to chicken sandwiches, you are in charge and BK is subservient. The
campaign was a monster success. According to a variety of sources, it has had over 20
million unique visitors and upwards of 500 million hits. It may be, as one website calls it,
“the most successful marketing website of all time”.(footnote 10)

Whopper virgins
In 2008, BK launched a unique and somewhat controversial eight-minute documentary-style
Internet film. The film was shot in remote parts of Thailand, Greenland and Romania. It
documented people who had never eaten a hamburger trying their first BK Whopper and
taste-testing it against McDonald’s Big Mac. Watching people eat their first hamburger is on
oddly fascinating experience for the viewer, and soon you forget you are watching a
commercial.
You become caught up in the lives of these people, and how their culture and cuisine is
having a greater impact on the film than the hamburger is on them. The website offers only
one option aside from watching the film. A button labelled “share”. The film’s controversy
arises from the feeling, by many, that perhaps these remote people would have been better off
without the “blessing” of hamburgers and crass commercialism. However, there is no
denying that the “Whopper virgins” campaign is very engaging.
Whooper freak out

In 2009, BK won the coveted Grand Effie award for their

“Whopper freak out” integrated campaign which featured TV
adverts that drove people to the Web to see another eight-minute
documentary film. This film featured an experiment in which BK
took its much-loved Whopper off the menu without warning and
filmed customers to see what would happen. In stage two of the
experiment, they removed the Whopper and replaced it with
competing burgers. As you might expect, Whopper lovers freak
out, which made for an entertaining film, underscoring how much
people loved the tase of their Whopper. Carl Johnson, Chairman of the Board of Directors of
the Effie awards, said, “Burger King won the Grand Effie convincingly due to their boldness
and creativity across multiple media platforms, delivering real cultural relevance and above
all, outstanding business results”.

VOCABULARY

Word Word Definition

form (Source: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/)
Innovator Noun a person or company that introduces new things, ideas
or ways of doing something
Advertising Noun the activity and industry of advertising things to people
on television, in newspapers, on the internet, etc.
Creative Adjective involving the use of skill and the imagination to
produce something new or a work of art
Unique Adjective being the only one of its kind
To pioneer Verb when somebody pioneers something, they are one of
the first people to do, discover or use something new
Campaign Noun a series of planned activities that are intended to
achieve a particular social, commercial or political aim
Subservient Adjective too willing to obey other people
To launch Verb to start an activity, especially an organized one
Visitor Noun a person who visits a person or place
Controversial Adjective causing a lot of angry public discussion
and disagreement
Fascinating Adjective extremely interesting and attractive
Experience Noun the things that have happened to you that influence the
way you think and behave
Culture Noun the customs and beliefs, art, way of life and social
organization of a particular country or group
 Cuisine Noun a style of cooking
Crass an economic and political system in which property,
commercialism business, and industry are controlled by private owners
rather than by the state, with the purpose of making a
profit
Freak out Phrasal If someone freaks out, or if something freaks them out,
Verb they suddenly feel extremely surprised, upset, angry,
or confused.(from Collins)
Warning Noun a statement, an event, etc. telling somebody that
something bad or unpleasant may happen in the future
so that they can try to avoid it
Entertaining Adjective hat you enjoy watching, listening to, doing or
experiencing
Boldness Noun the quality of being easy to see or of having a strong
clear appearance
Convincingly Adv making you believe that something is true or right

QUESTION
1. Burger King has created a number of eight-minute
documentary-styled videos. What are the advantages and
disadvantages of online videos of this length?
2. What do you think of Whopper Freak Out campaign?
Advantages and disadvantages of eight-minute documentary-
styled videos:

1.Advantages:
Engaging storytelling: A well-crafted story can capture the
attention of the audience and keep them engaged throughout the
video.

Deeper insights: Longer videos allow for more in-depth exploration of a topic or
idea,providing the audience with more nuanced insights.

Brand awareness: By creating longer videos, companies can establish a stronger brand
presence and increase brand awareness.

Shareability: Longer videos are often shared more frequently on social media, which can
help to increase their reach.

Disadvantages:
Attention span: The attention span of online viewers is generally short, and it can be
challenging to keep them engaged for eight minutes or longer.
Production costs: Longer videos typically require more resources and time to produce, which
can increase production costs.
Platform limitations: Some social media platforms have limitations on video length, which
can impact the reach and effectiveness of longer videos.
2.Opinion on the Whopper Freak Out campaign:
As an AI language model, I don't have personal opinions or biases. However, I can provide a
neutral analysis of the campaign's effectiveness. The Whopper Freak Out campaign was
successful in generating buzz and engaging customers. By removing the Whopper from the
menu and filming customers' reactions, Burger King was able to showcase the popularity of
their product and emphasize their brand promise of allowing customers to "have it their way."
The documentary-style video was a unique approach to advertising, and the campaign won
the Grand Effie award, demonstrating its effectiveness. However, some people may find the
campaign manipulative or mean-spirited, as it involved surprising customers by removing
their favorite menu item without warning. Overall, the Whopper Freak Out campaign was a
bold and creative marketing approach that achieved its objectives of increasing brand
awareness and cultural relevance.

EXERCISE
Exercise 1: Fill in the blanks with given words.
Business philosophy campaign sacrifice
popularity friends promotion idea users guidelines
Whopper sacrifice
BK also had another great online campaign that got cut short. In 2008, in order to take
advantage of popularity of social networking, BK created the Whopper Sacrifice campaign .
The campaign, which was a facebook application, offered a free whopper for every ten
Facebook friends Or contacts that you are willing to sacrifice . The “sacrificed” contacts
would receive an e-mail notifying them that they had been ditched for a Whopper. Facebook,
however, decided that the campaign didn’t meet its guidelines and BK shut it down after just
a week, but not before they had already attracted over 80,000 users

Exercise 2

I know that being able to create viral content will not be easy
because it will depend on good, impressive content that
stimulates curiosity and some luck to be able to become viral.
Therefore, we will try to describe our group's idea in detail so
that everyone can understand it clearly.
We will make "banh mi nhai luon bao". We think anyone
who hears about this will find it strange and when they see
"banh mi nhai luon bao", everyone will start to try it. First,
we will start making a complete video about this type of
bread and the indispensable ingredient is the edible bag,
which is completely made of natural ingredients, which is
flour. “Bao” fermented and have a flexible texture. "Banh mi nhai luon bao" will be
contained in a paper box. Next, we will upload it to Youtube and run ads to young people
from 16-30 years old, and at the same time will publicize the price of a loaf of bread, which is
30,000 VND for a loaf. Furthermore, we will also create short videos that are eye-catching
to consumers to post on YouTube shorts video, in order to reach as many viewers as possible.
We will also begin to expand by using small carts to make products more accessible to
everyone. Finally, This new idea can say extraordinary because this food is environmental
friendly as use edible bag. So it’s has a great influence to curiosity and psychology of people,
especially young people, they will start buy together, invite each other to try this unique dish.

Exercise 3:

Why is burger king not successful in viet nam?

1. Strong competition: Vietnam has a vibrant food culture
with a wide range of local and international dining options.
Fast-food chains like McDonald's and KFC have established a
strong presence in the country. Burger King may have faced
competition from these well-established competitors.

2. Localization difficulties: Adapting to local can be crucial for success in foreign markets.
Burger King's menu may not have resonated with the Vietnamese consumer, which prefers
local flavors and ingredients. Competitors like McDonald's and KFC have made efforts to
localize their menus to appeal to Vietnamese consumers.

3. Brand awareness: Building brand and awareness need time and investment. Burger King
may not have invested as heavily in marketing and advertising in Vietnam as its competitors.

4. Expansion strategy: Burger King's expansion strategy and timing may also have played a
role. It's possible that the company did not prioritize Vietnam as a key market or faced
challenges in finding suitable franchise partners .