My favorite fast food franchise maybe making a, “Whopper” of a marketing mistake and I can’t figure out why they’re doing it.

Burger King had a marketing hit on its hands when in 2004 they reintroduced, “The King” as an incredibly spooky plastic faced character. The launch could not have been timed better. The new mono expressive King character is as popular as he is creepy and in 2004 the marketing world was well on its way to being entrenched in web 2.0 media sharing sites like the popular video site, You Tube.

People all over the world began making hysterical videos playing upon the creepy and the cool nature of the King character from having him appear at sleeping children’s bedsides to applying tanning oil to scantily clad women on the beach. King videos and doctored images were popping up everywhere and Burger King Restaurants were reaping the rewards of this viral marketing.

The new king was proving to be the best marketing decision BK had ever made. They finally had a mascot that could compete and even beat that friggin clown at,” arch” rival McDonalds.

None of the pervious BK mascots have had anywhere near the acceptance or charisma of the new King. In actuality they were all pretty forgettable. In the early 70’s, when I was a kid, the King was a cartoon character that really had no pizzazz. In the late 70’s the King became a real man. He was magical and performed tricks at Burger Kings all over the country. This new live king was a marketing flop. Grown men with onion ring breath and scraggly red beards just didn’t appeal to little kids – go figure.

Burger King was not the only fast food chain to struggle with creepy marketing mascots. McDonalds introduced their first mascot in 1963. Former Bozo the Clown actor and now famous weatherman Willard Scott portrayed the very first Mickey D’s clown. As a weatherman Scott is lovable and kind, especially to century year old women around the country who get a shout-out on their birthdays from the jolly weatherman but as a fast food clown though he hit the disturbing scale on a level that would only be topped by John Wayne Gacy.

We’ll now that BK seems to have a winning mascot on their hands they may be fazing him out to be replaced with the 70’s cartoon King. To make matters worse they seem to be using both Kings at the same time.

On a recent visit to a Burger King in Connecticut I noticed that the old King was appearing on Kids Meal bags while at the same time the current King was on signage around the restaurant. What is the point of this? From a marketing perspective it seems counter-productive. You’ve got a King that is a viral marketing phenom. Hordes of people are marketing for you – why screw with that, especially to return to such an insignificant character?

I wonder if all this viral marketing is gong un-noticed by the franchise or is it just another case of an ad agency not understanding the power and potential of the new Internet culture. Well Burger King, if you want to throw away a good thing – have it your way.

I have to give credit to You Tube, they have really created something amazing! You Tube has created a community of loyal followers that would make Jimmy Swaggart jealous.     

I’ve been having meetings with former NY Giant and owner of the top selling Hyundai dealer in NJ, Brad Benson (being a HUGE Giants fan this is big for me) about his Internet marketing strategy.

Brad’s irreverent and memorable radio and television commercials have sort of a cult following here in New Jersey so when he used Jib Jab to create his latest gem I immediately put it up on You Tube just to see what type of effect it would have.
I understand Internet marketing and the powerful effect that a well constructed viral marketing campaign can have. My company (Single Throw) produced an extremely effective viral campaign with eight time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman. Ronnie’s video gains popularity daily and has not slowed down since we launched it.

Back to Brad. I posted Brad’s video on You Tube at 8:45 on a Friday morning. By 8:50 someone had already commented on it, two people rated it, one put it in their favorites and over 50 people had viewed it! IN FIVE MINUTES!

You Tube – You Rock!