Getting Stunt Marketing Right
A recent move by Burger King Norway made breathless rounds of the marketing press. The brand offered free Big Macs to all of its Facebook fans. The catch was that if anyone took them up on the offer, they would have to stop being fans. 30,000 of them jumped at the chance.
Controversy has raged over this move. Some say it was bold and brilliant, because the brand sacrificed a short term loss in the quantity of fans for a long term increase in the quality of engagement. Others scratched their heads that a company would actually offer a competitor’s product to its own customers. Both could be right. Let’s break it down.
Burger King Norway had a problem. Its Facebook page suffered from a snarky and discount-demanding friend base. It was providing a lousy experience for its real fans, those who were passionate about Burger King and wanted to connect with the brand,
So it responded with stunt marketing. Stunt marketing is a tactic in which the object is to draw attention to the marketing activity itself, rather than the benefits of the brand. It has more to do with PR than anything else. In this case, by doing something so unexpected, Burger King got a huge boost in the press. That never hurts.
The stunt has some downside. Burger King and McDonalds are fiercely competitive. But in the real world, many people who eat at one also eat at the other. As a result, the offer likely peeled away people who actually enjoyed the restaurant. Besides, Burger King admittedly wasn’t providing a great Facebook experience. Many of its fans probably thought they weren’t losing much by taking a free sandwich.
The overwhelming response also tainted the PR. 30,000 turned out to be 2/3 of the company’s fans. In other words, the headline for the story could easily have been, “Burger King Offers Free Big Macs to Its Fans, and Most Bite.” That’s not good.
But it shows great long term focus. Burger King’s marketing team explained their efforts as an attempt to improve the conversation with its customers over the long haul. This is important. Passionate customers account for an outsized percentage of revenue for restaurants like these—and a Facebook page is a great way to find out what really motivates them. It’s also true that a higher quality fan base will make the page better and lead to more engagement. That could result in many more fans of fans seeing the page.
It has to play into a bigger strategy. For this effort to succeed, Burger King has to listen to the conversation that results and act on it. Following through is a much less glamorous activity, but it will determine the success or failure of this initiative. If the brand’s marketers have no plans for long-term engagement, they are merely doing this to make it into Ad Age. That may be good for their careers, but not for the brand they represent.
And they should be ready to measure it. You can use a number of metrics to track this kind of activity, even though it plays out in the long term. None of them will be perfect, but using several should help you understand the overall effect. Social activity on Facebook will be a major component of this. Sales are another. You could also see if the Facebook fans suggest actions that help improve customer sentiment. And, finally, you can look at brand equity measured over time. That way you’ll be able to understand if this was merely a short term stunt or a long term play.
Let me know what you think.
I’d like to thank Jason Carmel, POSSIBLE’s director of marketing sciences, chief marketing strategist Marc Connor, and chief marketing officer Chien-Wen Tong for their contributions to this post.
Graphic: Author's own
Marketing Strategist | Online Marketing Expert
10 年A clever way of doing a number of things: - Negatively positioning a competitor - Demarketing a competitor - Building brand equity by elevating perception of quality - Repositioning their brand by upward extension - Redefining their brand customer relationship - Defining their customer - Conducting a basic taste comparison Perception of Quality: The move makes a subliminal insinuation that BurgerKing is not willing to give away free Burger King burgers because they are not a freebie snack [brand], but a high quality eating experience. They go further to suggest that they are such a high quality brand that they are willing to get the international burger benchmark [The Big Mac] and give it away for free to their customers just for sport. This becomes a category qualifier differentiating the positioning of the two burgers, positioning Burger King as an higher quality eating experience and Big Mac as a fun and games, kiddy snack type meal that you dish out. Brand customer relationship: They love their customers so much that they are willing to acquire and entertain them with 30 000 Big Macs. What a measurable sacrifice for their fans. Furthermore, I hear them defining their loyal customer by suggesting that Burger King is for the Burger connoisseur and the Big Mac is for the burger eater. They may seem to be cleaning out less engaged followers but I don't necessarily see the coerelation because most people will always take a present, bargain or a freebie. However, if followers are allowed to return, they probably will all return for more presents and as real brand ambassadors, more engaged. If anything, they are cleaning out Burger eaters. I'm going to take a stretch and say I see potential brand ambassadors spreading the word about how Burger King gives away free Big Macs to less savvy burger eaters. Finally, I think this could have just been a bold tasting exercise for Burger King to prove that Burger King burgers are better than McDonalds burgers.
Brand and digital marketer | Data-driven
10 年PR gimmicks help you get the word around but doesnt change your product. If people prefer Mcdonald to BK then that will continue unless one uses insight to change/modify the product. Mcdy's would have been ecstatic. A small "spread the love" campaign would suffice to pile in the votes to their side. Also as said, only 10k new fans were added. The fact that Mcdys is preferred might be because of various reasons. A follow through analysis to understand the newbies would have definitely been a good idea. Whether they liked what they ate, price sensitivity, comparison to Mcdys, etc. might have definitely helped for better insights.
it was direct response before it was performance.
10 年The mind blowing part of this... is that it may all have been faked and never happened at all... which makes it a REAL stunt! https://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-pages/131195130399652-burger-king-norge https://www.socialmediaclub.at/2013/12/burger-king-norway-whopper-sellout.html
Insurance Professional
10 年and anybody who took them up on the offer reliked the page later on. I think the stunt could have been done though without having someone "unfan" their own page. You are opening it up for the opposition to say people would rather eat one burger than ever to interact with you again. Maybe a free burger for anybody who creates their own fan page with links to BK websites or puts up locations in their area would be better. Or how about someone that can prove they wrote a nice article with a high rating on YELP get a free burger...
Vice President at VSC, helping tech startups raise funds, earn media coverage, and build industry-defining brands.
10 年Shane, your point regarding the importance of what they do next is spot on. I think another key factor in this initiative is that they've created a wonderful "us v. them" scenario. Their remaining fans are the 'true loyalists,' the 'burger connoisseurs' who stand on the side of quality in the Burger Wars. Sometimes it's good to have a villain to push against. Now, it would also be interesting to see if the data allowed them to identify fans who stayed with Burger King even if their friends took the offer. You could create a wonderful campaign playing to the idea that 'you didn't need a different burger, but maybe you need different friends!' - in a playful way that keeps the idea alive. What else do your friends prefer? Allow fans to post things like, "My friend prefers McDonalds... and Nickelback (or the Norwegian equivalent). That could open up all sorts of possibilities and really engage specific demographics in compelling ways.