BURGER KING CAMPAIGN CASE STUDY PDF

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Case study analysis of the 'WhoppHer' campaign by Burger King Saudi Arabia from the year 2018...

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CASE STUDY ANALYSIS OF BURGER KING’s ‘WhoppHer’ CAMPAIGN

Prepared By Timothy Chow Yong Le ( 0335146 ) January 2020

Instructed By Philip C.K. Gan

Industrial Project B ( PRJ40204 ) Diploma In Communication January 2020 Semester Taylor’s University Lakeside Campus

Executive Summary After Saudi Arabia’s driving ban on female drivers was lifted in 2018, Burger King went on to launch the ‘WhoppHer’ campaign to celebrate this historic milestone in the country. Throughout the campaign, Burger King took on the role as an advocate of social movements such as gender equality and women empowerment; with the aim of motivating female consumers to celebrate their right to drive with Burger King. The campaign sees the brand play on the name of its famous Whopper sandwich, and it promised to offer a free Whopper sandwich to every female driver passing by its drive-thrus in the country for a month, from June 28h to July 25th. Burger King mains objective for this campaign is to boost its brand’s presence in the Middle East region through market expansion and market penetration strategy as it estimated to have around 3 million potential customers for the fast food chain in the coming years (PriceWaterCooper, 2018) .

Promotional contents were published in Burger King’s social media page on various social media platforms. The key message and theme of the campaign is that women are equal as men and are capable of doing something such as driving. Burger King ‘WhoppHer’ campaign received moderate media coverage. Consumer awareness of Burger King in the Middle Eastern region increase, specifically women aged 18 and above and the Saudi Arabian public in general. Burger King was positioned as a global brand that supports important social movements. Contrastly, various factors hurt the campaign's message such as cross-national conflict shifting, language barriers,, and lack of exposure.

Table Of Contents

Executive Summary ……………………………………………………………………..

3

Background I) Organization…………………………………………………………………..

4-5

II) Campaign…………………………………………………………………….

6-12

III) Strategies, Tactics, and Result…………………………………………….... 13-15 Recommendation ………………………………………………………………………………….. 16-19 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………

20

Appendixes ……………………………………………………………………………..

21

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………..

22

Background I) Background of the organisation Burger King, is an American multinational chain of fast food restaurants, widely known for their flame-broiled fast food hamburgers and their Whopper sandwich. The brand operates with the tagline ' Be Your Way' and uses 'The Sneak King' as their advertising mascot. Currently, Burger King is the second largest fast food chain in the United States, perhaps even in the world just behind the famous Golden Archer brand, McDonalds.

The brand first started its operation in the year 1953 with the name Insta Burger King. After Insta Burger King ran into financial difficulties in 1954, it was bought over by its two earliest franchisee James McLamore and David Edgerton in Miami, United States; subsequently being renamed to Burger King. Lagging behind McDonald’s in sales and popularity, Burger King underwent many changes of ownership and corporate governance throughout the years. The latest change happened in 2014 when Burger King merged with the Canadian doughnut and fast-food chain Tim Hortons; this led to a formation of a new company called Restaurant Brands International. Today, Restaurant Brands International is the parent company of Burger King. The fast food chain is successful in the international market too; as of December 31, 2018, Burger King reported it had 17,796 outlets in 100 countries; with 7,223 outlets in the United States (Lock, 2019).

With the presence of many other rival brands in the fast food industry, it is indeed a challenge for Burger King to stand out from the rest. However, the brand managed to build a reputation for itself. Burger King is often successful in using creativity and bold methods to build a strong brand image. While most of their campaigns are highly successful, some of it backfired for perceived sexism or cultural insensitivity. In recent years, Burger King can be seen shifting it's campaign approach to more product

orientated with expanded demographic targeting. They started to prioritize women and kids from different age groups as part of their target audience, besides the traditional target audience which are ( Men, age 18-34). ( Bhasin, 2015)

This case study will focus on Burger King's operation in the Middle Eastern region, specifically Saudi Arabia. The fast food chain and it's franchised outlets in Saudi Arabia are managed by The Olayan Group. They (Olayan) are highly reputable in the food services industry in the Middle East region, franchising with other major brands such as Texas Chicken and Buffalo Wings; and was recently awarded the prestigious Franchisee of the Year award by Burger King for the Middle East region. Olayan opened its first Burger King restaurant in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1992 and today there are more than 400 Burger King outlets in the region. The branches in Saudi operate similarly to the Burger King from the United States, with identical operation strategies and marketing approach. They offer a tailored set of menu to cater to the taste of the local consumers. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia's culture and society is known to be conservative and socially rigid, which doesn' complement the unconventional branding approach of Burger King. Additionally, the Saudi government may potentially limit the scope of content that could've been produced in campaign for western brands such as Burger King.

II) Background of the Campaign Situational Analysis (SWOT) Strength ●

Strong Global Presence

Burger King is the 2nd largest fast food chain for hamburgers in the world. The brand has become a genuine global operation, as it currently operates approximately 40 other subsidiaries (Bhasin,2019) companies globally that oversee franchise operations, acquisitions and financial obligations. Not to forget, Burger King also has a strong franchise network globally. As of now, the brand is present in 100 countries around the world. The brand has a total of 17,796 franchises and company owned outlets, with only 1% are company owned outlets remaining 99% of Burger King outlets are owned by franchisees. ( Lock,2019) With such strong brand presence globally, this allows the fast food chain to operate with less capital intensive, focusing more towards innovating their product rather than finances. Throughout the past few years, being a global brand also allowed Burger King to easily establish a strong brand position throughout different regions; which helped attract more traffic and exposure to their past campaigns. ●

Strong Branding and Recognition

Despite the popularity differences, Burger King is equally strong in its branding efforts when compared to McDonalds. Burger King is known as a brand that can capture audiences smartly with its marketing activities. The brand is known widely among consumers for their use of creative and unconventional approach for past campaigns and it had delivered successful results such as the 2018 Burger King’s Whopper Detour campaign, which is memorable to the public. The brand's tagline ‘Be Your Way’ also encourages everyone to be themselves and encourages us to do unconventional things in life. This allows consumers to relate and associate the brand as a welcoming place for everyone. More than 60 years after its first outlet, the brand still manages to remain as a household name all around the world. The simplicity

of the logo, the mascot and the name Burger King has barely changed and this also allowed them to have a strong brand recognition. ●

Strong Product Line

Besides being known for their whopper sandwich, Burger King also provides a variety of product dishes on their menu. The fast food chain menu has expanded from basic offering of burgers, french fries, sodas to a more diverse set of menu. Now, Burger King offers grilled burgers in different sizes, breakfast meals, chicken items, desserts, beverages and other side orders. Furthermore, the Burger King branches from different regions often introduced new products to tailor its menu for the local consumers living there. Having a wide range of product lines available certainly had contributed to Burger King's success in different regions.

Weakness ●

Large Franchisees

With having over 17,796 outlets around the world (Lock, 2019), this can result in difficulty in ensuring conformance of quality of each outlet; and conflict aroused due to that can affect Burger King’s brand image negatively. The brand's relationship with its franchisees has not always been harmonious. Occasional spats between the two have caused issues, and in several instances, the company's and its licensees' relations have degenerated into precedent-setting court cases. An example would be in 2001, when Burger King moved over to expand its operations into Australia, it found that its business name was already trademarked by a takeaway food shop in Adelaide. Instead, Burger King now operates in Australia under the name Hungry Jack (Reynolds, 2017) . While this business model has been proven profitable, overreliance on it means if something goes wrong, the entire brand could be affected as a whole.

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Easily Imitable Business

Even though Burger King has a unique brand image and moderate differentiation, it's business model and products offered are easily imitated. One example would be other fast food chains could offer a similar grilled burgers or the franchising model that this brand offered. Burger King will have difficulty standing out from their competitors if they are unable to create a distinctive business model from the rest.

Opportunity ●

Market expansion

Expanding the Burger King brand to developing markets and region will be a beneficial strategic move in the long term as developed markets such as the United States and Europe are maturing and people are more health conscious. With already 7,223 outlets in the United States (McCaffery, 2019) and 2,400 outlets in Europe alone (Lucas, 2019), targeting the developing markets in regions such as Asia, Africa, and South America will be the future strategy of the fast food industry. These regions are still growing, and Burger King certainly has the opportunity to be a fast food giant in each of these regions in the coming years by growing the number of its outlets there. ●

Market penetration

Strengthening its market penetration strategy in the Middle Eastern market by further targeting the female consumers will help Burger King to increase its revenues & become the no.1 player fast food chain in the middle eastern market. With 3 million women expected to be driving by 2020 in Saudi Arabia (Pricewatercooper, 2019), auto brands have been massively investing in the region; and Burger King could follow along their footsteps. Targeting the women consumers let the fast food chain to diversify their consumers demographic, which had been predominantly male figure. This allows Burger King to shift their focus to several other markets as well, instead of relying solely on the male market.

Threats ●

Over Saturated Market

As rising competition in the fast food industry intensifies, Burger King's influence in the market weakens. Besides the Golden Archer brand, there are many other competitors that's considered a threat to the brand such as KFC, Papa Johns, Carl's Junior, Pizza Hut, Domino's etc. There are many other fast food chains that offer diverse sets of products rather than just a burger. As such, expanding further is challenging with so many competitors standing in the brand's way. This makes it harder for Burger King to build brand loyalty with its consumers since there are so many other options available to them. An average consumer is likely to have the tendency to try something new if it is accessible to them. Hence, Burger King needs to ensure they diversify their set of products and provide something different from their competitor, or risk consumers forgetting them. Burger King also needs to increase the frequency of their campaigns to build brand loyalty.

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Rise of Health Conscious Population

As time progresses in recent years, we see a leap in health consciousness among the consumers in our society; and this results in a change of pattern in the consumer’s behaviour. This led to customers being more cautious with their purchases more than ever, thinking twice before dealing with a fast food outlet such as Burger King. In the past, the brand had aggressively targeted their main demographic (Male, 18-34) with larger products that often carried correspondingly large amounts of unhealthy fats (Bhasin). However this approach is no longer effective with the increase of a healthy lifestyle in society, and Burger King should seek to appeal to consumers outside of their targeted demographic. Sales in the mature markets for fast food chains such as Burger King had been decreasing. It is reported that Asia Pacifics is the only region to register a positive sales growth for Burger King in recent years. This change meant that Burger King has to come up with better options that are both healthy and low in calories to appeal to these

new purchase behaviour from consumers. Failure to cater to the healthier lifestyle of these customers will harm Burger King; leading to the brand to lose its appeal to their customers.

Origin The 'WhoppHer' campaign - the campaign chosen for this case study, is part of the latest branding efforts conducted by Burger King Saudi Arabia. The ‘WhoppHer’ campaign makes it marks through a sequence of events that happened over the course of a few months. On September 26th 2017, King Salman of Saudi Arabia issued an order to lift the ban of driving license towards women during his royal decree. With this reform, women are finally allowed to be on the road following years of outcry from activists. It is the most significant change yet to a rigidly conservative social order in Saudi Arabia that has severely limits the role of women in public life. In response to the announcement, the public reacted positively to this, with many hail this as a ‘great step in the right direction’. Prior to this, Saudi Arabia was the only country left in the world where women are unable to drive, and families have to hire private drivers for female relatives.

Around the same time, social movements promoting gender equality and women's empowerment had also been growing in the country. On June 24th 2018, the decades-old driving ban was officially lifted; female drivers are now allowed to get behind on the wheels. Later on the same day, Burger King then seized this opportunity to position their brand. The brand decided they would give away a free Whopper Sandwich to every female driver who drove through the drive thru section of their fast food chain. On June 28th 2018, Burger King officially announced their PR campaign ‘WhoppHer’ which was held for a duration of 1 month between June 28th until July 25th. However, a day after the campaign started on June 29th 2018, BurgerKing began to receive backlash for the term ‘WhoppHer’ on various social media platforms.

Objectives The first objective for this campaign is an informational objective, which is to increase the awareness that Burger King supports important social movements, issues and causes. This will help build and generate a positive image towards Burger King. As our society becomes more progressive, the public often looked up to global brands such as Burger King as role models. Hence, It is important for Burger King to be known to the public as a brand that promotes causes such as social rights and gender equality. This allows the public to think of Burger King as a welcoming brand to everyone, regardless of gender, race etc.

The second objective Burger King Saudi Arabia seeks to achieve through the ‘WhoppHer’ is classified as a motivational objective. Burger King wants to change the views women in Saudi Arabia have towards driving. Burger King wants to encourage women to start driving, which is an unconventional act in their society

Burger King’s third objective for the campaign is classified as a behavioral objective. Simply, the brand aims to increase the number of female customers who consume at their fast food outlets. The representative of the overall average consumers for Burger King had been predominantly male. Historically, the company had always targeted heavy users, males 18 to 35 years old. (Kelso, 2012 ).

Target Audience The primary target audience for the ‘WhoppHer’ campaign consist of women in Saudi Arabia over the age of 18. The female gender is targeted because Burger King wants to tap into the market where 3 million women are expected to be driving in Saudi Arabia by 2020. On the other hand, the age group of over 18 is targeted because the legal age to drive in Saudi Arabia is over 18. The secondary target audience will be the Saudi Arabians public in general. Besides targeting women ages of over 18, Burger

King also targets the general public that consist of consumers of all ages and gender, in order to grow the customer base of the fast food chain in the country for a long run.

III) Strategies, Tactics and Result of PR Campaign Strategy 1 ●

Increasing the awareness of the 'WhoppHer' campaign through social media postings consisting of images and videos, coverage from news outlets.

Tactic 1 ●

Burger King first published a 1-minute long video on the brand's social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube. The video is titled 'Burger King | WhoppHer' with a caption of ' it's a great time to be a woman in the driver's seat of Saudi.....thanks to Burger King's WhoppHer'. It is the only promotional video disbursed. And was shared on multiple Burger King Lebanon Youtube Channels, and posted on numerous subsidiary Twitter accounts.

The video opens up with a husband and wife couple in a car, with the husband on the passenger side, whereas the wife is on the driver's seat. The husband can be seen trying to adjust the rear-view mirror of the car, feeling hesitant on whether to allow the wife to behind wheels. Throughout the drive, the wife felt nervous to be on the road but with the encouragement of her husband and her own determination, she managed to drive smoothly. The video also shows a group of lady friends going on a road trip together in a car. They were very excited throughout the journey because women can finally drive in Saudi Arabia. Eventually, both the wife and the female pals drove through the drive thru section of the fast food chain and started to order food items such as mozzarella sticks, chicken fries, and caesar salad. When they were about to receive their order, a Burger King waitress gifted both of the female drivers a free Whopper sandwich. The waitress then explained that in celebration with women driving, Burger King would like to reward them. The video ended with an Image of a Whopper sandwich, with the name change of 'Whopper' to 'WhoppHer' written on the packaging. Refer to Appendix 2.

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Burger King also posted a series of photos on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to promote the 'WhoppHer' campaign. The images are posted at the same time as the video. Refer to Appendix 1.

Strategy 2 ●

The strategy of motivating women drivers in Saudi Arabia to drive by offering them something in return.

Tactic 2 ●

This was achieved by rewardin...