Burger King’s Brand In Your Hands
March 26, 2009 by Ellen Ewart
Filed under Marketing
Burger King is not only putting their brand in your hands, but also on your t-shirts!
We’ve talked about Mozilla’s Firefox’s Spread Firefox initiative and the concept of allowing users – to a certain extent – to take matters into their own hands creatively in order to let them interact more heavily with your brand.
At BurgerKingStudio.com, customers can choose from several designs to create their own version of a Burger King t-shirt. The studio claims to be “part art gallery, part think-tank with a dash of Mad Scientist’s experiments thrown in for good measure.”
Given that it’s Harvey’s that lets you customize your burger right in front of you, I’m a bit shocked that Burger King is the one reaching out to its customers this way. Franca Schulte at The Daily Tee said, “Burger King gets it’s customers. We want things the way we like it! Well now, you have a chance to have it your own way. Be unique and style a t-shirt the way you want it. Other wise known as “Have it your way Tees.” How brilliant is that?”
I guess fast food goers are diggin it!
So just how much creative control do we have over the trademarked king?
Customers can choose between 4 different t-shirts and a unisex tank top. They select 6 graphics from a set of 23 and position them anywhere on the shirt. They also choose the size and colour of the graphics. This is my creation (not exactly a work of art):
I must admit that I was a bit disappointed in the range of possibilities here. Though there are also other designs to choose from in the shoppe, I was really expecting more freedom of manipulating the brand identity. I guess this is a lesson in boundaries when handing out your branding into the hands of your customers.
One thing is for certain: Burger King has truly repositioned itself for that young, hip crowd with disposible income falling out of their back pockets. No more boring king crowns, this new Burger King is worthy of being sported on your t-shirt and even seen in public!
What do you think? How willing would you be to allow customers the power of playing around with your brand image?
Ellen,
I’m a huge fan of the way that Burger King isn’t afraid to experiment and try something different, and that in the last few years they have started to talk to a younger audience.
But, there is obvious disconnect from the Burger King we see online and in ads and the Burger King we experience at the restaurants. They aren’t even close to the same thing. If they could bridge this gap, I know they would be more successful with their change in direction.