Stupid Brilliant

“Whopper Virgins” is on the air.



Attention getting, yes. Not often do you get to see costumed, toothless citizens of the world in a charmingly confused state, picking apart buns and pickles and greenish beef patties as they try to figure out how to eat an American fast food burger.

Breakthrough? Check.

But it also feels a bit perplexing. Is it serious or funny? They sure seem to want us to take it seriously. Especially when they put a lovely long form film on their website.

But in the ads, they use a the big over the top voiceover and cinematic music that make it feel goofy, and it all just feels kind of schizophrenic. And silly.

Which may be irrelevant if all Burger King is doing is, once again, trying to get noticed in a broiler full of fast food sameness, zeroing in on their irreverence-loving target, and getting more attention than their competitiors.

The campaign may be stupid, but those guys are brilliant.

All hail the Virgins!

More brilliant marketing from Burger King.

What is the purpose of great marketing? To get the people who are most likely to purchase your product to like you.

If you’re trying to win a popularity contest, you can’t piss people off, but Burger King understands that for their purposes, it’s not about getting the whole world to love them. It’s about nailing their target with a relevant message.

Burger King has been exceptionally good at this over the past few years. And now they’ve taken the god ole’ taste test to a whole new level. “Whopper Virgins” hasn’t even been rolled out yet but the teasers are already generating tons of news, lots of chatter, and a good deal of controversy.

Last time I checked, breaking through and getting noticed is another thing great marketing is supposed to do, especially in a category as fiercely competitive as the fast food burger wars.

Once again, the King rules.