Comments on: Madison Avenue Agency Fails Advertising 101

By: DFHobbs

DFHobbs — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:32:15 +0000

I guess I’ll be the outlier.

I haven’t seen this particular ad, but have viewed many others in the overall campaign. Additionally, the Jack-In-The-Box chain (a west coast brand) does a number of ads that directly challenge their competitors.

(Here’s the one in which they challenge Burger King: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEVMkdScUZc )

First: Just as Bob was able to understand the message of the ads, so too, I’m confident, the viewer is able to understand the message. (To paraphrase: the viewer isn’t stupid they are your children.)

Second: We aren’t in the age of “they laughed when I sat down at the piano…” and getting into the consideration set of a fickle key demographic requires ads that their attention. (If your ads can’t get their attention save your money.)

Third: Artificial rules about not mentioning your competitors are just that: Artificial. For every rule there is a exception that makes sense.

By: Chris Gregor

Chris Gregor — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:45:49 +0000

Stupidity in the TV Industrial complex is rampant. There are currently two beer ads – one for Coors and one for I think it is Miller that both use a silly convention of people alternately experiencing broiling and frigid weather to illustrate I think, the frosty pleasure of the beer – the spots are so alike they are both ineffective.

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By: Dilip Pathak

Dilip Pathak — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:52:42 +0000

dianacacy said:

“But then, I thought BK blundered big time as soon as they made the King. I used to go to BK all the time and looked forward to it, until he came along.”

Well dianacacy, if I am not wrong the king has been BK’s advertising mascot since the 60s. In 2006, Burger King began using the original animated King design from the late 1960s and early 1970s commercials again. However, the second generation King is ‘portrayed as a sarcastic type who sometimes gets in trouble for his mischief making adventures’. Probably the reason why you, ‘never felt anything other than wanting to stay away from the place.’

Check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burger_King

By: wendy s hamburgers

wendy s hamburgers — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:28:53 +0000

[...] [...]

By: Tom Feedcopy

Tom Feedcopy — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:40:13 +0000

I agree – this is a classic mistake. How did they think they were playing up a positive, memorable impression of their business when they spend so much time promoting the the comp?

By: Tera Arthur

Tera Arthur — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:38:50 +0000

I saw the ad the other night and had exactly the same response, but the only reason I knew it was a BK ad was that my husband wasn’t in the room so the TV wasn’t muted during the ad. If it had been, the ad would have looked like a Wendy’s spot.

By: Ken

Ken — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:30:49 +0000

That’s the kicker right there Fiona…no one is accountable! No one ever has to be accountable because they package their crappy ad campaigns as “branding” and “image awareness” and never give a thought as to whether it actually increases sales or not.
The sad part is that many small business follow this type of advertising model thinking it’s the way things should be done…no wonder 90% of them end up failing.

By: Fiona Fell - The Profit Maximsing Web Geek

Fiona Fell - The Profit Maximsing Web Geek — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:47:46 +0000

Wow! What a blunder.

I could not imagine how this ad could improve burger sales for BK, it is helping out W too much.

My question to them is, who is accountable if the burger count doesn’t change? Are their ads and resulting measured to see.

I am sure the Wendy’s crew will be watching.

Fiona Fell
http://www.FionaFell.com.au

By: Bob Bly

Bob Bly — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:52:04 +0000

Gerold: the commercial runs on prime-time network television in the U.S., where virtually everyone is familiar with both BK and Wendy’s. The two chains have locations throughout the nation and for the most part target a similar audience, as far as I can tell.