Either Burger King is enjoying some great fan promotion, or their agency is driving a savvy integrated media campaign. There’s a story unfolding that bridges traditional and emerging social media channels in a clever way–and a far more subtle way than the famous subservient chicken (which amazingly is still active after four years).
The latest campaign, if it is one, uses Twitter to pull together the threads of a number of recent commercials and announcements in a sort of media-driven narrative. There are at least two fairly new handles on Twitter. One is @thebklounge, started last month, and the other is @whoppervirgins, started five days ago. Both are commenting on recent Burger King commercials and announcements, and driving a sort of edgy banter with their tweets.
@thebklounge tweets about the latest BK announcement that they’re releasing a cologne that smells like a flame-broiled whopper:
smell like me and get the ladies. if they’re the ladies you actually want is another matter entirely http://tinyurl.com/6krhl4@homemakerbarbi I’m at the top of the food chain if you know what I mean… and I am served, just not in that sense
@whoppervirgins a handle obviously referencing the Whopper Virgins commercial, tweets about being a burger:
Got some Ketchup seepage. Wondering if I need a doctor.marinating in my own juiciness
Over the last couple of days, an exchange between the two handles led to a sudden interest in Burger King, and a spike in online discussion about the brand. @whoppervirgins wrote a post with an oblique reference to the virgin whopper “documentary”:
Took a drink of well water. Neighboring hamlet poisoned it with dead mule. Feeling sick
@whoppervirgins CEASE AND DESIST. UNAUTHORIZED USE OF TRADEMARK. What is your motivation by the way…?
That led to a flurry of bemused comments that maybe the Internet had just seen the first Cease and Desist by Twitter. And now, a lot of marketers are scratching their heads trying to figure out where the campaign ends and parody begins. The tone of the banter is totally in line with the tone of the whopper virgins campaign and the flame broiled cologne. But is BK that far ahead of the game in leveraging social media? I mean, most marketers on twitter are still talking about internet marketing techniques for building a network of followers. BK seems to have connected the dots between a radio announcement for their flame-broiled cologne on NPR, a mainstream television commercial, and the buzz driving power of Twitter, and that buzz is building their network. I think we’re getting schooled by Crispin Porter or Barbarian.