Tuesday, January 07, 2014

11683: Burger King Bolts…Again.

Adweek reported that Burger King and Mother have split, making it the third agency shift in three years for the fast feeder. Then again, given that Mother’s efforts included the infamous Mary J. Blige commercial and ultra-lame breakfast sandwiches and coffee launches, it’s a wonder the shop lasted three weeks. The Adweek story stated, “Still not clear is whether the chain is launching an agency review…” Considering the excrement that Mother and predecessor mcgarrybowen shat out in recent years, BK officials might as well handle the ad chores in-house—with grill workers.

Burger King and Mother Split

Third agency shift in 3 years

By Noreen O’Leary

There goes Burger King again. Just 11 months after the fast-food marketer named independent Mother New York creative lead on its business, the two have parted ways. It’s the company’s third change in creative and media partners since mid-2011.

Still not clear is whether the chain is launching an agency review and reps from Burger King and Mother didn’t respond to inquiries.

Before Mother took over last February, mcgarrybowen was the company’s last creative lead, picking up the business in June 2011. (After a high-profile review, mcgarrybowen prevailed, succeeding Crispin, Porter + Bogusky.) Mcgarrybowen won lead status but the marketer then decided to play the field, with each new assignment becoming a competition among all roster shops.

Mother’s last work for Burger King was September’s launch of satisfries, a new, lower-calorie, lower-fat french fry, with spots like “Satisfry Everybody.”

The Mother split comes after Burger King quietly shifted media agencies at the end of the year, moving its business to Horizon Media after a review. Burger King spends an estimated $250 million a year on measured media. On the media side, since mid-2011 Burger King has worked with Starcom and Mindshare.

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