Advertising Age recently reported Burger King is putting its U.S. creative and media into play, meaning incumbent advertising agency David may get flame-broiled and fired. Incumbent media shop Horizon may be unable to hold the pickle, hold the lettuce and hold BK, Popeyes and Tim Hortons. So, what’s the message here? Ironically, the incumbent creative ad agency failed to heed the words of the industry icon that inspired their name—David Ogilvy—who declared, “If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.”
Burger King Begins Agency Review For U.S. Creative And Media
Sibling chains Popeyes and Tim Hortons are also part of the U.S. media review
By Jessica Wohl
Burger King, which has struggled to lure diners despite numerous award-winning ads, is reviewing its U.S. creative and media agencies.
The move is a blow to creative agency David, and media agency Horizon. Burger King has worked with each of the agencies for roughly eight years. Horizon’s future with Burger King’s sibling chains Popeyes and Tim Hortons is also in question.
David and Horizon are both invited to join the request for proposal, Burger King announced. Burger King, through a spokesperson, said that it was “extremely grateful for the incredible partnership from David and Horizon over the years and both agencies are invited to join the RFP.”
“As BK continues to evolve its efforts to achieve world-class relevance with today’s guests, a thorough review of key aspects of the business will take place,” the spokesperson said.
ID Comms is managing the pitches.
The review comes as Burger King tries to boost its business with value-priced deals and other offers. The Home of the Whopper saw U.S. same-store sales, or sales at longstanding restaurants, fall 1.6% in the third quarter when Wall Street had predicted a 3.4% increase. As one analyst titled a research note about the results: “Fixing Burger King U.S. Quickly May Prove an ‘Impossible Whopper.’”
Whichever agency or agencies win the account have much work to do. Burger King lost its No. 2 U.S. burger chain status to Wendy’s in 2020. Burger King's U.S. measured media spending fell 22.9% to $286.8 million in 2020, according to Kantar data from the Ad Age Datacenter, as the pandemic disrupted the restaurant industry. And the marketing ranks at the chain and parent company Restaurant Brands International have been in flux.
In November 2021, its chief marketing officer, Ellie Doty, left after less than two years, a move the chain called a personal decision. She was replaced by interim CMO Yosef Hojchman. Doty’s departure came weeks after Paloma Azulay, global chief brand officer of Restaurant Brands International, left the company. Both of them left months after Fernando Machado, who had been Restaurant Brands International’s global chief marketing officer after serving as Burger King’s CMO, departed for Activision Blizzard in April 2021. And late last month Bruno Cardinali, Popeyes’ chief marketing officer for U.S. & Canada, left after joining the chain in early 2019, just before its massive chicken sandwich success.
Now, in the U.S., three major chains in Restaurant Brands’ portfolio—Burger King, Popeyes and Tim Hortons—are looking for a new media agency of record. Each has been working with Horizon.
Along with David on creative and Horizon on media, Burger King’s agency roster in the U.S. includes 360i on social, 500 Degrees Studio on merchandising and Alison Brod Marketing Communications (ABMC) on PR. Popeyes works with Gut, Horizon, ABMC, Hawkeye and 500 Degrees. Tim Hortons’ roster includes Horizon, 500 Degrees and ABMC.
Many of David’s campaigns for Burger King have been creative hits. They include last year’s ads launching BK’s Ch’King chicken sandwich, featuring the voice of Paul Giamatti and radio and video spots about these “confusing times” promoting the meatless Impossible Whopper. David also played a role in the early 2020 multi-agency, multi-award-winning hit “Moldy Whopper” about dropping artificial ingredients and preservatives from the menu. David was also the agency behind Burger King’s move to air 45 seconds of old footage of Andy Warhol eating a Whopper during the 2019 Super Bowl.
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