Inside Burger King’s New Logo Strategy | WSJ Rebrand
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- Опубліковано 7 тра 2024
- Burger King revealed its first total rebrand in over 20 years, in a bid for the fast-food company to claw back sales lost to competitors like McDonald’s and Wendy’s.
A branding expert and reporter explain why Burger King rebranded, what’s behind the design of the new logo and how its business strategy has changed.
0:00 Burger King’s 1999 vs. 2021 logo
0:19 Breaking down the new logo
2:17 The business strategy behind the rebrand
4:36 Consumer reactions
Rebrand
When companies rebrand, they often change their logo - a visual representation of a company’s shift in strategy. But how effective is it? In each Rebrand episode, we interview a logo expert, a business expert and mainstream consumers to decode exactly what an updated logo is meant to say and why.
#BurgerKing #Food #WSJ
Fancy words to basically say we've repurposed the old logo because of its simplicity and nostalgia. Which are actual trends in alot of todays media styles and brands. simplistic/minimilistic and nostalgic.
Welcome to the marketing and branding world
hah true.
They are bringing back a style of logo from what, 20 something years ago? Most of the young people inhabiting these fast food joints weren't around or were really young back then. It doesn't mean squat to them. But I guess advertising people have to justify their pay check some how.
I've heard a lot of Americans say they are tired of the woke madness and want their country to go back to the way it was in the 1990s. Switching back to the 1990s logo is a genius move.
Except McDonalds that went from clown dystopia to traditional dystopia.
The problem with the entire fast food model is that it used to be fast and cheap. But now it's neither. You can walk in to any of them, place an order, and find yourself waiting while 20 app orders got in ahead of you, and they're not even in the store yet. And the bill for a single meal can now run $15 so there's the problem, not the logo. The key attributes that made all burger chains successful have now evaporated.
So true! Nothing worse than seeing them pack 10 different orders to go before giving me my whopper and fries
Idk where you're buying it, but the apps are used for a reason, a bacon king and fries, without drink is $9.
Usually they have a separate line for drive through and pick up/delivery orders, it's still pretty fast...
@Drownedinblood i mean i dont wanna have 5 different fast food apps on my phone. Especially if they dont give some loyalty bonuses. I dont get why every company wants to have an app now...
Edit: last sentence is rhetorical question
@@azrrrrrrrr Cuz it's easier for them to gather data on their customers and supposedly more convenient for customers. I personally like being able to order ahead and be there just as my order is done.
@1:30 you're deluding yourself if you think that anyone else sees this new logo and even remotely thinks: "ah, BK is sustainable now !"
Came here to say this. How does she say it with a straight face??
Well it definitely looks cleaner and gives me the vibe of healthier food even though it's subconscious and not based on how healthy it actually is
@@ocean6462it definitely doesn't give me that vibe. Especially given the fact that I know exactly what Burger King sells.
@@Alavachemusic yeah lol it's really unhealthy food but yeah that's the vibe it gives me
@@super8mate I actually took Art History 101 many years ago. While I appreciated learning about the history of western art, I did notice a tendency to read A LOT into the art that seemed a bit of a stretch to make, e.g.: 'the way that this brush stroke was made suggests the struggle of that time between the X and the Y...'. So perhaps she 'learned' this kind of 'analysis' in college ! :-)
Returning to a logo they had for 30 years, until just over 20 years ago, is hardly a rebrand.
It's basically sayimg, "We don't know what to do, so we're going backwards."
It's their way of taking the spotlight off the fact that their food hasn't and can't change other than quality and price.
Exactly Joe, and burgers/red meat just isn't popular anymore. People either want high quality red meat - Five Guys/Shake Shack - or they want chicken... Burger King needs to either improve quality or they're done for
Burger King is trash and their employees don’t speak English
@@Adam-qf2rqgive guys and shake shack are not that great and are stuck in that fast casual, mid tier/fast food spot! Burger King not only has nostalgia at its side, but it’s actually fast food. If they improve their flavor and branding by just a bit more, they could outsell the aforementioned mid tier burger places. Like take in and out for example (which SUCKS) they have stuck with the same formula and though their fried are terrible and their burgers often leave much to be desired, they have a cult following!
Subliminally they’re reaching out to their old clientele, no need to overthink this or to be persuaded by the overpaid marketing representatives trying to sell a tinkered logo.
We don't want old logos we want quality food at a reasonable price - something sadly missing these days.
I mean marketing and communication is important
Correct 💯 In 2023, I'd take AI 🤖 with vats-machines making large, good 🍔 than idiot ex cons or nitwits who can't make a cheese burger in 2min. I'd add my avg QSR-fast food meal in 2023 is $14-16. In 2015 or so? About $8.
@@DavidLLambertmobile Yeah I've started cutting out drinks for a cup of water to save money, most fast food places save McDonalds charge like $4 for a drink nowadays
I don't think the new logo was inspired by the old logos, I think it is just the old logo. Imagine hiring someone to make a logo for your business and they come back with exactly what your logo used to be 30 years ago
Pepsi did the exact same thing, I think the colors and font are slightly diffrent, but it's the same "circle and wave, with the PEPSI word sandwiched in the middle of it." It is very similar to 1969-71 logo. 1965-91 logos and now 2023 logo are just variations of each other.
lol yeah. and they probably paid millions of dollars to get the same logo they got 20 years ago
Just slightly changed the font size and bun size, but yeah it’s the same
But nothing says sustainability like tearing down fully working signs to put up ones that look exactly like the ones you threw away years ago!
First, you get paid to ruin decades of branding... then, you get paid again to give them back the branding you ruined.
Sounds like a pretty sweet gig to me. Hey, if they're dumb enough to hand you money... take it and run.
Honestly, surprised they don't do quality checks for their brands. Simple fixes like making sure bread is fresh, and oil isn't spoiled. It goes a long way in keeping customers and gaining new ones.
I still remember rolling back a fry sauce packet 10 years ago and saw the rodent fur....never getting that image out of my head. This has saved me money, calories and gas 👍
Right on the nose. In any burger king location I go into, I just feel gross. The spaces never feel clean. They underpay their workers ridiculously, too little for them to actually care about doing a good job. Everything chick fil a does right for service is something burger king does wrong.
You sir would make a great Lean manager. Always be quality first. Much more important than the logo.
The new logo looks "fattening". Like a place where they have the greasiest burgers ever that are likely to give you a heart attack.
"Quality of the food" is the biggest problem Burger King has.
And a new logo can't fix it. I like the retro logo, though.
Yes 💯. Retro has charm but dull, old 1970s era 🍔 isn't going to WOW 16-34yr old consumers. Burger King under the 🇧🇷 owners is ⬇️.
A customer doesn't eat your logo. If you sell good food at a good price, people will show up
If a served Whopper looked like just 20% of the menu picture, sales would climb.
McD’s burgers look like regurgitated food and yet, their sales are crazy. BK is definitely not doing something right.
Somehow the BK 🇧🇷 owners said; hey make BK sandwiches burgers 30% smaller but raise prices. 😏 These changes won't mean anything in 2023.
@@DavidLLambertmobilethis has to be true because I remember when the Burger King double cheeseburger was bigger than McDonald's and now that is not the case.
@@Alavachemusic I cannot believe how small the patties on BK's double cheeseburgers have become. A far cry from what they used to be like back in the 1980s, when I used to go to BK all the time.
@@k12moyo McDonald's is miles ahead of BK imo in terms of food quality and cleanliness of their restaurants, they're both way overpriced though
I like the previous logo better.
Wow, didn’t know Burger King’s problem is the logo and not the heart exploding salt bombs.
A lot of these rebrandings are done by people with their heads up in the clouds.
Actually, I think their heads are up somewhere a lot closer to earth; a part of their own anatomy.
He, he. Exactly!
Re-branding is a farcical scam. I can't imagine how companies can throw away so much money on these consultants.
I agree. My friend worked at a large digital animation place, 16+ years. He said designs, art are now trying to be faster, quicker for scans, software, printers. 💻
Because it's easier for shallow people to do a dazzling rebrand to look busy, than to make any substantive change. The garbage culture of corporate American management.
I liked the 1999 logo more. But I can see the nostalgia factor too.
I didn't even know the Burger King banned a bunch of the artificial ingredients. I think they should push that more. I'm willing to try a whopper now after knowing this.
youll believe anything
There are still a ton of artificial ingredients in it.
Artificial ingredients are a part of food science
There's literally nothing wrong with artificial ingredients (high fructose corn syrup is bad, but not because it's "artificial")
Same here. More chains should move in that direction
The branding and design expert did an excellent job explaining how she charged the company for doing nothing. All she did was recycle the old logo and change the fonts. She should run for the President.
During my time at BK, I was part of the original Stranger Things promotion around early 2019. This is just a guess, but that branding was a big hit, if not at least by my co-workers. It's quite possible that its success influenced the new lettering and overall design choices. The new look definitely has a cool, retro feel to it, a throwback.
i dont even watch stranger things or care about the series but it think the aesthetics of its logo is very attractive to the eye
Definitely thought of Stranger Things as being a major reason why the logo went retro. Now they just need to make the stores look retro too. Bring back the brass customer queues and brown tiled floors. Get rid of the LCD menu screens and bring back plastic letters on a groove board.
This started way before. Miller lite rebranded with their old cans and it was a hit. It’s been many companies following that trend thereafter.
If burger king thinks there's just a branding issue then OH BOY they're in for a rude awakening lol...
Burger King 🍔 thinks it's a branding issue, 2023.
Seems like a lot of job justification going on in this video. The corporate types are assigning a LOT of heavy lifting to a revised retro-themed logo that arguably doesn’t even match the style/design of its newest restaurants. Seems it’s pretty much all the OTHER changes that are really going to turn things around. There was an opportunity to signal a new day ahead with a truly new logo, but they went for nostalgia instead, which is weird if you’re truly trying to portray yourself as a forward-looking brand with higher quality ingredients than you had the last time the old-style logo was in place.
Emmy spitting fire 🔥
History shows that when a company gets concerned about “Branding”, they are in trouble. If you think a new logo will bring in customers, you’re smoking something. PRODUCT IS KING!!!
"Sales have been declining, should we improve the food quality?"
"No, go back to that old logo"
The logo is not the problem. The problem is slow service, expensive product compared to the competition, awful employees, dirty restaurants etc.
Pay peanuts, get monkeys brother
and terrible food
I have an outlier burger king near me thats actually ran very well, if all BKs were like that one they might have a chance. Maybe fix how they do their franchising.
Yes exactly! When I wait 10 minutes for a cold burger and fries which I ordered but did not receive, all I can think of is how the logo looks.
Sometimes i think.."do we really care about logo though?" 😅
Two days ago went to a burger king and it took them a couple of minutes to ask what i want when I'm the only one at the drive thru. Then it took them a couple of minutes until I was told the "impossible burger" wasn't in stock.
Long story short, I don't think copying an old logo and then slightly changing it will solve some of the main issues that are plaguing Burger King.
Do they even sell the impossible burger anymore? I used to go there for that but last time I went didn’t see it anywhere on the menu.
Wish they didn't change the logo back. Even with tiny tweaks to the 90s logo the advertisements took a huge nose dive. I miss the 2000s logo
The brand was not the issue, but its the easiest to change. (I wonder if franchisees have to pay for the new signage) If you really want to grow, then: communicate what you stand for better, if what you stand for is something that today’s consumers will resonate with. Get your app to work properly, Mcd did a good job with this. Focus on a smaller menu, but with better execution in terms of quality and taste. I don’t want to feel exhausted and low on energy after a whopper. Don’t feed people poison. Don’t make your food in a science lab. Above all, get the franchisees to clean up the establishments. You could be selling the best burgers in the world for a $1, but if it looks filthy I am not coming in, and so many BK’s I have seen were repulsive. Good luck
Capitalizing on the nostalgia of the 1969 logo certainly makes sense, but the prior logo was not the reason that Burger King has been struggling recently. A lot of the franchisees that recently went bankrupt were not running very tight ships to begin with, but the physical structures of the restaurants literally began to fall apart during the pandemic, when they were not getting enough emergency financial support from their franchise group, nor the BK corporate HQ.
You would drive through, and the lighted panels on the menu board weren't working.
Or the speaker wasn't working, and they had taped a note to it saying to just drive up to the window to put in your order.
Or when the drive-through cashier went to take your order over the speaker, they would let you know that the cash register wasn't working because the computer system was down, so they could only take orders through the app, and not at the window.
Or the drive-through menu board was just completely missing, with wires sticking out of the ground.
Or two frazzled teenagers were trying to run the entire place by themselves because their manager had to drive around town to cover three different locations, and 4 of their coworkers had called off.
The franchise locations owned by different groups (which are still open today) maintained their individual stores physically, and retained (just barely) enough employees by maximizing the staffing redundancy by hiring more than enough teenagers for the crew, plus paying a much higher wage than usual to coax some middle-aged people to work there who wouldn't normally consider a fast food job, the way that every other small business or restaurant had to do during the pandemic.
But the group that closed their stores had franchisees that were struggling to keep afloat and ALSO not getting any back up from the larger group when things got tough for them during the pandemic - when everybody was shortstaffed. It was just the final nail in the coffin.
Corporate should definitely pay for the rebrand to keep consistency and let franchise pay for new facility with incentives. If not then consumers will be either confused or gives an unorganized reputation which then references to quality.
That's more like going back to their old, more classic logo, like Pizza Hut did...which especially for the latter was a brilliant move. Now if they could just get back the distinctive red roofs and nice looking dining rooms that made Pizza Hut a truly special sort of pizza place.
as a gen z, this logo just told me they decided to go back and clean the old logo to go with the new trend of going back to the old
Every so called 'expert' will give their 'expert' views and give intellectual analysis what & why they know is the reason. Its as good as a lay person who is not an expert at anything giving their opinion. Seriously comedic.
Dirty restaurants, cold food, and slow, unfriendly service is the problem in my opinion. I like their menu, but I've been disappointed so many times that I just go elsewhere.
The new logo yelled more to me “hey remember when we were actually good?”. They need more than a new logo to fix the reputation.
It is amazing how a logo can look old before it even gets launched
Indeed
...dude, it's just the old logo. That's why it looks "old."
Are people really this dumb now?
The problem in the netherlands are the very high prices, almost €8,- for a whopper is extreme. And most of the time its not hot and fresh. So mcdonnalds is the place for me
Now if only their burgers looked like burgers.
Wow, I can't believe the difference. I'm going to go buy 5 more whoppers than I would have with the old logo.
💀
It's funny how the new logo does look a lot more modern than the old logo... and yet it's actually literally just the old, old logo
I don't eat fast food very much thankfully, but I think a large factor in BK coming 2nd and now 3rd to MCD in the US is just how much more expensive it is. That's from my UK perspective anyway.
It doesnt have a lasting power if they are going for something retro. They had a great modern logo, and they just needed to build on that if their goal was simplifying it
Stopped going to BK like 12 years ago after I saw them heating up the meat patties in the microwave
new logo is cheaper because it has just two colours, easy to reproduce in different formats and media
Wish they'd bring back their 'nostalgic' prices.
Arby’s brought back the 5 for 5 deal around the 4th of July if ya ordered thru the app. It was like going back in time 20 years.
Honestly glad to hear about them banning certain ingredients and chemicals- long overdue
Wrong - the quality of the food went down over time. No matter how much you throw at marketing, people are clever enough to understand an inferior product. Invest in the food, and the people will invest in YOU. Disney should heed these words.
Here in Brazil they make themed releases, they just made a Barbie combo, and it’s always a success. The had stranger things, Spider-Man, sponge bob. It’s great.
I like the old one. Remembers me of my old birthdays 😊
Burger King is by far my favorite “fast” food spot. I really hope they bring back the ghost whopper. I tried to buy out their ghost pepper cheese but was told to come back the next day and when I did it was already gone. So that sucked. But way better than the Big Mac. Hands down.
McDonalds and Wendys blow BK out of the water imo, BK has some of the worst food quality and cleanliness of chains in the industry
They should focus on keeping the restaurants clean !! And make new items
They made the logo a literal representation of their chief product. Not everything has to be groundbreaking to be effective.
For a second I thought this video was about abstract paintings with the way they're defining the resurrection of basically a slight adjustment of their 50 year old logo. Relax, it's just Burger king..
There used to be 4 BKs in my city and they're all gone now. Even when traveling I don't see them much anymore.
Last time I went to one, the restaurants seemed kind of dirty and sloppy, employees demotivated and the burgers looked like they'd been tossed together from across the room. Fixing those things would impress me more.
Honestly the last time I walked into a BK, it had a couple homeless people in it while smelling half like a dumpster. Even before ordering the food, the experience is bad. Nowadays if I crave a burger, it's either Shake Shack or I make my own.
Burger King stop being so so cheap if I want extra onions why you charge me 25 cents.
Extra pickles 30 cents. Every burger chain is getting cheaper by the year
Also you can ask for FREE extra onions at Wendy's, which now is the second burger joint.
I would argue the main problem of these fast food chains is, that they forgot why people went there in the first place: Cheap food! Once the prices started going higher and higher, any normal person is going to ask themselves "why am i paying so much for trash food, when i can get way healthier, better, products that cost the same?". Sorry, but if i'm paying like 20$ for a burger, some fries and a drink at these chains, i might as well go to a proper restaurant and get a fresh meal cooked, without all the chemical ingredients.
Thanks to the minimum wage hikes.
I miss the Blue of the logo for the last 20 years, it brings out a pop in the words and it also contrasts very nicely with the other colors to make it more noticeable. I also like the Blue because it reminds me of Pepsi which unfortunately Burger King has been stuck with Coke forever and i don't drink it but i do go get me some Pepsi to go with my Whopper, so much better than Coke.
she drew a big old circle to connect sustainibilty and the new logo.
I don’t eat Burger King in the US. But it’s really good in other countries. I just had Burger King for dinner tonight in Korea.
The King Whopper (I think is the name) has pepper Jack cheese, American cheese, bacon, Diablo sauce, lettuce, onions, Mayo and Korean Beef. It’s just so much better. It’s made better, packaged better, and just doesn’t seem like a hot mess Burger King in the US throws in a bag for you.
They should strip down the menu to fewer options, empathize with the flamed grilled taste (whooper) and just update the store in general to be more streamlined.
When I think "sustainability" I think Burger King 😂
It won't make the Whopper taste any better; just saying.
The old logo has a more flattened bun on top compared to the newer look alike logo but the flattened top bun fits with the fact my burgers are usually squashed when I get them 😢
I've have worked at five different companies that did a logo change. All were wasted attempts (and lots of money spent) to rebrand the company resulting.. in three out of five going bankrupt sooner.
Then they did the rebrand wrongly
@@ceooflonelinessinc.267 Could you name a successful one that re-invigorated the brand to make people want to buy it more? Excluding tech (like Apple, Microsoft and etc.) , I can't think of one. AT&T's didn't help them. Neither did spending taxpayer's money on the USPS's change. NASA went back to their 60s-era meatball. Pepsi has tried many times and are still behind Coca-cola. Coca-cola also went back to (their 1940s) logo.
I actually think the new logo looks worse than the old one.
I'm glad they spent most of the video talking to the actual experts and just a few minutes to a bunch of randos
Somehow the old logos look more modern than the previous 1999-2021 logo. The flat look that the older logos had is a distinct characteristic of tech software logos, designed in the recent years. Reverting makes the logo look more 2020s
Have enough people on duty and make my whopper correctly. Forget about the logo
Now I want to read the 1999 report to see how they explain what was wrong with the "old" logo.
I grew up with the 1999 logo. I don't have any nostalgia with the logos before it.
Since they switched to the new logo, their general quality declined really bad.
Ironically, I have more nostalgia with the 1999 logo, because it reminds me of a time, where there food was actually good.
That shape has been Hungry Jack's logo for like forever. We never had the circular one
The part where they say customer sees color first is not quite true, not applicable with all colors. Not sure the redesign was necessary.
The convenience store at my local gas station has better cheeseburgers than Burger King. The problem is the quality of your product BK, not your logo.
It reminds me of the "Hungry Jacks" Logo here in Australia. Too similar
They need to crack down on the quality of the stores in franchise owners don’t care enough in the south and poor employee training and oversight
maybe they should also focus on making actual good tasting food.
Search the internet. There are articles about this exact re-branding that are two years old. This happened in 2021.
They can have it their way.
I used to like BK ... now I throw it away after the first bite. ... it used to be crunchy. ( nothing worse than old letters)
Hate the new logo. Bring back the crown 👑
How about centering the meat on the bun? So it isn't oval shaped with part of it hanging out one side?
Burger King needs a re-brand more than any other company in the fast food industry. They have declined so rapidly.
I see they took the Battle Bit approach to the new logo.
All Burger King has to do is read this comment section if they want to improve their sales
Millions of dollars spent for someone to change the font and some of the proportions of a 30 year old logo….STONKS! 📈
burger king dropped to number 3 because they priced themselves out of the number 2 spot. McDonalds is no. 1 because they have the logistics and corporate infrastructure to sell you a small cheap burger fast but choose not to. Burger King was number 2 because they were able to sell you a large cheap burger fairly fast, but lost that title spot when wendy's offered a stacked burger for cheaper than a whopper combo. that's why BK ultimately fell to no.3. the First fast food restaurant capable of selling a cheap combo more affordable than Mcdonalds will eventually become number one. the First fast food restaurant to re-remember and embrce the notion of marketing to kids again will be the eventual winner. shrinkflation sucks. A logo rebranding is useless unless you can offer a superior product line that beats your competition consistently metric after metric after metric.
we're all currently living in the midst of a an economic crisis situation. i'd rather spend 10 dollars on 10 one dollar cheap burgers than any way overpriced combo meal regardless of how you spin a commercial about it.
The last time I went to Burger King was in 2021 and I tried to order a Sourdough King with Impossible patties and was told no 🤡 So they should work on the “have it your way” aspect if they’re not going to offer a good value.
That lady explaining the new logo sounded like “give me a few million dollars and I’ll give you your old logo”. But that’s todays society. We don’t have nothing new, just repackaged old stuff at 3x the price.
On my way to Burger King now…. I’m back, never noticed the logo
You change the label but keep all the sodium,aren't there good lawyers in the states that can sue these corporations for promoting high blood pressure and kidney disease!
It’s not just rebranding, they have to improve their food and services.
BK needs to benchmark Five Guys / Mooyah / Wingstop on Fries to start. Potatoes 🥔 are cheap. Make fresh cut fries in store or at least copy Chick-fil-A’s frozen waffle fries, and while your at it copy Chick-fil-A’s nuggets too.
My nephew sings the whooper whooper jingle from time to time. Its so catchy. Their fries are not bad compared to other fast food chains.
I teach grade school and all you had to do was walk into any classroom and say "Beeeee K...." and they'd all start singing. so it is a very catchy jingle for sure!
I’m not sure how’s McD marketing is in USA but in Malaysia, McD has been successful brand not because just about burgers but the added value meal such as ice cream, premium coffee, cakes etc plus localised food such as rice with chicken. Another thing is how the environment in the eateries was suited to not just kids but as well as teenagers to hang out.
What i consider before ordering food online or visiting an outlet:
1. what my family members want
2. how much will it take to get it
3. what is the weather like
4. what is the occasion
But Logo designers be like: look at the size, font and color used in logo.
Great burgers! I always ask if their fry’s are fresh? I get a Whooper and piping hot fry’s! 😋
In Ecuador, Burger King (under new management) is actually expanding.
Great episode. Now do much more controversial branding, like Pepsi or Pringle’s
New logo strategy it is not a solution to the lack of customers problem. Even here in Prague, Czech Republic there is rotten and spoiled ingredients in a Burger King branch. For example in a center of the city on Mustek, Prague 1 district, 12 Rijna street, I've been twice and got poisoned twice. I preferred BK better that others competitors, but no more BK for me anymore. Shame