Take Me to Your King

To All Presenters:

This week I’ve been watching the “Sneaky King” 15- and 30- second spots wherein the Burger King, conspicuously concealed in a Burger King mask, breaks into McDonald’s headquarters and steals the plans for their classic Egg McMuffin sandwich. Thus, the BK Breakfast Muffin sandwich is born, or borrowed – as the case may be.



Brian Gies, vice president of marketing impact for Burger King Corporation states, “This provocative campaign highlights the King's edgy antics and makes it clear that our newest breakfast sandwich is a great deal for our guests.” John Schaufelberger, senior vice president of global product marketing and innovation for BK further elaborates, “We took a breakfast sandwich that has proven likeability among consumers and are delivering it at a great price.”

What a great way to benefit from a 38-year “market test” funded by a big competitor.

The Egg McMuffin was invented in 1972 by Herb Petersen, a former VP with D’Arcy Advertising and eventual owner of six McDonald’s franchises in California. Peterson first sold the soon-to-be-very-popular egg sandwich at his Santa Barbara franchise without the knowledge of McDonald's Corporate, which at the time endorsed serving lunch and dinner only. When the franchisor learned of Mr. Peterson's unauthorized breakfast offerings, it allegedly issued a reprimand and threatened him with a number of penalties for violating the sanctity of his franchise agreement. In short order, however, Ray Kroc – McDonald’s President and franchising genius – saw the potential in what he described as, “...a crazy idea”.

Today, several countries serve Egg McMuffins around the clock, due to the prominent use of the egg in meals other than breakfast in those countries. U.S. restaurants usually restrict the item to the breakfast menu, due mainly to the radical variation in acceptable grill temperature required for cooking beef patties and eggs.

So what of the “Sneaky King” and BK’s honesty regarding the pilfering of their competitor’s prized product? McDonald’s certainly doesn’t own the rights to putting egg and meat on bread – but will wise consumers perceive the product acquisition as a sign of the King’s weak offering, or as a symbol of his royal highness’s marketing savvy?

Thus far the sandwich sells well with no signs of concern from consumers or the folks at “Mickey-D’s.” If then, we presume that theft of an established, albeit non-proprietary product concept is ok with consumers, is there tangible value in being honest about it?

In 2008, McDonald's faced criticism for launching its Southern-Style Chicken Sandwich, which featured a fried chicken cutlet on a buttered bun with two pickles. To fast food fanatics, it was nearly identical to the chicken sandwich that made Georgia-based Chik-fil-A famous. These allegations were disputed by McDonald's. Perhaps, that was a mistake.

If McDonald’s had instead embraced the notion they were borrowing from a competitor as BK has done, they could have controlled the spin.

They may have been better served running an ad wherein the Hamburglar gets caught in the chicken-coop with Grimace and both flee at high-speed in the “burger-mobile” – feathers flying everywhere. In this way they could choose to tell the story, thus control the story, then use the story to build interest in their product - rather than allow others to tell the story for them, and just kind-a hope things go their way.

BK actually went down this road before too. The Big Mac is McDonald's signature burger: two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, served on a sesame seed bun. But in 1997, Burger King released the Big King, which was also two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, served on a sesame seed bun. The only tangible difference between the Big Mac and the Big King was the beef patties: Burger King notorioulsy "flame-broils," but McDonald's "grill fries."

The Big King was discontinued in 2003 due to low sales.

Looks like BK’s learned from their mistake, and this time around they've cast subtlety aside declaring proudly their conscription of the egg-based breakfast sandwich. Only time will tell if this approach creates a durable breakfast item for the King, but so far so good.


THE POINT: If you steal it – best to take credit for the heist.