A few hours from now, a random chicken named Gloria will randomly decide if a particular New York Burger King location will serve Chicken Fries.
I like this direction for Burger King.
They’ve been suffering a long time with this dysfunctional half-hip/half-drip personality disorder, where they bring back Subservient Chicken from the truly edgy Days of The King and then they air anodyne commercials that are so bland and pandering they’re offensive.
This strikes a nice balance, and gives fans of the fries something to talk about that’s actually charming and interesting.
It’s less self-serving than their previous attempts at this kind of thing (I’m thinking of the “Fries King” signage that was interesting mostly only to themselves). But people dig silly stuff—basing “important corporate decisions” on a chicken’s whims plays to a solid, young-ish demographic.
If they could stick with this personality awhile, people might feel like they understand the brand.
As I said in Selling Eating (Chapter 7, if you’re following along) consistency of personality, in some ways, is all you really have:
…in some ways, a consistent brand voice (as I said earlier) is all you have—you can change the menu, change the interior, redo the logo, move to new locations, and hire a different spokesman when yours dies. If you retain your personality and brand voice through it all, your customers will remain loyal. Starbucks goes through at least a half-dozen store themes a year, some seasonal and some promotional—but they have a consistent voice, and through it all you sense the same personality.
So you can have an ongoing relationship with that personality.
Just know: every time you speak in a voice different from the one you used last time your customers encountered you, you’re starting that relationship from zero.”
