Burger King Again Consolidates Agency Assignments
By STUART ELLIOTT @NYT
Two months after consolidating some major advertising assignments, the Burger King Corporation is paring its agency roster again, this time affecting agencies that specialize in marketing to African-American and Hispanic consumers.
The changes, to be announced on Tuesday afternoon, are indicative of a trend that has accelerated as younger consumers, who are often less likely to use traditional labels of race and ethnicity, have become more of a force in the consumer marketplace. As a result, advertisers are rethinking their decades-long approach of assigning duties for minority markets to agencies that specialize in those markets.
Those shifts, by advertisers like Home Depot, have stirred spirited discussion, however, as some shops that are owned by members of minority groups call it ill-advised to remove them from agency rosters in favor of general-market or mainstream agencies.
Burger King is making the changes “based on where our consumer is,” Mike Kappitt, chief marketing officer for North America, said in a phone interview, particularly when considering “the X and Y generations” and their beliefs in the “melting pot.”
Consolidating the assignments will provide “a consistent voice,” he added, without overlooking minority consumers.
Leo Leon, vice president for marketing impact at the Burger King North American operations, estimated that a third of the United States population is composed of minority-group members.
“We felt the right decision for Burger King is to address all our consumers as a whole,” he added, “instead of taking a segmented approach.”
Burger King will consolidate the duties to create campaigns for adults, whatever their ethnicity, at Crispin Porter & Bogusky in Miami and Boulder, Colo., The agency, owned by MDC Partners, is responsible for ads aimed at the general market and has also been creating most ads aimed at black consumers.
The decision means that LatinWorks in Austin, Tex., will no longer create campaigns for Burger King aimed at Hispanic consumers. And the UniWorld Group in Brooklyn, N.Y., which has been creating some national radio campaigns aimed at the African-American market, will relinquish those duties as well.
Burger King will continue to run ads for Hispanics in Spanish as well as English, Mr. Leon said, adding that Crispin Porter had already “helped out a little” with the creation of ads in Spanish.
"they planned to increase the amount of money spent on ads aimed at black and Hispanic consumers by more than 30 percent."
Two months after consolidating some major advertising assignments, the Burger King Corporation is paring its agency roster again, this time affecting agencies that specialize in marketing to African-American and Hispanic consumers.
The changes, to be announced on Tuesday afternoon, are indicative of a trend that has accelerated as younger consumers, who are often less likely to use traditional labels of race and ethnicity, have become more of a force in the consumer marketplace. As a result, advertisers are rethinking their decades-long approach of assigning duties for minority markets to agencies that specialize in those markets.
Those shifts, by advertisers like Home Depot, have stirred spirited discussion, however, as some shops that are owned by members of minority groups call it ill-advised to remove them from agency rosters in favor of general-market or mainstream agencies.
Burger King is making the changes “based on where our consumer is,” Mike Kappitt, chief marketing officer for North America, said in a phone interview, particularly when considering “the X and Y generations” and their beliefs in the “melting pot.”
Consolidating the assignments will provide “a consistent voice,” he added, without overlooking minority consumers.
Leo Leon, vice president for marketing impact at the Burger King North American operations, estimated that a third of the United States population is composed of minority-group members.
“We felt the right decision for Burger King is to address all our consumers as a whole,” he added, “instead of taking a segmented approach.”
Burger King will consolidate the duties to create campaigns for adults, whatever their ethnicity, at Crispin Porter & Bogusky in Miami and Boulder, Colo., The agency, owned by MDC Partners, is responsible for ads aimed at the general market and has also been creating most ads aimed at black consumers.
The decision means that LatinWorks in Austin, Tex., will no longer create campaigns for Burger King aimed at Hispanic consumers. And the UniWorld Group in Brooklyn, N.Y., which has been creating some national radio campaigns aimed at the African-American market, will relinquish those duties as well.
Burger King will continue to run ads for Hispanics in Spanish as well as English, Mr. Leon said, adding that Crispin Porter had already “helped out a little” with the creation of ads in Spanish.
"they planned to increase the amount of money spent on ads aimed at black and Hispanic consumers by more than 30 percent."
(Just -- wow)
3 comments:
I don't eat a BK, Jack in the box, Wendy's or another fast food burger joints, so I hadn't paid much attention at all.
Dude. Didn't you know that African Americans, Hispanics and Asians have all been melted down into one seamless tan? Seriously! Crispin discovered that it's a melting pot. And America is finally colorblind!
(Too bad for your blog though, you'll have to delete all those great posts about unique/cool AA art)
I wrote a little piece on it.
http://www.crossculturalism.com/2010/08/millenial-melting-pot-myth.html
@Ken, LOL! I won't close shop I'll become a museum!
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