Langstaff jumps ship to pilot BK marketing

Nation's Restaurant News, April 17, 1989 by Rajan Chaudhry

Langstaff jumps ship to pilot BK marketing

MIAMI -- In a daring daylight raid, Burger King Corp. has snatched archrival Hardee's Food Systems Inc.'s marketing head, Gary L. Langstaff, to steer its own marketing effort.

Since joining Hardee's in 1985, Langstaff, 40, has been instrumental in driving the chain past Wendy's to secure the No. 3 spot in market share among fast-food burger chains and close the gap on floundering No. 2 Burger King.

Langstaff replaces C. Donald Dempsey, Burger King's acting marketing director since December. After a brief transition period, Dempsey will join the senior management team in the company's international division.

Through Langstaff's defection, Burger King hopes to restore direction to what one franchisee has called "a rudderless ship" and at the same time slow Hardee's advance.

Under former parent The Pillsbury Co., acquired by London-based Grand Metropolitan PLC in January, Burger King's marketing was marked by inconsistent strategies, poor execution, and high turnover in key positions.

In the past decade alone, Burger King has had six presidents and seven marketing directors.

Since Grand Met's takeover, Burger King's advertising strategy has been promotional and product-oriented -- a quick fix -- aimed at giving a short-term boost to sales rather than effecting a strategic positioning.

Langstaff's immediate concern will be to assess the chain's advertising and promotions, said Ken Swoyer, a Burger King spokesman.

It will also fall to Langstaff, who was unavailable for comment, to decide whether or not to keep Burger King's $200 million-plus advertising account with N.W. Ayer Inc. And several ad agencies are said to be actively courting the chain's business.

The news that Langstaff had gone over to the enemy shocked Hardee's.

"It was really unexpected," said Jerry Singer, a Hardee's spokesman.

Nevertheless, Hardee's is in no rush to fill Langstaff's shoes, Singer said, adding it is too early to know if Langstaff's replacement will come from within the company or outside.

"We won't miss a heartbeat," Singer asserted. "Like any good coach, you need good players, and Gary had very good players -- Bill Lancaster is vice president of field marketing, David Winkel is vice president of marketing research, and we have the same vice president of product development, Bob Stover, so we feel we have a good, solid staff in marketing and don't have to make an instant decision."

Despite Langstaff's intimate knowledge of Hardee's strategy, Singer said he doesn't believe the chain is at a serious competitive disadvantage.

But Hardee's may decide to change its promotions dates, Singer said.

"He knows what our promotions are for the next six months, the next year, but the new products are ones that Burger King can't even do, so we're not worried about that, and the promotional items are ones they can't get their hands on," Singer said.

Although both chains experienced year-over-year systemwide sales growth of about 8 percent in 1988, with Burger King hitting $5.4 billion and Hardee's reaching $3.3 billion, Burger King's average unit volume fell below its 1986 levels, to $1 million, while Hardee's average unit sales climbed 5 percent, to $920,000.

Burger King franchisees, who have been vocal in their criticisms of the system's management in the past, were quick to applaud Langstaff's appointment as executive vice president of marketing.

"I don't know the man personally," said William Pothitos, chairman of Burger King's franchisee council, "but I know some of his work. And if he can bring that expertise to Burger King, I think he'll be excellent for the job."

Grand Met's management style gives Langstaff a much better chance of escaping the position's "revolving door," Pothitos said.

"It's a different ball game now. Pillsbury short-termed Burger King. Grand Met is more committed to the people they hire."