Sometimes you've gotta change the rules

Nation's Restaurant News, Nov 12, 1990 by Milford Prewitt

Sometimes you've gotta change the rules MIAMI -- Burger King is weighing the possibilities of dropping or changing its authority-challenging advertising campaign, "Sometimes you've gotta break the rules."

Under consideration as a possible replacement is a suggestive variant, "Breaking the rules just for you," a tag line that some franchisees see as more consumer-focused and suggests customer service to the fullest.

Many of the No. 2 burger chain's franchisees have complained for months that the "break the rules" slogan is confusing and negative in tone.

Moreover, BK marketing vice president Gary Langstaff, addressing a gathering of the Association of National Advertisers, was recently quoted as saying that the current campaign was misunderstood to be "anti-law-abiding" by consumers and franchisees.

But the company insists that the current review of the company's advertising direction had nothing to do with franchisee complaints about the slogan but was fostered more from a sense that the chain has had a good year with new products -- particularly the BK Broiler -- and was looking to keep the momentum going in 1991.

"All we're doing is thinking about the next generation of commercials, what the natural evolution should be, "said BK spokeswoman Cori Zywotow. "Should we keep it or come up with a new line? Do we need to freshen it and make it more consumer focused?

"The new line ["breaking the rules just for you"] is one of the ideas we're looking at."

Zywotow said the chain's marketing advisory council -- a committee of franchisees and corporate marketing personnel -- reviews its marketing direction on a continuing basis and makes suggestions to the company if there's need for a change. After consulting with customer focus groups and the franchisees, the council's proposed marketing campaigns are submitted to BK president Barry Gibbons for final approval.

"We have more than 2,000 franchisees, and if you ask them what they think about that promotion, you'd get 2,000 different ideas," she said.

Dick Fors, president of the National Franchise Association of Burger King Inc. and a participant in the most recent marketing advisory council meeting, agreed that there are elements in the franchisee community that both loathe and love the current campaign. "The mood out there is that we had a great year and that was because of, or in spite of, anything related to the marketing campaign," he said. "Whatever it is, we want to maintain it."

Many franchisees, told of the proposed advertising line, said they prefer it to the current campaign.

"When you think about it, it brings to mind the old one, 'Have it your way,'" said Joe Della Monica, a 17-unit licensee in the New York metropolitan area. "I think they are trying to personalize it by making the customer feel that they would do anything for you, the customer. I like that idea a lot.

"I never did understand the other one. Personally, I'd like them to go back to 'have it your way.'"

Steve Lewis, a 25-unit operator in Norristown, PA., and one of the harshest critics of the current advertising campaign, said he does not see much improvement in the suggested tag line "breaking the rules just for you."

"I think they ought to go back to the drawing board," he said. "I don't think modifying it is going to help. There is no way you can make rule-breaking positive.

"I just think they ought to retrench and come up with something new."

Another franchisee said that, while he has been long confounded by the "break the rules" promotion, a change in direction just might backfire given the per-unit sales increases he and his colleagues have enjoyed this year.

"The BK Broiler is now making up 14 percent of my monthly unit sales," a Southern franchisee said, asking to remain anonymous. "Maybe the public has bought into 'the break the rules' campaign.

"I don't know if they like the way it sounds or if we're finally getting some new products that are pulling people in here, but as the old saying goes, 'If it ain't broken, why fix it?'"