Burger King Launches Second Free Fry Day

It's good to be king. At least, that's how Burger King should feel after the success of its national "French Fries" campaign. Designed to enhance the brand recognition of its fries in the face of competition from other fast-food giants, Burger King launched the national campaign and new fries in December 1997, followed by the first Free Fry Day on Jan. 2, 1998. The campaign worked so well that Burger King launched a second Free Fry Day in 1999.According to the company, Burger King identified an opportunity to improve its fries and, based on consumer research, built a new and better-tasting fry. The marketing efforts to support its spuds also represented one of the largest campaigns ever undertaken by Burger King, totaling approximately $70 million.Of that total, point-of-purchase accounted for approximately $2 million, according to Burger King Director of Merchandising Ben Morse. The main graphical element for the Burger King P-O-P featured a Mr. Potato Head-like character, accompanied by a picture of the fries and the tagline: "New, Hotter, Tastier, Crispier Fries.""We feature our French Fries prominently on all of our point-of-purchase materials to reinforce the great taste of the new fries," Morse says.The P-O-P materials include die-cut, 6-foot pole signs placed in front of the restaurants, standees, banners, posters and translites. "We used a 4-foot window decal on the front door so customers were met by Mr. Potato Head as they came through the door," Morse says. "There is also a 2-foot by 3-foot piece that shows the character looking over the top of the drive-thru menu board."Morse says that separate P-O-P materials accompanied each campaign phase. "The launch of the new French Fries featured one set of materials," he says. "For the [Free Fry Day], we had a second set of materials that refreshed the original set. Then, following that launch and the Free Fry Day event, we went into something we called 'twofers,' which was two fries and two burgers for $2.22. So we actually had three kits coming into the restaurants in phases. They were color-coded so the crew members knew which kit to put up. The launch was red, Free Fry Day featured black backgrounds and 'twofers' had blue backgrounds."By all accounts within Burger King, the French Fries campaign has been a success. According to the company, six months after the initial fries launch and the first Free Fry Day, Burger King sold 150 million more orders of fries than in the same period one year prior.Burger King's design firm, Alcone Marketing Group, based in Irvine, Calif., supervised the creation of the materials, which were produced by several P-O-P companies across the country. The materials are delivered to the restaurants by overnight service from a central distribution company.The "French Fries" campaign won a 1999 bronze Effie in the category Fast Food and Restaurants.

Burger King Launches Second Free Fry Day

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