Burger King Adopts Customer-Centric Tagline
By Hannah Ash, contributing writer
As the millennials continue to be retail’s most coveted demographic, fast food retailers are getting creative and embracing change in a move to relate to this in-demand demographic. Last month, Ronald McDonald came back wearing brand new clothes and taking selfies. The age-old spokesman even has his own social media profiles from which he ‘tweets’ and ‘grams’. This month, Burger King is frying up a new strategy by reinventing its standard tagline, “Have It Your Way.” Burger King’s new tagline, replacing the 40 year old former tagline, reads, ‘Be Your Way.’The new tagline takes the emphasis away from just customer service and appeals to a greater attitude about life, perhaps positioning the fast food chain to move into lifestyle branding.
In a statement on the new tagline release, Burger King commented that ‘Be Your Way’ means, “they can and should live how they want anytime. It's ok to not be perfect ... Self-expression is most important and it's our differences that make us individuals instead of robots." Burger King’s entry into lifestyle-focused taglines isn’t a first: in 2012, Taco Bell introduced its “Live Mas” (live more) slogan. Senior Vice President of Global Brand Management for Burger King, Fernando Machado, commented that the former Have It Your Way focuses only on the transaction; Burger King today wants to focus on the customer’s lifestyle with Be Your Way. Machado stated, “we want to evolve from just being the functional side of things to having a much stronger emotional appeal.” This new tagline is likely indicative of a new approach to Burger King’s marketing.
Josh Kobza, CFO of Burger King, recently reflected, “on Instagram or Twitter, it's really amazing how many consumers are trying to talk to us, whether they're eating at a restaurant or wearing a crown or having fun at a Burger King. We're not talking back to them enough. We've built a structure internally and are investing new resources to migrate some of our spend to media channels through which consumers are looking at content. It's a big priority for us." By taking the emphasis off the transaction and putting it on the overall life of the customer, Burger King appears to be focused on delivering a more omni-channel marketing message that appeals to the customer on multiple levels beyond just the transaction at hand.