Posts Tagged ‘Subservient-Chicken’

Brant Barton Whopper Freakout: An Ad Worth Talking About

December 14th, 2007 by Brant Barton Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer

Have you seen the Whopper Freakout commercial by Burger King?  I saw it tonight on TV and immediately visited the site to see the full 7 minutes and 49 seconds of hilarious footage.  In summary, the commercial does an outstanding job of showing the passion that BK customers have for the flame-broiled goodness of the Whopper.  BK makes cleverly makes this point by denying the customers of one store their favorite burger.

Andy Sernovitz, a Bazaarvoice advisor and founder of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), likes to say (I'm paraphrasing here) that advertising is the price brands have to pay for being uninteresting.  But occasionally some interesting advertising comes along that makes you laugh hysterically, possibly cry, and swear to tell your friends.  That's the goal.

I'm not really a customer of Burger King's (my parents were McDonald's franchisees for over 15 years, so that would be blasphemy!), but I do applaud their advertising creativity in recent years.  Subservient Chicken was a word of mouth sensation and the NFL replays that feature a cameo by the King had me laughing aloud.  Whopper Freakout extends the streak.  Well done, Burger King, well done.  Pun intended.   

Brett Hurt Word-of-Mouth Wisdom #4: The Wharton School, Marketing

February 11th, 2007 by Brett Hurt Founder and CEO

For my fourth interview in the Word-of-Mouth Wisdom series, I decided to tap two of the smartest people I know in the field of marketing.  Dr. Peter Fader and Dr. David Reibstein both teach marketing at The Wharton School, where I was fortunate enough to earn my MBA.  Both have been friends and advisors ever since graduation, and somehow I convinced them to invest in Bazaarvoice!

Dr. Peter FaderPete is well known on many levels.  He was helping CDnow run analysis back in the pre-boom times.  He has been very outspoken in the age of digital music, advising music companies on how to market in these rapidly changing times.  I remember him best as my Markstrat professor, one of the better MBA classes I had the pleasure of taking.

Dr. David ReibsteinDave is also very well known.  He consults for companies all over the world.  He served as the Executive Director of the Marketing Science Institute.  And few know him as the co-founder of BizRate, where he served on their Board of Directors from its inception to when Scripps bought the company for $525 million in cash almost two years ago.

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