Burger King’s CMO on AI, Gen Z and the Whopper jingle

As Wendy’s drew backlash recently after its CEO suggested it would change prices based on the time of day, Burger King was quick to respond, taking a subtle shot at what some perceived as “surge pricing.” But in a recent interview, BK marketing executive Pat O’Toole suggested that the chain’s social media post —which stated “we don't believe in charging people more when they're hungry”—was “not about our competitor.” “There was a conversation going on within our industry that dynamic pricing might become a reality and it was so antithetical to how we think about serving our guests. We needed to come out and let consumers know we are on their side, and offer them a great deal,” he added. Value messaging has become a top priority for O’Toole, who became chief marketing officer for Burger King U.S. and Canada a little more than a year ago after working at PepsiCo. O’Toole has also leaned into AI while looking to consumers for menu ideas. Burger King’s first major campaign under his watch is the Million Dollar Whopper contest, which was launched in February and asks fans to create their dream Whopper with the help of AI. Users are asked to build their burgers on a microsite, with the option to add up to eight toppings. At the end, an AI program named “Grilliam” will generate a downloadable image of the burger. Fans have to sign up for Burger King’s rewards program to enter. Three finalists will be selected and flown to Burger King headquarters, where they can adjust their recipes before those creations appear on menus around the country for a limited time. One finalist will be awarded the $1 million prize. “Burger King has been about ‘have it your way,’ so we are putting consumers at the center here,” O’Toole said. “This is the most earned impressions we’ve had since the Impossible Whopper in 2019. We’re averaging just under 10 minutes on engagement on the microsite, and folks are making multiple burgers.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Renzo (@eatwitzo) O’Toole said he even has a to-the-minute tracker to see how many submissions have come in and where they are coming from. Ad Age recently caught up with O’Toole to learn how the brand is shifting its media mix, what’s next for the viral “Whopper Whopper” jingle, and how the brand is reaching Gen Z. BK agency news: Barkley and OKRP merge to form BarkleyOKRP This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. You were at PepsiCo for over a decade before coming to Burger King. What has the shift been like, and are there any similarities between consumer packaged goods and fast food? It’s been great. I had always wanted to get into the restaurant space. The biggest change coming over has been the speed—the speed that you get data back in reaction to the work. Coming from PepsiCo, this has been a great opportunity to bring that consumer lens and discipline here. Ultimately, I sold food and drinks for 15 years there, and that’s what we’re doing here, so there are parallels. What is Burger King’s current media mix? It’s been very hard to turn on the TV and not hear our jingles over the last year and that has worked for us. The virality of the jingle gave us a lift in social channels where we were not really investing. There are benefits to having the right mix of linear and being thoughtful of the move from linear to connected TV. There are emerging channels that are still new, like Twitch. We worked with the twins, the Bonsai Brothers and our director of culinary innovation, Chef Jeff [Hartmann], and they made four kinds of Whoppers over a two-hour stream for the Million Dollar Whopper. Obviously, there is our social strategy, which is for young millennials and Gen Z. Speaking of the jingle, what is next for the brand creatively? Just like everything else, we are constantly looking at it. The jingle got the Whopper back top-of-mind and did a lot of heavy lifting. But we don’t want to just repeat that message, but drive the “why” for consumers— why should I care? What makes the Whopper different? We can do some of that through the jingle, or there are other needs that we want to get across, like consumer engagement with the Million Dollar Whopper. I think you’ll see some spots that are jingle-forward, and others where the jingle maybe takes a back seat. How are you all speaking to a wide range of customers, and Gen Z in particular? I think there is speaking to, and resonating with. I previously worked on Cheetos, Doritos and Mtn Dew at PepsiCo, which were all strong on Gen Z. Aand what made them strong was that not only were they market-focused, but product-focused. When we look at our menu here, we have to understand how we are going to attract Gen Z to come in, but also come back often. That’s a big challenge we have. We’re going to look at menu relevance. From an engagement standpoint, we need to show up where they are consuming media, and how do we develop brand love. We have looked at a spectrum of platform partnerships to lean on, like Twitch. What trends are you watching in the fast food space? One is AI, which we’ve leaned into with Million Dollar Whopper. We talked a lot about brand safety before doing it, and it’s teaching us a lot about where we can use AI in other parts of our business— not just the consumer-facing, but behind the scenes. The other is value, we are at a time of unprecedented inflation and consumers rely on our category. How do we over-deliver for the value guest? We’re trying to instill that culture here. What is your Burger King order? If it's a normal day, it’s a Whopper with bacon and cheese, medium fry and medium Sprite Zero. But if I see our Italian chicken sandwich in a planning session, I get really excited. We bring it back every once in a while, and that would be my pick. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs

Burger King’s CMO on AI, Gen Z and the Whopper jingle

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