The Burger King Convert

I'm a fastfood restaurant addict.  I cannot survive a week without my burger fix.

Lately, I noticed that Burger King has beefed up its dessert line.  It's probably been there for quite sometime now but I can be clueless in ways that baffle even myself. 

I love their new dessert line.  The packaging is very hip.  Don't you just love corporations with funky agencies and money to splurge on packaging?  Their burgers have also improved.  Love that Angus Beef Overload.  Sinful, sinful, sinful.  I'm also addicted now to their cheesy tots.  It's mozzarella cheese balls.  Gooey, greasy, fattening and fabulous.

Burger King seems to be investing heavily in the quality of their food.  I didn't like it before because the burgers were dry.  But, now, their burgers are juicy.  Did they change cows?  Did they go for those New Zealand walking steaks with the black and white dots? 

Whatever it is, kudos to Burger King for improving their products. 

We all know that a good product always sells.  Well, it should except there are good products out there that do not sell because a) their marketing people are idiots, b) they do not want to support their marketing and c) they are deluded.  But, generally, good products sell as long as they do not screw it up by going in 10,000 directions the way my golf ball does.

The BK near my house is a few yards away from a Jollibee store.  Both competitors are located near major schools.  Jollibee near a huge university while BK near a private Catholic school.  Jollibee wins, of course, seeing that college students have bigger allowances than high school and elementary students.  Besides, that particular university is known to be a hotbed for college prostitution so, yeah, they've got more money to burn.  What can I say?  I live very near interesting people. 

Anyway, BK was smart enough to know when it's been outnumbered, outranked and out-campaigned.  So what did they do?  They offered free Wifi.  And voila!  They now got a higher socio-eco bracket with more money to burn than college prostitutes.

With the influx of laptop-toting denizens (yours truly included), BK oomphed its product line so you now have medreps wolfing down food their own medical products would hyperventilate at.  Not to mention a certain marketing consultant who is already overweight and should also know better than to eat junk. 

FYI.  My recent medical check-up tells me I lost 20 lbs.  20!  And all because I drank water.  This is why we are now experiencing drought.  Still, I retain this fantasy that I need to lose weight.

I'm digressing.  Focus, focus.

BK zeroed in on a small niche and milked that niche for all its worth.  Very, very savvy.  At least, they are not delusional enough to think that they can be everything to everyone and can, therefore, capture the world and his wife.  I cannot say the same for many companies and businesses, some of my own clients included. 

Okaaaay, there goes my career.

In today's stiff business competition, a smart marketer recognizes an opportunity no matter how small and sticks to it.  I don't mind being in a small niche as long as that niche is profitable and growing.  What do I need a big niche for when I don't have the marketing budget for it and I have to play with boys who have serious cash? 

Sometimes, it's not even a question of cash. 

They have the cash; they just don't want to let it out of their sight.  People, if you've got ambitious business goals, you need to spend for it.  Weren't you listening to Kevin Costner?  "If you build it, they will come."  Building requires money, loads of it.  Didn't you hear about the Mustard Seed as well?  This is not a David Copperfield show where things magically appear out of nowhere.  Even David Copperfield had to spend for his illusion equipments.  Duh.

That is exactly what I recently told a client.  You want this, therefore, be ready to spend.  Many things in life aren't free.  That includes graphic artists and ad agencies.  We can only get by on so much with my legs and charm before these people start charging their 17.65% ASF.  Limited budget, I can work with and, occasionally, produce a miracle.  No budget?  Sorry, I cannot walk on water.

Yes, yes and yes.  That's what he said.  I'm betting, though, that what he says is a totally different thing from what he will do.  Such is the nature of clients and people wonder why I need to dye my hair a hideous red.

Anyway, you go into the BK near me and everyone is wired to their laptops.  The place is beginning to look like the Enterprise lobby.  It is comforting to this mobile warrior.  I'm like Wall-E.  I need to be plugged to be happy.

You go to the Jollibee nearer my house and it's filled with cackling college students.  The noise is annoying.  Clearly, I am no longer Jollibee's target market.