Burger King has had some interesting ad campaigns over the last few years, most notably their “Subservient Chicken” and “The King” campaigns. They’ve recently extended these campaigns by selling video games featuring their characters.
Burger King is offering 3 games, at a price of $4.99 with a meal purchase or $12.99 for all 3 games. These prices are far below typical video game prices. The games are only available for the Xbox and Xbox 360 and feature support for the Xbox Live system to play online. The video games are also supported by the www.bkgamer.com micro-site with top scores, downloadable desktop wallpaper and Instant Messenger icons.
Burger King has done a great job of promoting the games with TV and online ads. A number of video game web sites have reviewed the games, some with positive reviews, some not, but all of them are talking about Burger King. With teens spending more time online and playing video games, in game advertising strategies are expected to increase. I’m not sure it makes sense to create an entire game experience like Burger King has but maybe the days of cheap plastic toys with your burger are over.
The day of the toy with you meal isn’t at all. The only thing that has changed is what we consider a toy. The BK games are fun; at least that’s what my friends are saying, and an interesting way to reach a broader demographic. A lot of people buying these are not only kids, but also adults from 21 to 35+ for themselves.
All BK is doing is meeting a demand for a good game and one that’s easy to play and profitable. The article below is from the dev team behind the game and shows you what went into the thought process of making these three games. I don’t think every brand and company could do this. But every now and then you can with the right brand.
Article: http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20061113/sheffield_01.shtml
Also the King (BKs mascot) was also in EA’s Fight Night Round 3 as an unlockable character. So BK is just taking their role of being involved with video games to the next level.