Do You Have The Guts To Refer Your Competition? Burger King Does

Could you ever imagine Burger King suggesting that their customers buy a Big Mac at McDonald’s? Well, that’s exactly what happened in England (and the rest of the world), where the fast-food industry has been severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions and shut-downs that have come with it.

How bad is it? Thousands of people have lost their jobs. Restaurants are going out of business every day. A recent New York Times article reports the grim reality. By August 31, 2020, over 32,000 restaurants and 6,400 bars that were open on March 1 were marked as “Closed” on Yelp.

So, a clever advertisement—actually a social media post—by Burger King may not save the entire industry, but it shows they are trying. By the way, the post is a form of advertisement. So, for the purpose of this article, I will refer to it as such.

The headline of the advertisement, which was under the Burger King logo, was:

Order from McDonald’s.

The ad continues with the following open letter:

We never thought we’d be asking you to do this. Just like we never thought we’d be encouraging you to order from KFC, Subway, Domino’s Pizza, Pizza Hut, Five Guys, Greggs, Taco Bell, Papa John’s, Leon… or any other independent food outlets, too numerous to mention here. In short, from any of our sister food chains (fast or not so fast).

We never thought we’d be asking you to do this, but restaurants employing thousands of staff really need your support at the moment.

So, if you want to help, keep treating yourself to tasty meals through home delivery, takeaway or drive thru. Getting a Whopper is always best, but ordering a Big Mac is also not such a bad thing.

Take care,

Team Burger King UK

I like this approach for a number of reasons. First, the headline under the Burger King logo, is compelling, making you wonder, “Why would Burger King ask you to order from McDonald’s?” Second, it shows that even though Burger King was advertising for themselves, they care about their entire industry. And third, they have confidence. If your industry was suffering and your business was down, would you have the guts to refer your customers to the competition?

In the retail world and, very specifically, the fast-food industry, if there was a restaurant that was doing well on a street corner, it was not uncommon to see its competitor build their restaurant across the street. One would think that the new restaurant might pull existing customers away from the first restaurant. However, the opposite actually happens. In the long-term, the competition brings in more customers for both.

But this letter—actually this advertisement/social post—was different. It was a plea, in a very difficult time, to get out and give business to all restaurants. It’s a sign of solidarity. And while that may be altruistic, it’s still an advertisement with a Burger King logo on it. 

Whether they knew it or not, the ad would generate more than just an interest in supporting the restaurant industry. It caught the eye of the media, and for good reasons. This is a time for companies—as in competitors—to band together to help get us through the crisis many industries and businesses have suffered from. The ad’s reach went far beyond its intended customer base with the extra PR it generated. Here I am, in the United States—not the UK—and I’m writing about the ad, weeks after it was placed. And I’m not the only one.

An article in RetailWire covered the story and garnered plenty of comments from industry experts.

Bindu Gupta, Loyalty and Marketing Strategist at Comarch commented, “What an amazing initiative by Burger King U.K. to support the restaurant industry! It definitely leans towards emotional messaging and is very apt for this environment where the consumer’s emotional dimension is intensified. I can see such an effort being successful in the U.S. as well.”

Mel Kleiman, President of Humetrics said, “One of the best ways to grow your business is to grow the market for what you are selling. One great marketing campaign.”

And Jeff Sward, Founding Partner at Merchandising Metrics summed it up well: “This certainly isn’t business as usual and certainly not competition as usual. I love the spirit of the U.K. initiative. Let’s get through this with some mutual support and duke it out for market share on down the road.”

So, as the pandemic continues, take a leaf out of Burger King’s book. Remember that we’re stronger together than we are apart—and we’re all in this together. Sending a little love your competition’s way may just come back double to you—and your entire industry.