Introduction
Super bowl is the most viewed live event In the Unites States with an estimated 108million people watching it as it unfolds. However, there are various aspects of the event that captures the attention of people all over America. Extensive researches reveal that 50% of the super bowl audience attend the event or watch it live from their comfort of their living room due to the advertisements aired during the event. Most of the times, unlike in traditional media, where commercials interrupts normal programming before resuming to the usual regular watching. Nevertheless, super bowl advertisement are not interruptions, they grab attentions and shape their own space I the event. This paper discusses Burger king advertisement in super bowl event 2018, its target audience, communication style and mechanism of the advertisement.
Target Audience
The advertisement captured the eyes of many audiences since it was the first marketing advertisement in 13 years for the company. The fast food chain company took its time and put together a 45 second commercial featuring an ancient video of Andy Warhol consuming a whopper with a caption, #eatlikeandy. This excerpt video was from Danish filmmaker 1982 movie. Warhol liked food and experimented with food branding in his art and past video footages. The creator took the footages and converted them into an articulate advertisement able to capture current audience, gain traction and able to generate profits margins. Unlike other super bowl advertisements that aired as the event went on; this particular commercial was released a little later than usual because the food chain wanted to take their time and capture the full attention of the audience (Greg, 2019). By giving the viewers an opportunity to concentrate on the unique qualities of the advert and notice nitty gritty details hidden within the commercial with minimal effort, the company reached a wider, middle-income audience. It is important to note that unlike other adverts that target American audience, this specific advert also targeted the British people among other nationalist by using Andy.
The team behind the concept wanted to capture a wider audience due to company’s global presence (Greg, 2019). In fact, the advertisement was more like a teaser and aimed at revealing, promotional deals, and other new offers to their esteemed customers and potential clients. In addition, the airing was late in order to differentiate the food chain from other fast food chains and make it stand out from the rest of the brands. Simply put, the commercial ran against conventional means and brought out their best foot forward ready take a bigger share of the market while retaining loyal consumers.
Communication Objective
Burger King’s super bowl commercial no doubt stood out both individually and as a business entity which was the underlying objective of the commercial in the first place. Communicating through a relatable and iconic figure such as Andy Warhol eating a burger, triggered conversation and entrenched the commercial deep in people’s minds. Andy Warhol lived in the 1982 and artists and historians of that past era related to him (Greg, 2019). Incorporating his footage in a 21st century only aimed at joining the pasts, the present, and future. In other words, the commercial’s objective was rebranding through a past iconic and artistic figure hence unveiling familiarity with the past and moving into the future while advising its audience to chew as Andy. In my own opinion, the commercial achieved its intended purpose and its message cut across the board. In summary, the communication objective of the commercial was integrating different audiences, forming relationships, which helped the reshape the brand name of the company.
Key Customer Benefit
The advert was short and precise, not trying too hard to impress or sell itself but offers advice (Greg, 2019). The advert redirects the viewer to #eatlikeAndy caption, as a result, bringing into sharp focus the main product, burger and not the manner in which Andy eats the burger per se. This was a genius concept, which portrays an icon living in the 1980s eating burgers, then no one should be an exception in the present era. In my opinion, this proposition makes sense and anyone can argue it out from the any perspective due to its fluidity.
Support
As stated earlier, the advertisement aimed at capturing a wider audience and it leaned toward capturing both American and British audience rather than single out an American audience (Greg, 2019). More so, the advert utilized simple visuals and took 45 seconds, giving the audience enough time to go through the one main product Burger king is well known for and that is a burger. Burger King does not struggle to create other diversion but goes directly for the main objective and that is selling burgers.
Tone and Manner
The background consists of dull colors but the burger wrapped in white burger king bag calls the attention of the viewer to the product with ease (Greg, 2019). The advert has a quiet background meant to retain the attention of the viewer thus the viewer has no option but to pay attention closely to the
Reference
Greg Morabito. (2019). Andy Warhol Eats a Whopper in Burger King’s Super Bowl Commercial. https://www.eater.com/2019/2/3/18209563/burger-king-super-bowl-commercial-2019-andy-warhol
