Why Facebook Will Never Be a Great Advertising Platform

Well, the awesomeness of Burger King's "Whopper Sacrifice"

online advertising

campaign has come to an end. The application still exists, mind you, but it has been severely de-fanged after Facebook forced the developer to change the way it works due to "privacy concerns".

Seems Facebook had a flame-broiled beef against the way the app notified all of your friends that somebody had been dropped in favour of the almighty Whopper (normally, friends removals are not announced over the news feed).

Unfortunately, that was the whole point of the campaign -- to let your friends in on the joke, and to spread the campaign virally by alerting others about its presence.

Now, nobody will get a notification when they are sacrificed, and all of your friends will think you're a jerk for dropping them with no notice. Yay!

Well, Burger King tried (and hey, they got a lot of press out of it, so this

social marketing

campaign was undoubtedly a huge success for them), but Facebook's unwillingness to play ball with these marketing and advertising agencies isn't doing itself any favours if it still wants to pretend to be a viable advertising platform.

Could It Be ... A Facebook Advertising Campaign Done Right?

When it comes to

Web 2.0

and

Social Media

, Facebook is definitely at the top of the heap. However, despite all of its success, Facebook is still nothing more than a place where web advertising goes to die -- the futile attempts to leverage Facebook as an effective advertising medium has been well documented across the web (this recent article on Silicon Alley Insider goes into more detail as to why companies such as Proctor & Gamble are becoming more and more disillusioned with the site's ads).

But the fact of the matter is, a lot of people use Facebook a lot. So there must be some way to capture this audience, right?

The problem with most Facebook ads is that either they're nothing more than a simple banner ad, or they promote banal and predictable customer interactions such as leaving comments or submitting photos. It seems that although Facebook is supposed to be the very definition of "Web 2.0", the ads on the site are very Stone Age in nature.

That is, until Burger King came along.


Instead of using a normal Facebook ad, BK has opted to market itself through a new Facebook Application -- a program that must be actively installed onto the Facebook user's profile.

This new app, called "Whopper Sacrifice", is offering Facebook users a free Whopper ... but not by doing lame stuff like joining a group or forwarding links. Instead, you can get your free hamburger by choosing to de-friending 10 of your buddies on your Facebook account.

That's right. You have to choose between your friends or your food. And to add insult to injury, the application will also send a message to your ex-pal telling them that they were dropped from your friends list in favour of a juicy, flame-broiled burger. Harsh. As one poster on Fark commented, "Those worthless people I knew in high school are finally proving to be useful for something."

I've already touched on the cleverness of Burger King's previous marketing campaigns, and in my opinion, "Whopper Sacrifice" is nothing short of amazing.

First of all, it's getting people to actually go to Burger King to cash in their free Whopper. Second, every time you drop one of your friends, the proclamation of your burgerish loyalties is displayed on your News Feed -- for all of your other friends to see (which will likely prompt a few of them to download the app themselves, thereby repeating the process ... hmmmm ... sounds like the very definition of

viral marketing

to me).

Some people say that the app is pointless since you can just re-add your friends after claiming your burger. But guess what? That's not the point. As long as the app makes you think of Burger King (and ultimately step inside the joint for your free burger), then it's done its job. The King doesn't care what you do with your Facebook profile after the fact.

The only question is ... is this the start of something good (companies actually thinking outside the box and using clever ways to utilize Facebook), or will this launch a new era of poorly-written and annoying copycat corporate applications that will flood our Facebook profiles like so many zombie, ninja, and pirate apps have in the past? Time will tell.

Hail to the King, Baby

This week, perennial fast food bridesmaid Burger King will be launching a new marketing and advertising campaign designed to promote its healthier kids menu items (mostly consisting of KD and apple slices) -- and what better way to appeal to kids and their parents than through cartoony mascots?

The television ads for this campaign will introduce a new character to the BK pantheon -- Little King, presumably The King's son (I guess Petit Prince was already taken).

In my opinion, this is a very interesting decision by Burger King. Sure, The King character is interesting (in a funny/creepy/sinister stalker sort of way), but the entire vibe of The King commercials doesn't strike me as the "grab the kids and go to BK" type (this is especially evident given The King's popularity as an Internet meme). Will a Mini-Me version of The King really entice kids to eat apple slices at Burger King?

The better question is -- didn't the entire fast food industry kick the family mascot concept to the curb years ago?

Seriously, when was the last time Birdie, Grimace, Hamburglar, Mayor McCheese, the Fry Guys, the McNugget Buddies, and the rest of the McDonaldland gang were on TV? Or what about the A&W bear (whatever his name is)?

That's why it seems odd to me that BK has not only continued to use The King these past few years, but has also decided to expand its mascot family. Is a Mrs. King around the corner? How about Grandpa King?

Honestly, I'm not sure if I see this working out well for Burger King -- I just don't think the same marketing tactics that work for one audience will quite translate well onto another.

Sure, The King and BK's previous campaigns, such as the awesome Subservient Chicken and Coq Roq websites and viral marketing campaigns, were massively popular with teens and students and gained a cult following on the Internet.

But will this style of campaign attract parents and make them say, "Gee, maybe I'll buy some BK apple slices for Billy"? Will it sparkle with childhood-robbed kids who want nothing to do with cartoon character spokesmen? McDonald's wants nothing to do with that game anymore ... do they know something Burger King doesn't?

We'll see what happens. Until then, I'll be having a hot and juicy Baconator (because Dave Thomas told me to).