LOS ANGELES: McDonald’s and Burger King have once again raised the stakes in their battle for PR supremacy, with multi-million dollar Pokemon and Toy Story 2 campaigns putting the fast-food giants in direct competition with one another for holiday dollars.
LOS ANGELES: McDonald’s and Burger King have once again raised the
stakes in their battle for PR supremacy, with multi-million dollar
Pokemon and Toy Story 2 campaigns putting the fast-food giants in direct
competition with one another for holiday dollars.
In their latest collaborations with Hollywood, the nation’s two biggest
fast-food chains last month launched major PR drives to maximize their
Godzilla-sized toy-based promotions. This time, Burger King’s Pokemon
promotion goes head-to-head with McDonald’s Toy Story 2 tie-in.
The second-place BK chain, with over 8,000 locations, has launched a
dollars 22 million spending blitz to promote 57 different Pokemon toys
it will give away. The program ties into Pokemon: The First Movie, the
Warner Bros. animated film that opened last month.
’This has been our most successful PR campaign ever,’ said Burger King
PR director Kim Miller. ’We’re using PR to generate maximum exposure for
the promotional properties, and the fact that we have no exclusive
arrangement with a film studio (as McDonald’s has with Disney) has
allowed us to be the belle of the ball when it comes to promotional
partners.’
McDonald’s claims the rivalry has not pressured the company to step up
its PR efforts, especially since the company was in the throes of
planning its estimated dollars 30 million program to trumpet the Toy
Story sequel. The four-week campaign, which will see the Golden Arches
donate more than 10,000 toys, kicked off with a media event at one of
its LA restaurants last week.
McDonald’s, which boasts 13,000 restaurants, had attempted to keep
details of the program under wraps, but marketing VP R. J. Milano,
conceded, ’It’s one of the largest PR events we’ll do all year. It’s all
about giving back to the communities in which we do business.’
When asked if Pokemon fever had affected Mickey D’s PR agenda,
McDonald’s communications director Cathy Nemeth responded, ’We put
substantial dollars into our big Disney programs every year, and this
year’s allotment is on par with last year’s.’
