Marketing Mix of Burger King

This article discusses the current marketing mix of Burger King, including its product, price, place, distribution, layout and design of stores, store locations, and promotion. It also suggests a development of marketing mix that enables BK to close the gap with McDonald’s and distance itself from its other competitors. Additionally, it talks about the percentage of BK’s resources allocated to the US market and international markets.

Running Head: MARKETING MIX 0
Burger King
Global Marketing Management

MARKETING MIX 1
Contents
Current Marketing mix of Burger King.....................................................................................1
Product....................................................................................................................................1
Price........................................................................................................................................2
Place.......................................................................................................................................2
Distribution.........................................................................................................................2
Layout and design of stores................................................................................................2
Store locations.....................................................................................................................2
Promotion...............................................................................................................................2
Development of marketing mix that enables BK to close the gap with McDonald’s and
distance itself from its other competitors...................................................................................3
Product....................................................................................................................................3
Price........................................................................................................................................3
Place.......................................................................................................................................3
Promotion...............................................................................................................................3
Percentage of BK’s resources allocated to the US market and international markets...............3
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5

MARKETING MIX 2
Current Marketing mix of Burger King
Product
In the year 2015, Burger king was having only few products in its category. These were the
core products of burger king such as French fries, hamburgers, soft drinks, onion rings, and
milkshakes. There were several changes made in the sandwiches and it switched to sesame
seed bun from the plain bun. During the late 1970, it added the breakfast meal and chicken
menu in its menu. In 1980, sandwich size also changes. In 2015, burger king also offered the
traditional breakfast that includes muffin sandwiches, French toast sticks, breakfast bowls,
and breakfast sandwiches with sausage, cheese, and eggs. Over the passage of time, various
items were added in its product line. Over the years, it also started offering frappes, coffee,
ice tea, and smoothies. By the year 2015, it has started its operation in various new
international markets. Due to its expansion, it has made the changes in menu that suits the
taste of specific region. For example- pork was not served in Saudi Arabia (Miller, 2016). In
Australia, it served the burger with fried egg and some other flavour that suit the Australian
flavour.
Price
There are many changes done in the menu of burger king over the passage of time but there is
not significant changes made in the products of Burger king. Before changes, also, prices
were high and after changes also it remained the same (Leonard, 2018). Prices were
traditionally high and it maintained same in 2015. However, in the late 2014 and late 2015,
prices changes. It offered the chicken tenders in almost half of the price that resulted in the
low cost per unit in McDonald’s.
Place
Distribution
From the beginning of the company until 1992, each franchisees purchase the products from
the one-distribution centres of the company. After then, distribution purchases the product
from suppliers independently. In the year 199”created the “Restaurant Service Inc” that was
owned by the BK corporation and BK franchisees (Ferraioli, 2018). It is an independent
distribution co-operative and supply Chain Management. In the year 2015, RSI managed the
distribution of BK’s by adhering to the performance standard.

MARKETING MIX 3
Layout and design of stores
The layout and design of Burger King states the classic fast-food chain outlet. It typically
highlighted with hard chairs, uncomfortable chairs, arousing colours and punitive lighting. In
the year 2009, it announced a plan called 20/20. This plan made for the purpose of changes in
interior of restaurant. The new interior included the TV screen, brick walls, and rotating red
flame chandeliers.
Store locations
In the year 2015, it operated the restaurants in 50 states and in almost all the towns of
America. Approximately 50 per cent of the restaurants of Burger King operate in United
States. By the year 2015, it started its operation in 85 countries. It has opened its outlets in 85
countries where it si serving well.
Promotion
In 1959, BK has started the promotion through television. In the year 2003, company has
introduced the web-based advertisement to balance the television, print, and promotion on
social media. Between the years 2008 to 2012, Burger King done various ads that depicts the
sociologists, women’s, mental health patient, nutritionists, Hindus and Mexicans.
Additionally, BK got the publicity when one employee has recorded the video of bathing in
kitchen and posted the video. Under the 3G capital and Schwartz, It has made various
changes in its advertising. The advertising strategy of BK under Schwartz orbited around the
several celebrities such as Mary J. Blige, David Beckham, and Jay Leno. Jay Leno was
choosing salad and David has ordered a Frappe. After that, Burger King changed the
traditional male market by widening the demographic appeal. In the new strategy, Mary J.
Blige sang a romantic song to “crispy chicken. This ad was although criticized for depicting
the racial stereotypes.
Development of marketing mix that enables BK to close the gap with McDonald’s and
distance itself from its other competitors
Product- In order to close the gap with McDonald’s and other competitors, Burger king will
also start researching the market. It will start a new market research department that only
focus on the changing needs of the customers and required changes that are needed in
product. McDonald’s frequently make the changes in its product line and add variety of

MARKETING MIX 4
product which attracts the more customers towards it. BK will also make the changes in its
products and services by getting the information from the research team.
Price- It is seen that there are various competitors of burger king who are offering the same
quality of products. Almost all the companies are charging the same prices due to high
competition. It is seen that the prices of Burger King is quite high as compare to some of its
competitors (Economic Times, 2018). Therefore, it will adopt the cost leadership strategy that
will cut down its production. It will help the company in increasing the efficiency of its
product and will charge the low prices from its customers (Norman, Natarajan and Sen,
2015). Besides this, it will also use the competitive pricing strategy that will be made
according to the prices of McDonald’s and other competitors. The competitive pricing will be
used to offer the products at low cost by comparing the prices from other brands (Lovering,
2018).
Place- For ensuring the more market base for its brand, Burger King will open the more and
more outlets. This will help the Burger King in getting more customers as compare to its
competitors. In order to beat the competition, it is necessary to have different fast food
centres with innovative approach. In every location, interior will be innovative so that it
attract the customers to at least once avail the service of its outlet. In addition to this, it will
open the outlets in nearby cities so that more customers will be added for the brand.
Promotion- As social media has gained the wide publicity in today’s time. All the successful
and big businesses are making effective use of social media in order to gain high publicity for
its product. Burger king will invest the heavy amount on social media in order to fill the gap
with McDonald’s and other competitors (Effing and Spil, 2016). It is not possible to attract
the more customers with traditional promotional strategies. In today’s business environment,
social media took a prominent role in the publicity of product. Therefore, BK will start
focusing more on the social media strategy for promoting its new as well as old products. In
addition to the social media sites, it will also use the different modern promotional strategy
that will help it in getting more customers (Kuang, Jiang, Cui, Sun and Yang, 2017). It will
take the assistance of other local companies in its promotional strategy.
Percentage of BK’s resources allocated to the US market and international markets
In the international market, it is necessary to serve the customers with better product so that
they do not switch to another brand. Therefore, product and promotional strategy will be used

MARKETING MIX 5
in the international market. These two parameters are essential because based on these two,
BK can compete in the international market. It is not possible for the Burger King to use the
mouth-to-mouth promotional strategy in international market. Therefore, as per the marketing
plan the focus will be given on the social media for publicity (Palacios, Merigó and Soto-
Acosta, 2015). Product is an important to keep in mind when offering the product in
international market. Burger King will use the product as the main aspect in the internal
market.
In US, Price and Place will be used as important parameter. In order to beat the competition
with McDonald’s, it will keep the prices low (Nagle and Müller, 2017). Besides this, more
and more outlets will be open in the US market.

MARKETING MIX 6
Conclusion
In the limelight of above discussion, it can be concluded that various changes are needed by
the BK to beat the McDonald’s and other competitors in market. Product is an important
factor where major changes are needed. It is required by Burger King to add various products
in its product line. Besides this, adding a research department is also helpful in knowing the
changing trends and expectation of customers. By doing this, Social media is also an
important tool in recent days. BK is also required to use the social media as a promotional
strategy. Same as McDonald’s and other competitors, BK will also use does the publicity on
social media sites.

MARKETING MIX 7
References
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https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/cost-leadership [accessed 21/11/18].
Effing, R. and Spil, T.A. (2016) The social strategy cone: Towards a framework for
evaluating social media strategies. International journal of information management, 36(1),
pp.1-8.
Ferraioli, T. (2018) What is marketing mix. [online] Available from:
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/marketing-mix-638.html [accessed 21/11/18].
Kuang, K., Jiang, M., Cui, P., Sun, J. and Yang, S. (2017) Effective Promotional Strategies
Selection in Social Media: A Data-Driven Approach. IEEE Transactions on Big Data.
Leonard, K. (2018) Examples of Cost Leadership & Strategy Marketing. [online] Available
from: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-cost-leadership-strategy-marketing-
12259.html [accessed 21/11/18].
Lovering, C. (2018) Competitive Pricing Strategy. [online] Available from:
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/competitive-pricing-strategy-59220.html [accessed
21/11/18].
Miller, C. (2016) An Analysis of the International Expansion of Burger King. United
Kingdom: Routledge.
Nagle, T.T. and Müller, G. (2017) The strategy and tactics of pricing: A guide to growing
more profitably. United Kingdom: Routledge.
Norman, S., Natarajan, V.S. and Sen, K.C. (2015) Cultural Differences in Promotion and
Products in the Fast Food Industry: A Case of the US and Sweden Dyad. Journal of Higher
Education Theory and Practice, 15(5), p.45.
Palacios-Marqués, D., Merigó, J.M. and Soto-Acosta, P. (2015) Online social networks as an
enabler of innovation in organizations. Management Decision, 53(9), pp.1906-1920.