We are truly a society where "The king is the child," as epitomized by Burger King’s new BK Crown meal and tagline: "Imagination is King."
The fast food giant’s revamped kids meal is geared to woo the younger set and parents, as it aims to compete with McDonald's recently revamped Happy Meals in the highly competitive kids' quick-serve dining category.
While McDonald's put the emphasis on nutrition, the new BK Crown meals are served in boxes with interactive games and cardboard crowns recalling the chain's namesake, and now largely a ceremonial figurehead BK King, whose last duty appears to have been giving away Xbox Kinect devices when they launched a year ago.
A new $9.99 LTO BK Family Bundle meal—on offer through Dec. 4, 2011—packages food for parents and a child: one Whopper, one Whopper Jr., two small fries, two small drinks and one of the newly boxed kid’s meals (regularly priced at $2.99). “It’s the QSR category’s first bundled meal incorporating a children’s meal and the idea could spur imitators if it succeeds,” Burger Business commented.
Adding a touch of social to the meal, the boxes direct kids to BKCrown.com, where they can play games or give back by entering a code and clicking on one of three charities (Wildlife Conservation Society, National Parks Conservation Association, or DonorsChoose.org) and BK will donate one cent from the meal's proceeds.
Flatter sales in the $168 billion fast-food industry are spurring the changes and more directly targeting kids. The new crown has brighter colors and is more bejeweled than its dethroned predecessor. Every kid who enters a BK can ask for a crown – with or without a meal.
"Kids negotiate harder than lawyers when they want to eat out. They always win," observed Warren Sackler, associate professor of hospitality and food service management at Rochester Institute of Technology, to USA Today.
To promote the new offering, “In an audacious PR stunt," the brand yesterday sent "a BK-branded barge with a 60-foot, custom-made aluminum BK crown down the Hudson River within eyeshot of the Statue of Liberty. No, it won't be plopped on the statue's head, but it's about the right size.”
As part of the launch for the new kids' meal packages, Burger King is also offering a $9.99 Family Bundle including the kids' meal at select locations through Dec. 5th, a deal it's promoting on its Facebook page.
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