Burger King Holdings Inc. has parted ways with its longtime advertising agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky, which had produced such provocative campaigns as Subservient Chicken, Whopper Freakout and Whopper Sacrifice, as well as dozens of commercials starring mascot The King.
A joint statement issued Friday left unclear whether Burger King dismissed Crispin Porter or the agency resigned the account.
“Burger King Corp. and Crispin Porter + Bogusky have enjoyed a tremendously successful relationship over the past seven and a half years,” the companies said. “During that time, our creative partnership resulted in countless innovative and engaging campaigns for the BK brand. We are incredibly proud of all that we have accomplished together, but have mutually decided that now is the right time to part ways. We are fans of each other’s work and wish each other much success in the future.”
Burger King’s ad agency change comes as the chain works to turn around slow sales. Earlier this month, the company reported a 3.7-percent decline in global same-store sales for the fourth quarter, including a 5.8-percent drop at its stores in the United States and Canada.
The breakup also comes shortly after another shakeup in Burger King’s marketing department. The Miami-based quick-service chain said March 2 that global chief marketing officer Natalia Franco would be exiting the company, after about nine months on the job, as the it consolidated its marketing and operations departments.
As part of the realignment, Jonathan Fitzpatrick moved from the post of executive vice president of global operations to the role of chief brand and operations officer, overseeing all operations and marketing brand standards, global research and development, product development and brand management.
Advertising Age has cited a Kantar Media report that Burger King’s advertising spending has trended down the past three years, going from $327 million in domestic measured-media spending in 2008 to $308 million in 2009 and $301 million in 2010.
Burger King was acquired last year by private-equity firm 3G Capital. The brand has more than 12,200 restaurants worldwide, about 90 percent of which are franchised.
Contact Mark Brandau at [email protected].