Burger King hits the roadBurger King hits the road

Ron Ruggless

Burger King's famous mascot just completed a month-long bus tour of the United States aimed at building buzz for the chain using social-media tools and video-game giveaways.

The “King of the Road” tour began Oct. 26 in New York City, ventured through the heartland to San Francisco and ended in Miami on Sunday. The tour was coordinated by Burger King’s ad agency, Crispin Porter Bogusky, which was behind some of the chain's other buzz-worthy campaigns, including the Facebook “unfriending” promotion and the charbroil-burger spray scent.

The King stopped at dozens of cities on the 7,000-mile tour, distributing 2,600 Kinect for Xbox 360 prize packs to unsuspecting guests, surreptitiously filming the surprises and posting the news on various social-media sites to build awareness. As part of the bus tour, Burger King also opened a separate Twitter account for the King.

“What we are tracking is the number of followers [for the King's Twitter account] who have [joined] over the past month, which is tracking extremely well considering what we have on the current corporate account,” said Keith Jackson, content supervisor for Burger King at Crispin Porter, during a stop at a unit in the Dallas suburb of Duncanville, Texas. “We’re also looking at mentions and overall online chatter that’s happening for the @TheBurgerKing handle on Twitter.”

SLIDE SHOW: The Burger King unit visited by the King in Duncanville, Texas, is part of the company's "20/20" design initiative, announced last year, that includes flat-screen menu boards, brick-veneer accents in the interior and dark metal touches on the exterior. Click here for photos.

The Burger King character, who doesn’t speak in commercials, has found Twitter to be a good way to communicate, Jackson said, adding that the King has just been introduced as an advertising vehicle in the United Kingdom.

“This is the first time he’s actually, I guess, ‘spoken,’” Jackson said. “He’s written before, but this is the first time on a very large scale.”

The King’s musings were posted on Flickr, Foursquare and YouTube and then aggregated at Tumblr for a one-stop travelogue.

Jackson said the King also was using Stickybits, which applies information to barcode stickers and allows iPhone and Android users to leave messages and information via application software.

The ad agency has been responsible for such buzz-worthy Burger King campaigns as the Facebook “unfriending” promotion and the charbroil-burger spray scent.

Miami-based Burger King has more than 12,200 locations worldwide.

To see the Burger King’s travelogue, check out the following websites:

Tumblr
http://www.the-burger-king.tumblr.com

Twitter
https://twitter.com/theburgerking

Foursquare
http://foursquare.com/theburgerking

Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theburgerking

Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected].