Restaurant Chain Launches A New Burger Through NBC Reality Series.
By Christine Champagne
The day after the second episode of the third season of The Apprentice aired, millions of Americans were craving Burger King. That’s because a new Burger King sandwich was cleverly featured in a task on NBC’s hit reality show during which two teams of aspiring apprentices each had to run a busy Burger King restaurant in Manhattan for a day and sell a new Burger King sandwich. The team that sold the most won. (FYI: In this case, Net Worth, a team made up of high school graduates, beat out Magna Corporation, a team comprised of college grads.) Then the day after the episode aired, Burger King began selling the winning team’s burger–in this case the Western Angus Steak Burger–for a two-week time period.
Of course, there is always some amount of risk when a company ventures into the branded entertainment arena, but judging by the reaction of the press (publications ranging from The New York Times to USA Today covered the initiative) and the public (how many of you found yourselves lured into your local Burger King after seeing the episode?), Burger King’s collaboration with The Apprentice was a hit.
Interestingly, Cindy Syracuse, Burger King’s senior director for national promotions and sponsorships, noted that the main goal of the promotion was not to drive sales. “The premise around the promotion was really about creating a social connection and being relevant,” Syracuse shared. “I did not enter this promotion saying, ‘This is going to drive huge traffic and sales’ because you don’t really know. It’s not the purpose. The purpose is to be a contemporary brand that people are talking about and thinking about differently. And if, by the way, I can sell more Western Angus Steak Burgers, well, that’s a great benefit, but it wasn’t the objective of going into this.”
It is obvious that Burger King wasn’t content with the idea of simple product placement on The Apprentice and went to great lengths to make the task it took part in exciting–even turning over operations of two of its restaurants to the show’s contestants. “That’s a big leap operationally for a brand to take,” Syracuse reflected, laughing.
Meanwhile, Burger King also created six new products specifically for the two teams to choose from. “We didn’t have any of those products in the works [before agreeing to do the show],” Syracuse said.
That meant hustling to deliver. Given the short timeframe, Burger King’s executive chef Calvin Harris created the six new products using pantry items already on hand at each of the company’s nearly 8,000 restaurants. “Mark Burnett Productions [the company that produces The Apprentice] was completely blown away by what we were doing,” Syracuse reported. “Every step of the way they were like, ‘Wow. No partner has ever done this.’ “
Burger King even went as far as to produce a custom commercial that aired within the show. Titled “Boardroom,” the :30 found Donald Trump firing a Burger King employee. Created by Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B), Miami, the spot was directed by Martin Granger of bicoastal Moxie Pictures, and was almost indistinguishable from the episode as it was set in Trump’s famous boardroom.
Additionally, the Burger King Web site recreates the task featured in The Apprentice online, allowing users to create and market their own product and enter to win a trip.
Looking back on her decision to work with The Apprentice (Burger King worked directly with the show’s producers to arrange and execute the project), Syracuse said it was a no-brainer. “With my promotions, I try to base it on my own experience, and I’m a huge fan of The Apprentice,” Syracuse said, noting that creator and executive producer Mark Burnett, the mastermind behind Survivor and the upcoming The Contender, produces “content that is extremely relevant and motivating to my consumer.”
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More