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.”
