Burger King Plays for Deep Pockets With ‘Pokemon’

Sandy Peters expects to make many trips to Burger King in the coming weeks, but it’s not the food that will be turning her into a fast-food fanatic. It’s a case of Pokemon fever.

In an unprecedented blitz of spending and promotion, Miami-based Burger King Corp. will launch its largest marketing campaign ever, spending $22 million to promote a toy giveaway tied to “Pokemon: The First Movie,” the Warner Bros. animated film that opens Wednesday. Not to be outdone, McDonald’s Corp. will spend $30 million to promote “Toy Story 2,” the sequel to Walt Disney Co.’s 1995 animated blockbuster, whose stars featured the voices of actors Tom Hanks and Tim Allen.

The face-off between Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear and Pokemon’s Pikachu are the latest big-bucks collaborations between movie studios and fast-food chains, which have become an annual rite of the summer and holiday seasons.

But the size and scope of the upcoming promotional battle between Burger King and McDonald’s “is taking the intensity to another level,” said Ron Paul, president of Technomic, a Chicago restaurant consulting firm. And the smart betting is on Pokemon, to the chagrin of some McDonald’s franchisees who say the chain’s long-term deal with Disney has kept them from participating in what promises to be the biggest movie tie-in of the year.

Burger King, the nation’s No. 2 burger chain, will trot out 57 different Pokemon toys in 56 days--including a set of 151 trading cards--in an effort to lure children, and their parents, back repeatedly. McDonald’s will roll out 20 different “Toy Story” toys in its Happy Meals, an unusually large number for the Oak Brook, Ill.-based chain.

“I really feel sorry for the parents,” Paul said. “It’s going to be, ‘Mom, let’s go to Burger King for lunch. Dad, let’s go to McDonald’s for dinner.’ ”

Peters, dining at a Costa Mesa Burger King last week, is already dreading the onslaught.

“My son will try and bring me here every day the entire time,” she said. “I know I’ll have to set some limits, but I know we’ll probably be here at least three times a week. He’s crazy about Pokemon.”

Pokemon has surpassed the billion-dollar mark as a global entertainment brand in the last year, and Burger King is teaming up with the pudgy little characters when they are red-hot. For Burger King, which has 8,000 U.S. restaurants, the Pokemon promotion is its biggest gambit yet in its effort to close the considerable gap with McDonald’s, which has about 13,000 U.S. locations. Burger King, owned by the London-based conglomerate Diageo, saw its share of the U.S. fast-food market grow to 21.9% last year, from 17.2% in 1993. McDonald’s market share is nearly 43%.

The Pokemon movie could help narrow that gap. Movie industry experts think the film will be a smash, with U.S. box-office sales ranging anywhere from $75 million to $100 million or more.

Like the popular cartoon show that airs 11 times each week on the WB network, the “Pokemon” movie centers on the adventures of Ash Ketchum and two fellow Pokemon trainers, Misty and Brock. The series and movie are based on a popular Nintendo video game that involves capturing and training 150 unique Pokemon characters. The phenomenon grew this spring, primarily with young boys between the ages of 6 and 12, when Nintendo introduced collectible trading cards. The term “Pokemon” is simply a fusion of the words “pocket” and “monster.”

The campaign includes television, radio and print ads, but the biggest response has been on the Internet. The company’s Web site--https://www.burgerking.com--includes several interactive components including a “Pokedex,” which can help kids track the toys they collect, and the movie trailer.

“Pokemon sites are the highest trafficked on the Internet,” said Burger King spokeswoman Kim Miller. “So the children who follow Pokemon are extremely Internet savvy, and it provided a natural extension for us to reach consumers.”

McDonald’s, meanwhile, is keeping the details of its promotion under wraps. Company officials declined to discuss the campaign’s specifics.

But some particulars have leaked in recent weeks in the trade media. As part of a four-week campaign that kicks off Nov. 26, Happy Meals will feature 20 separate toys, which will make their debuts at a rate of five each week. Other merchandise will include candy dispensers molded into characters that are geared toward teenagers. There also will be some type of peel-and-win game, according to sources.

The burger giant became the envy of the fast-food industry in 1996 when it signed a 10-year multimillion-dollar deal with Disney to be the exclusive fast-food promoter of the entertainment giant’s films. Before that, Burger King had scored big when it teamed up with Disney on “The Lion King,” “Pocahontas” and, coincidentally, the original “Toy Story” film.

Some believe that the Pokemon juggernaut will be one of the most formidable challenges McDonald’s has ever faced and is a sign that its long-term deal with Disney can be a mixed blessing.

“In years gone by, when someone had a hot property like Pokemon, McDonald’s was the first place they would go,” said Dick Adams, head of an association of McDonald’s franchisees that makes up about 10% of the chain. “But Disney is driving everything on McDonald’s calendar these days. The big issue is lack of flexibility. You can’t maneuver in the marketplace and you have to pass up on good things like Rugrats (Burger King’s 1998 holiday campaign) and Pokemon.”

But R.J. Milano, McDonald’s marketing vice president, said the alliance with Disney has been an overall plus for the restaurant company.

“There are those who say we have handcuffs on, but it’s not a handcuff at all. It’s opportunity,” Milano said. “Disney continues to be the hottest studio and you couldn’t ask for a better entertainment partner.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Toy Tilt It’s Burger King and “Pokemon: The First Movie” vs. McDonald’s and “Toy Story 2” in what is shaping up to be one of the biggest prizefights ever in the fast-food industry. Here’s a look at the combatants.

*

Source: Burger King Corp., McDonald’s Corp. and Times research