Burger King ad exposes America

 

Just as I pulled into my office today I heard a radio announcement for the new Burger King Family Bundle. So I jumped online and found this press release to uncover the details. I find this "bundle" VERY telling of America in several ways.

Way #1. Apparently the families BK wants include 3 people. Notice how there are 3 meals. As of the 2000 census the average household size and the average family size both hovered around 3. So they seem to have read their census. When you think of a family do you think of 3? I realized today that I don't. Strange.

Way #2. From a marketers standpoint they are doing something really smart...bundling. When you bundle product people can't tell the actual price because we are lazy and can't do math.

Let's do the math. 1 Whopper = $2.39, 1 Whopper Jr. = $1.29, 2 Small Fries at $1.29 each = $2.58, 2 Small Drinks at $.99 each = $1.98, 1 Kids Meal = $3.49. So the grand total if not bundled would be $11.73 + tax.

So they make you feel like you save money when actually you are probably raising their average per transaction ticket by a few pennies or a few bucks.

MARKETERS...LISTEN UP. Bundling works. Do you think McDonald's regrets the Value Meals? Did you know that McD's loses $1 if you buy a burger by itself but they make it back if you buy the Value Meal? Here are the rules to bundling products.

1. Group items that people come to you for with less popular but more profitable items that correlate.

2. Give it a name that is positive "Value Meal", "Family Bundle", "Starter Kit", etc

3. Make sure the price of the bundle is higher than your average cart currently. So one of my clients average cart is $137.40. So we need to make a bundle that is $150 and call it a "Quick Start Kit" or something.

4. Include enough items that is sounds like a "hell of a deal." BK has 7. If you go look at their pic you see 9 items in there. See how they showed a crown. Make it seem like more doesn't it?

Way #3. If you mix laziness, poor math skills, and convenience in the right proportions you can get Americans to buy anything. Even stuff they don't want. I am willing to bet there are millions of people who would only spend $7 or $8 on their cart with BK but then when presented with the $10 Bundle they feel dumb for not taking it. This works the same way at the store where it says 5 for $5 or 10 for $10. THAT IS $1 PER PIECE FOLKS. Do you need 10? Hell no, but you buy 10 because they "bundled" them in your mind. We used to do this at Best Buy when I was a kid all the time. Let's say a VCR (remember those?) was $99. We would put it on sale for $97 and say "Limit 2 per customer." EVERYONE WOULD BUY 2. Why? Who needs 2 VCRs? This worked because they "bundled" it in their mind and created a self-imposed scarcity. What they read on the sign was "This price is so amazing we have to limit purchasing to 2 per customer or there will be riots in the parking lot." We did this one day and sold a whole pallet of them on a Tuesday before lunch. CRAZY.

So my question to you is this? What bundles have you fallen for?