Photo source: Burger King
Burger King is shifting the centre of its brand story from iconography to people. With the launch of its new campaign “There’s A New King And It’s You,” the brand signals a decisive step in its ongoing turnaround, positioning guests not just as consumers, but as active co-creators of the brand experience.
The campaign, which debuted with a spot aired during the Oscars on March 15, marks a symbolic and strategic move: the official “firing” of the long-standing King mascot. In its place, Burger King elevates its guests as the true drivers of the brand, placing their feedback, expectations and experiences at the core of its future direction.
Rather than introducing a new visual identity or spokesperson, the campaign reframes the brand narrative entirely. It openly acknowledges past shortcomings, including outdated restaurants, slow service and operational inconsistencies, while positioning recent improvements as a direct response to customer input.
This approach builds on Burger King’s broader Reclaim The Flame turnaround strategy, which has focused on modernising restaurants, improving operations and strengthening marketing investments over the past several years.
“This campaign represents much more than a new ad – it reflects the transformation Burger King has been driving over the past five years,” said Joel Yashinsky, CMO, Burger King US & Canada. “The most important part of that journey has been truly listening to our Guests and the millions of people rooting for this brand. So it felt only right to officially hand them the crown.”
Co-creation as a brand platform
At the core of the campaign is the idea that Burger King’s evolution has been shaped in collaboration with its customers. Initiatives such as Whopper By You, the Million Dollar Whopper contest and even the unusual move of sharing the direct phone number of President Tom Curtis are positioned not as marketing stunts, but as tangible proof of this co-creation process.
The campaign narrative leans heavily into transparency, documenting how guest feedback has influenced everything from product improvements to operational changes.
“When creating ‘There’s a new king, and it’s you’ we knew for sure: this can’t just be another ad campaign. It needs to document the real, years long, story of co-creating the future of Burger King with Guests,” said Matt McNulty and Ben Pfutzenreuter of OKRP.
Learning from turnaround playbooks
The tone of the campaign draws clear parallels with Domino’s “Pizza Turnaround” effort from 2010, which similarly embraced transparency and customer feedback as drivers of brand recovery. This connection is not incidental. Both Tom Curtis and RBI Executive Chairman J. Patrick Doyle bring experience from Domino’s, where rebuilding trust through openness proved a successful strategy.
Burger King’s leadership appears to be applying a comparable logic: acknowledging weaknesses, demonstrating change and inviting customers into the process.
“We have plans to continue this platform for the foreseeable future. We think this is something that is going to connect with guests,” added Yashinsky.
In a category often driven by price, promotion and speed, this shift towards participation and co-creation represents a more structural change. Whether it translates into sustained brand growth will depend on the brand’s ability to maintain consistency between message and experience.
For now, the crown has officially changed hands.
