A Wider Net

According to Next Generation, Burger King has found gold in video games. We described the XBOX video game promotion back in November - you travelled to BK, bought a value meal, then you got to buy games for the XBOX and XBOX 360 for only $3.99. Apparently the games and the promotion were good enough to boost Burger Kings profits a whopper-ing 40%.

The lingering effect of this promotion will be felt for some time, since the games are still out there being played. Each game basically immerses you in BK content. You drive a bike as a Whopper, sneak around as the King himself, and bump around with BK cashiers. In one game, your goal is to distribute their product.

It was a fairly well-targetted promotion, making good use of gaming technology in the XBOX community which is about as virally active as it gets. They understood that the games had to be good enough to be desirable at the price. The inclusion of (expensive) model/actress Brooke Burke in each game was an obvious matchup with the target demographic.

I personally bought all three games (yes, I’m a gaming nut and a sucker for a good deal). Driving a pocket bike as a giant double whopper while planting a land mine to knock Brooke Burke off her bike is truly one of the most surreal entertainment experiences I can recall. And they got my burger money that day.