Burger King Crowns a New Winning Logo

Burger King isn’t reaching far for their new look. In fact, when comparing the branding of the last twenty years to their new look, you’ll notice something looks familiar.

In an effort to showcase themselves as a company meeting trending changes in their customer base, they’ve chosen to focus on better environmental choices along with dropping the preservatives they’ve used in the past.

You can either compete side by side with similar companies and get lost in the pack or find a way to differentiate yourself. Burger King was telling you to “do it your way” for years, but now they want to do it their way—fresher, cleaner, and pointing to a new position in the market.

Some New Changes on the Horizon

· Fresher

· No artificial colors

· No preservatives

Their biggest competitor is McDonald's, and lately, with the ongoing splurge of video cropping up online, there are images of hamburgers that haven’t aged over time, leaving people to question what exactly is preserving those burgers? Why aren’t they decomposing like, well, natural food would?

Burger King sees this as the perfect time and way to showcase their new stance. We do it for you, because we care about what we put in our food.

But is it a new logo, or a throwback logo? When compared to the logos of Burger King’s past, it’s visually similar with a few tweaks. They relied on their standard orange and brown colors. They curved and puffed up the letters a smidge, but it’s almost the same as their logo of 1994-1999. (source)

What’s old is new again? Okay, so the new version is a little more compact, but it’s hard not to notice the tight similarities.

Similar or Different Logo Design?

· Orange and brown, reminiscent of older versions

· Similar in style to the 1994-1999 logo, with a few tweaks

· More balanced and compact

· Rounder letters, puffed in appearance

There’s been a trend of simplifying flashy logos with the look of metallic fading. Simple, iconic design rules the roost.

A couple of other big companies such as Kia and GM recently rebooted their logos as well, coming out with redesigns. They’re always met with mixed reviews, those who love a fresh look and those who prefer things to stay the same. Even sports teams go through redesigns, which leaves you to wonder if the Washington Football Team will ever reveal a new look, name, and design. We’re still waiting.

The Burger King colors have always been reminiscent of autumn with a muted orange and earthy brown. The blue swoop and circle around the logo of the past twenty years were used to give them a more modern vibe, but it seems even modern starts to look dated after a while.

In the design that was just replaced, they’d also brightened the shading and coloration, and slanted the text to give it a flashy, hip edge. Have twenty years truly passed?

Today, it’s back to the comfort of classics, and in an age of COVID people love the comfort of things they know. It will be vaguely familiar to those who grew up with Burger King, and something different for the younger generation.

Orange tends to bring about a fun, optimistic feel that draws in younger people based on color theory, while brown is seen as dependable, simple, wholesome, and trustworthy. It’s a good balance of mood and subtle messaging. (source)

Color Theory:

· Orange: fun, optimistic, targets younger audience

· Brown: wholesome, trustworthy, dependable

Burger King has transitioned through the years, having gotten its start as an Insta-Burger in Florida. It’s now grown to become the second-largest fast-food hamburger chain after Mcdonald's. It was bought out by Pillsbury Company in the 1960s. (source)

It’s since moved between Grand Metropolitan, Diageo, and then TPG Capital in 2002.(source)

3G Capital took over in 2010 and has since formed a new parent company called Restaurant Brands International.

Quick Bite of History:

· Founded in the 1950s in Jacksonville, FL

· Over 18,000 restaurants (mostly franchised)

· Changed hands multiple times over the years

Having started with one humble restaurant, today Burger King has over 15,000 restaurants worldwide. In an interesting twist, their marketing channel on YouTube has promoted a moldy burger. Check out the video here.

Their new goal is to focus on their lack of artificial ingredients and wholesome food that isn’t laden with preservatives. Time will tell if this was a smart move, or will it be another poor promotion attempt like some of the issues they had with “The King” in the past that cost them time and reputation.

Another win for BK was introducing the Impossible Whopper, which helped boost sales, but like a bad penny, there was controversy. It was plant-based but cooked on the same grill as their regular meat burgers. Whoops! In the meantime, enjoy the retro feel of their new logo, and give them another go.

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