Burger King Rolls Out a Refreshingly Familiar New Look

If you haven’t seen a Moldy Whopper, you may not be aware of Burger King’s focus on food quality. And although that sentence sounds a bit contradictory, the campaign—which collected numerous awards and more than 8 billion organic impressions—successfully drove awareness for the brand’s movement towards food transparency and sustainability. To further that pledge, on Wednesday, Burger King rolled out a fresh brand identity with roots to its past. The identity is complete with a new logo, colors and font that will show up throughout packaging, merchandise, uniforms and restaurant décor. The refresh—which took close to two years to bring to life—is the first for Burger King in 20 years. 'Buns don't shine' The new logo in particular may look familiar to long-time BK fans. Fernando Machado, global CMO of Restaurant Brands International, who led Burger King marketing for nearly six years prior to this elevated role he took on in January 2020, shared a bit of the background. "The source of inspiration was from the logo we had from '69 to 1999," he said. "The main difference now is that we adjusted the color to make it more vibrant and more like the colors of food. And we adjusted the proportions of the bun to look more like the products that we sell. The font is yummy and round, just like our food." According to Machado, the current logo just didn't stand the test of time and wasn't exactly optimized for a digital and mobile-first experience. "It didn't age well," he said. "Like the shine on the bun... buns don't shine." The new look will roll out across restaurants globally in early 2021. The logo refresh comes with several restaurant and customer experience enhancements, including digital menu boards with predictive selling capabilities, double—and in some cases even triple—drive-thrus. Burger King The timing is right for this identity refresh because it better fits where the brand is today and how it’s evolved, according to Machado. “This is a brand that has a very clear personality,” he said. “It’s fun, self-deprecating, a bit edgy. … that will continue. We adjusted the visual identity to better fit what this brand is about. There was a bit of a disconnect starting to happen because the brand has evolved so much.” Brand progression Machado noted how the brand has progressed, not just in terms of personality (from the time agency CPB had the account) but also in terms of priorities, such as the growing importance of food sustainability and D&I. “We are making some serious commitments around sustainability and improving the experience, especially the digital experience, with off-premise growing so much," he said. "Because we’re going through that transformation, we wanted the design to basically signal to people what has changed.” And with opinions—both positive and negative—lurking around the corner of every campaign release, Machado pointed out how important it is to not let the fear of criticism hinder creativity or preparation. “When I say that we shouldn't fear criticism, I think that's definitely true but it doesn't mean that you shouldn't prepare for it, right?” Machado said. “We do have some mitigation mechanisms that we prepare but we hardly ever use them to be honest with you. But just that preparation makes you stronger and gives confidence to everyone in the company that if something goes wrong, you can handle it." Burger King Rebrand Credits Agency: JKRGlobal Chief Creative Officer: Tosh Hall CEO, North America: Sara Hyman Executive Creative Director: Lisa Smith Creative Director: Christian Widlic Design Director: Justin Fines Senior Designer: Daniel Stettner Senior Designer: JiYoon Cha Senior Designer: Taylor Childers Senior Designer: Regina Puno Designer: Jackie Rodriguez Implementation Designer: Linda Strong Logo Design: Miles Newlyn Type Design: Cololphon Foundry Illustration: Cachetejack Senior Copywriter: Joe Schott Copy Director: Morgan Doff Head of Motion: Dan Kennington Group Account Director: Jenna Portela Account Director: Owen McAleer Senior Account Manager: Izzy Taaffe Head of Strategy: Gavin May Strategy Director: Christopher Allen Print Production Director: Stephen Kwartler Senior Production Designer: Miguel Altagracia Senior Production Designer: John Colón Global Communications Manager: Jackie Sumsky

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Burger King Rolls Out a Refreshingly Familiar New Look

The rebrand aims to showcase the brand’s focus on transparency and sustainability

Heide Palermo

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Heide Palermo