Look Out, Colonel Sanders: Burger King Is Calling Itself the KFG, 'King of Flame Grilling'

With Burger King so often setting its sights on rival McDonald's, other brands might have been lulled into a false sense of complacency. But never sleep on the King, because he could come calling any minute. That's a lesson KFC is learning this week with the launch of a new Burger King spot that dresses its King mascot in a white suit, shiny belt buckle and a bolo tie (of sorts) to dub him the KFG: King of Flame Grilling. [kickout id="1"] At the heart of the spot, created by MullenLowe, is a new grilled chicken sandwich, which bodes well for KFC in the sense that Burger King isn't going all-in on the Colonel's core turf of fried chicken. (Burger King has an odd history with chicken. In America, people aren't sure what the chain does or doesn't sell, while in the U.K. the brand has to literally bribe people to give its chicken a chance.) KFC also gets off pretty easy compared to McDonald's, which has been trolled relentlessly by Burger King (among others, namely notorious Twitter mean girl Wendy's). Last year, Burger King ran print ads with photos of McDonald's executives' homes, just to highlight that they owned grills. Then, in the true coup de grâce, Burger King this past December created "Whopper Detour" to reward fans who drove close to a McDonald's—and then drove away to redeem the deal at a Burger King. Just to rub a little salt in the chicken, Burger King will, starting today, feature "KFG" on sandwich wrappers at select restaurants in Kentucky, Miami, Los Angeles and New York. “Burger King has been flame grilling since our first restaurant opened in 1954—we have over 60 years of grilling expertise under our belt,“ says Chris Finazzo, North American president for Burger King. “We wanted to celebrate this expertise and show that when it comes to flame grilling, we ‘reign’ over the competition." CREDITS: Client: Burger King Global Chief Marketing Officer, Burger King: Fernando Machado Head of Global Brand, Burger King: Marcelo Pascal Head of Marketing, Burger King North America, Renato Rossi Advertising, Media and Communications, Burger King North America: Diego Suarez Media, Traditional, Digital and Social, Burger King North America: Jorge Oliveira Social Media and Digital Marketing, Burger King North America: Flavia Guetter Advertising and Merchandising, Burger King North America: Nicole Alevizos Advertising, Burger King North America: Liza Keller Media, Traditional and Digital, Burger King North America: Madeline McDermott Agency: MullenLowe U.S. Chief Creative Officer: Mark Wenneker Executive Creative Director: Tim Vaccarino Executive Creative Director: Dave Weist SVP, Creative Director: Enrique Camacho Associate Creative Director: Cody Dummer Associate Creative Director: Allison Hughes Strategy Director: Mike Cassell Social Content Writer: Arielle Mulgrew SVP Executive Director of Integrated Production: Lisa Setten SVP, Head of Integrated Production: Zeke Bowman VP, Executive Producer: Karen Haffmans VP, Executive Producer: Brian Smith VP, Director of Integrated Studio: Dan Howell VP, Director of Art Production: Tracy Maidment Director of Print Production: Aidan Finnan Content Producer: Abbey Daniel-Green Sr. Photographer: Erika LaPresto Digital Imaging Supervisor: Nick Bleil Sr. Digital Imaging Artist: Alex Abdalian Senior Business Affairs Manager: Amy Keddy Sr. Project Manager: Kelly Benson VP Account Director: Kerry McKibbin Account Supervisor: Alison Whisenant Account Executive: Caroline Bailey Account Executive: Leila Chee Production: Director: Dave Laden (Hungry Man Productions) Executive Producer: Caleb Dewart (Hungry Man Productions) Line Producer: Tina Densmore Bell (Hungry Man Productions) Production Supervisor: Alexa Brugger (Hungry Man Productions) Editor: Jim Hutchin (Hutch Co) Editorial EP: Jane Hutchin (Hutch Co) Color: James Tillet (MPC) Color EP: Ed Koenig (MPC) Finish EP: Matthew Loranger (MPC)