Russ Klein should launch the Xbox campaign for Burger King. Online viral campaigns like Subservient Chicken were successful for brand awareness and incremental sales. Launching an innovative non-traditional campaign for Xbox could significantly increase Burger King's brand awareness and sales, outweighing risks of high development costs or unsold games. While traditional marketing is proven, new online campaigns may succeed in reaching Xbox's large consumer base, especially among teens and young adults.

1. Online Marketing: Assignment
By: Rohit Kumar
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Ques 1: Should Russ Klein go on to launch the Xbox Campaign?
Yes, Russ Klein should go for the campaign. The SubservientChicken of Burger King
was a success owing to huge online impressions within a shortspan of time. Also,
it lead to huge branding of Burger King. It was a good attempt to go away from
traditional marketing and that would definitely bring in good returns.
Same can happen in the case of Xboxalso as its main aim is not to not to generate
profits but to build the company‘s brand and generate incremental food sales.
Some of the factors which can be considered in favor of launching the campaign
are –
1. In 2005, a study reported that four out of ten adults claimed to own a video
game console. As of January of 2006, there was an installed base of
approximately 15 million Xboxes.
2. More than 50% respondents aged between 18-44 years and 58% of
households with children, owned a console.
3. 83% of teens said they used a video game console attached to their
television, up from 69% in 2001.
4. In 2005, the total dollars spent on in game advertising was $56 million.
Some factors which may come as risk would be –
1. The development of the games would costapproximately $9 million. Also, it
was uncertain that the games would meet the quality standards that BKC
desired. Hence, there was a possibility that additional cash may be required.
2. High sales forecastmight leave BKC with extra games, which would incur it a
loss.
3. Xbox gaming console was owned by a somewhatsmall shareof the market.
In 2005, Xbox represented only 22% of game consoles owned in the United
States and only 28% of games consoles owned by 18-24 year olds.

2. Though traditional marketing is like spread and wait, is tried and tested. We would
not be able to predict the success of an online marketing campaign that is very
much new and innovative (non-traditional). It is always a good idea to try
something new. In case, it is successfulthen the brand awareness of burger king
would definitely go up which will lead to increase in sales.
Ques 2: Give two instances when brands came together for a promotional
activity.
i) Apple and Nike: Apple teamed up with Nike and its creative agency,
R/GA. The trio introduced Nike+ Running, a softwarethat tracks fitness
data from the athletic company’s shoes and syncs it to Apple’s hardware
devices. The collaboration lapped up industry praise.
ii) Twitter chat: A Twitter chat is a virtual event where people gather to
discuss a common topic. For example, Google and Twitter partnered on a
campaign about Small Business Saturday. In the week leading up to SBS,
they dished out helpful advice on Twitter using a common hashtag, and
then aggregated all Tweets on a web page.
iii) Pillsbury Brownies withNestle Chocolate: Pillsbury Brownies, owned by
General Mills, pairing with Nestlé chocolate. These two brands enhance
the offer for the customer by combining complementary tastes, while
creating brand equity and reinforcing associations for the businesses.
iv) Betty Crocker’s brownie mix includes Hershey’s chocolate syrup