Burger King

For the first time in twenty years, fast food giant, Burger king decided to take on a rebrand with a revamped logo, packaging, and uniforms. The focal point of the rebrand was the logo and instead of the logo they used through the 2000s, their rebrand looked strikingly similar to the logo Burger King used through the 70s, 80s, and 90s. The goal was “to pay homage to the brand’s heritage with a refined design that’s confident, simple and fun”. The root of the rebrand is centered on their renewed commitment to digital centric expression, improvements to food quality, and environmentally minded decision-making.

The reduction in elements of the logo makes the logo more versatile because it can be displayed at a wider variety of sizes on a wide array of devices. Reducing the complexity and taking out the slant on the old text and asymmetrical blue swoosh give the logo more uses through marketing material. The new typeface maintains its bold weight, with much more rounded and natural-looking edges with hopes of capturing the organic shapes of their ingredients. This is also reflected in their more neutralized color palette. Using more earth tones amplifies the essence of natural ingredients and being environmentally aware.

Their packaging and new advertisements is reminiscent of the minimalist approach that McDonald’s recently took on with their new advertising, but with a more neutral color palette. Replacing the vibrant primary colors with earthy tones captures a new sense of authenticity and creates more brand separation between them and their counterparts. As you observe their new verbiage in their advertisements and slogans on packaging, it is clear that they are trying to be more transparent. “No secrets in our sauce” and “bring napkins, get messy” are simple phrases, but carry a lot of nostalgia and playfulness. This is very important in maintaining relationships with the consumer because it builds on that level of trust and authenticity. The ebb and flow of the typeface mirrors those of rivers or trails and adds to their more proclamation of environmental awareness. 

This was also reflected in their actions as they played advertisements bringing awareness to climate change and the current state of the horrors within livestock industry. Furthermore, they removed all artificial preservatives from the whopper in February of 2020. Creating visual and physical changes that are completely in accordance is a difficult, but important aspect of rebranding. Mirroring the removal of preservatives from the Whopper through the visual addition of the earth tones and natural-feeling font should prove to be successful over time. This is because the same idea is reinforced through the stimulation of multiple senses for the consumer.

For commercial giants, it seems to be no secret that minimalism will play a role in every big players adaptation to the present. Perhaps this is because as our world is becoming more digital every day, design needs to keep up with the constantly evolving screen sizes that mobile applications and digital ads need to be displayed on. It could also be the recent shifts in social climate that we have seen resulting from the pandemic, black lives matter movement, and massive shift towards going mobile & e-commerce. Regardless, It’s no coincidence that both Burger King & McDonald’s rebrands have drawn comparisons to Apple.