Burger King, AOL join ‘burger war’

LOS ANGELES – The “burger wars” have turned digital, with Burger King and AOL Music becoming the latest big brand partners to serve up free music downloads with beef patties to appeal to young adults.

The deal between AOL Music group, owned by Time Warner Inc.’s America Online, and privately held Miami-based Burger King, the No. 2 restaurant chain, comes on the heels of a similar deal announced in June between market leader McDonald’s Corp. and Sony Corp.’s Sony Connect music service. From now through October 3, Burger King restaurants across the country will give away one free music download with every purchase of an Original Whopper sandwich.Customers can enter a unique download code found on their Whopper wrappers at the www.haveityourway.com Web site to get free music downloads from AOL Music, which offers 700 000 songs through a deal with online music provider MusicNet.Neither Sony nor McDonald’s have disclosed how many downloads have been sold through their promotion, which gave customers who bought a Big Mac Extra Value meal an access code for one free song download at Sony’s Connect music store.Burger King, with 7 700 restaurants in the United States, has suffered in recent years from lack of a clear identity in consumers’ minds and shaky relations with franchisees.But the chain recently said sales at US restaurants open at least a year posted their biggest gain in 4-1/2 years, thanks to new products and a quirky advertising campaign that has resonated with young consumers.One restaurant analyst said that while Burger King was characteristically behind McDonald’s in launching a music download promotion, he expected it would help the chain in its bid to appeal to 20-somethings.”A lot of the Whopper (buyers) may be under pressure with gasoline prices, so it’s a good deal,” said Malcolm Knapp, president of restaurant research firm Malcolm M. Knapp Inc.”If you are kind of hurting for cash because it’s all going into your tank, it’s kind of like a free meal.”The promotion will also help revitalise interest in the Whopper, one of the chain’s core products, Knapp added.Online music analysts said the promotions give the new services great exposure and also provide restaurant chains with an easy, fast way to reach younger audiences.”It’s easy to move files.The technical barriers are fewer than providing free CDs with burgers,” said Mike McGuire, analyst with GartnerG2.But he cautioned that music services might run the risk of devaluing their product just as music purchasing has started to rebound after three years of a protracted industry-wide sales slump, due to various factors, including rampant online piracy, competition from other products like video games and general economic conditions.- Nampa-ReutersFrom now through October 3, Burger King restaurants across the country will give away one free music download with every purchase of an Original Whopper sandwich.Customers can enter a unique download code found on their Whopper wrappers at the www.haveityourway.com Web site to get free music downloads from AOL Music, which offers 700 000 songs through a deal with online music provider MusicNet.Neither Sony nor McDonald’s have disclosed how many downloads have been sold through their promotion, which gave customers who bought a Big Mac Extra Value meal an access code for one free song download at Sony’s Connect music store.Burger King, with 7 700 restaurants in the United States, has suffered in recent years from lack of a clear identity in consumers’ minds and shaky relations with franchisees.But the chain recently said sales at US restaurants open at least a year posted their biggest gain in 4-1/2 years, thanks to new products and a quirky advertising campaign that has resonated with young consumers.One restaurant analyst said that while Burger King was characteristically behind McDonald’s in launching a music download promotion, he expected it would help the chain in its bid to appeal to 20-somethings.”A lot of the Whopper (buyers) may be under pressure with gasoline prices, so it’s a good deal,” said Malcolm Knapp, president of restaurant research firm Malcolm M. Knapp Inc.”If you are kind of hurting for cash because it’s all going into your tank, it’s kind of like a free meal.”The promotion will also help revitalise interest in the Whopper, one of the chain’s core products, Knapp added.Online music analysts said the promotions give the new services great exposure and also provide restaurant chains with an easy, fast way to reach younger audiences.”It’s easy to move files.The technical barriers are fewer than providing free CDs with burgers,” said Mike McGuire, analyst with GartnerG2.But he cautioned that music services might run the risk of devaluing their product just as music purchasing has started to rebound after three years of a protracted industry-wide sales slump, due to various factors, including rampant online piracy, competition from other products like video games and general economic conditions.- Nampa-Reuters