Burger King Dethrones The King, Crowns New Ads

NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- Burger King dethroned "The King" after launching his eight-year reign in 2003 -- the same year McDonald's ( MCD) launched its "I'm lovin' it" campaign -- after its edgy marketing proved unsuccessful against the Golden Arches. Since then, McDonald's stock is up nearly 300% while BK faltered and was taken private in 2010.

Burger King will replace its royal advertising pitch with a focus on healthier eating, rolling out a new national ad next week featuring the guacamole-adorned California Whopper. The commercial will feature no words, only music, with images of the burger's ingredients being washed and prepped.

The move speaks to the ineffectiveness of the King character, viewed by many as creepy, and alienating to moms and kids. Burger King dropped its former ad agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky in favor of McGarryBowen, which designed the new ads being released next week.

"We're re-igniting the latent feeling that people have about Burger King," Gordon Bowen, chief creative officer at McGarryBowen, told USA Today.

The King campaign was not even able to maintain a loyal following among its targeted audience -- teens and 20-something men; Burger King's market share fell to 14.2% from 15.6% in the first five years after the King's crowning, while rival McDonald's saw its market share grow to 46.8% from 43.6%, according to restaurant industry consulting firm Technomic. In the same time period, McDonald's booked average yearly sales growth of 6.3%, while Burger King's growth amounted to just 2.9% annually. And in the first quarter of this year Burger King saw same-store sales -- or sales at stores open at least one year, a closely watched metric in the restaurant industry -- decrease 6% while McDonald's same-store sales rose almost 3%.

But ditching the King in favor of guacamole and a focus on fresh, healthier ingredients also highlights what Technomic president Ron Paul calls "the Whole Foods ( WFM) effect," where "fresh is it," he told USA Today.

Even McDonald's recently cut the fries portion by more than half and added apple slices to its iconic Happy Meals. A number of restaurant companies -- including Krispy Kreme Doughnuts ( KKD), Dunkin' Donuts ( DNKN) and Starbucks ( SBUX) -- have been adding what they deemed healthier food options to their menus as they look to keep up with consumer interests in healthfulness and well-being.

-- Written by Miriam Marcus Reimer in New York.

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