Dive Brief:

• Burger King has introduced a new visual design that will roll out across all consumer touch points, according to details emailed to Marketing Dive. The update is the brand's first complete rebrand in more than 20 years.
• At the center of the effort, the fast food giant seeks to pay homage to its heritage while keeping the digital experience in mind with a more minimalist, modern logo. The new visual design will also appear on packaging, merchandise, menu boards, uniforms, signage, décor, social media and other digital and marketing assets.
• Burger King seeks to use the rebrand to demonstrate its commitment to "digital-first expression," along with improvements to its food quality and environmental sustainability. The company joins a growing list of brands that have launched new visual identities since the pandemic took hold in 2020.

Dive Insight:

Burger King's first complete rebrand in more than 20 years comes as the fast food giant seeks to balance its heritage while looking toward what is expected to be an increasingly digital-first future. With its minimalist logo and bold color scheme, font and packaging, the chain hopes to meet the "evolution of the times," per its announcement. In addition, actual employees are featured in new advertising, tapping into consumer desire for authenticity in marketing.

"Design is one of the most essential tools we have for communicating who we are and what we value, and it plays a vital role in creating desire for our food and maximizing guests' experience," Rapha Abreu, global head of design at parent company Restaurant Brands International, said in the announcement.

With its rebrand, Burger King joins a growing list of brands that have updated their visual looks in the past year. A variety of factors, including the pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement and a shift toward e-commerce, have made brand refreshes a necessity for marketers seeking relevancy. Kia this week launched a refreshed logo and slogan emphasizing movement.

Burger King's focus on food quality and sustainability follows previous marketing efforts with similar themes but that often aimed to be edgy and transgressive. The chain in February 2020 promoted the removal of artificial preservatives from Whoppers in most European countries and select markets in the U.S with an ad that showed the signature item overgrown with blue and green mold. The brand later released an educational video that uses a quirky song to illustrate the livestock industry's negative environmental impact, namely methane emissions via cow farts.

Burger King saw same-store sales decline 7% in Q3 2020, and the visual refresh's modern approach and prioritization of digital could help the chain mitigate the decline further. In kind, Restaurant Brands International plans to modernize more than 10,000 drive-thrus with digital screens that integrate with restaurant loyalty programs and offer remote, contactless payments.