Filed under: Marketing and advertising, Burger King Hldgs (BKC)

Burger King Holdings (NYSE: BKC) has been a strong performer since its 2006 IPO, but as McDonalds (NYSE: MCD) has invested aggressively in modernizing its restaurants, Burger King is feeling the pressure to keep up.

Solution: The Whopper Bar. According to the Wall Street Journal(subscription required), Burger King will begin opening a new line of stores this year under that name, offering a wider variety of burgers and a hipper, more Gen Y-oriented atmosphere.

The stores and menu will be smaller but company executives told the Journal that the stores will include “as many as ten types of Whoppers such as the Western Whopper, the Texas Double Whopper and the Angry Whopper, a version topped with spicy onions. One menu sketch has a section called “Pimp Your Whopper,” where patrons can selected from additional toppings like jalapeno peppers, bacon and barbecue sauce.”

The Journal was also told that the company could possibly serve alcohol at some locations.

I like this idea: The Whopper is an extremely strong brand, and putting on the marquee and building a hipper brand around it should work well. Assembling the burgers in view of customers should bolster the company’s image (assuming it’s done in a classy way), and may help the brand appeal to a more affluent demographic turned off by the stigma of “fast food.” Hopefully they’ll open one near me.

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Filed under: Deals, Products and services, Consumer experience, Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP), Marketing and advertising

Just recently, I talked about a transaction involving PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) and a foreign juice company. Now, it is Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and a foreign coffee venture that are making some noise.

As Melly Alazraki reported Thursday, Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling and Illycafe SpA put together a joint venture to get some ready-to-drink coffees out on the global playing field. The venture, dubbed Ilko Coffee International, will start distribution of its products in April in ten countries. Coffee doesn’t interest me, but this venture does, since I own shares of Coke. Just like PepsiCo, Coke wants to do all it can to supplement its flagship carbonated soda brands with different beverage categories.

While I don’t like coffee, I know that it is a very popular drink around the world; in some respects, consumers are nearly religious about coffee (and teas, as well). According to Bloomberg, the value of the ready-for-consumption coffee market is $16 billion, and it is focused in the Asian territory. This international scheme is therefore a great way for American shareholders to capitalize on a weak dollar. Many consumer companies these days are being helped out by currency valuations.

I can only envision that this market will grow significantly over time, and that Coca-Cola would be smart to aggressively invest in it and leverage its world-class distribution system to grab as much share as it possibly can. Future growth in case-volume is going to be directly dependent on Coke and its capability to work with its bottlers to efficiently exploit opportunities such as these.

With its blue-chip marketing muscle, I’ve no doubt that Coke will be able to translate many of these kinds of deals, in conjunction with its already deep collection of beverage products, into quality cash flows and further increases in its annual dividend payout, which is the ultimate reason for being a shareholder.

Disclosure: I own shares of Coca-Cola; positions can change at any time.

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