Battle of the burgers, coming to a turntable near you

Published November 21, 2013 at 2:11 pm

It’s not every day you see McDonald’s burgers duke it out in a battle of the flavors. This is what McDonald’s aims to do with a innovative marketing campaign aimed to promote its new burger flavors while spotlighting up-and-coming DJs from around the country.

Hosted by popular DJ Funkmaster Flex, who was recently inducted into the New York State Broadcasters Hall of Fame, the 2013-2014 Flavor Battle competition is a creative way for McDonald’s to showcase the variety of burger flavors available at their restaurants, drawing a comparison between their variety of burger flavors and the unique variety of music that DJs create in playlists and mashups.

McDonald’s introduced three new flavors of the Quarter Pounder burger this past June. This change offers customers a choice when ordering a Quarter Pounder — since June they have been able to choose between Deluxe, Bacon and Cheese, or Habanero Ranch.

People love a good competition, but will it boost burger sales?

Rob Jackson, U.S. marketing director for McDonald’s said: “McDonald’s Flavor Battle brings relevant music and our great tasting burgers together through a fun and unexpected mash up. Just as music constantly evolves, McDonald’s understands the importance of evolving our menu to accommodate the ever changing tastes of our customers.”

This is the fifth year of the flavor battle, which will take place over 13 weeks and feature 12 DJs. Each DJ will represent a region of the country and a corresponding McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burger. People will be able to go online and vote for their favorite mix and the three DJs with the most votes will face each other in a final competition in New York City.