Where's Herb? - Campaign

Campaign

When the commercials were created, Burger King was suffering due to their marketing efforts. The promotion was designed to counter the marketing efforts of McDonald's, which was spending an estimated US$80 to 100 million to promote the McDLT (McDonald's Lettuce and Tomato), and Wendy's, which had found success with its "Where's the beef?" commercials. The Herb commercials, launched in November 1985, were created by the J. Walter Thompson advertising firm at an expense of approximately US$40 million. Donald Dempsey, J. Walter Thompson's Executive Vice President of Marketing, oversaw the creation of the campaign, and it continued under the direction of Tom Sawyer, the company's Vice President of Marketing. Before settling on the name Herb, the firm considered such names as Mitch and Oscar.

The campaign began with three weeks of "cryptic" messages designed to create interest in the promotion. Herb was mentioned in newspaper advertisements, on banners at football games, and in flyers distributed to the public. On November 24, 1985, the first commercials were aired on CBS, NBC, and ABC. The premise of the commercials was that Herb was the only person in the United States who had not eaten a burger from Burger King. The advertising agency created a fictional biography for the character, claiming that he was raised in Wisconsin, had worked in a cheese factory, and had also sold decoy ducks. The character is commonly referred to as "Herb the Nerd".

The Herb character was played by actor Jon Menick, who would randomly appear at Burger King restaurants nationwide. Herb's identity was not revealed until Super Bowl XX in January 1986; he was shown to be wearing white socks, black "flood pants", and thick-rimmed glasses. If a customer spotted Herb at a Burger King, he or she would win $5,000. Everyone in the restaurant when Herb was discovered was also entered into a draw for the promotion's grand prize of $1 million. The draw was won by Christopher Kelly of Louisville, Kentucky, who was present when Herb was spotted at the Burger King in the city's Oxmoor Center mall.

In addition to encouraging people to search for Herb, Burger King added an "I'm not Herb" promotion to their marketing campaign. Because Burger King claimed to be angry at Herb for not eating at their restaurants, they offered a 99-cent Whopper hamburger to everybody except Herb. To get the discounted price, customers had to say, "I'm not Herb" while ordering. Customers named Herb were told to say, "I'm not the Herb you're looking for".