Burger King's new hot dog offering seems to be helping the chain make headway in the competitive perception war with a resurgent McDonald’s and a stagnant Wendy’s.
Only last week, Burger King hit its highest perception level with fast food eaters in 15 months.
While Burger King and McDonald’s have stirred the attention pot with their new products, Wendy’s has been slowly losing its hold on first place over the last year. Seemingly riding the introduction of their new products, Burger King and McDonald’s are both very close to matching Wendy’s in perception.
YouGov BrandIndex measured perception with its Buzz score, which asks respondents: "If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?" A score can range from 100 to -100 with a zero score equaling a neutral position.
Since the beginning of the year, Burger King’s Buzz score has more than doubled from 7 to 15. McDonald’s, which spent its pre-all-day breakfast months in the 3 to 5 Buzz score range, has been hovering between 14 and 17 ever since. Although Wendy’s leads the category with its Buzz score of 18, it is several points lower than the 25 score they had in November 2014. Burger King and McDonald’s are now three to five points away from Wendy’s.
