Which of these means Burger King to you?

• Free paper crowns.
• The scary king commercials.
• The Whopper Bar.
• ‘Have it Your Way’ campaign.
• The Subservient Chicken.
• The BKlounge on Twitter.

If you answered all of these, you’re right. Now, add one more:

• The new futuristic redesign of its stores.

Burger King is planning a world-wide change in its current store model. The new restaurant design features flat screen TV menus, red flame chandeliers floating overhead, brick, and corrugated metal. “I’d call it more contemporary, edgy, futuristic,” Chairman and CEO John Chidsey told The Associated Press. “It feels so much more like an upscale restaurant.”

So far, remodeled restaurants have seen sales climb about 12 to 15 percent, Chidsey said. Restaurants that are torn down and completely rebuilt at the same location have seen sales climb by as much as 30 percent.

Russ Klein, President, Global Marketing Strategy and Innovation for Burger King, has been rebranding the company since 2004. He brought back the “Have It Your Way” campaign, in fact. Integral to the rebranding process are four principles that “most branding experts would agree make up a brand,” said Klein.

• Relevance. How the brand fits into the consumer’s life.
• Differentiation. The brand’s point of difference.
• Esteem. How well the brand is regarded.
• Knowledge. An intimate consumer understanding of the brand.

Am I right to be confused by their campaign(s)? It seems there are so many variants in the Burger King brand, that I’m not sure exactly what it is that I’m supposed to think about it. To me, Burger King is a fast food Whopper, so here’s what I think:

• Relevance. BK’s relevant to me since I eat there once in a while when traveling.
• Differentiation. It’s different from other fast food because, well…it isn’t, really, is it?
• Esteem. I regard Burger King as a plain old fast food chain.
• Knowledge. I’m really confused about what the brand is supposed to be other than a fast food chain.

I do understand a company like Geico, that started with a caveman, moved into the gecko, and then to the money-you-could-be-saving. One moved smoothly into the other, so each had its own distinct image in my mind. But BK seems to have ALL of their campaign running at the same time. Maybe I don’t watch TV enough and I’m missing all the ads that are supposed to be telling me these things. Or maybe I’ll have to go to one of the redesigned stores to get a new feel for the place, and the campaign(s) will all come together. If I had it my way, there’d only be one distinct message. We’ll see.