In such a ho-hum market as fast food, I am constantly amazed at the ridiculousness of its participants. Burger King, the king of switching out new menu items, recently announced it is going to roll out a new limited-time sandwich called the BK Rib Sandwich this summer.

Uh. Ever hear of the McRib?

What is so bizarre is that Burger King believes it can out-innovate the fast food market. Its executives have flat-out said it. But what they call innovation, I call copying.

Let’s look at a couple of other innovative offerings for its 2013 menu: Sweet potato fries and a pulled pork sandwich – both of which can be found at Carl’s Jr. Arby’s have had sweet potato fries in the past. Subway and Hardee’s both have pulled pork sandwiches.

To compete in the fiercely competitive fast food segment, it takes more than trying to out-menu your competition. People don’t eat the McRib sandwich only because they like it. They eat it because it comes from McDonalds and McDonalds has been smart about practically building a mythology around it.

Burger King is currently number three in the fast food market, trailing McDonalds and Wendy’s. To overcome them, BK must stop copying the market leaders and be different and better. Not just in food, but in the way it looks, feels, sounds and acts. Time to get with it.

Well, it looks like someone else gets it. And I don’t mean an advertiser who thinks it has found the Holy Grail to stealing market share.

The advertiser is Burger King, which is responding to its lost market share (dropping to No. 3 behind Wendy’s) with an aggressive advertising campaign that features celebrities and new menus that basically copy market leader McDonald’s.

The spots feature celebrities such as soccer star David Beckham, Jay Leno, Salma Hayek and others featuring the virtues of BK’s new menu items like salads, smoothies and chicken snack wraps.

But as Janney Capital Markets analyst Mark Kalinowski told the Miami Herald, “In the long run, Burger King would be well-served to not try to be a McDonald’s clone. You can’t out McDonald’s McDonald’s.”

Preaching to the choir, sir.

We’ve been saying this for years. To steal market share, you must be different and better than your competition. In fact, if you copy the market leader, the market leader will win because it is the default choice when all things are equal.

No wonder, then, that McDonald’s is actually increasing its market share, with sales increasing 26% over the last five years. When all those chasing the fast-food giant are simply aping it, McDonald’s wins.

BK is unveiling this campaign, one of its largest in recent years, in order to attract investors as 29% of the chain will go public soon. But investors should be wary. Changing the menu and offering up a huge media spend without a resonant message is a waste of time and money.

Burger King needs desperately to decide what it wants to be. Its menu should reflect that and so should its messaging. It should be focused as well. For example, one of the reasons why Wendy’s has overtaken BK is because Wendy’s, as a brand, is focused on hamburgers. When you think of Wendy’s, you think of big, beefy hamburgers.

If BK is going to present itself as a mini-McDonald’s, then that’s what it will be. A mini.

With sales of $8.5 billion in 2011, Wendy’s just the claimed number 2 spot, moving ahead of Burger King but was well short of McDonald’s $34.2 billion. This second place battle of the pygmies needs to find greater meaning in the market if either ever wants a crack at McDonalds.

My worry for Wendy’s is that its rise will prompt it to confuse activity with accomplishment. Yes, from a marketing perspective, Wendy’s is doing things, but its rise has been relative to Burger King’s inconsistent execution of any strategy.

Most of our battles at Stealing Share when rebranding companies is changing the internal mindset of those companies. Positive news, like Wendy’s received, provides a false sense of security. Fortune favors the bold and, if my past experience has taught me anything, it is that a third place Wendy’s would be strategically more bold than a second place Wendy’s.

Strategically, Wendy’s should set its sights on the white whale: McDonald’s. At the moment, however, it seems to be doing the same as Burger King by marketing product instead of brand. Copy in a recent Wendy’s ads goes: “No matter who you are, Wendy’s will make a Dave’s Hot and Juicy Cheeseburger fresh just for you, so its special, just like you.” Give me a moment while I my eyes stop rolling. Beyond its campy verbiage, it provides no switching trigger for the customer. Does anyone believe they would be refused service when they go to a fast food restaurant? Or that a competitor will not make hamburgers?

McDonald’s has been successful due to its message clarity, consistency and firm brand meaning of “fun.” In fact, that brand promise is represented as an experience rather then product.

Wendy’s is certainly in a good position. Number two is nothing to scoff at. But it will take focus to clear the gap with McDonalds and being able to spot the pivotal brand difference between its brand  and the Mickey-Dee one.