11 times Burger King left their customers spellbound!!

Picture this: You walk into a colourful fast food joint, dotted with posters and food options. As you are greeted by a friendly employee, you place the order. Your order arrives with a small paper crown and with each bite, there is a flavour bomb exploding. Lastly, you chuckle to yourself, seeing the comedic jabs woven into the fabric of the place.

That is Burger King for you, everytime.

Burger King has carved a niche for themselves though frequent use of tongue-in-cheek, satirical portrayals of competitive spirit and social issues, underpinned by a tone of light heartedness and relatability. Their ‘Whopper’, an iconic dish is often heroed in such advertisements and reshaped to suit the context.

The crux of Burger King’s repeated success lies in the fact that they are a brand willing to offer an experience beyond the consumer’s expectations. Below are some of the advertisements that packed a punch with a message across 23 years: 

Years 1998-2004

Love for Lefties(1998): Burger King introduced the special ‘Left-Handed Whopper’ that was specifically designed to cater to people who ate with their left hand. They claimed that the condiment has been rotated 180 degrees to better suit their left-handed population. This bizarre ad was rejoiced and was a hit amongst the consumers, even though this was part of an April Fools prank.

In a nutshell the Marketing Method: In this era, Burger King had employed traditional platforms of TV, word-of-mouth and posters to drive their campaigns. Their communication with the audience was jovial but limited in nature since they did not capitalize on newer channels of communication like the Internet and the concept of connectivity was not explored between a brand and customer beyond food. 

Years 2005-2011

Shocking Anniversary(2008)-Burger King decided to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their iconic Whopper by launching a campaign called ‘Whopper Freakout’. This experiment was to reinstate Whopper’s status as “America’s favourite!” once and for all and it was announced that they would remove the Whopper from their menu permanently. The news was met with shocked reactions and impulsive Whopper buying which was captured by hidden cameras.

Shortly after, they released a documentary of the experiment and posted it on their website “whopperfreakout.com. The traffic to this website was successfully directed by placing shareable links in Whopper Freakout TV ads. This went on to become the most recalled ad in 2008 and bumped up their quarterly sales significantly. 

Unfriending Spree(2009)-Burger King struck a partnership with Facebook by launching the ‘Whopper Sacrifice’, a Facebook application campaign wherein participants were given coupons for free hamburgers if they deleted ten friends from their Facebook list. Attracting polar reactions for this stint, Burger King clarified that Whopper Sacrifice’s popularity addressed the tension surrounding digital culture i.e. how social networking has transformed our meaning of friendships and relations. The campaign’s deceptive simplicity and elevator pitch factor was appreciated by critics and consumers alike. 

In a nutshell the Marketing methods: Internet slowly picked up steam amongst the crowd and made the word a smaller and connected place. Realising that they can expand their interaction with their people in a cost-efficient manner and can reach out to a diverse set of people, Burger King harnessed the power of early internet to push out ads that were centred around the consumers. The actual product’s superiority was credited to be directly proportional to their loyal and happy customers, thereby proclaiming their superiority.

Years 2012-2018

Friendship Rejected(2015)-Burger King extended a hand of friendship to their long-time rival McDonalds in a heartfelt letter, proposing a ‘McWhopper’ to seal the deal. They offered to donate all the proceeds from the sales to a charity called ‘Peace One Day’. McDonalds rejected the offer and received severe backlash for such insensitivity, which invariably boosted Burger King as a brand with a social cause. 

Queen of Hearts(2017)- In commemoration of International Women’s Day, Burger King rebranded themselves as ‘Burger Queen’. This was initiated specifically in relation to the disparity in wage payment in China, where women were paid lesser just because of their gender. Here, each female customer was presented with a burger box whose lid contained a mirror, reflecting their faces, symbolising that every woman is a Burger Queen. This campaign was a huge hit and many women felt happy and valued. 

Clowning Business(2017)- Burger King made an unexpected use of Pennywise the Clown, the main villain in ‘IT’ movie to take a dig at McDonalds. The ad was previewed before the ‘IT’ movie in theatres, where Burger King claimed, “The moral is: Never trust a clown”. This was an instant hit with the audience, who appreciated this playful jibe and indeed, boosted their sales.

The campaign was continued during Halloween, where Burger King promised three free Whoppers and BK crowns to the first 500 people who dressed as clowns and came to their outlets. Burger King’s ingenuity in capitalizing on their competitors mockery was a hot topic of discussion and made that year’s Halloween memorable. 

Opinions v. Prejudice(2018)- Captioning it as “Opinions are welcome, Prejudice is not”, Burger King took a vocal stand on differentiating between opinions and prejudice disguised as opinions, highlighting such deep-rooted juxtaposition in social media. They actively participated in criticizing the ill effects of spreading hate and bullying and encouraged people to be kinder to each other by using the power of words carefully.

In a nutshell the Marketing Methods: The rise of social media became a boon for Burger King, who quickly emerged as pioneers in creative and out of the box campaigns on this new platform. Social media made kept people aware and informed and Burger King too touched upon issues of social importance that was relevant to remain connected with their audience. 

Years 2019-present

Big Secret(2019)-Burger King highlighted the superiority of their Whopper burgers through the ‘Whopper Secret’ campaign, which joked that there had always been a Big Mac, McDonalds ‘equivalent’ of the Whopper behind the actual Whopper but was eclipsed due to the sheer size of the Whopper burger. This campaign kept Burger King’s competitive streak thriving, as the crowd concluded the Whopper to be the bigger and better burger. 

The Mould strikes Gold (2020)-Burger King’s latest ad campaign was no less than daring and risqué. They featured a disgusting, mouldy Whopper burger with the caption, ‘The Beauty of No Artificial Preservatives’, surprising many. The presentation a decomposing burger was to emphasize their deviation from using artificial preservatives and chemicals, which is notorious among the fast food industry. This was an attempt at showing ‘natural beauty’ and ‘real food’ and their plans to serve such natural, healthier Whoppers by the end of 2020.

Frenemy Neighbourhood(2020)- Burger King’s did not let the Covid-19 induced lockdown from stopping to take a jibe at their frenemy, McDonalds. In France, they splashed a huge advertisement across their shutters, asking people to maintain a 1m distance with their neighbours. This clever use of a close outlet to remind social distancing norms is yet again celebrated by many across the world. 

Royal Treatment for social distance(2020)-Consumers of Burger King in Germany were thrilled when the brand announced their ‘Social Distance Crowns’ to accommodate in-person restaurant orders. The quirky crowns were designed as abnormally, large hats that automatically maintain a distance of 6 feet with people around you. The hats became all the rage in Germany, spreading joy and happiness. This initiative of Burger King struck the right balance between maintaining social distance and enjoying a dining experience at restaurants.    

Marketing Methods: Burger King has revisited the old style of marketing their food while adding a touch of consumer health and benefit to it. Their campaigns revolve around the better quality of food along with the messages of remaining safe and healthy, founded on a tone of light heartedness and simplicity. This has been achieved through online and offline marketing.

Burger King’s essence thrives in participation, rather than isolation. They have proactively taken an interest and played a role in current, relevant topics which resonate with the audience’s feelings, as is seen through the evolution of their ad campaigns. The power of strong and perceptive marketing has been recognized and harnessed by them to help them stand out as a brand that cares, not one dimensionally, but in all aspects of life. Burger King has always been a friend to their customers, cementing their bond by being a socially vocal brand that gives a platform to the voices of those who believe in them. The secret sauce to the Burger King’s success recipe is the people behind it. 

Long Live the king of communication !!!