Brief Explanation

Mornings in South Korea are exceptionally hard. Koreans are too busy to have breakfast, or even some morning coffee. We decided Burger King needed a ground-breaking promotion to catch the interest of the Korean commuters and attract them to Burger King stores immediately, because Burger King Korea was also struggling with low brand awareness and sluggish sales of the coffee and morning menus. In that effort, we created a funny sleeping mask with the message saying, “Wake me up at XXX station”. People wearing this sleeping mask could sleep peacefully, knowing that someone would read the message and wake them up at the right station. There are also 2 free King Americano coupons inside it, which the wearer can share with the person who wakes them up. As well as the sleeping mask itself being a promotion tool, the mask wearers promoted Burger King unintentionally.

The Brief

The average working hours in South Korea are the second longest in the OECD, while their average amount of sleeping is the lowest. Furthermore, Koreans spend the longest commuting time among the OECD, with an average of 58 minutes in public transportation every morning. Our insight is based on these facts: Many Koreans are so afraid to miss their station that they cannot sleep peacefully while commuting to work. To make both Korean consumers’ mornings and Burger King Korea’s morning sales better at the same time, we created Burger King sleeping mask with the station’s name and free coffee coupons.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

The total average in morning sales increased by 18.7% in participating Burger King stores; social media mentions of Burger King increased by 44.5% with positive response by consumers. And Burger King’s brand popularity showed an increase of 33%. (Feb~March 2015 vs. previous month) Furthermore, Burger King Korea is planning to make more sleeping masks with other city’s station names, and is considering to introduce a new morning menu that includes the mask. But not only that – the sleeping mask wearers had priceless deep sleep, and those who saw these funny eye patches were able to share a good laugh. Though the harsh conditions of South Korea are nearly impossible to be changed, this campaign allows their mornings to be somewhat restful.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

This campaign was executed from Feb. 23, 2015 until Apr. 15, 2015. First, we distributed sleeping masks around 9 Burger King outlets near 5 different subway stations stations (Gangnam, Hongik Univ., Samsung, Yeoksam, and Sinchon Station) that are the most crowded during the morning rush hour. We also gave sudden notices for the distribution spots via Burger King’s social media pages beforehand, which evoked people’s curiosity and led them to actively participate in the campaign. Though the two month-long promotion is over now, many commuters are still using the Burger King sleeping mask every morning. That is, consumers are spontaneously continuing the campaign by themselves. As per the request of numerous consumers, Burger King expanded this campaign to outlets around 8 stations in Busan, the second-biggest city in South Korea.