The Campaign

To raise awareness of Peace Day, Burger King made a public proposal to McDonald’s to collaborate on The McWhopper – a mash-up burger containing key ingredients of The Big Mac and The Whopper, to be served for one day only – Peace Day, 21st September 2015.

Creative Execution

Burger King published an open letter in traditional and social media, inviting McD’s to collaborate in creating and serving the McWhopper on Peace Day. The proposal was spearheaded by mcwhopper.com, a multimedia toolkit of co-branded assets: staff apparel, signage, and a pop-up restaurant. Every asset was designed to be visually iconic and translate into multiple languages, for ease of share-ability. The proposal was met by frenzied public support, so McDonald’s drew criticism when they turned down the offer. Curious about the flavour combination and inspired by BK’s instructional ‘Burger Build’ film, tens of thousands of people took matters into their own hands by creating and sharing do-it-yourself McWhoppers on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Vine, Facebook, and mainstream media channels - further spreading Peace Day awareness.

- 8.9 billion media impressions - Earned media value $US138m - ROI: Every $1 spent on marketing the campaign returned $88 in earned media - #1 trending topic, Facebook and Twitter - 10,000+ DIY McWhopper reviews on YouTube - +40% increase in Peace Day awareness (from 30% to 43% of the U.S pop) - +16% increase in Peace Day awareness worldwide “The McWhopper campaign is the single highest contributor ever towards Peace Day awareness” - McKinsey and Company – Research partner Burger King brand metrics: +75% Positive brand buzz (talkability) from 20% to 35% (60% millennials) +25% Purchase consideration from 32% to 40% (+76% millennials) +48% Likelihood to recommend brand: from 21% to 31% (+84% millennials) Source: ABPR, Personally Inside, Llorente y Cuenca, Ketchurn, Evercom, Weber Shandwick, Emanate and Cison, Toluna Research, McKinsey and Company

The McWhopper proposal was an audacious idea designed to ignite conversation, curiosity, and engagement amongst the public and media. It was diligently engineered so that regardless of how McDonald’s responded, the power of McWhopper production (both the burger and the ongoing comms) would be embraced and activated by the people. Sure enough, the ubiquitous campaign fueled frenzied discussion, and the creation of ‘do-it-yourself McWhoppers’ became an instant cultural phenomenon and an integral chapter in the McWhopper story. So much so, that over 9-months since the official campaign concluded, McWhopper content is still being shared organically on every major social platform.

Insights: 1) People are curious for new flavour combinations and willing to trample across brand conventions to experience them. 2) There’s no longer an inside / outside of a company – thanks to social media, corporations are now accountable for their actions. The McWhopper campaign wasn’t made social, it was born social. We were confident that had we approached McDonald’s behind closed doors, they would have said no behind closed doors. So by making the proposal so very public (via press, outdoor, microsite, film, and social), we knew McD’s would be more inclined to respond. Yet success didn’t hinge on a yes or a no - we created a comprehensive suite of campaign assets to inspire engagement no matter what. It was a completely integrated approach designed to captivate the public and media, and inspire them to create and share do-it-yourself McWhoppers, further spreading awareness.