MCWHOPPER

Silver Spike

Case Film

Presentation Image

TitleMCWHOPPER
BrandBURGER KING
Product / ServiceFAST FOOD RESTAURANT
CategoryB05. Use of Print or Standard Outdoor
EntrantY&R NZ Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Idea Creation Y&R NZ Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Media Y&R NZ Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
PR Y&R NZ Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Production FLYING FISH Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Contributing RESN Wellington, NEW ZEALAND
Contributing 2 MANDY Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Contributing 3 ASSEMBLY Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Contributing 4 LIQUID STUDIOS Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Contributing 5 MATCH PHOTOGRAPHERS Auckland, NEW ZEALAND

Credits

Name Company Position
Josh Moore Y&R New Zealand Chief Operating Officer & Chief Creative Officer
Tom Paine Y&R New Zealand Creative Director
Jono Key Y&R New Zealand Head of Planning
Victoria Meo Y&R New Zealand Account Director
Liz Rosby Y&R New Zealand Head Producer
Sacha Moore Y&R New Zealand Agency Producer
James Wendelborn Y&R New Zealand Senior Designer
Marie-Claire Manson Y&R New Zealand Media Planner
Nicky Greville Y&R New Zealand General Manager - Media
Tom Paine Y&R NZ Creative

The Campaign

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. Creative idea: Burger King made a highly visible proposal to McDonald’s, inviting them to collaborate on a truly one-of-a-kind product: The McWhopper. The proposed mash-up burger would combine key ingredients from each restaurant’s signature product, The Big Mac and The Whopper, to be prepared and served on one day only, United Nations Peace Day, 21st September 2015.

Creative Execution

Burger King published an open letter in The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune, inviting McD’s to collaborate in creating and serving The McWhopper on Peace Day. The letter invited McDonald’s (and the general public) to mcwhopper.com, a multimedia toolkit of shareable co-branded assets: staff apparel, signage, and a pop-up restaurant. The proposal was met by frenzied public support, so McDonald’s drew criticism when they turned down the offer. Inspired by BK’s online Burger Build film, tens of thousands of people took matters into their own hands by creating and sharing do-it-yourself McWhoppers on social and mainstream media - integrating the competitor’s product with our own. Simultaneously, four other rival restaurants raised their hands for peace and together with BK created the historic ‘Peace Day Burger’, a symbolic mash-up available for one day only - Peace Day, 2015.

Results

- 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

McWhopper was an audacious proposal designed from the outset to incite a response not only from McDonald’s, but the general public and mainstream media, executed across multiple channels traditional and new. We targeted McDonald’s in their own backyard – a full page open letter in The Chicago Tribune (home to McD’s HQ) and The New York Times. Although addressed to McD’s, the letter was published in these public forums to ignite curiosity and engagement amongst the wider public. Sure enough the strategy worked, as consumers around the world scrambled to create and share the McWhopper themselves.

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 an open letter in two of the world’s most famous newspapers (The Chicago Tribune and The New York Times), we knew McD’s would be more inclined to respond. Yet the proposal was so diligently planned, success did not 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 empower the public and media to create and share do-it-yourself McWhoppers, further spreading awareness. It was all very well for the world to take notice, but BK wanted the world to take action.

Links

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