The Campaign

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

BK published an open letter in traditional and social, inviting McD’s to collaborate in creating and serving the McWhopper on Peace Day. The proposal was supported by tactical outdoor and 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. 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.

- 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 a fully integrated campaign that broke all marketing, brand, and product conventions. It was executed across multiple channels, both traditional and social, engaging consumers and media at every turn. The campaign was everywhere, so the world didn’t just take notice, they took matters into their own hands; when McDonald’s contentiously turned down the offer, the do-it-yourself McWhopper dominated social media. The campaign was so integrated that even this pivotal product had brand integration at its very core - ingredients from two rival burgers, combined into one symbolic mash-up.

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. 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 public via two of the world’s most famous newspapers and social platforms, we knew McD’s would be more inclined to respond. However, the proposal was so diligently planned that success did not hinge on a yes or a no - we created a comprehensive suite of campaign assets to inspire engagement no matter what. The campaign wasn’t made social, it was born social. It was a completely integrated approach designed to empower the public and media to create and share do-it-yourself McWhoppers, further spreading awareness.