Burger King: Case study

Credits & Description:

Brand BURGER KING
Entrant LOLA MULLENLOWE MADRID
LOLA MULLENLOWE Madrid, Spain Entrant Company
LOLA MULLENLOWE Madrid, Spain Idea Creation
F16 Madrid, SPAIN Production
ONLY 925 Madrid, Spain Production
WEBER SHANDWICK London, United Kingdom PR
ALISON BROD MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS New York, USA PR
Chacho Puebla LOLA MullenLowe Chief Creative Officer
Francisco Cassis LOLA MullenLowe Executive Creative Director
Fred Bosch LOLA MullenLowe Creative Director
Fabio Brígido LOLA MullenLowe Creative Director
Tomás Ostiglia LOLA MullenLowe Creative Director
Álvaro Palma LOLA MullenLowe Copywriter
José Sancho LOLA MullenLowe Copywriter
Tom Elliston LOLA MullenLowe Copywriter
Pedro Sattin LOLA MullenLowe Art Director
Álex Sánchez LOLA MullenLowe Community Manager
Sarah Okrent LOLA MullenLowe Head of PR
Carlos Solchaga LOLA MullenLowe Account Director
Laura Gerpe LOLA MullenLowe Account Manager
Beatriz Sanz LOLA MullenLowe Account Manager
Marcelle Santos LOLA MullenLowe Strategic Planner
Daniel Packness LOLA MullenLowe Comms Planner
Florencia Caputo LOLA MullenLowe Agency Producer
César Baciero LOLA MullenLowe Agency Producer
Diego Baltazar LOLA MullenLowe Agency Producer
Rodrigo Cortés Only 925 Director
María Jesus Horcajuelo Only 925 Executive Producer
Óscar Vigiola Only 925 Production Manager
Rafa García Only 925 Director of Photography
Efraín Parrilla Only 925 Editor
Ale Burset F16 Producciones Photographer
Diego Speroni F16 Producciones Retoucher

Entry Summary
Thanks to pop culture and an extra dose of nostalgia the remake of the movie It was one of the most commented topics on internet in 2017 worldwide. The movie hit the theaters just in time to inspire people in their Halloween costumes. So, after 5 years of the popularity of zombies, ghosts and vampires, Google Trends showed that clowns where emerging as the 3rd most popular scary costume in 2017. That was a once in a lifetime opportunity for a brand that has a clown as its rival's mascot.

Brief Explanation
In the past Halloween we invited our customers to trick & treat in our restaurants. During one night we gave away a burger to everyone that came dressed as a clown. People joined this epic prank in reference to our main competitor's mascot, got dress to impress and crowded our restaurants during Halloween night all over the world.

Synopsis
QSR is a rough category to succeed. Players tend to focus their communication strategies on building fame and driving traffic to their restaurants. In this context, reach some buzz is key to stay on top of mind. The last three years Halloween has proven to be one of the best opportunities for Burger King to stand out and make some noise, especially on social media and press.

After the the Black Whopper (in 2015) and dressing up a whole restaurant as a McDonalds' ghost (2016), in 2017 we shouldn't just come up with an epic idea but also engage people and make them visit a Burger King across the globe.

With the launch of It, Pennywise reborn as one of the scariest characters in the mainstream. Burger King has never had such a great opportunity to troll the McDonald's mascot Ronald and his not that friendly figure.

Strategy
Generating buzz is all about understanding about pop culture and context, so we searched for insights by social media listening and digital data. Interesting findings came from observing the promotion for the movie It and its reverberation. Thanks to a strong campaign and an extra dose of nostalgia, the remake was one of the most commented topics on internet in months.

The movie hit the theaters just in time to inspire people for their Halloween pranks. After 5 years of the popularity of zombies, ghosts and vampires, Google Trends showed that clowns where emerging as the 3rd most popular scary costume in 2017. Pop culture gave Burger King a once in a lifetime opportunity. The strategy was clear: take advantage of the context and well-known Burger King/McDonald's rivalry to come up with a cheeky and bold publicity stunt.

Relevancy
#scaryclownnight got inspired by social media conversation to take over the Halloween celebration. The idea resonate across the globe despite it's irrelevant media investment. The prank mobilized an army of hundreds of thousands clowns and got the press talking about burgers, pop culture and the human dynamics behind Coulrophobia.

#scaryclownnight moved into mainstream and jumped into the agenda of giant media networks and tv shows like Today Show, People magazine, USA Today and Fox News. The idea was mentioned in more than 40 countries reaching 2.1 billion of earned impressions and a total media value of USD 22.4 million.

Outcome
The activation was basically organic, just by using Burger King's owned channels and activating the press. #Scaryclownnight was mentioned in more than 1100 articles in 40 countries reaching 2.1 billion of earned impressions and a total media value of USD 22.4 million.

The idea got to the cover of Daily Star in UK/Ireland and mentioned in some of the most watched news all over the world (including the Today Show, People magazine, USA Today and Fox News) and had a massive reverberation in advertising industry being mentioned as one of the best ads in 2017 by AdForum and top pick by Adweek.

The biggest results came from people. "Clown" turned up to be the trendiest costume for Halloween and more than 110.000 went to Burger King restaurants on Halloween night dressed as jesters, making of #scaryclownnight the most effective and engaging full-global activation in Burger King's history.

Execution
The invitation came on October 24th in the form of a video full of horror movie references, powerful visuals and the presence of a familiar face. Was that Ronald McDonald? The character was had enough likeness to not leave any doubt. Following the video, other PR and digital #scaryclownnight executions came: a press release, posts and videos specially made for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, posters and a special wrap for in-restaurant activation.

A step by step guide was built to deploy the idea across the globe. The media challenge was to generate the biggest response to the idea with the least investment in paid media. The operation involved 35 countries in a coordinated effort including major exposure in Spain, the UK, Russia, Brazil and the US. What started with a simple insight and an honest joke became a worldwide activation with the best results that Burger King could have expected.

Campaign Description
Everybody is afraid of clowns. Except for Burger King.

To prove it, the king decided to face its fear and invite our scariest enemy for a meal. The message was simple: "Come as a clown, eat like a king". During the night of Halloween celebrations, Burger King will give away a Whopper to everyone that comes dressed as a clown.