Burn That Ad
Burger King Brazil
Issue 51 | June 2019
Agency
DAVID SP
Creative Team
VP Executive Creative Director Rafael Donato Creative Director Edgard Gianesi Copywriter Luca Trincanato Art Director Marlus Lau
Production Team
Producers Fabiano Beraldo, Fernanda Peixoto, Silvia Neri, Brunno Cunha, Gustavo Viola Production Company (app) VZLab Production Company Cafe´ Royal Production Company Hogarth
Other Credits
Managing Director Sylvia Panico Account team Carolina Vieira, Rafael Giorgino, Roberta Magalha~es, Martina Adati Planning Daniela Bombonato, Carolina Silva, Bruno Gomiero Social media Lucas Patricio Innovation & Technology Toni Ferreira, Gustavo Nanes, Karine Viegas, Ully Correa Data Intelligence Mailson Dutra, Guilherme Campos Client team Fernando Machado, Marcelo Pascoa, Ariel Grunkraut, Thais Nicolau, Bruna Yoshida, Mariana Santos, Stephanie Pellin
Date
March 2019
Background
Burger King Brazil wanted to launch BK Express, an app that allowed customers to pre-order their burgers and thus avoid having to queue when they were in the restaurant.
Idea
Burger King already had history in innovative and cheeky campaigns that teased their competitors. Building on this, the “Burn That Ad” campaign put augmented reality to work on behalf of the brand.
When they downloaded the app, customers could claim a free Whopper simply by pointing their smartphones at a rival brand’s ad. They were rewarded by the sight of watching the competitor’s ad get incinerated.
Results
Around half a million Whoppers were thought to have been given away across Brazil, with vouchers limited to one per customer.
Our Thoughts
Such is the ad industry’s fascination with the constant stream of award-winning work from Burger King, it’s easy to forget that the brand is a minnow alongside McDonald’s. For me, the ingenious part of this idea is how it turns its competitors bought media into free media for itself.
As many brand managers will testify, getting people to download your app is hard. Instead of talking about its exclusive payment technology or its just-in-time ordering system, BK allowed people to discover those features for themselves. The key to it all was just inviting them to have a laugh and become guilt-free arsonists.