WHOPPER HACK

TitleWHOPPER HACK
BrandBURGER KING
Product/ServiceWHOPPER
Category G04. Social Behaviour & Cultural Insight
Entrant NEW WORK Oslo, NORWAY
Idea Creation NEW WORK Oslo, NORWAY
Media Placement STARCOM Oslo, NORWAY
PR MSLGROUP Oslo, NORWAY
Credits
Name Company Position
Abel Aga New Work Copywriter
Kristine Alsaker New Work Art Director
Christian Raae New Work Account Director
Felicia Constant New Work Account Manager
Laila Myrseth Tryggeset New Designer / Illustrator

Why is this work relevant for Media?

On the Norwegian constitution day, people wear the sacred and traditional outfit "Bunad”, a full-bodied hand-woven outfit. Research showed that our target group, the youth of Norway, had a strong need off expressing individuality on this day, which had started to manifest itself by them challenging how to wear their Bunad. Therefore, we wanted to give them a rebel´ish and provocative option, and created a handmade “Whopper handbag”. The media strategy became a humorous stab at traditional product launches, a highly unconventional media approach where every application was specifically tailored, building up under our "product launch".

Background

Burger King has always fought against big brother McDonald's. Brand Awareness is high for both brands, but after years of heavy media investments and broader distribution, McD's has almost 3 times the ToM (Top-of-Mind) as BK. And as ToM is closely linked to sales, especially in impulse driven categories, it was critical for BK to raise ToM to deliver on the main objective: increase sales. But BK couldn't compete on budgets, so we had to act differently to create attention and ToM for the target group young Norwegians. We choose to run a campaign during the period before, on, and after the constitution day, mainly because on this day the Norwegian people eat 10 times as many sausages as any other day of the year. This gave us an opportunity to address the much more obvious choice, to eat a flame grilled Whopper instead.

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

After conducting focus groups with the target audience, we understood that many young Norwegians have a deep need of expressing individuality. An example of that was that it was very common to "pimp" Bunad costumes. Most commonly by hacking the associated Bunad bag with stickers, etc. This bag is usually used for storing phones, wallets, makeup, but we had a better idea. It was the perfect fit for the Whopper. So that’s when we came up with our plan, to make Norway think Whopper when they saw Bunad! We created the Whopper Bunad Bag.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

To explain our strategy, we first have to explain something about the Norwegian culture. On the constitution day, the Norwegian people go from being introverted and humble, to patriotic and proud, but in a charming way. Being a proud people, with a strong history of becoming independent, we naturally care for the traditions we've created. That being said, some people has taken it a tad too far, and that's is the movement we Norwegians refer to as the “Bunads police". A self-proclaimed guardian of the Norwegian heritage, with a a large national support. This is a a group of people that go crazy every time someone tries to change anything about the Bunad. The strategy became clear. By a creating a strong editorial PR-offense, and a well-planned and targeted content approach, we were gonna create some commotion on this oh-so traditional celebration.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

We launched the Whopper Bag with a typical product porn style film, distributed widely in SoMe. We cooperated with fashion magazines, and got editorial coverage, lending us a credible voice to promote our message. We made a DIY-film were two older seamstresses acted in the "Whopper Bag DIY". Why? Recipes for making imitations of expensive fashion items abound on the internet. We wanted to build up the trend by encouraging Norwegians to "whopper-hack" their own Whopper Bag. We got several micro-influencers to document the process in their own channels using a DIY kit. Not everyone liked our campaign, especially not the bunad police. We honored this by running a 2-page ad in the largest knitting magazine in Norway, and ran banners targeted to users interested in needlework. Another well-known tactic from the fashion industry is to work with celebrities. So we did that, engaging one of the most well-known influencer.

List the results (30% of vote)

True Whopper love! The campaign got noticed, that`s for sure: the press covered it, thinking it was for real. People commented; some loved it, some hated it (the older ones…). But most people loved it, creating massive attention - specially our key target group (below 30 yrs.). Hard facts: 11.6 million media impressions (5 million people live on Norway) 400.000 people engaged in the campaign Our article was the most read on Norway's trendiest fashion magazine + 10% increase in Top-of-Mind + 40% national increase in Whopper sales YoY, a product which has had stable sales the last 5 years

Please tell us about the social behaviour and / or cultural insights that inspired your campaign

see "creative idea / insights"