Whopper Sacrifice

Credits & Description:

Type of Entry: Use of Media
Category: Best Use of Internet
Title: WHOPPER SACRIFICE
Advertiser/Client: BURGER KING
Product/Service: BURGER KING
Entrant Company: CRISPIN PORTER + BOGUSKY Boulder, USA
Advertising Agency: CRISPIN PORTER + BOGUSKY Boulder, USA
Media Agency: VML New York, USA
Creative Credits
Name Company Position
Rob Reilly Crispin Porter Bogusky Co-Executive Creative Director
Andrew Keller Crispin Porter Bogusky Co-Executive Creative Director
Jeff Benjamin Crispin Porter Bogusky Interactive Executive Creative Director
Bill Wright Crispin Porter Bogusky Creative Director
James Dawson-Hollis Crispin Porter Bogusky Creative Director
Nuno Ferreira Crispin Porter Bogusky Associate Creative Director
Neil Heymann Crispin Porter Bogusky Associate Creative Director
Pelun Chen Crispin Porter Bogusky Interactive Design Director
John Whitmore Crispin Porter Bogusky Interactive Designer
Saman Rahmanian Crispin Porter Bogusky Interactive Art Director
Joel Kaplan Crispin Porter Bogusky Interactive Copywriter
Robert Valdes Crispin Porter Bogusky Executive Integrated Producer
Rob Allen Crispin Porter Bogusky Integrated Producer
Andrew Kennedy Crispin Porter Bogusky Flash Designer
Jimmy Pino Crispin Porter Bogusky Programmer
Robert Christ Crispin Porter Bogusky Programmer
Refresh Partners Development Partner
Ascent Marketing Partner Development Partner
Scott Prindle Technical Director
Matt Walsh Interaction Director
Mat Ranauro Associate Technical Director
Jordan Clayton-Hall Interaction Designer
Winston Binch Integrated Head of Interactive Production
VML Sales Promotion
Details
Results and Effectiveness:
The campaign launched on January 5th and in only ten days over 80,000 users added the app to their profile. On January 15th, with 233, 906 friends having been sacrificed, Facebook requested that we take down the application after becoming uncomfortable with the sheer number of participants who were deleting friends. After the application was removed, free media impressions jumped from 13 million to 32 million as reporters, bloggers, and Facebook users all asked “Why did it end?” As a result of the campaign, Burger King awarded 19,236 free Whopper coupons.
Creative Execution:
To answer the brief, we built an application on the social network, Facebook, to test if people love the Whopper more than their friends. The challenge was simple: Sacrifice (delete) ten of your Facebook friends and receive a free Whopper. There was one twist though; each friend you scarified would be notified of your actions, meaning your entire network would know that you chose flame-broiled meat over friendship. Instead of using bought media to spread our message, we utilized an entire social network looking for an excuse to delete part of their friend list.
Insights, Strategy and the Idea:
Burger King tasked us with building a campaign that demonstrated how much America loves the Whopper, BK’s flagship hamburger. We started by asking ourselves, what would people give up in favour of the Whopper? The insight came while looking at Facecbook. We realized that people have far more Facebook friends than real-life friends. Why? What is the value of these internet friendships? Would people be willing to delete some of these childhood buddies, ex-lovers and random co-workers, if they just had a good excuse to do so?