Burger King has spent decades as the number two to McDonald’s. It has fewer restaurants, and in many places a McDonald’s is simply closer. In 2018 Burger King turned that disadvantage into the whole joke.
The problem: an app nobody used
Like every fast-food chain, Burger King wanted customers on its mobile ordering app. Apps mean repeat orders, customer data and direct marketing without paying for ads. But downloads are hard to earn, and Burger King’s app was far behind McDonald’s.
Discounts alone wouldn’t do it; everyone offers discounts. Burger King needed a reason for people to download the app that was worth talking about.
The stunt
In December 2018, Burger King and its agency, FCB New York, launched the Whopper Detour. The offer was simple: a Whopper for one cent. The catch was where you had to be to claim it.
Using geofencing, the deal only unlocked when a customer was within 600 feet of a McDonald’s. People had to go to a rival’s restaurant, open the Burger King app in its parking lot or lobby and order their penny Whopper. The app then directed them to the nearest Burger King to pick it up. Every McDonald’s in the country had quietly become a Burger King promotion.
The results
The promotion lasted nine days. According to the campaign results reported at Cannes:
- The stunt drove about 1.5 million Burger King app downloads.
- App sales increased three-fold during the promotion.
- The Burger King app rose to No. 1 in the app store.
The coverage was worth more than the Whoppers. News outlets and social media ran with the idea of Burger King “trolling” its biggest rival, and every mention explained how to download the app.
Awards
At the 2019 Cannes Lions festival, the advertising industry’s biggest awards event, the Whopper Detour won the Grand Prix in the Direct category along with six gold Lions across two categories. It also won the Mobile Grand Prix, and it closed the week with the Titanium Grand Prix, the festival’s award for the most groundbreaking work.
Why it worked
- It turned a weakness into the punchline. McDonald’s larger footprint became the delivery mechanism for Burger King’s offer.
- The price was the headline. “One cent” is a number that spreads by itself.
- The mechanic required the app. The deal only existed inside the app, so every participant became a user Burger King could reach again.
- It picked a fight people enjoyed. Rivalry stories get coverage; the underdog trolling the leader is a story journalists love to tell.
Legacy
The Whopper Detour is one of the most-awarded campaigns of its era and a standard example of location-based marketing. It also fit a pattern for Burger King, whose advertising, from the Subservient Chicken onward, has often been built around stunts designed to be talked about rather than just watched.