Burger King: Whopper Sacrifice

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Released:	June 2009
Advertiser:	BURGER KING
Agency:	CRISPIN PORTER + BOGUSKY, Miami
Country:	USA
Category:	Fast food outlets & restaurants
Awards:	Cannes Lions 2009 Titanium Lion
Tags:	Cannes Lions 2009

Credits:

Type of Entry: Titanium and Integrated
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
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 Interactive Associate Creative Director
Neil Heymann Crispin Porter Bogusky Interactive 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
Andrew Kennedy Crispin Porter Bogusky Flash Designer
Jimmy Pino Crispin Porter Bogusky Programmer
Robert Christ Crispin Porter Bogusky Programmer
Scott Prindle Crispin Porter Bogusky Technical Director
Matt Walsh Crispin Porter Bogusky Interaction Director
Refresh Partners Development Partner
Ascent Marketing Partner Development Partner
Winston Binch Crispin Porter Bogusky Integrated Head of Interactive Video
Rob Allen Crispin Porter Bogusky Integrated Producer
Details
Describe the campaign/entry:
To find out how strong America’s love for the Whopper was, we offered a simple challenge: Sacrifice ten of your Facebook friends, and Burger King will reward your loyalty with a free Whopper. There was one twist; each friend you scarified would be notified of your actions, meaning your sacrifice was a public statement that you chose flame-broiled meat over friendship.
Give some idea of how successful this campaign/entry was with both client and consumer:
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.
Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.
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 sacrificed 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.