2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Background

When it comes to burgers, plant-based ones are taking the world by a storm. Saudis, however, are still loyal to their real-beef burgers, since their previous experience with the so called “plant based 1.0” burgers was rather discouraging. In this context, our brief was to launch Burger King’s plant-based whopper and convince our audience that it tastes and feels 100% like the real-beef whopper except that it had no beef at all. Our objective was to position burger King as an innovative brand that satisfies the needs of people with different tastes and diet preferences.

Describe the strategy

In Saudi, a passion for everything different, or unique, coupled with an extremely exposed population, and an emerging food scene, meant that global food trends make their way instantly into the culture. When it comes to burgers, the story is no different. Today, one can easily find Brioche burgers, quinoa burgers, wagyu burgers, keto-burgers… and even the dumbest or most absurd types of burgers; except for a real plant-based burger that tastes just like the real juicy beef one. Our strategy was to use this fact to launch yet another meaningless burger: A salad in a bun. The purpose was to create as much buzz as possible before launching the real “plant-based whopper”. For many, this was an unexpected and unaccepted product; so much so, that it ignited a heated conversation about the move and provided us with the needed launchpad to give our “real” plant-based whopper the needed push.

Describe the execution

Our campaign started with a teaser film about a fake new veggie burger: the “salad in a bun”. Once the conversation gained traction, we revealed our real hero, a 100% whopper, that tastes like the juicy beef one, with 0% beef content. The message was: 100% Whopper. 0% Beef: the difference is not in the taste. While some rushed to try the new whopper, some were still in doubt. So, we supplemented the campaign with social experiments where butchers, meat experts and even loyal whopperholics were invited to try our new veggie-whopper which was wrapped in an Original Meat Whopper paper. To our “not so surprise”, none couldn’t make a difference between the beef and the veggie. The experiments were posted to online as a support to our promise: 100% whopper, 0% beef.

List the results

When our audience saw how foodies and meat experts were all vouching for our new whopper, the reaction was unbelievable. Demand went through the roof and branches had to restock to cater for the unprecedented demand by burger lovers who wanted to try this new burger themselves. Everyone wanted a bite. Sales wise, the campaign led to xxx % in sales / same stores sales /…. 48m Impression, 28M Video Views Sometimes all you need to do to make great burgers, is to start a flaming fire.