2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Write a short summary of what happens in the radio or audio execution or campaign.

Our radio ads revolve around a common occurrence in Saudi Arabia: mispronouncing English words because they contain letters that don’t have Arabic equivalents, and the funny disagreements people have over the correct pronunciation. Our three radio ads sound like traditional promotional ads at first but there’s an expected twist: the two “G”-s in Burger King are mispronounced in every single ad, leading to a funny delivery that the listener can’t miss at all, and not help but relate to. At first listen, a listener would think it’s a mistake, but upon hearing the other variations of the ads with different mispronunciations (burgher, burker, burjer), they realize we’re trolling them and instantly think of the local funny insight and the hilarious discrepancy between Arabic and English.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

In Arabic, the letter “G” with its phonetic sound “geh” doesn’t even exist in the Arabic alphabet, so it’s very common in Arabic speaking countries like Saudi Arabia to pronounce words that contain the letter “G” in different questionable ways. For example, “burger” would be pronounced as “burjer”, “burker” or “burgher”. As a result, multiple variations have existed for one English word that has a letter that can’t be pronounced in Arabic. This is an issue that international brands have always faced when they operate in Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia. It’s very common for Arabic speakers to mispronounce a brand name; it might be unfortunate for the brand but luckily for consumers, it often leads to humorous exchanges among people and sometimes, heated conversations.

Script. Provide the full to radio/audio script in English.

Script of Radio ad #1 Burger King introduces the new Whopper Burker Kink, have it your way. Script of Radio ad #2 Burger King introduces the new Whopper Burgher Kingh, have it your way. Script of Radio ad #3 Burger King introduces the new Whopper Burjer Kinj, have it your way.

Explain how the work innovatively used the radio / audio medium.

We used a traditional medium that’s usually flooded with promotions that customers hear but often-times don’t pay close attention to because they’re so inundated with more of the ‘same’. But what we did was shake up the status quo by intentionally mispronouncing “Burger” in three different ads. With just a simple trick, listeners instantly related to a common “inside joke” in Saudi Arabia and among Arab speakers. This move triggered people to take the conversation further by going online and get into debates around the fun and divisive topic of mispronunciations. That’s how we utilized a medium that is sometimes associated with passive listening to move people into action, ultimately standing out in a sea of promotions.