All images courtesy of Y&R New Zealand.Competition in the fast food category was fierce, with an increasing number of brands battling for attention. In 2015, Burger King made an unprecedented proposal to its biggest rival, McDonalds, to join forces and sell a mash-up of their iconic burgers: Whopper + Big Mac = McWhopper.
Proposed via an open letter in the New York Times, the McWhopper was intended as a symbol of peace. All proceeds would be donated to Peace One Day, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness of the International Day of Peace on September 21.
"The McWhopper Proposal,” created in partnership with Y&R New Zealand, was further amplified with strategically placed billboards, digital influencers, and social media.
While McDonald’s ultimately declined the proposal, the impact was huge. Not only did the effort shift all of Burger King’s brand measures, but it also drove awareness of Peace Day. “The McWhopper Proposal” earned three trophies at the 2017 North American Effie Awards, including the Grand Effie. Grand Effie judge, Brent Choi, called the work “one of the greatest PR efforts done in the history of our industry.”
Of course, planning and executing such a major strategic effort was no simple task. Fernando Machado, Head of Brand Marketing de Burger King, shares how the idea came to life.
As Machado mentions, it took roughly a year of collaboration between Burger King, Y&R New Zealand, and several contributing agencies to launch “The McWhopper Proposal.” We asked Y&R New Zealand’s Jono Key, Managing Director, Ve Craig McLeod, Planner, to share their perspective on the work.
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Tell us a bit about your Effie-winning effort, “The McWhopper Proposal.” What was your big idea? What was the insight that led to it?
JK & CM: BK’s rivalry with McDonald’s has been well documented. In the 80s, they called it the ‘Burger Wars.’ By 2017, we were fighting that war on multiple fronts. Five Guys, Shake Shack, In-N-Out Burger, Whataburger, Carl’s Junior, Wendy’s. You name it, people were eating it.
The fast food advertising formula is simple. You win people’s attention; they’re more likely to choose you. But winning all that attention demands unexpected moves.
That was our insight: when you’re at war, the most disruptive thing you can do is call for peace.
Our idea? For Peace Day 2015, we would publicly offer our biggest rival an olive branch, suggesting the ultimate burger mash-up. We would call this burger the ‘McWhopper.’
Bu fikri nasıl hayata geçirdiniz?
JK & CM: It started with a print ad in The New York Times and quickly spread across the internet. All traffic was directed to a media-kit website, ensuring the DIY McWhopper burger became a reality. Finally, when McDonald’s said ‘No,’ we teamed up with other burger brands to create the ultimate Peace Burger.
Members of the Grand Jury were impressed by the incredible amount of planning it took to effectively launch and manage the response to “The McWhopper Proposal.” Can you share what that process was like?
JK & CM: “Fight every battle everywhere. Always. In your mind. Everyone is your enemy. Everyone is your friend. Every possible series of events is happening all at once.” – Little Finger, Game of Thrones.
Not to be too dramatic, but that’s how we planned McWhopper. As soon as that proposal appeared in The New York Times, it became a reactive campaign. We didn’t know if McDonald’s would respond, if the media would care, how the public would react. We knew nothing, so we scripted everything. Whatever happened, we were ready to take advantage.
And that’s how the campaign evolved. As a gigantic, angry beast, with us poking and prodding it in the right places to ensure it kept moving through people’s newsfeeds.
One thing people might not know: We genuinely hoped McDonald’s would say yes. We were ready to go all the way and create official McWhopper burgers uniforms, packaging – the whole shebang. Their rejection was disappointing, but we had to move on.
Fikrinizi hayata geçirmede karşılaştığınız en büyük zorluk neydi? Bu zorluğun üstesinden nasıl gelebildiniz?
JK & CM: One of our biggest challenges was the US legal system. Talking about your competition in the most litigious country on earth? It’s best to err on the side of caution. But a cautious McWhopper wouldn’t have worked. It needed to be audacious.
Our client Fernando helped engineer the project so that everyone involved would appreciate how much the reward outweighed the risk. But it wasn’t easy.
Bu çabadan edindiğiniz en büyük ders nedir?
JK & CM: Reactive is the new proactive: Cultural relevance has always been a driving factor in ad efficacy, but being relevant today requires advertisers to adopt a different mindset. The traditional practice of long planning cycles doesn’t allow advertisers to take part in today’s fast paced, impossible-to-predict shifts in news and culture. While counterintuitive, being reactive actually allows brands the flexibility to capitalize on opportunities that will invariably increase their exposure.
What about “The McWhopper Proposal” are you most proud of?
JK & CM: The McWhopper Proposal helped boost the relevancy of the Burger King brand and its most iconic product, the Whopper sandwich, across the globe. Engagement, brand attributes, and most importantly, purchase consideration were all significantly up.
Now that all the Cannes Lions and D&AD Pencils are gathering dust, it’s nice to know that great ideas truly work. McWhopper had a good run around the creative award circuit, but winning that Effie was truly the tomato on top of the beef. (Or is it a pickle?)
Is there anything else we should know about “The McWhopper Proposal?”
JK & CM: Our partner, Peace One Day, encourages organizations and individuals to reduce violence around the theme of “Who Will You Make Peace with?” Because their primary goal is awareness rather than donations, it was crucial that the McWhopper campaign raised their profile as well.
In the end, The McWhopper Proposal increased awareness of the Peace One Day by 39%, making the initiative a household name. A big victory for a wonderful cause.
Members of the 2017 North American Grand Effie Jury share why “The McWhopper Proposal” was awarded this year’s top honor. Watch Now >
