CLIENT :: BURGER KING
Agency :: DAVID THE AGENCY
At the end of 2014 Burger King rapidly encapsulated a majority of my life. At DAVID, we brought The King back, shined a light on what happens when you play with fire, encouraged the BK executives to give control to a real chicken, reintroduced Chicken Fries to an insane fanbase, created the "Crown" campaign, and spent day after day shooting food. Nothing. But. Food. Scroll down if you’re hungry.
PROJECT :: THE UPSIDE DOWN WHOPPER
“Probably the laziest promotion I’ve ever seen.” – NBC News
We approached Netflix with the idea to partner up for an Upside Down Whopper in 2018. They told us they don’t work with brands. In 2019 they changed their mind and worked with what seems like every brand in the world and probably raked in piles of cash. We released the Upside Down Whopper meal at 11 locations, along with a custom crown that looked like Dustin’s hat, and an ketchup packet that doubled as an Eleven Makeup Kit. Incredibly, news about it went four pages deep in Google before lunch time on launch day. That’s strange. This lazy promo was conceptualized by Aaron and some others.
PROJECT :: BULLYING JR.
While it may seem crazy to compare a smashed Whopper Jr. to a child who has been bullied, it winds up making a lot of sense. Burger King is a brand that celebrates individuality and encourages people to be their way, no matter how "different" their way is. Bullying someone for being different is the exact opposite of that. Hopefully the Bullying Jr. experiment encourages people to stand up against bullying the same way they stand up and complain about a bullied fast food burger. Russel and Tony and Danny all had their hands in this.
2018 Awards / Cannes Lions Shortlists / ANDY / D&AD Media / D&AD Creativity for Good
Press / Creativity / AdWeek / Fortune / Mashable / GQ / Lürzer's / TIME / Today / USA Today / Si / HuffPost /
The 10 Best Ads of 2017 / AdWeek
CASE STUDY
Project :: WHOPPER SEVERANCE
Without fire, there would be no flame-grilling at Burger King. Which basically means that firing is a good thing. So, we decided to flip the typical LinkedIn post on its head and hand out Whopper Severance to anyone who admitted to getting fired on the professional social platform. Some people didn't think it was true. Other's received a free flame-grilled Whopper for being honest. With a total of 1.4 billion impressions, all 2,500 available severance Whopper sandwiches were gone in a day and nobody in the world went hungry. Curtis and Dan had this idea while they were very secure in their roles.
Have you or someone you know been wrongfully or rightfully FIRED? Have a listen below.
Project :: BURNING STORES
A Google sesh turned up some interesting images of Burger King restaurants ablaze. Curtis and Ian thought to themselves - "Hmmm. Maybe there is something to this." And there was. Burger King flame-grills their burgers. And when fire isn't making meat taste tastier, it needs to be managed. Otherwise you get a print campaign. Franchisees didn't like the fact that this ran very much, but a lot of other people did.
2018 Awards / One Show Pencil Gold x3 (Print, Newspaper, Best of Discipline) / D&AD Yellow Pencil Collaborative
2017 Awards / Cannes Lions Grand Prix in Print & Publishing / Grand Clio Award in Print / Andy's Gold Magazine / Andy's Gold Newspaper / D&AD Yellow Pencil Press Advertising
Press / Creativity / AdWeek / Fortune / Business Insider / Le Book / Design Taxi / DIGIDAY
Print Isn't Dead! / AdWeek
Project :: BK CAFE JOURNEY
Who knew that Burger King sourced their coffee beans in Colombia and Brazil and then flew them to North Carolina to fire-roast them? Basically nobody. And since it sounds fake, we decided to show the journey of the beans in a very real way. One flight to Jardin, Colombia. One flight to Charolette, NC. One flight back to Miami and let the edit begin. Directed by David Gelb, of Jiro Dreams of Sushi and Chef’s Table fame, we decided to shoot a long form film that is self deprecating enough to still be on brand. Para mi, es muy linda y muy comico.
PROJECT :: CHICK TAX
We made a pink Chicken Fries box so we could charge women more for them because girls love pink sh*t. This is what the DailyMail said about it:
"Burger King sparked outrage with a new product promotion that it spotlighted in a commercial this week — but that outrage was entirely the point. On Tuesday (July 24, 2018), the fast food chain put out a commercial announcing the addition of 'Chick Fries' to its menu. Chick Fries, the ad explains, are simply their regular chicken fries served in a pink box — but because they come in pink packaging and are made especially for women, they're charging nearly double the price for them."
Is the Pink Tax real? Jaime and Aaron told me it was so it must be.
Press / DailyMail / Fast Company / Thrillist / USA Today / AdWeek / Fox News
** Let it be known, the day this launched we learned that Girl Talk HQ did a very similar stunt back in 2016 that never showed up in searches we did around the idea. Props to them for a solid stunt. The creatives on the 2016 version were pretty upset that BK made this. Having known it existed, we probably would have gone about this very differently or killed the idea all together. Sadly, both of these executions received a bunch of press and women are still paying more than men for certain "pink" products, so the more brands that make a fuss about the Pink Tax the better.
PROJECT :: GOOD SAMARITAN WHOPPER
The King likes to grill. So we built him a car and told him he could take it wherever he'd like. He wound up in Vasquez Canyon, decided he was hungry, and pulled over to flame-grill a Whopper or two. Silly passersby thought his car was on fire and stopped to help. As the great King does, he crowned them and offered a Whopper for being a Good Samaritan. We filmed the situation and coincidentally launched the video on Good Samaritan day.
Press / Creativity / AdWeek / DailyMail
Project :: ALL BY MYSELF
Have you ever been alone and had no idea what to eat because Burger King was offering a 2 for $6 deal and that just seemed like way too much food for one person? Plus, you were definitely craving fries, a drink, and two cookies? No worries, Burger King created the perfect deal for you with the $6 King Box just for you. Oh wait, all of the sudden a friend that you haven’t seen in a while showed up at the Burger King and they have a meal to share! Amazing.
Project :: RETURN OF THE MAC ('N CHEETOS)
Burger King told us that Mac n' Cheetos were making a return. Don't really need to explain why this idea made sense.
Project :: 2 legit for 6
Two legit sandwiches for six bucks. Like the above, we threw it back to a song that made sense. This time, with some tasty dance moves.
Project :: RETURN OF THE KING
Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are generally regarded as the two best fighters in any weight class of the past decade. The King is regarded as one of the most iconic brand icons ever. On May 2, 2015, after almost five years out of the spotlight, The King made his first reappearance at the most anticipated boxing match of the century. For his long awaited return, The King joined Mayweather and the rest of his entourage as millions of viewers watched them take the three-minute walk from the locker room to the ring. The coverage was enormous in scale, and the press was as fuerte as the fighters themselves.
Press / Fortune / Sports Illustrated
Project :: CHICKEN FRIES TV
We created a series of :15 second spots with a family of real chicken actors who and the involvement of french fries in their lives. Each of the spots is based on everyday emotions of children, teenagers, young adult, and parents.
Press / AdWeek
Project :: Random Gloria
Chicken Fries were on the menu, then off the menu, then back on, and back off again. People were pissed, so we decided to let a chicken decide whether or not they were on the menu. Random Gloria toured the country and every decision she made was broadcast live on chickenfries.com, followed by daily recap videos and social media posts. After 1,200 miles, three nos and three yeses, we came to one clear conclusion – it’s better to have Chicken Fries on the menu even for one day, than not at all. On March 23rd, Chicken Fries were brought back nationwide, thanks to Gloria.
Press / Adage / Adweek / Creativity / CNBC / US Weekly / Fast Company / PETA
Recognition / 2015 Cannes Lions Shortlist
Project :: A BETTER WAY TO BUFFALO
Set your fingers free with Burger King's new Buffalo Chicken Fries.
Breaded in buffalo style spices for better dipping and handling, they're a better way to buffalo.
Project :: SPECIAL WHOPPERs
SAME SHOT, DIFFERENT BUN.
Black on black on Whopper on A1 on black on Halloween. This dark being sold out in like two weeks. Shot on a motion controlled rig with about 122,000 passes, it was all composited together to look tasty and creepy. It also turned your poop green. Proof on USA Today.
The black bun wasn't enough, so they decided to make a red bun and release a Limited Edition Whopper in 30 different countries at the same time – a company first. All types of spicy things are on this sandwich. So, obvies it's hot and obvies we used fire to represent that heat. These spots never come out the way you dream them to, mainly because you never have dreams like this, but they do sell Whoppers.
Project :: CROWN CAMPAIGN
For a few years, Burger King was all over the place with their spots. There was no one campaign that celebrated their customers, their products, and the brand at the same time. In 2015, we created the Crown Campaign. The concept is to use real customers from all walks of life and hero them for being their way, all while highlighting a new Burger King product or offer. Each guest earned their crown and BK sold more products. Perfect. The Crown Campaign has been adapted by almost every country where you'll find a Burger King. Enjoy a little reel below.
Project :: SELL BURGER KING FOOD. LOTS OF FOOD.
From burgers to nuggets to fries to buns to sodas to lettuce to tomatoes to onions to pickles to jalapenos to ketchup to sriracha to BBQ sauce to cheese to pulled pork - lots of food-focused spots can be found below. Sell, sell, sell. Deal, deal, deal. Offer, offer, offer.
*These next two didn't air. Cause, you know...