Some recent television ads have featured extremely distressed Burger King customers, distraught after being told that the fast-food giant dropped the Whopper from its menu. The signature burger's demise is, of course, a lie—and one designed to elicit strong negative feedback.
Burger King hasn't actually lost its corporate mind—it's using a negative situation to highlight the Whopper's popularity. In a long-format viral companion to the television ads—a YouTube special styled as a documentary of the experiment and entitled Whopper Freakout—director Henry Alex Rubin tells Burger King employees, "We're not doing this to be mean. We're doing this just to prove a point."
And what a point! Believing the Whopper is no more, customers could hardly contain their love for the sandwich. One gentleman claims to have driven from another state, just to eat a Whopper. Another flabbergasted customer says, "It's the best burger nationwide."
In the viral video, Burger King also has a little fun at the expense of competitors when employees start substituting burgers from Wendy's and McDonald's for their own. The results—when annoyed customers return to complain—are predictably sour. "I hate Wendy's!" exclaims one exasperated diner, no doubt much to Rubin's glee.
Writes B.L. Ochman at the What's Next Blog, "It's seven minutes long. It pisses off Burger King customers. It makes fun of competitors. In other words, it rocks!" And to break the rules so successfully is utter Marketing Inspiration.
More Inspiration:
Gwyneth Dwyer: How Marketers Collaborate as "Frenemies"
Andrea Learned: Overcoming the Curse of Knowledge in 2008
David Reich: Blog Videos: Yes, No, Maybe?
by Oliver Feakins
