A Whopper of an ad premiere

On Wednesday, 5 October, Burger King super fans and friends were invited to a ‘date night’ screening of the brand’s first TVC on the big screen at Canal Walk – also the site of Burger King’s newest store, so brand ambassador Mr Whopper was in attendance as we feasted on Whopper Meals.

Hanging with Mr Whopper #burgerking #whopperenvy @burgerkingsa

A photo posted by Kelsey Jourdan (@kelsjourdan) on Oct 5, 2016 at 9:38am PDT

The ad aired on national TV the following night, a local first for the brand that’s been operating on our shores since 2013. So while it’s not a South African brand, it’s certainly popular with the South African market, and just needed a specific emotional flavour to entice local audiences. That flavour is one of humour and laughing at ourselves.

Created in conjunction with Burger King’s creative agency, The Jupiter Drawing Room Cape Town, this is not the fast-food commercial we’d come to expect – a close-up of one of their products with voice-overs explaining in detail why this is better than its competitors. Instead it’s truly funny and picks up on a local observation of what happens to most office workers come lunch time, whether that office is a construction site or somewhere out in space when you unwrap a sad sandwich from home and your colleague bounces into the room with a fast food package rustling with the promise of something delicious – food envy. Now, #WhopperEnvy is a thing.

See the ad below:

Challenging fast food perceptions

When the Jupiter Drawing Room announced it had won the Burger King integrated account back in March 2016, agency CEO Kevan Aspoas confirmed that Burger King is already seen in a positive light locally by consumers who independently voted it tops for best burger in the country, and that their focus is on growing it as a challenger brand.

With Grand Parade Investments (GPI) believing its investment in Burger King would find profitable traction by mid-2017, as well as a headline-grabbing monster truck-themed activation for the Big King XXL® in Boksburg earlier this year, a millennial foodie-friendly Snapchat campaign under their belt and the global McWhopper campaign getting a taste of success at this year’s Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, the signs are good. Enviable, even.

Click here for a reminder of my interview with Aspoas earlier this year, and follow #WhopperEnvy on Twitter for more on the new ad.