BUUURN! Find out how the KING used a new technology to set its rival to flames in 2019!

Thursday: Gorillas of Guerilla Marketing FROM THE DESK OF MILES EVERSON: Are you looking for unconventional marketing strategies to promote your brand and interact with your target market? If so, we have a recommendation for you: Guerrilla Marketing! As a business builder and leader myself, I’ve seen how this marketing strategy works wonders for a brand, especially when executed properly. Check out today’s example of clever guerrilla marketing! Continue reading to know how one fast food brand attracted the attention of consumers worldwide and introduced a new type of technology that will revolutionize the future of marketing. CEO, MBO Partners Chairman of the Advisory Board, The I Institute

BUUURN! Find out how the KING used a new technology to set its rival to flames in 2019! Augmented reality (AR) is transforming advertising into an interactive experience. Through this, consumers can view an extra dimension of the marketing world as seen through their smartphones. In fact, many marketers across the world are seizing the opportunity to integrate AR technology into their brands’ promotional efforts. How? By creating clever and engaging content that captivates consumers, compels them to interact with the marketing strategy, or pokes fun at industry competitors! Here’s one of the brands that leveraged this cutting-edge technology in its guerrilla marketing campaign in March 2019: Burger King! Burger King is one of the Big 3 burger chains in the US. It has 18,000+ branches in over 100 countries, and serves up to 11 million customers every day. As the “King” of burgers and Whoppers, Burger King is known to create clever and cheeky guerrilla marketing campaigns that often hype up its customers and target its rivals. We talked about them in two of our past “Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing” articles: Check out how this brand achieved WHOPPING success through a brilliant 9-year challenge on Twitter! #NeverTrustAClown: Find out how the horror movie “IT” became one brand’s “longest ad ever!” Today, we’ll feature one of the brand’s recent guerrilla marketing tactics. The name of the campaign? The “Burn That Ad” campaign! Conceptualized with the help of Brazilian marketing agency David SP, the marketing campaign intended to promote the BK Express, the brand’s new tool that allows customers to pre-order online and avoid long lines at physical stores. Here’s how Burger King cleverly introduced the new app to its target market in 2019: In Brazil, the brand’s biggest competitor invests 4 times more money in advertising. Its ads are literally everywhere! So, to prove that brands don’t necessarily have to spend such a HUGE amount of money to capture consumers attention, Burger King did what it does best: It literally “flame-grilled” its rival! BUUUURN! Using AR in its “Burn That Ad” campaign, Burger King let customers burn its rival’s ads—in augmented reality—and turn them into the “King’s” ads. All customers needed to do that was their smartphones and the Burger King app. The app had an added AR feature that recognized its rival’s ads and burned them down. Once the flames burned away, customers were left with a screen that told them they received a free Whopper coupon that they could redeem at the Burger King store of their choice. In case you’re wondering about the scope of the “Burn That Ad” campaign… The AR feature in the app worked for ANY type of ad from Burger King’s rival. Whether it’s an outdoor ad, social media post, Google image search, indoor post, paper tray, or coupon, customers can burn those ads with their smartphones. What an incredible strategy to hype up Burger King’s fans! The excitement that this campaign fostered and the knowledge that there was a reward at the end of the activity encouraged more Brazilians to download the Burger King app, join in on the fun, and burn the brand’s rival’s ads! The guerrilla marketing campaign lasted for 3 months in Brazil—March, April, and May 2019. Was Burger King’s “Burn That Ad” campaign effective? Using new technology for its guerrilla marketing strategy was a genius move by Burger King as it made all competing ads an ad for itself. As Ariel Grunkraut, Burger King’s Marketing and Sales Director for Brazil, said: “Technology as a means to provide the best customer experience is one of our main investment targets in 2019. To create the BK Express experience, our exclusive payment technology via mobile phone available all around Brazil, we offer some fun interaction in augmented reality for our brand’s lovers through the app. Those using the service also get a free Whopper.” These were the results of Burger King’s “Burn That Ad” campaign: Over 400,000 rival ads were burned during the duration of the campaign. The BK Express app became the most downloaded app in Brazil during March, April, and May 2019. Burger King Brazil’s in-app sales increased by 55% during the campaign. The “Burn That Ad” campaign garnered about 1 billion media impressions. About 1.5 million free Whoppers were distributed during the campaign. The brand activation was featured in published articles from various websites such as AdWeek, Medium, The Drum, AdAge, Reddit, People, PCWorld, and more. The campaign became a major hit worldwide and it earned the Grand Prix of WAVE Festival in the Mobile category, 9 Cannes Lions Awards, and 3 CLIO Awards—all in 2019. Clearly, these numbers and awards show the effectiveness of the “Burn That Ad” campaign in connecting with its target audience and making Burger King stand out from the competition. Kudos, Burger King and David SP! — Burger King has cultivated a reputation for creating boundary-pushing ad strategies. In terms of using AR for its “Burn That Ad” campaign… The brand’s cleverness in using new technology went beyond using its rival’s ads against itself. The campaign also integrated Burger King’s selling point of flame-grilling its burgers through the metaphor of flame-grilling a competitor’s marketing collaterals. What’s more? The BK Express app also included a payment feature that automatically placed the free Whopper coupon in a user’s cart! This was ingenious because: It used brand familiarity (flame-grilling) in an entirely new campaign to get the message across. It took a user’s experience and turned it into a customer’s experience. It drew people into placing an order. Many of those who received the free Whopper coupon probably added sides or any other meal to complement Burger King’s flagship product. It introduced Burger King’s mobile and online ordering system to new users. These attributes, coupled with engaging experience and content, left a positive, lasting brand recall on customers. … and for Burger King, these factors were important to effectively capture the attention of thousands of Brazilians through a seamless guerrilla marketing strategy. Get inspired with Burger King’s “Burn That Ad” campaign! Remember: In today’s digital world, you have to take advantage of various technological advancements to level up your marketing efforts. This will not only enable you and your brand to thrive amid the changes in the business landscape but will also help you appeal to and reach more consumers around the world. Have fun planning and strategizing your own “hot” and captivating guerrilla marketing campaigns! Hope you’ve found this week’s guerrilla marketing insight interesting and helpful. Follow us on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for next Thursday’s Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing! Do you want to learn how one ketchup brand touted the power of its global iconism across 5 continents? See it in next week’s article!