Thursday, 26 February 2015

Get with the mix or ship out

Heya Hypies

Its my first blog entry, I'm excited and nervous but all is good. I am not here to dictate but to share an opinion. We all know that social media is the new way to go, regarding campaign activations. THANK YOU WEB 2.0!

One campaign that caught my attention was the Burger King launch in South Africa; by Atmosphere Communication. It was of one the biggest campaigns in SA and it won a Gold PRISM  and a Global Alliance COMM PRIX award last year.


Atmosphere Communication
scopes a Gold PRISM award.
   Global Alliance COMM PRIX
award



The campaign used traditional media relations strategies and  a social media campaign. The reason why it be can labeled for being one of the best. The campaign coined a lot of credit because AC was able to face some of their key challenges such as their competitor knowing detailed information about the launch by planning to outspent them by introducing new advertising and guerrilla marketing.


During the campaign the stakeholder's focus changed from the main objective to the two international superstars; Bon Jovi (@ BonJovi) and Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) who were in the country set to perform. Interesting! How were they going to out stage global icons, then the light bulb light. AC built a hype around the campaign launch of BK. It hijacked their fans by creating an advert emphasising on celebrity lifestyle and "The Bieber Fever" phenomenon. By creating BK iconic Whopper burger, a persona that portrayed a celebrity lifestyle by leaking snips of information on social media, publications and radio activation on what was Whopper doing in Cape Town on his "visit".


The Whopper Arrives in South Africa
Whopper at Cape Town, Waterfront
The launch was trending on Twitter and Facebook. Bebiebers  in South African changed their twitter handle from "Bieber Fever" to "Burger Fever" fans were encouraged to twitter about the upcoming launch, influencers (celebrities) were asked to participant by posting pictures on their social media page with BK Whopper mascot by tagging @BurgerKingZA and on the Facebook page.
                                                                                    
Crowds increase waiting to place their orders



The results show; social media played a major influence. On the arrival of the BK Whopper Mascot, there were fans waiting at the airport. On the day of the launch. The targeted audience respond had excessed, people standing in queues for hours just waiting for BK Cape Town to open. People present were tweeting and posting of Facebook pictures. @BrugerKingZA went viral on social media.


Cape Townian waiting to get their first Burger at Burger King

Honestly! The BK launch was one of the smartest campaigns made in South Africa. My jaw dropped open. Its amazing how a strategy was made that diverted the main media hype ( Bon Jovi and Justin Bieber ) to the objective. A lot of collaboration with integrated communication and attracted varies publics. nothing gets better then that. AC raise the bar really high.

13 comments:

  1. I like the way they were able to take the opportunity of creating their own celebrity in order to draw the attention of their targeted audience and i must say it seemed like it wasn't an easy job but the response from people when they found out about Bk Whooper was interesting and funny. If i may ask is guerrilla marketing easy?

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  2. I like the way they were able to take the opportunity of creating their own celebrity in order to draw the attention of their targeted audience and i must say it seemed like it wasn't an easy job but the response from people when they found out about Bk Whooper was interesting and funny. If i may ask is guerrilla marketing easy?

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  3. Hi Lerato
    Guerrilla marketing is not easy. The competitors had to find a way to divert the attention away from BK meaning they had to find convertional ways to make sales and get profit. It is seeking profit from current stakeholders by making their bruger bigger or their meals including something different form BK, for example buy a Big MC medium meal and get one Ster Kinekor movie meal voucher.

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  4. I must say that this is a great marketing strategy, as complicated as it seems, it definitely gets the right response and works perfectly. Point on.

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  5. Hi Vanessa I must say so myself, the marketing strategy one would expect an international PR agency to come up with that. My mind was blown away when I researched more about it. It just shows how it is easy to be opened and utilize all the resources you have.

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  6. Hi Mashudu I just want to tell you that this is the great not even great, good marketing strategy........

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  7. Thank you Innocent, it just shows a lot of time and preparation goes a long way. The results were a brilliant evident to hard work really pays off and putting your client first is a priority.

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  8. Hahaha I love the video,it's so hilarious, do you think Burger King had to pay to use Justin Bieber's name?

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  9. Hi Vunene, i dont think so, it is a matter of freedom of speech, its hard control social media when something becomes viral.

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  10. Burger King pulled off an excellent marketing strategy. The way they played it out was just too brilliant.

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  11. Yes I will agree with that. I enjoyed researching about the campaign.

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  12. Burger king really did a great job . I am in love with this post, great job Miss Mashudu

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  13. Thank you so much Ennie. Its was really insightful reading about the campaign.

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