Burjer Kinj.
Burger King Saudi Arabia jumped into an online argument over how to write "burger" in Arabic, deliberately misspelling its own name to get people talking about the Whopper.
- Brand
- Burger King
- Market
- Saudi Arabia
- Region
- Saudi Arabia
The challenge
Burger King was losing young Saudi customers to newer, trendier chains and delivery apps. It had to relaunch an improved Whopper, a sandwich with little pull in the market.
The idea
Social listening showed people already argued over the Arabic spelling and pronunciation of burger and Whopper. The brand stayed neutral and fed the debate: a fake post and misspelled tweets, then a comic drive-through film with characters playing make-believe teachers, and finally an adapted Arabic letter fans could use for the right sound, backed with in-store merchandise. It ran for about a month, mostly on social.
Results
- Whopper sales beat the target of doubling by 18%, according to the Dubai Lynx entry
- Brand mentions 16% above the biggest-spending competitor and 16 times the previous year, according to the Dubai Lynx entry
- 61.2 million impressions and 16 million views, according to the Dubai Lynx entry
- Average sales per store up 4.2%, according to the Dubai Lynx entry
Case study source: Dubai Lynx Source ↗
Awards
- Clio Awards 2020Clio Awards / Social Media / Single PlatformBronze
- Dubai Lynx 2020/21 Gold (Digital: Social Business & Commerce)
- WARC Prize for MENA Strategy 2020 Bronze
Credits
- Creative agency
- J. Walter Thompson Riyadh (Wunderman Thompson Riyadh)
- Media agency
- Mediacom
- Production
- Made in Saudi
- Chief Creative Operations Officer, J. Walter Thompson Riyadh
- Chafic Haddad
- Executive Creative Director, J. Walter Thompson Riyadh
- Rayyan Aoun
- Senior Art Director, J. Walter Thompson Riyadh
- Ahmad Shanaa
- Junior Art Director, J. Walter Thompson Riyadh
- Abdulhadi Tulimat
- Social Media Director, J. Walter Thompson Riyadh
- Alaeldin Abas
- Social Media Executive, J. Walter Thompson Riyadh
- Sliman Alduhbayei
- Business Director, J. Walter Thompson Riyadh
- Toufic Bassil
- Account Manager, J. Walter Thompson Riyadh
- Abdullah Issa
- Account Executive, J. Walter Thompson Riyadh
- Maria Elamiri
- Strategic Planning Director, J. Walter Thompson Riyadh
- Ali Khalil
- Head of Production KSA, J. Walter Thompson Riyadh
- Joe Aboudaher
- TV Producer, J. Walter Thompson Riyadh
- Wael Almadani
- TV Producer, J. Walter Thompson Riyadh
- Jameel Ghrawi
- Marketing Director, Burger King
- Robert Dreghorn
- Marketing Manager KSA, Burger King
- Albanderi Mohammed Alyamani
- Marketing Manager UAE, Burger King
- Carlo Angelini
- Designer, Burger King
- Mark Anthony Villagracia
- Media Planner, Mediacom
- Ahmad Mokh
- Media Executive, Mediacom
- Karim Hisham
- Director, Made in Saudi
- Aziz Aljasmi
