Whopper Detour

Burger King2018

Whopper Detour is a 2018 geofenced mobile promotion for Burger King, created by FCB, New York.

Order a Whopper for a penny — at McDonald's.Burger King

Why it works

The best use of a competitor's real estate in marketing history. For nine days in December 2018, Burger King's app sold the Whopper for one cent — but the offer only unlocked within 600 feet of a McDonald's, geofencing more than 14,000 rival locations and then navigating buyers to the nearest Burger King. The troll logic drove 1.5 million app downloads, took the app from #686 to #1 in the App Store in 48 hours, produced over half a million redemptions and a reported 37:1 ROI, and permanently shifted the chain's mobile-ordering behavior. It swept Cannes 2019 (Titanium and Direct Grand Prix among them). It is studied as the model 'product-ized' promotion: media, technology, PR stunt and sales mechanic collapsed into a single idea you could explain in one sentence.

Techniques

Comparison A one-cent Whopper unlocks only within 600 feet of a McDonald's, then the app navigates buyers away to the nearest Burger King.
Guerrilla and ambient Geofencing more than 14,000 rival restaurants turns a competitor's own real estate into the trigger for Burger King's promotion.