The video provides an overview of Burger King's "Whopper Detour" promotion. The "Whopper Detour" campaign ran for only nine days in December 2018, but is an example of one of the most creative promotions ever run. It is not easy to get fast-food loyalists to change their behavior, as value menus, price promotions and special deals are easy to match and usually do not result in a sustainable competitive advantage. However, Burger King used this creative, as well as technologically challenging promotion, to entice consumers to drive to a McDonald's to order a Whopper. The strategy behind the Whopper Detour promotion was that consumers with the Burger King smartphone app and either inside or within 600 feet of a McDonald's could order a Whopper for one-cent, as opposed to regular price of $4.00 or more. The catch to the promotion was that the customer had to place the order on the app, which would then direct them to the nearest Burger King to redeem the offer. The promotion required a great deal of tech savvy to implement as Burger King's advertising agency, FCB New York, had to work with a digital company to geofence nearly every McDonald's restaurant in the country, as the offer would unlock only within 600 feet of a McDonald's. The agency also had to make sure the app would work with geolocation, which uses a GPS chip in a smartphone to determine its exact location, and tag all of the McDonald's locations in the U.S. This video provides a very good overview of the promotion which was very successful as the Burger King app was downloaded to smartphones by 1.5 million people during the promotion and more than a half million people redeemed the one cent Whopper offer, which was 40 times more than the previous record for a digital coupon promotion. Moreover, the impact of the promotion continued as downloads of the BK app were up by 4.5 million a few months later. The promotion also moved the sales needle for Burger King as despite offering the Whopper for only one penny, total sales volume through the mobile app increased by 300 percent during the promotion.

 

Discussion Questions

1. Why do you believe this campaign was so successful? Be sure to analyze the strategy behind Burger King's "Whopper Detour" promotion.

2. Do you think Burger King could use this type of promotion again to attract business from McDonald's and other competitors in the fast-food industry? Why or why not?

3. Often times in the fast-food industry companies often fall into a promotional trap or spiral when using sales promotions. How did the Whopper Detour avoid this problem?