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Burger King has decided to part ways with agency David after the fast-food chain named independent agency O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul as its creative agency of record for the U.S. market.
Numerous successful and award-winning campaigns were made by Burger King and David under BK CMO Fernando Machado, who left a year ago. They developed stunts, competitor provocations, promos, hidden cameras and even a few restaurant fires. David will continue to work with BK on a global level, though not in the U.S. market. Burger King described David as “incredible partners” during the eight years of working together in the U.S. market. David declined to comment about the review.
In 2021 alone, David won 29 Lions at Cannes, many of them for Burger King work. Here are a few of the more notable campaigns the agency did for BK during its tenure.
‘The Proud Whopper‘
In 2014 during the Pride festivities in San Francisco, Burger King jumped at the chance to make its own statement about equality. The Whopper was wrapped in rainbow paper with the message, “We are all the same inside.” All proceeds from sales of the burger went to the Burger King McLamore Foundation for scholarships benefiting LGBT college-bound, high school seniors.
‘The Stevenage Challenge’
This campaign turned a lower-tier English soccer club into the biggest in the online world through a Burger King sponsorship. Stevenage FC was featured in the soccer computer game FIFA 2020 alongside the world’s biggest clubs, despite the team’s low position in the English league. The agency also realized that the uniforms in the game reflected the team’s sponsors, which led to even more eyeballs on the BK logo. The sponsorship continued with the club’s women’s team.
‘Burning Stories’
Even the print campaigns from David showed a rebellious originality. This series of print ads showed the company’s retail locations on fire, to remind people that BK always flame-grills its burgers.
‘Bullying Jr.’
In 2017, BK made a tough point during National Bullying Prevention Month. A three-minute video featured a social experiment filmed by hidden cameras at a Los Angeles-area restaurant. The Whopper Jr. and a high-school junior were both bullied in full view of BK’s patrons, with surprising results.
‘Whopper Net Neutrality’
BK made an effort to explain net neutrality by essentially bothering its customers in 2018. A hidden camera setup taught the complex concept to customers by filming reactions to being charged more for the same quick-serve Whopper—or, for the regular price, having to wait longer for a Whopper as BK employees intentionally slowed down service.
‘Moldy Whopper’
Burger King’s efforts to remove artificial additives from its food culminated in this multi-award-winning campaign. David worked with Swedish agency Ingo and Publicis to show how a Whopper rotted over the course of a month. They made gross photos of a decayed burger a selling point.
‘Connected Whopper’
BK rolled out a 15-second spot on YouTube with an actor playing a BK employee saying to the camera, “OK, Google, what is the Whopper burger?” The question triggered Google Homes in viewers’ houses to rattle off the first paragraph of the Wikipedia page about the Whopper.
‘Confusing Times’
Rolling out the plant-based Impossible Whopper during a pandemic illustrated the topsy-turvy conditions of life and the existential crises it caused. This deadpan campaign played up confusion to show that a meatless burger tastes just like a real Whopper.
‘Scariest BK’
A Burger King location in Queens, New York, was given a Halloween costume in 2016 after it dressed up as the ghost of McDonald’s—covering itself in white sheets and trolling its rival with a special sign that read: “Booooooo! Just kidding, we still flame grill our burgers. Happy Halloween.
