Burger King Caught Customers Napping for Ads About How Filling Its Sandwiches Are

Independent agency We Believers created the “Food Coma” campaign for Burger King in Mexico, but the global brand has already licensed the ads to run in other markets across the U.S., Latin America and Europe.

Gustavo Lauria, co-founder and CCO of We Believers, tells us the concept began with a restaurant manager’s comment to the agency that some customers like to sneak in brief naps after a meal, and the manager noted (half seriously) that the larger the burger, the more likely the nap.

Running with that idea, the agency hired a photographer to spend a month catching real customers nodding off at Mexican locations and turn them into ads. Specifically the ads promote the “King’s Collection,” which are the largest burgers on BK Mexico’s menu.

The work will run across print, out-of-home and social.

Burger King

Burger King

Burger King

Burger King

Burger King

While the ads might seem like an odd approach for most major chains, Burger King has been dabbling in eyebrow-raising print-led campaigns for several years now.

In 2017, agency David created print ads featuring actual fires at Burger King locations, with the darkly cheeky tagline, “Flame Grilled Since 1954.” The agency, in partnership with students at Miami Ad School, also created 2018’s “McMansions” campaign that subtly highlighted how many McDonald’s executives have grills at their homes.

A 2018 campaign from LOLA MullenLowe promoted delivery by highlighting real car crashes at Burger Kings, with the line, “Leave it to us.” This year, the same agency brought us the “Birthday Clowns” campaign that featured vintage photos of children being terrified by actual clowns, encouraging customers to “come to Burger King for a clown-free party” (one of many digs the brand has made at rival McDonald’s in recent years).

CREDITS:

Title: Food Coma
Brand/Client: Burger King Mexico/Global
Product/Service: The Kings Collection

Agency: We Believers.
City / Country: New York / USA.
Chief Creative Officer: Gustavo Lauria
Executive Creative Director: Patricio Elfi
Group Creative Director: Santiago Luna Lupo
Copywriter: Santiago Luna Lupo, Gustavo Lauria, Ricardo Chuecos, Jose Benitez
Art Director: Patricio Elfi
Head of art: Diego Grandi
Head of Production: Marcia Jaes
Head of Client Service: José Quijano
Account Supervisor: Juan Cano
Creative Coordinator: Lupita Alvarez, Rocio Fernandez Sasso

Production Company: Hello Crudo
Director: Javier Obando
Executive producer: Diego Huesca
Casting: Josefina Cuneo

Retouch Studio: Guido Uruttia

Client leadership: Fernando Machado, Marcelo Pascoa, Alexandre Antonello, Pedro Barbosa Bruno Cardinali, Miguel Angel Amezquita Sandoval.