I came across this article which is quite interesting, it looks like FaceBook have closed down the campaign due to privacy issues: http://tinyurl.com/77jg7g

At the same time, I do agree that from a marketing standpoint, it will definitely get attention and some people will do it. I also think that the status of the economy makes the timing right for BK to give away something free and what better to give away than one of their best sellers? But I’m baffled at where facebook comes in. Yes it says “You like your friends, but you LOVE the whopper.” but still are people that desperate to delete friends for a free burger that’s cheap anyway? I like the slogan, but I think dragging facebook into is crazy. But maybe that’s the point – just to think outside of the box, be different, & get attention.

Maybe we can give away hosting accounts if you agree to eat 10 Whoppers and delete 100 friends. Oh the insanity. =)

Niki, you’ve chosen a great concept for debate & we can all agree to disagree.

This whole marketing ploy has made me not want to purchase anything from their establishment.

Chris

I definitely think we will see more of the type of advertising in the future weather we like it or not.

It’s buzz, word of mouth, getting people talking about Burger King, as Stuart said. They aren’t out to erode your friendships (I’m assuming you can simply re-add those on your list, and there will be a list so you can remember who you deleted. If that isn’t the case, then they did indeed bungle the campaign), but….well, if it works right, here’s how it will play out, and what their reasoning is (if you don’t like BK/fast food, pretend it’s something else, another restaurant perhaps, being marketed instead of fast food):

Teen A does the 10 deletions and gets his free Whopper. This in turn informs those 10 deletions about their newfound status as ‘less than that of a whopper.’ Longing to vindicate their status (and get a free burger themselves), they use the app as well, presumably deleting the person who deleted them first as an act of ‘revenge’ (bearing in mind that this is all in good fun, unless you’ve got some weird folks playing it, but they’re the exception, not the rule). As each person exacts their ‘revenge’, they have to pick 9 *more* people in order to get their free burger. Hence it multiplies and replicates itself through the system.

Teens A, B, and C now have free Whopper tickets. Let’s assume (likely) that they’re average, middle class teenagers, and thus, have jobs and are not total cheapskates or coupon clippers. They go into BK with their free ticket in hand. But they’re not going to just get a burger. No, they need the meal to go with that. So what do they do? Hand the cashier the ticket for the Whopper, and then *purchase* fries and a drink. Because of the free coupon, BK gained their attention (a BIG DEAL, especially in the crowded fast food market) and their choice of places to go eat out that night because they had a coupon to spend there.

Moreover, the strong possibility exists that going to BK may also be part of a larger social event. Perhaps there’s a group of teens hanging out on Friday night, maybe they’re killing time before a game, or some other social/school event. When they ask the question ‘Where should we eat tonight, guys?,’ there’s going to be a person in the group with a free BK coupon, so that person says, ‘hey, let’s go to BK, I’ve got a free Whopper coming.’ Boom. With that, BK just nailed a large pool of sales just by giving away that one coupon.

Now you think about the nature of ad campaigns. They run this totally off FB. That means, all they had to to do to launch was plan it out, then pay a designer to create the layout, then a FB app developer to code out the actual app. By marketing and ad standards, that’s a relatively cheap investment that, likely, will turn into pretty big gains.

I am by no means a fast food advocate, and I haven’t eaten BK in months, but I think that lately, between this, the Whopper Virgins campaign, and the Fire Meets Desire perfume, they’ve been doing a really fantastic job in the word of mouth sector of their marketing, with some really compelling social media marketing-based experiments.

Burguer King marketing has always been gross… All of Burguer King, actually…