Whopper freakout

More great stuff for the King by CP+B and, when you know the back story of the production, more evidence of the changing economics of media and production.  Anyone want to take a guess at how much this cost to make (let's do it in US$)?

Comments

[Charles Frith]

I've said it elsewhere so I'd better say it here too. I think its a one off. The idea of doing candid camera for taking the Whopper off the menu isn't in my view that good.

Why not film people being told at a gas station that they don't sell gas any more? (Even better tell them its 50 bucks a gallon - yee haa)

Estate Agents, Porn, Religion. The list goes on.

I do however concur that its a very smart use of budget.

[Sriram Venkitachalam]

Love it. Nothing more than 20K.

[Jon Bellinger]

That's why I love where PR/marketing/advertising is going...we no longer have to start from scratch to build an entirely fabricated construct to give context to and make sense of a brand's message--there's so much great technology and raw material out there just waiting to be activated in the right way! For so little cost!

[Jon Bellinger]

That's why I love where PR/marketing/advertising is going...we no longer have to start from scratch to build an entirely fabricated construct to give context to and make sense of a brand's message--there's so much great technology and raw material out there just waiting to be activated in the right way! For so little cost!

[avin]

i thought this was pure brilliance, so simple yet really effective (guess it doesn't hurt that im part of their target audience).

loved how people were not only professing their love for the whopper but expressing hatred for the other fast feeders as well.

well done by the boys at CPB...

[mbd]

I think that this cost very little (agree that it was probably around $20K) but had a high impact. If the assignment was to make consumers reflect on their love for BK, take it away and see what happens. Goodby's milk campaign (the 'deprivation stategy') recreated it as well.

Coke did it unintentionally (or intentionally if you want a conspiracy theory) with New Coke. Take away a product that is so much a fabric of consumers' lives that they take it for granted.

Come to think of it: Is the Whopper part of the fabric of our lives? Would deprivation work if the stores closed? If people go into a BK intentionally for a Whopper and not get one, I can see how people would be pissed. However, if BK was closed for a day would people react the same? Would they stand outside crying? Or would they move on to McD's?

[James Gordon-MacIntosh]

So it isn't the most stunningly original piece of marketing, sure.

But in a world where a bunch of lefty liberals - who wouldn't go to a BK anyway - jump down your throat every time you try to market your product because you are the cause of the obesity epidemic, showing how much real people actually like that very product isn't a bad thing at all.

It's terribly difficult to be a consumer group and campaign against something that so many of those you claim to represent actually LIKE.

So it works on those two levels - for a bunch of marketing savvy web folk, it creates buzz. For a bunch of stakeholders who shoot much of your marketing down in flames, it demonstrates how much people actually love your product.

I'm on the side of those who think this is cute in so many ways ...

[Herb]

I think it is one of those "why didn't I think of doing that for my brands" moments.

Simple, clever, and I'm will to bet for the investment, effective.