Blog
Use the sidebar to search through our blog, it's really helpful.
I recently read a post from a fellow twit (the friendly name used for Twitter users) that got my mind churning on the state of social website usage. His message, about the Whopper Sacrifice viral campaign, went something like this: “This makes no sense to me. http://whoppersacrifice.com What benefit does BK get from enticing people to drop Facebook friends?”
Whopper Sacrifice?!? What in the world is this? Being curious, and always the fan of the latest viral piece floating around, I headed to the website and dug in. Here’s how it works. Install ‘Whopper Sacrifice’ on your Facebook profile, sacrifice 10 friends and get a free burger. Wow, sacrifice friends. That little voice in my head asked, “How are they going to react when they get a notification that I’ve dropped them?” Something about that got under my skin…but it’s temporary and it’s just Facebook. Big deal. Let the installation commence.
Once the installation was complete, it asked me to choose a friend to sacrifice. My first choice was a close friend who I knew wouldn’t take it personal (Sorry Eli). Once the choice was made, I watched my friend’s image get set ablaze followed by words “You liked Eli, You love Whopper.” Pretty humorous ending. And in true Facebook fashion, it posts on your ‘wall’ that you sacrificed your friend for a free Whopper, in hopes of getting your friends to take action themselves. And, of course, like any other viral campaign, it allows you to forward it to a friend. All in all it’s a pretty creative effort to get someone to spread the word, earn a coupon, and ultimately get BK in front of additional sets of eyes. I just hope Eli isn’t pissed that I ‘de-friended’ him. There’s that voice again. Brush it aside. Let’s see how successful this campaign is. In 90 minutes, I watched the ‘sacrifice’ counter increase by over 4,000 - that’s some serious movement.
The tool and results aside, it brings me back to the twitter post that started all this. The original question that initiated my own Whopper Sacrifice - How does BK benefit by having Facebook users sacrifice friends? I think the answer is simple: Attain new consumers, get current consumers to show up for lunch tomorrow at BK and, more importantly, have fun! Isn’t that what viral campaigns are all about? It’s not about dumping Facebook friends. It’s about generating buzz and creating new consumers. Facebook simply offers a great vehicle, with the audience size necessary to pull off the campaign.
Well, it seems some folks have real issue with that. At this point, I posted a reply to my twitter friend essentially saying that the idea behind the piece is humor and building consumers. You get to watch a cool little graphic of your friend’s profile pic burning up. Your friend gets a note that they were sacrificed for a Whopper. They then sacrifice you back, everyone gets a free Whopper, you all add each other back to your “friends” list and have a little laugh.
He responded, “So, do all those Facebook friends who are sacrificed and don’t like BK get the joke?” His response really got the brain flowing just in how serious the reply was and how seriously we take our social profiles. It brought me back to that little voice that kept wondering if my friends would understand the “sacrifice.”
Do we have our personal lives so incredibly wrapped up in social sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and others that we miss the humor? Or worse, that we believe that a friendship is made, or officially ended, by adding or dropping a friend? I wonder what sort of effect this will have on relationships and community a couple years from now?
I fear if we don’t recognize that all these sites are just a way to connect and not a true read on the status of a relationship, we will find ourselves with very shallow lives, void of humor, wrapped in a popularity contest. I believe perhaps it’s time to have this conversation and address this issue before that little voice becomes an overbearing, booming voice. Keep using social sites, make use of the related apps, meet new people, share your life and lighten up.
Sorry! This entry is no longer accepting comments.
While this at first seems like a brilliant campaign to many people, I’m not sure it’s a good branding exercise.
Burger King has now been branded as an edgy marketer willing to take chances. Sure this appeals to an audience, and will bring in new customers, but how long will those customers stay for?
Sure any publicity is good publicity, but trying to make the largest social network in the world anti-social can’t be good for the brand in the long run.
The “Hip and Edgy” audience changes rapidly. That means that BK and CP+B are going to always be working on new and creative ideas.
Whereas McDonald’s themes itself on being “Happy” and Dunkin’ Donuts themes its self on “average Joe, Hard Work.” These themes and their audiences remain constant throughout time.
This provides a platform for these two brands to leverage into a 2-5 year campaign that provides a lasting impact.
This BK campaign, maybe people will talk about it for the next 6 months, but after that, I can’t say.