Online advertising and sacrifice
The response from Web 2.0 pundits was typically guarded: Whilst everyone agreed the campaign was innovative, concerns ranged from doubts about ROI and execution to musings on how web 2.0 has “changed our ideas of what friendship really means”. ROI aside, an FB application that causes grown adults to worry about the social fabric has to be doing something right. But what’s the real significance of BK’s Sacrifice?
The application, developed by CP+B, will hopefully become a benchmark and inspiration for the potential of innovation in new media. The app was a nicely targeted communication, beautifully in-synch with the brand message, and flawlessly leveraged the connective power of Facebook, the targeted online social network. All of which was achieved through the use of a promotional tool that’s been in the marketeers arsenal for over a century: the coupon giveaway.
The targeted online ad sector, the The Great White Hope of advertising, has contracted rapidly over the past year. The recession is no doubt a factor in the decline of digital advertising, but there’s a suggestion that the sector has peaked and will become increasingly irrelevant in the future. The need for marketing innovation has become ever more urgent and the Sacrifice campaign offers an insight into a possible future direction for online advertising.
For some commentators the idea of “sacrificing” facebook friends seemed an odd component for a social network based campaign. But it’s a good cultural fit for BK’s young, male and digitally aware target demographic. The WKD generation: Up for a laugh and not afraid to tease their friends to prove it. By using Facebook as a channel the campaign engaged with the public in a convenient and intimate way. Burger King asked for, and usually got, permission to become part of the ongoing dialogue within each user’s social circle.
The strong viral element to the campaign came courtesy of the 10 friends users had to “sacrifice”. Each friend (or ex-friend as it were) was notified about the defriending and linked back to the Sacrifice app. In this way the cycle could repeat itself with the brand message being propagated through different individual networks. From the perspective of social network theory this would be an ideal method to spread an interactive brand message since it’s likely that the the people defriended by Sacrifice users are those on the fringes of the defriender’s friendship group. These fringe individuals usually have a higher chance of belonging to a social circle that’s removed, to an extent, from the original user’s core group of 6-10 close friends. In this way Sacrifice was able to rapidly penetrate the Facebook target market by jumping from one different social circle to another over a short space of time.
The Sacrifice campaign won Burger King’s creative agency, CP+B, a gold at this years Canne’s festival. It highlighted the strength of the creative partnership between the two companies, a partnership that has consistently produced innovative, often ground-breaking, new media content. However, it’s important to bear in mind that despite these victories Burger King has still been unable to seriously challenge McDonald’s dominance of the fast food sector. Undoubtedly the biggest reason for Burger King’s failure in this area is the recession; BK has positioned itself as a high quality, pricier alternative to McDonald’s. But during these lean times a premium pricing strategy would seem to be damaging BK’s ability to compete effectively in the fast food market.
It’s arguable whether or not BK’s investment in new media has cushioned the impact of the recession. Any brand that presents itself as a premium proposition will usually suffer during an economic downturn and predictably this has occurred with Burger King. However, the adeptness with which BK engages with new media could very well help support and accelerate its recession-focused strategy during the downturn. It’s also worth asking: does BK’s type of new media engagement actually build brand loyalty and value? In a nutshell: Probably not.
Though the CP+B partnership has delivered extraordinary content it has failed to create the sort of ongoing emotive relationship with consumers that premium brands usually aspire to. Most of the Burger King new media initiatives have been innovative and entertaining one-shots lacking any real depth with which to meaningfully connect with consumers. From one perspective this fits very well with the profile of the young male digital consumer who wants interesting content that isn’t too taxing or time-consuming. But this contrasts with the hugely successful Dark Knight viral. Aimed at a similar type of consumer to BK’s target demographic, the viral was deeply involving, lasted months and generated a huge amount of sustained buzz for the film’s opening.
The campaign Sacrifice campaign successfully engaged with tens of thousands of Facebook users and generated extensive brand buzz. It was a smart ambitious project, but in common with a lot of new media initiatives it failed to convert consumer engagement into solid brand equity. Nevertheless, Sacrifice was an innovative achievement, one which will hopefully stand as a benchmark for excellence in new media innovation.
(First posted, July 8 2009 on viralmojo.net)
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