The removal of 8,500 tons of artificial preservatives Globally is the equivalent of 38 Statues of Liberty per year. In most of Europe, big areas in the US and particularly in Sweden, BK has removed all artificial preservatives from its products. The brief was to tell this to the world. But since being much smaller than main competitor McDonalds and therefor having a lot less to spend on marketing, Burger King need to be smarter with every dollar they spend. BK broke the mold with something unpredictable: mold.

BK launched a campaign that included" The Moldy Whopper", featuring the iconic Whopper rotting. The hub of the campaign were beautiful images showing different stages of the Whopper molding during up to 35 days, executed in multiple platforms, film, OOH, print, digital in different shapes, sizes and in various countries.

Burger Kings main competitor McDonalds are three times bigger, and have a much bigger advertising budget. Burger King have to depend on a smarter use of their advertising dollars to bridge the gap. As a consequence BK have a tradition of making cut through ideas that travels the world in a short time to compensate for their much smaller budget. The plan was to cut through in a world that has so many conventions around both sustainability and food advertising. Showing the iconic Whopper molding was a too radical approach not to take notice. In that way Burger King amplified the the message that Burger King had removed artificial preservatives not only to fast food entusiasts but also the the fast food industry as a whole.

The campaign was executed in multiple platforms such as a 45 sec film, OOH, Press and digital, in multiple countries around the globe, such as Sweden, Denmark, Norway, US, Mexico, Brazil. The campaign started the 19th of February 2020.

The Moldy Whopper traveled the globe and was lively talked about in the real world, reaching its targets, ie changing perception of the quality of Burger Kings food and increase consideration to visit.

The discussion landed well on the positive side:

Sales: + 14%

Impressions: 8,4 Billion

Earned Media Value: $ 40 million.

Positive sentiment: +88%

High Quality ingredients perception: +26%

Visitation consideration: + 22%