In 2010 Burger King Norway started to use Facebook as a part of their marketing. The goal was to get as many fans as possible, and the tools we used was free Whoppers and other freebies.

In 2013 the fan base had reached 38.000, which is good for Norway. But these so called fans didn't really love the Whopper, they were just hanging around for more free stuff - and to create lots of noise. Which lead to lover engagement from true fans. So to get rid of the free riders we decided to turn their own greed against them.

The idea and strategy was quite simple: To find out who really loved the Whopper, we gave all the fans an offer: Prove your loyalty to the Whopper by joining our new Facebook page - or accept a voucher for a free BigMac and get banned from our Facebook page forever.

The campaign got a lot of attention both at home and around the world. The question many asked on twitter, blogs and Facebook was whether this was a genius move or a social media suicide. The results speak for themselves: BK lost 30,000 fans, but they now have a page with 8400 true followers who have a much more valuable conversation with the brand. The engagement level is actually five times higher than before. And the youngest of both sexes has disappeared, so that the fan base today much more represents Burgers Kings target audience: Men 20-40.

In Norway, as in most markets, Burger King is the underdog. It has been in the DNA of Burger King to be a challenger. And this campaign challenges both the fans on Facebook, the rules of Facebook marketing and of course their biggest competitor - McDonalds. In other words: A campaign true to the core of the Burger King brand.

The campaign got a lot of attention both at home and around the world. The question many asked on twitter, blogs and facebook was whether this was a genius move or a social media suicide. The results speak for themselves: BK lost 30,000 fans, but they now have a page with 8,400 true followers who have a much more valuable conversation with the brand. The engagement level is actually 5 times higher than before. And the youngest of both sexes has disappeared, so that the fan base today much more represents Burgers Kings target audience: Men 20-40.