Elden Ring - released in 2022 - is a spin-off of Dark Souls: a classic video game saga that was co-created by George RR Martin. It was one of the most anticipated releases in the gaming community and a contender for “Game of the Year 2022”.

When gamers finally got to play Elden Ring, they found out something rather unexpected: a helmet from the game, the Karolos Mask, that players can put on their character, looked exactly like the face of the Burger King himself.

People found this coincidence thrilling and started to create content around the Burger King being featured on Elden Ring: reddit posts, tweets, Twitch streams, YouTube videos, memes… We had to do something about it.

This campaign, planned in a matter of days, was created in reaction to the gaming community comparing a helmet from the Elden Ring game with our Burger King Mascot.

We hacked the most anticipated video game of the year and created a custom-made social media promotion that invited gamers to use the “Burger King Helmet” from the game, share it on Twitter and get a free burger as a reward.

This simple, low-budget, and timely idea helped us hack the gaming conversation, turning the game into a Burger King ad and gamers into brand promoters.

For years, through numerous online activations, Burger King has been building a relationship with the gaming community, one of its key targets.

By constantly scouting the gaming conversation for relevant insights, we found a unique opportunity to hack the Elden Ring game conversation and link it to Burger King.

Our unique promotion motivated gamers to engage with Burger King in playful and entertaining way, increasing their affinity towards the brand.

As we realized the gaming community was comparing a helmet from the Elden Ring game to our Burger King mascot, we created a custom-made promotion.

We simply put out a video on Twitter inviting gamers to use the “Burger King Helmet” in the game, share their videos on Twitter and get free burgers from us as a reward.

Then, the gaming community did the rest. Twitter and Twitch were flooded with videos of gamers using the “Burger King Helmet” and talking about our brand.

A simple organic post and zero media investment on Twitter soon turned into:

More than 16,000 hours of streaming on Twitch linked to the promotion and countless mentions of Burger King by some of the most popular gaming streamers in Spain.

+14.5% conversation around Burger King during the promotion.

+129.9% on the Burger King Twitter account as a result of the campaign.