In the fiercely competitive fast food category, Burger King faced declining consideration in the all-important 18 – 34 year old millennial demographic. A new breed of competitors such as Chipotle was connecting with youth via a shared sense of purpose and social good, positioning BK as old fashioned. Peace One Day is a global non-profit organisation whose goal is to make United Nations Peace Day, on 21 September, an annual day of non-violence and global unity. Each year they campaign tirelessly to raise awareness of Peace Day under the theme ‘Who Will You Make Peace With? Our objectives were twofold: Increase brand consideration for Burger King and raise awareness of Peace Day 2015.

The McWhopper proposal was spearheaded by mcwhopper.com, a multimedia toolkit of co-branded assets: staff apparel, signage, and a pop-up restaurant. Every asset was designed to be visually iconic and translate into multiple languages, for ease of share-ability. One such asset was the appropriately titled ‘How, where, why’ film, a short animated summation of the proposal, written for McDonald’s but targeting the masses. It detailed a short history of the ‘burger wars’, a call to arms from the founder of Peace One Day, and proposals for the McWhopper uniform, packaging and pop-up restaurant.

BK published an open letter in traditional and social, inviting McD’s to collaborate in creating and serving the McWhopper on Peace Day. The proposal was supported by tactical outdoor and spearheaded by mcwhopper.com, a multimedia toolkit of co-branded assets: staff apparel, signage, and a pop-up restaurant. Every asset was designed to be visually iconic and translate into multiple languages, for ease of share-ability. The proposal was met by frenzied public support, so McDonald’s drew criticism when they turned down the offer. Inspired by BK’s online Burger Build film, tens of thousands of people took matters into their own hands by creating and sharing do-it-yourself McWhoppers on social and mainstream media - integrating the competitor’s product with our own. Simultaneously, four other rival restaurants raised their hands for peace and together with BK created the historic ‘Peace Day Burger’, a symbolic mash-up available for one day only - Peace Day, 2015.