When we realized that the most famous horror clown of all time – Pennywise from Stephen King’s “IT” – would return to cinemas in September 2017, we saw an opportunity for a direct marketing stunt. Because McDonald’s mascot Ronald happens to be a clown as well. So we used the hype around the horror movie of the year to involve a targeted audience in a surprising experience, giving them our clear call to action to forget about clowns and come dine with the king instead.

On the evening of the German pre-premiere of Stephen King’s horror remake “IT”, we let the clown spread fear and horror until the audience had enough. Right when the credits were about to roll, we used two powerful spotlights to show our brand message on screen to the target group. Saying: “The moral is: Never trust a clown.” followed by a BURGER KING® logo. Turning “IT” into BURGER KING’s® longest direct ad ever. And warning the audience about creepy clowns and thereby indirectly about our biggest competitor – without naming them once. But we didn’t stop there. When the audience left the theatre our promotion-teams were waiting to make them an offer they couldn’t refuse – by giving away a balloon that turned directly into a promotional invitation for a free whopper in the nearest BURGER KING® restaurant to experience our flame-grilled brand right away.

Right after our stunt, 500 balloons were distributed to the audience exiting the theatre, inviting them to the nearest BURGER KING® with the clear message: “Never trust a clown. Dine with the king”. But our stunt was also designed to go beyond the cinema to generate a response all over the globe. Within just 72 hours, it achieved over 1 billion impressions and generated press coverage on 5 continents, earning 10 million Euros in media value. On social media, the online film earned over 12 million impressions making it BURGER KING® Germany’s most liked, shared and commented direct ad to date.

Always in second place, BURGER KING® is constantly looking for innovative ways to win their rivals’ customers for themselves. As BURGER KING® is placed nearby cinemas in Germany but doesn’t invest much into cinema media, they were looking for new ways of connecting with this targeted audience ( mostly male, 18-30 years). With our LOVING “IT” direct stunt we made this targeted approach in a highly relevant setting at the right time, giving potential customers our clear Call-to-Action. Establishing BURGER KING® as the perfect choice. Although the stunt was designed to reach directly beyond the theatre, the results exceeded expectations.

We wanted to use a cost efficient stunt that would push our target group directly away from our biggest competitor while also drawing them to our restaurants. And we wanted to keep it in BURGER KING’s® usual bold tone and style.

The perfect opportunity: The release of “IT”. One of the biggest pop-cultural events of the year, highly anticipated by our targeted audience – beyond the moviegoers, the entire German population, but focused mainly on male BURGER KING® fans that recognise and love the flame-grilling efforts of the brand.

The fast food market is highly-competitive. For decades BURGER KING® has regularly tried to overthrow McDonald’s as market leader, by using smart ideas that draw consumers away from the competitor by stressing our USP flame-grilling. In 2017, Stephen King’s “IT” was breaking box office records, with sold out screenings all over the world. Our idea was to use the hype around the movie and its horror-clown-star to take a shot against McDonald’s and their clown mascot. The national pre-premiere was the perfect opportunity to leave one flame-grilled clown behind.