Y&R New Zealand helps Burger King launch global campaign to extend an olive branch to McDonald’s in honour of Peace Day – Sept 21

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ANZ 0004 OpenLetter_US_A4_FA2-web.jpgBurger King is calling for a ‘burger wars ceasefire’ with their longstanding rival McDonald’s, proposing that on Peace Day, 21st September, 2015, the two restaurants set aside their differences and join forces to cook and serve the ‘McWhopper’ – a peace-loving burger that combines all the tastiest ingredients from the McDonald’s Big Mac and the Burger King Whopper.

In keeping with the global and collaborative spirit of the campaign, Y&R New Zealand has worked with multiple agencies to make the proposal happen – NZ based production companies: Assembly, Fish, Liquid Studios and Resn alongside Burger King and its US & global partners ABPR, Code & Theory, DAVID, Horizon, Rock Orange and Turner Duckworth.

The McWhopper peace proposal launched today with a full-page ‘open letter’ from Burger King to McDonald’s appearing in the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune. The letter extends a friendly, no-strings invitation to McDonald’s to participate in the project, and invites them to visit mcwhopper.com to view the full Burger King peace proposal and everything from packaging suggestions to recipe ideas. 

McWhopper_Billboard_6x3_OliveBranch-web.jpgPeace Day, 21st September, is a United Nations recognised annual day of global unity, successfully advocated by the non-profit organisation Peace One Day. Founded in 1999 by Jeremy Gilley, Peace One Day has the ultimate goal of institutionalising a global day of peace.  

Burger King is hopeful McDonald’s will accept the offer and collaborate with them to raise awareness and increase engagement with Peace Day, on 21st September, at a pop-up McWhopper restaurant in Atlanta – the halfway point between Burger King’s Miami HQ and McDonald’s HQ in Chicago.

McWhopper_Box-web.jpgSenior Vice President for Global Brand Management at Burger King Corporation, Fernando Machado, says the idea is big, bold and very Burger King: “Y&R NZ brought us this audacious concept back in early 2014 and since then this project has been a true collaboration among several agencies based in different locations and our partners from Peace One Day.

“It is great to work on something that is good for the brand and has the potential to positively affect society. We all really hope that the collaboration can now extend to McDonald’s. We have the chance to make history together if they say ‘yes’. And if they say ‘no’, at least we raised awareness of Peace Day, which is the ultimate objective of the campaign.”

Y&R New Zealand CEO/CCO Josh Moore says the campaign is the result of perseverance, late nights, and an 18-month collaboration with the global Burger King marketing team.

Out-of-Home-Plakat_München-web.jpg“When we first tabled this idea with Burger King we knew it was a long shot – asking a global icon to take their hero product and blend it with that of their biggest competitor,” says Moore. But we’ve been totally overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and appetite for big thinking and bold ideas at all levels of Burger King. I only hope McDonald’s jump on board and make this a monumental event in the name of Peace Day. Let’s end the beef, with beef.” 

Burger King’s ‘McWhopper’ peace proposal campaign will be rolled out in the US, the UK, Canada, Germany, Spain, Brazil, Mexico and New Zealand.

Today the McDonald’s Facebook page has been quite active since their CEO responded rather condescendingly to BK via social media: 

Omar Gilani Wow McDonald’s… what a shame. A simple gesture of good faith turned down so passively aggressively. Not sure I had any respect left for the company but this just overdid it.

Mimi Walker Szegda Ending the ‘Burger Wars’ on Sept 21st would be a fun, unique way to raise awareness all in the name of PEACE. Shame on you McDonald’s for your lousy response.

Fernando Lourenço McDouche, McLame, Quarter Loser, Big McPetty… yeah, I could go on and on… you just disapointed the whole world McDonald’s

Avery W. Krouse There’s just enough snark and haughtiness in this reply from a company that is quickly losing market share, cash, and public goodwill to make me understand why people are hating you more and more every day. Burger King, for good or for ill, has presented one of the most unique and fascinating ideas in fast food history and you’ve basically turned your nose up at it. Good job, McDonalds.

And YouTube just posted McWhopper to their twitter feed.

YOUTUBE-MCWHOPPER.jpgThe YouTube Twitter feed has over 54 million followers.

For more information on Burger King’s ‘McWhopper’ peace proposal visit mcwhopper.com and for more information on the objectives of Peace Day visit peaceoneday.org

Client: Burger King

Agency: Y&R New Zealand

CEO / CCO: Josh Moore

Creative Director: Tom Paine   

Creative: Tom Paine

Head of Planning: Jono Key

Account Director: Victoria Meo

Agency Producer: Liz Rosby

Agency Producer: Sacha Moore

Digital Producer: Melissa Logan

Senior Designer: James Wendelborn

GM Media (Auckland): Nicky Greville

Media Planner (Auckland): Marie-Claire Manson

Animation company: Assembly

Film company: Flying Fish

Music / sound design: Liquid Studios

Post production: Mandy

Digital production: Resn

Packaging: Turner Duckworth

Media (U.S): Rock Orange

Activation (U.S): DAVID

Digital (U.S): Code & Theory

PR (U.S): ABPR

Media (U.S): Horizon