Mike Craighead and Chris Powell got ‘Whopper Whopper’ stuck in our heads

It was hard not to find yourself humming Burger King’s recent jingle during the last NFL season. The catchy “Whopper Whopper” tune not only seemed to dominate airwaves during games, but soon was an inescapable social media phenomenon. The track has nearly 6 million plays on Spotify, and many more if you count the eight other variations, such as “Chicken Chicken” or “Burger Cheese Burger Cheese.” Ad Age Small Agency Awards See all of the 2023 winners Click here Behind the tune were OKRP creative directors Mike Craighead and Chris Powell, who took on the account as part of a $400 million, two-year brand overhaul when the agency won the Burger King account from David. The song revamps the fast food chain’s “Have It Your Way” jingle from the ’70s, an attempt to bring the brand back to basics. “We were talking, like, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if people just sang about Burger King, super simple, with a catchy jingle?’” Powell previously told Ad Age. “We freestyled a couple of lines. We went into a meeting at the agency and said, ‘We’re either going to look crazy or it’s going to work.’ And it worked. We knew we had something that was going to pop.” The campaign pivoted Burger King’s advertising into the social media era by creating a sound ready-made for shareable moments. There’s even an instrumental version for TikTokers to revamp the lyrics as they like. The campaign achieved over 1 billion social media impressions and more than 1.5 billion media impressions, and a 5% increase in sales for the restaurant chain. Ad Age Small Agency Awards See all of the 2023 winners Click here

Mike Craighead and Chris Powell got ‘Whopper Whopper’ stuck in our heads

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