Burger King UK hijacks Christmas with cheeky Santa ad and insane music video
BBH campaign includes a rewritten version of the cult song ‘Driving Home for Christmas’ for those who ‘need to put food in your faces’
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With apologies to Ad Age readers under 10 years old, there has been some debate over the years about the existence of Santa Claus. Now, Burger King U.K. joins the side of the skeptics with a holiday campaign featuring Santa and the one-word headline “Whoppers.”
The “Whoppers” execution, from BBH London, will be running on out-of-home placements around the country. Hopefully not too many children will understand the other meaning of “whopper” as an extremely big fib—“like suggesting,” BK said in press materials, “there’s a genial man in a red, fur-trimmed suit who uses a herd of reindeer to deliver presents to children all over the world, without being caught on Ring cameras or being questioned over the GDPR compliance of his naughty and nice list. Which of course, there absolutely is (for any kids reading this).”
That’s just one piece of the campaign. BBH has also created a bizarre eight-minute music video featuring a version of the song “Driving Home for Christmas” rewritten as “Driving (thru the) Home (of the Whopper) for Christmas.”
Addressed to those who “need to put food in your faces,” the new lyrics—voiced by what sounds like an AI—include specific directions to a number of BK locations in the U.K. The same content is being repurposed as radio ads. Listen to one here:
“As a challenger brand, you gotta come into the conversation slightly different, especially at Christmas. So instead of joining in, we decided to hijack. Merry Christmas,” said Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes, deputy executive creative director at BBH London.
“It’s hard for brands to stand out at Christmas. So instead of trying to out-Christmas anyone, we decided to hijack it,” added Soco Núñez de Cela, brand and communications director at BK U.K. “We had a lot of fun with arguably the biggest Whopper of the season and creating a tune that will be in our heads and hopefully everyone else’s throughout the season.”
Credits
- Date
- Nov 28, 2023
- Client :
- Burger King (UK)
- Client :
- Burger King
- Agency :
- BBH-London
- CMO :
- Katie Evans
- Brand and Communications Director :
- Soco Nunez
- Senior Brand Manager :
- Suzi Hoy
- Chief Creative Officer :
- Alex Grieves
- Executive Creative Director :
- Helen Rhodes
- Deputy Executive Creative Director :
- Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes
- Creative Director :
- Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes
- Copywriter :
- Charlie Pendarves
- Copywriter :
- Marc Rayson
- Art Director :
- Chloe Stephenson
- Art Director :
- Callum Prior
- Senior Design Director :
- Christian Kolodziejski
- Designer :
- Emily Varga
- Group Strategy Director :
- Saskia Jones
- Senior Strategist :
- Alexi Hall
- Managing Partner :
- James Rice
- Account Director :
- Laura Huber
- Account Manager :
- Zimini Fongho
- Account Executive :
- Holly Gash
- Agency Producer :
- Charlotte Kirk
- Agency Producer :
- Cyd Chadwick
- Media Agency :
- Walk In Media
- Media Agency :
- iProspect
- Production Company :
- Black Sheep Studios
- Director :
- Yannick Hausler
- Director :
- Joe Azad
- DOP :
- Yannick Hausler
- Producer :
- Victoria Ayettey
- Editor :
- Louis Guinto
- Sound Studio :
- Clearcut Sound Studios
- Sound Engineer :
- Ed de Lacy
- Music Supervisor :
- Black Sheep Music
- Photography :
- Nicky Hamilton
- Photographer Agent :
- Process
- On Set Producer :
- LouLou Productions
- Gaffer :
- Jimmy Crippen
- Digi Op :
- Mark Griffiths
- Props Stylist :
- Katie Cordell
- Hair & Make Up :
- Marie Deehan
- Hair & Make Up :
- Vicki Money
- Food Stylist :
- John Bentham
- Retouching :
- Stefano Cherubini
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