Burger King MY gets consumers fired up over new burger after cheesy macaroni 'glitch'

Came across a "glitch" while ordering Burger King on food delivery apps recently? Well, that "glitch" is now revealed to be a teaser for its new Cheesy Macaroni which officially launches today in Malaysia. The campaign was done in collaboration with Alchemy79, a fully-owned creative agency under Invictus Blue Group.

Alchemy79's creative group head, Tan Pei Ru, explained to A+M that with the popularity of #foodhacks on social media and the fact that the new Cheesy Macaroni burger itself was a "hack" of a Whopper/Tendergrill burger, the team was curious to see what else it could "hack" within the user experience.

"People get excited about what they are not supposed to see, hear, touch, or taste. So we figured, wouldn't it be fun if fans and customers 'accidentally' discovered the product themselves?" she said. Hence, the team engineered a "glitch" on food delivery apps in Malaysia by including the option "BETA_cheesymacaroni" as an add-on.

In an added marketing push, Burger King leveraged influencers and food content portals such as Goody25, KL Foodie, and Iluminasi to help share the "discovery" of the glitch with Malaysians. The articles also included call-to-actions to try the #foodhack for themselves via GrabFood, ShopeeFood, and foodpanda, before Burger King removes it.

According to Burger King, its previous limited-time offer campaigns, which were mostly cheese-related burgers, all relied on the audience's love for the sensation of cheese, such as the taste, texture, and the pull.

For this campaign, Burger King Malaysia's head of marketing, Goh Yin Yin said the brand wanted to engage with customers beyond just their desire for cheese. Instead, it wanted to leverage current trends and behaviours, such as the popularity of #foodhacks, the current norm of ordering online, and the novelty of always trying something new.

"So instead of simplifying introducing a new product, we re-introduced what customers were already familiar with - a new #foodhack to experiment with," she said. Aside from creating organic word of mouth for the Cheesy Macaroni burger, Burger King hopes to achieve its limited-time offer sales target of more than 35% of the total tickets that would try out the new burger.

Meanwhile, the hack caught the eye of local burger chain myBurgerLab which posted a meme of Canadian rapper Drake on Instagram. The meme showed Drake declining the option to have free mac and cheese but smiling when it came to "Beta Mac n Cheese". It also commended Burger King for the smart marketing and life hack. In response, Burger King said myBurgerLab can "call us on our cellphone", referencing Drake's popular song "Hotline Bling", so they can think together.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca4FZUoroxt/

Just yesterday, Burger King also teased Malaysian consumers with a social media post that said: "Is it true that y'all found a glitch that gives out free cheesy macaroni? We're looking into it!"

This is Burger King's first time working with Alchemy79 for creative duties across three campaigns. The agency was appointed following a pitch held on 25 January this year which saw three other agencies vie for the account.

According to Goh, Alchemy79 provided a very strategic, well-thought-through proposal with ideas that explored unconventional ways of driving excitement for a new product launch. "The proposal was also highly integrated, covering multiple touchpoints from digital to in-store. Most importantly, they clearly met the marketing objectives that I put forth for the team," Goh added.

Alchemy79's GM Victoria Chu said although this is just the beginning of its partnership, Goh has given us plenty of trust. "She’s also very decisive, with clear goals in mind, which allows the agency to stay focused and be effective. We are grateful for this opportunity and look forward to a fruitful journey ahead," Chu explained. Invictus Blue, Alchemy79's sister agency, is currently handling media duties for Burger King Malaysia.

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