Looks like Burger King has found a way to use social networking to promote its signature Whopper burger. With an unusual strategy, Burger King is using popular social-networking site Facebook as a way to reach out to consumers.
In a new ad campaign featuring a Facebook app, Burger King offers a coupon for a free Whopper — but it comes with a catch. The campaign offers Facebook members the coupon after they publicly cut 10 of their friends from their Facebook list. Usually, members can delete friends anonymously, but not this time.
The application asks: “What would you do for a free Whopper? Now is the time to put your fair-weather Web friendships to the test. Install Whopper Sacrifice on your Facebook profile and we’ll reward you with a flame-broiled Whopper when you sacrifice 10 of your friends.”
Whopping Number Being Axed
The campaign, developed by Crispin Porter & Bogusky of Miami, is catching on quickly as many Facebook friends have been sacrificed by people who want a free Whopper.
Each time a friend is traded in for the patty, the app sends a notice to the ex-friend via Facebook’s news feed, telling the friend that the user thought a free Whopper was worth more than their friendship. A box is then added to the user’s profile page showing their progress toward a free Whopper, asking, “Who will be the next to go?”
Barry Schnitt, a Facebook spokesperson, said the company was not commenting at this point about the application. Asked how many people had downloaded the application and sacrificed 10 friends, Schnitt said, “We don’t provide data on third-party applications.”
Whoppersacrifice.com, however, had the count at a whopping 69,221 at the time of publication. There are a few limitations to the application; for example, members can receive only one free coupon.
Silly or Strategy?
“It’s asking…