photo credit: AdWeek
Burger King is giving away FREE Whoppers! Going a bit old school by some standards, Burger King has teamed up with DirectTV for an opt-in television commercial where viewers watch a hypnotizing spinning hamburger for various amounts of time to earn their coupon for a free Whopper or two or three.
Burger King Introduces WhopperLust
WhopperLust, launched on Monday exclusively on DirectTV Channel 111 prompts viewers at the top of the screen with “Whopper Lust – Get Free Whopper Sandwiches.” Using your clicker, you click on “Start Lusting” and the spot begins. Viewers are rewarded for how long they can watch the spinning Whopper as throughout the spot you are prompted to press the arrow keys on the clicker to be sure that you are really watching. After 5 minutes you have earned a coupon for 1 free Whooper. If you wish to take the 1 Whopper you have been set free from from the spinning Whopper however, if you wish to let it ride via the “Double Down” to receive 2 free Whoppers, you are to watch for an additional 10 minutes for a total of 15 minutes. If that were not enough and your palate is still not quenched, the coupon for the 3rd free Whopper requires watching for an additional 15 minutes. That is 30 minutes of a spinning Whopper that does not even hold the pickle or the lettuce.
Traditional Advertising With A Hint of Interactive TV
Traditional advertising meets interactive tv. This concept is not new as there is the capability of interactive tv but, it is not as widely used as some advertisers would like. How would they do it? How effective is it? What will it be connected to – Facebook? Twitter? I am not so sure that any company is willing to take that “live” chance on the TV which we know is not really live unless it is in the bottom ticker and even then there can be safeguards to satisfy the station. This spot is interactive in that you use your 
clicker when prompted to ensure that you are still watching however, the coupon does not come to you via your cell phone in a text or are you given a specific code to enter to download the coupon, it is sent to you via U.S. MAIL! Yes. It is nice to see Burger King supporting the US Postal Service but, by the time the coupon comes, you have completely forgotten that you took part in this interactive tv experiment and may not redeem the coupon.
Visual Connection to Food
The visual of watching the Whopper spin around and around looks to give you that taste in your mouth just like every other commercial. This one does reward reward you (in 2-4 weeks) for staring at the same visual. What is interesting here with the coupon not provided instantly, is Burger King missing out on sales from the folks who would rush on over to Burger King to redeem and spend more? Will we see where people after watching and have earned their coupon jump in the car or go for that evening walk on over to Burger King to go and PURCHASE a Whopper? Sort of a buy one get one soon. I am sure that Burger King hopes so. But we have to wonder is watching a spinning burger enough to tantalize our taste buds to get us to take action? Is the video that powerful? Are we able to visually connect to the food that repeats the same movement to elicit such a craving that we have to rush on down there? Pregnant women will say so as will every food advertiser who sees/correlates an increase in sales due to a new commercial! But, there difference here is that the spot does not repeat the same action over and over.
WhooperLust or WhopperBust?
Viewers have so far, according to the agency behind this WhopperLust, Crispin, Porter +Bogusky, viewers have logged over 300,000 cumulative minutes since Monday morning. Success? Maybe considering the campaign is still running however when you take into consideration that 50,000 Whoppers coupons have been given away; none of them can be redeemed as they are being sent via mail. Can we say that if they give away 500,000 coupons that this was a success? No. If the coupons are redeemed then we can say well sure, this was a great good bye kiss from CP+B in their last few weeks with this account and we can look at the sales for this week to see if there was an increase in the Whopper sales during the peak times the video was viewed. Would this then be a success? It is a commercial just like other ones but with this, you have to use the clicker and really pay attention. Lots to be learned about the habits of viewers and what they are willing to do for a coupon but at what point does it become a game to check it out and see how long people can last?
This promotion is not widely advertised. There is no mention on their website (what, no terms and conditions?), their nor on Directtv.com. It is interesting to note that on their wall, there is talk about changing Monday to Bunday via voting 
with a Like which was on Monday and then, just yesterday, there was Hit “LIKE” if you’re watching the playoffs but thinking about the WHOPPER® sandwich.” Interesting as the promotion has no mention of Facebook and did not involve Facebook but, they are promoting the Whopper on there. So, it brings us back to the question of WhopperLust or WhooperBust.
Should we take into consideration here the mix of traditional advertising with a hint of the interactive coupled with going backwards with the mailing component to gauge if this was a success? Is there even a discussion here or is there a bit of a hidden message being sent by CP+B in that it is ok that you fired us and while you think you are moving forward, you are taking many steps back?
Lastly, it should be noted that according to Northern Cheap$kate:
Note: Your DirecTV receiver needs to be connected to a phone line so that it can access your information to send you your free Whopper Coupons. Your coupons will be sent to your DirecTV billing address in 2 to 4 weeks.
Your thoughts?