A ‘Whopper’ of a Facebook Application
Burger King scores with its new Facebook application
I’ll admit I was skeptical. When @kenburbary first Twittered about Burger King’s new Facebook application, Whopper Sacrifice, the first thing I thought was great, BK, like most Facebook apps, wants me to spam my friends. I even sent off a snarky reply.
Well, upon further examination, I revise my opinion. Whopper Sacrifice is actually one of the better social marketing apps I’ve seen in quite some time. It works likes this: delete 10 friends from your Facebook account, and you get a free Whopper. Each time you permanently delete a friend, you get to watch a picture of them burn. That friend also gets notified of your sacrific (OK, so they do get spammed).
The application works because it’s fun, counter-intuitive, and actually forces you to make decisions on who remains your friends. It took me a little bit to pinpoint that ninth and 10th sacrifice. So what’s been the response?
- As of last count, 183,749 friends had been sacrificed on WhopperSacrifice.com (that’s 18K coupons)
- CNET’s Caroline McCarthy’s story was “dug” more than 5K times on Digg.com
My only complaint about the marketing program, is that I have to wait 2-4 weeks to get my free burger coupon. Though WhopperVirgins.com was a bit controversial, WhopperSacrifice.com is a great example of true viral marketing application.
January 13th, 2009 at 10:36 am
My initial reaction toward the Whopper Sacrifice was must the same. That said, what I applaud BK & CPB for is the willingness to experiment. The current online landscape offers significant opportunity for brands & marketers that have the courage to take chances and experiment with different social media tactics. Not all experiments will work, but this one looks to be off to a positive start. Experiment. Learn. Fail forward. Move on.