Hails & Fails – March 10th 2023
So, Winter seems to have sneaked back through the door while Spring wasn’t looking this week. Good job there have been plenty of heart-warming PR campaigns to keep the chills at bay over the last seven days.
Burger King reacted to the ingredients and food shortage with typically creative aplomb, charity World Wildlife Fund For Nature took wildlife out of the famous logos of global brands and cereal brand Surreal signed some dubious famous names as cereal mascots. It was not a great week for chocolate legend Toblerone though after the brand was forced to say goodbye to its famous Matterhorn logo.
HAILS
Burger King’s WHOPPER becomes the WHPR
The creative team over at Burger King removed key letters from the word ‘Whopper’ this week to highlight how the food and ingredients shortage is causing issues with their food offering. They changed the packaging on their best-selling burger to say ‘Flame-Grilled WHPR’ instead of ‘WHOPPER’ and explained that when the supply of fresh tomatoes, lettuce or onions is affected, their best-seller is too.
It won tonnes of social engagement over on TWTR too…
WWF works with global brands to remove wildlife
Some of the world’s biggest brands and sports teams have signed up to become part of WWF’s #WorldWithoutNature activation, raising awareness for World Wildlife Day this week.
As part of the campaign various brands removed iconic nature images from their logos. The activation is designed to drive awareness of nature and biodiversity loss – giving brands and their supporters the chance to consider what they might be able to do to be more sustainable in the future.
Loads of brands took part including Duolingo, Old Mout Cider, Sealife, Gorilla Glue, Taskrabbit, Gymshark and Brewdog. And the campaign won coverage and sparked social conversation everywhere.
Surreal hires Dwayne Johnson as a cereal mascot
Cereal brand Surreal has signed up everyday people with the same names as famous celebrities, to endorse its products, enjoying A-list support without the massive price tag.
Lacking the massive marketing budget needed to pay for the real deal, Surreal has settled for London bus driver Dwayne Johnson who has signed on the dotted line for a mere £200.
Shamelessly promoted as “Dwayne Johnson’s favourite cereal,” the clever strategy is being stretched even further after signing deals with three students named Serena Williams, Ronaldo and Michael Jordan to amplify the campaign further.
Genius – and loads of media attention won this week.
FAILS
Toblerone not Swiss enough
Toblerone has to remove its famous graphic of the Matterhorn mountain peak from packaging after failing a “Swissness” test.
Much of the famous chocolate’s production is being moved from Switzerland to Slovakia. And that would see the brand fall foul of strict rules which are applied to any brand’s “Swissness”.
The “Swissness” rule means that national symbols are not allowed to be used to promote products that are not made exclusively in Switzerland.
The pyramid-shaped bar, which mirrors the Alpine peak, will undergo a labelling revamp and include its founder’s signature, its maker said.
It will also replace the Matterhorn graphic with a more generic summit.
Ouch!
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