After an 11-year absence from the Super Bowl advertising blitz, Burger King appeared at Super Bowl XL with a dancing spectacular from the Whopperettes in “America’s Favorite” through Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B), Miami. Dressed as the top of a bun, Brooke Burke headed up the troupe of dancing ladies outfitted as other Whopper components like the patty, onions and tomato. Bryan Buckley directed the spot through bicoastal/international Hungry Man.
The King entered the scene toward the end of the spot to light a canon and shoot a woman dressed as ketchup into the air. Eventually the women began to form a Whopper as they piled on top of one another: the patty, onion, ketchup and so on. For the finale, Burke is dramatically lowered over the Whopper to top it off. Her costume is quite regal with a crown and jeweled necklace. The King then blows her a kiss and the URL www.whopperettes.com appears.
On the site, visitors can create their own Whopperette extravaganza. The home page allows one to decide what they want on their burger. Then the viewer can type in his or her name and click “Start My Show.”
The site builds the show and the Whopperettes will throw themselves into the sandwich according to the specifications. Burke finishes the creation as the top of the bun and the King makes a brief appearance during the process. Of course you can send the show to a friend.
The site also has bonus material like screensaver downloads, photos and profiles of the toppings. And, for Sprint subscribers with a Sprint Vision or Power Vision phone, there are downloads of the commercial, making of the video and “Meet the Whopperettes.”
The spot was shot last year and wasn’t concepted for the Super Bowl, but rather to further the brand platform of “Have it your way.” Once it was decided that it would run during the big game, Brooke Burke and the King were added to the piece. The original spot was shot in Rio de Janeiro with additional elements shot in Los Angeles.
Of the Brazilian shoot, CP+B creative director Rob Reilly said that with most of the performers not speaking English, directing them presented some challenges. However, he added, “Rio is a great place because it’s got a great history of Carnival and all of these things so you’ve got a lot of dancers down here who certainly when explained the concept, they got it. It definitely took a lot of time to get the right choreography.” Angus Strathie, Academy Award-winner for Moulin Rouge, was the costume designer and Michael Rooney (son of Mickey Rooney) was the choreographer.
Creatives at CP+B approach integrated projects with all elements of the campaign in mind. Therefore, footage for the site was shot in Rio during the seven-day shoot. The shoot was also for two more spots in the initiative: “More Mayo” launched Feb. 8 and “Extra Cheese” will premier on Feb. 14. Corresponding Web elements appear on the site as the spots air.
Efforts for the integrated campaign began weeks before the Super Bowl with photos of the King together with Brooke Burns appearing in tabloids and blogs. Among the sightings, the two appeared at a Lakers game together. Burke appeared in the BK spot “Fantasy Ranch,” which David LaChapelle directed through bicoastal HSI Productions, and the rumors are that she and the King are dating.
“The King has a lot of clout,” Reilly explained. “In the original cut of the Whopperettes there was no King or Brooke Burke, and once the King heard we were going to be in the Super Bowl, he decided it was time he got in the action. So we actually re-shot the King lighting the fuse [of the canon] and the King had Bryan Buckley re-shoot Brooke Burke as the top bun because why not try to put your girl into it.”
For “America’s Favorite” additional credit at CP+B goes to Alex Bogusky, chief creative officer; Andrew Keller, executive creative director; John Parker and Mark Taylor, art directors; Bob Cianfrone and Evan Fry, copywriters; Rupert Samuel, director of integrated production; and Matt Bonin, executive integrated producer.
At Hungry Man, credit goes to Thomas Rossano, Alex Mehedff and Steve Orent, executive producers; and Cindy Becker, line producer;
Postproduction shop Smoke and Mirrors, New York, worked on the spot.
Melissa Ferrara was postproduction producer and Sean Broughton was visual effects artist.
At bicoastal Bug Editorial, Andre Betz was editor and Andre Castiglioni was assistant editor. Mary Graham and Kim Nagel were producers.
For whopperettes.com, credit at CP+B goes to the aforementioned Bogusky, Keller, Samuel, Bonin, Reilly, Parker, Fry and Cianfrone. Jeff Benjamin was interactive creative director; Winston Binch, executive interactive producer; Paul Sutton, senior integrated producer; and Darren Himebrook, integrated producer. Chean Wei Law and Thomas Rodgers were designers.
EVB, San Francisco, served as a development partner. Lucas Shuman and John Mastri were programmers.
