How Burger King is Trolling McDonalds Using Geofencing
How Burger King is Trolling McDonalds Using Geofencing: The 1-Cent Burger King Whopper
In 2018, Burger King took geofencing to a whole new level by trolling McDonalds and serving advertisements for 1-Cent Whoppers to potential customers who visited, or came within six hundred feet of McDonalds. The offer began on December 4th and would expire on December 12th. Though a seemingly incredible offer for burger-craving customers, there were some strings attached.
In order to cash in on this awesome deal, the customer needed to do two things:
1. Download the Burger King App
2. Order the Whopper inside (or six hundred feet from) a McDonalds.
This strategy has been perhaps the most creative use of geofencing since the birth of this technology. Burger King's ultimate goal here is to increase App downloads. With more people downloading the app they can serve more Ads and gain new customers. By presenting an offer this hard to refuse for the potential customer, they are ensuring a great result.
Though the 1-Cent Whopper offer is quite formidable, geofencing is what truly drives this campaign home. If this Ad had been served randomly and did not target fast food-ready customers on their way, or inside a McDonalds, it would likely see insignificant results comparatively. This is yet another example of how powerful targeted geofencing technology can be in the world of digital advertising.
In a press release Burger King stated:
"If a guest is inside one of these geofenced areas and has the new BK App on their device, the app will unlock the Whopper sandwich for a penny promotion.
Once the 1¢ Whopper sandwich order is placed, the user will be 'detoured' away from McDonald's, as the app navigates them to the nearest Burger King restaurant for pick up."
McDonalds and Starbucks have recent promotions such as the free Starbucks for life contest and the McDonald's Gold Card, but it's safe to say based on innovation alone BK is ahead of the game compared to other promotions.
Geo-Fencing Advertising Drives Results
While geo-fencing advertising is often employed by small businesses, many of the Fortune 500 have found similar success using this underdog approach-particularly when it comes to expanding into new locations.
One such enterprise, Dunkin' Donuts, commonly uses geo-fencing to steal market share from its top competitor, Starbucks. The Massachusetts-based coffee giant couples geo-fencing with behavioral analytics to target Starbucks customers and convert them with a "switch mechanism" in the form of a mobile coupon campaign.
The result? The campaign saw record-high redemption rates (3.6%) and took a big bite out of Starbucks' local traffic. The campaign was particularly effective at uprooting those who preferred the taste of Dunkin' Donuts, but frequented Starbucks because it was closer to their daily commute. For these customers, a simple incentive-like a dollar off a cup of coffee-was all it took to win back their loyalty and make the slightly longer commute worth it.
As Luke Edson, the VP of National Markets responsible for the campaign commented:
"If you have a location history that was sometimes you went to Dunkin', sometimes you went to Starbucks, sometimes you went to McDonald's, with the right offer at the right time, that was the group that saved with the highest percentages. That was the win for Dunkin'."
No matter your size, targeting a competitor's location can provide a quick and cost-efficient path to growth if you can offer customers a compelling enough reason to jump ship.