14294: BBH BK BS.

Campaign reported on a new Burger King campaign from BBH London, who “won” the account sans a pitch. The dreadful work stars BK UK CEO Alasdair Murdoch promoting a contest that invites people to post videos of themselves eating and reviewing an imaginary sandwich. Wow, what a breakthrough concept. Is BBH London following the lead of its U.S. sister shops by refusing to hire union talent for advertising? Will BBH even bother showing up to review the entries?

Burger King hands UK creative to BBH without a pitch

Bartle Bogle Hegarty has created a competition-led campaign for Burger King, after the agency was appointed to the fast food brand’s UK creative account earlier this year without a pitch.

By Simon Gwynn

The win sees the Publicis Groupe agency once again involved in the fast food sector, after KFC moved its creative account from BBH to Mother last year.

BBH was approached after a change of management at Burger King UK by private equity group Bridgepoint Capital, which acquired the franchise late last year.

Burger King’s UK chief executive, Alasdair Murdoch, who features in its campaign, and marketing director Katie Evans joined the business in February. Evans took over from Renato Rossi, who moved to Miami to lead marketing for the brand in North America.

Evans was previously marketing director at upmarket rival Gourmet Burger Kitchen.

The brand is today launching “The opportunity you haven’t been waiting for”, a nationwide search for the first person to try the new Crispy Chicken Burger. Playing with the apparently poor perception of the chicken options in Burger King, the contest will pay the (un)lucky winner £20,000 for trying the product.

Murdoch himself announces the search in a video and post on LinkedIn.

The campaign was created by Fred Rodwell and Andy Parsons at BBH, and runs across online display, social, press and out of home. To enter, consumers have to post a video of themselves eating, and giving a review of, an imaginary Crispy Chicken burger, with the hashtag #20Kfirstbite.

On top of the cash prize, the winner will also appear in the first TV ad from BBH, which will launch on 3 October.

Evans said: “We are delighted to have BBH on board. Their inspiring portfolio of work and experience in our sector gives us real confidence that they understand our brand challenge and how we need to engage and resonate to build brand growth in the UK.”

Ian Heartfield, chief creative officer at BBH added: “The chance to rebuild an iconic brand, one that’s famous for ground-breaking, disruptive work, is every agency’s dream brief. We’re pumped that Burger King have chosen us to help reinvent their entire customer journey, and bring the fight to the McOpposition.”