The Problem
In India, Burger King is not as popular as McDonald’s. McDonald’s invests heavily in promotions to keep its audience engaged, while Burger King’s Indian campaigns often appear generic and fail to create a strong brand recall. Globally, Burger King is known for its witty, daring, and playful advertising, but that tone was missing in its Indian communication. We wanted to bridge this gap and reimagine Burger King India’s voice to connect better with Gen Z and young adults — an audience that loves humor, irony, and internet culture.
Research & Insights
Our research focused on Burger King’s past global campaigns, especially their bold and unconventional storytelling. In India, we found that even though the brand had attempted a bold campaign with TVCs in 2020, it didn’t gain much visibility because of the lockdown and shift toward OTT platforms. We also analyzed the promotional patterns of competitors like McDonald’s to understand what engages the youth today.
Design Process
The “Blurred Burger” idea came from Burger King’s USP — its flame-grilled burgers. We imagined the burger being so hot and irresistible that cameras couldn’t even capture it clearly. The burgers had to be blurred to protect the camera lens — and later, we extended the story to say people had started going crazy over the burger, licking posters, devices, and anywhere they saw the ad. That’s why Burger King had to blur the burgers in their ads.
The campaign included two hero video ads, outdoor billboards (OOHs), indoor murals, packaging, social media posts, and illustrations. I handled the illustrations — creating them in Burger King’s visual language while maintaining a sense of humor that fit the campaign tone. I also designed a sub-campaign in the form of an Instagram reel using my illustration set. The idea was that if users used any two of these illustrations in their stories and tagged Burger King, they would get a 50% discount on their Whopper. This created a fun, shareable challenge for social media users and gave the campaign an interactive touch.
Final Outcome
The final campaign was quirky, bold, and very different from what Burger King India usually does. The blurred visuals created curiosity and humor, while the tone of the campaign matched Burger King’s global personality. My part — the illustrated sub-campaign — helped make the idea more community-driven and participative. Visually, the campaign used warm tones, bold typography, and humorous illustration work that supported the overall idea.
Reflection
This project taught me the importance of collaboration in campaign design. We each brought different skills — concept writing, video editing, illustration, and design — to create one cohesive story. Personally, I learned how to maintain a brand’s existing identity while still adding a fresh twist. It also helped me understand how humor and storytelling can make a campaign memorable even with a limited budget.
Key Learnings
- Understanding brand voice and tone consistency
- Designing illustrations that align with an existing brand identity
- Conceptual thinking and storytelling through visuals
- Team collaboration and role division in a campaign