Read time: 6 minutes

Today, let me take you on an interesting journey - the Whopper Detour.

This is the story of a brilliant marketing campaign pulled off deliciously (pun intended!) by Burger King in December 2018.

For 9 days, between December 4-12, people who went anywhere within 600 ft. of McDonald’s across the US, received an irresistible mobile notification. The notification offered a Burger King Whopper for one cent only.

The customers could avail of the offer only through Burger King’s updated mobile app. Once they installed the app and placed their order, the app navigated them away to their nearest Burger King outlet to collect their offer.

Now, let’s look at what happened in those 9 days:

• 1.5 million app downloads

• 3.3 billion impressions

• >50,000 people redeemed the offer

• created awareness and adoption for a new feature, order ahead, in its updated mobile app through live-action

• became the most downloaded QSR app in the U.S. in iTunes App Store in Food and Drink category for several days

• garnered tons of free publicity and social media coverage

• ruled the 2019 awards season, winning the Titanium, Direct, and Mobile Grand Prix at Cannes Lions, and

• became the first-ever Grand Effie US winner from the Commerce & Shopper category

What a whopping (!) performance.

So what made this possible?

• Powerful marketing insight

• A cheeky, bold campaign concept

• Future-facing tech-enabled advertising: geofencing technology applied at 14,000+ outlets across the US for mobile conquesting against its biggest rival

• Flawless execution, super easy-to-use, no-brainer offer

Sure. But what brought all of these factors together, making the customers take the desired action in massive numbers?

Burger King took the risque approach of bringing its target customers in close vicinity to its biggest rival for activating its offer. At every step, Burger King deployed the power of persuasion to drive mass adoption.

Be it in creating an offer that they can’t say no to, the simple yet meaningful steps taken to get the offer, or navigating them away to the nearest Burger King outlet to collect their offers.

Millions of people were effectively persuaded to take one or more desired actions in their execution workflow, both during the campaign and even after that.

That’s the power of persuasion in modern marketing.

Last week, we saw how the psychology of marketing works to influence consumer behavior and boost sales. In this edition, we’ll go deeper into understanding the art and science of persuasion behind driving desired actions.

Let’s dive in!

Understanding the Psychology of Persuasion

This Forbes article gives a compelling definition of persuasion in the context of modern marketing. It simply tells that persuasion involves influencing people’s attitudes in such a way that they feel like they are making the decision on their own.

Persuasion doesn’t mean you either pester or force the customer into making a sale. It’s not about converting a sale by any means possible.

It’s about creating a strong positive attitude toward your brand in the subconscious of your audience, to the extent that they want to make the purchase. And that they ultimately feel good about it.

Developing a deep understanding of consumer behavior and tapping into the power of that knowledge is how you create a compelling and persuasive marketing strategy.

The Art & Science of Persuasion: Mastering the Principles 

Robert Cialdini, the renowned psychologist and modern marketing thought leader, identified six principles of persuasion - reciprocity, authority, commitment and consistency, social proof, liking, and scarcity - that drive human behavior and explained how to leverage them in your marketing.

As a practicing modern marketer, I've seen firsthand how powerful these principles can be when applied correctly.

Understanding these principles is critical to crafting successful marketing campaigns that connect with your audience, drive conversions, and ultimately build a loyal customer base.