--- title: Burger King "Whopper Detour": the campaign that sold Whoppers from inside McDonald's parking lots | RGM® url: https://realgrowthmatters.com/learn/case-studies/burger-king-whopper-detour-2018/ updated: 2026-06-10 source_html: https://realgrowthmatters.com/learn/case-studies/burger-king-whopper-detour-2018/ --- - **Story:** In December 2018, Burger King and FCB New York launched the Whopper Detour. The BK app offered Whoppers for one cent — but only when ordered from within 600 feet of a McDonald's. The geofenced offer turned every McDonald's parking lot into a BK lead-gen venue for nine days. - **Why it matters:** The Whopper Detour is the defining example of competitive geofence marketing. The campaign turned a technical capability (mobile geofencing) into a creative idea audiences could describe in one sentence. - **Takeaway:** Competitive-mechanical campaigns require a technical capability the audience can experience directly. - **Takeaway:** Creative ideas that can be described in one sentence travel better than complex multi-layered campaigns. - **Takeaway:** Technical-capability availability changes over time — what worked in 2018 may not be as freely available in later years. ## Whopper Detour — the four-step story S Situation BK app was a secondary download In 2018, every QSR had a mobile app but BK's was a secondary download. The challenge was acquiring app downloads with a clear use case that produced ongoing usage. T Task Acquire app downloads through a creative competitive mechanic Find a way to use mobile-geofencing technology to create a competitive marketing moment that drives app downloads and order volume. A Action Geofence McDonald's locations, sell Whoppers for one cent Set up geofences around ~14K US McDonald's locations. Offer Whoppers for 1 cent through the BK app when users were within 600 feet of a McDonald's. Route orders to nearby BK for pickup. R Result App Store #1, Cannes Grand Prix, sustained earned media BK app reached #1 in Food & Drink. Millions of downloads in the 9-day window. Won Cannes Lions Grand Prix in Direct + Titanium categories in 2019. Trade press and late-night TV covered the campaign extensively. ## Whopper Detour at a glance 0 Campaign year December 4-12, 2018 Source: BK campaign records 0 days Campaign duration Limited window Source: BK campaign 0¢ Whopper price When geofenced within 600 ft of McDonald's Source: BK app offer ~0K McDonald's locations targeted Effectively all US McDonald's Source: BK geofence config #0 App Store ranking Food & Drink category during campaign Source: App Store analytics 0 Cannes Lions Grand Prix 2019 Direct + Titanium Source: Cannes Lions archive #### Quick facts BrandBurger King AgencyFCB New York Campaign duration~9 days (December 4-12, 2018) MechanicWhopper for 1 cent via Burger King app, only when geofence-located within 600 ft of a McDonald's McDonald's locations targeted~14,000 (effectively all US McDonald's) App Store ranking#1 (Food & Drink category) during campaign App downloadsMillions in campaign window Industry recognitionCannes Lions 2019 Grand Prix (Direct + Titanium); multiple other awards **Honest note** The Whopper Detour is widely studied as a creative-and-tactical success. The Cannes Lions Grand Prix is documented in Cannes archives. Specific revenue attribution to the campaign is harder to isolate but Burger King publicly described it as commercially successful. The campaign relied on smartphone geofence-tracking capability that became a regulatory concern in subsequent years — the same geofence techniques wouldn't necessarily be as freely available in 2026 as they were in 2018. ## Where mobile-app QSR was in 2018 By late 2018, every major QSR chain had a mobile app but most app downloads were stagnant. McDonald's and Starbucks led the category. Burger King's app was a secondary download with limited utility. The challenge was acquiring app downloads at scale with a clear-enough use case that the app would actually be used after download. FCB New York and Burger King's marketing team proposed a campaign that used geofencing creatively. The Burger King app could detect when a user was near a McDonald's location. The campaign would offer Whoppers for one cent — but only when ordered from within 600 feet of a McDonald's. The implicit suggestion: walk out of McDonald's, order a Whopper for a penny, and go pick it up at a nearby Burger King. ## The execution The Whopper Detour ran for nine days (December 4-12, 2018). The mechanic required users to: - **Download the Burger King app.** If they hadn't already. - **Drive (or walk) to within 600 feet of a McDonald's.** The geofence detection unlocked the offer. - **Order a Whopper for one cent in the app.** The order would be routed to a nearby Burger King. - **Drive to the Burger King to pick up the Whopper.** The pickup completed the experience. The campaign targeted approximately 14,000 McDonald's locations — effectively all US McDonald's. The mobile app downloads spiked dramatically during the campaign window. The Burger King app reached #1 in the Food & Drink category on the App Store. App-downloads-and-orders data showed millions of new users acquired during the nine-day window. ## What grew The campaign produced significant earned-media coverage. Trade press, mainstream news, and late-night TV all covered the “Burger King is selling Whoppers in McDonald's parking lots” story. The app downloads and user-acquisition metrics were strong enough that Burger King continued investing in mobile-app marketing strategies in subsequent years. The campaign won the Cannes Lions Grand Prix in both Direct and Titanium categories in 2019 along with multiple other major industry awards. It's now studied as the defining example of competitive geofence marketing and creative-mechanical brand work that achieves real commercial outcomes. ## How RGM thinks about competitive-mechanical campaigns When clients ask about competitor-targeted campaigns, the Whopper Detour case is the structural template. The conditions: a technical capability (mobile geofencing) that enables a competitive mechanic, a creative idea (selling Whoppers from McDonald's parking lots) that the audience can describe in one sentence, and a willingness to be aggressive about competitor positioning in a way most brands flinch from. The harder lesson is about technical-capability availability. The Whopper Detour relied on mobile-app geofencing capabilities that have become more regulated in subsequent years (Apple's App Tracking Transparency in 2021 specifically limited certain location-tracking patterns). We tell clients that competitive-mechanical campaigns depend on the underlying technical capability being available at the time of execution — what worked in 2018 isn't necessarily available in 2026 in the same way. ## Frequently asked questions How did the geofencing actually work? The Burger King app used smartphone GPS-and-location services to detect proximity to McDonald's locations (the app had geo-coordinates for approximately 14,000 US McDonald's). When a user was within 600 feet, the Whopper-for-one-cent offer activated. The user could place the order at that location; the order would route to a Burger King for fulfillment. What did McDonald's do in response? Largely nothing publicly. McDonald's didn't issue a major response and didn't run a counter-campaign during the Whopper Detour window. The implicit position was that engaging would amplify Burger King's message; ignoring would let the campaign run its course. Could this work today? Partly. The geofencing capability still exists but mobile-OS privacy controls (especially Apple's App Tracking Transparency in 2021) have made some forms of location targeting more limited. The structural creative idea is still reproducible; the specific mobile-app mechanic would need to be adapted to current regulatory and platform-policy environments. ### Sources & references - [Cannes Lions 2019 archive](https://www.canneslions.com/) — Grand Prix recognition in Direct and Titanium categories. - [Burger King Whopper Detour press coverage](https://www.adweek.com/) — AdWeek and broader trade-press coverage of the campaign. - [FCB Burger King](https://fcb.com/) — Agency portfolio reference. ## Related [#### All case studies The full case-study library.](/learn/case-studies/)[#### BK Subservient Chicken The earlier Burger King breakthrough campaign.](/learn/case-studies/burger-king-subservient-chicken/)[#### Wendy's Twitter QSR competitive brand voice in adjacent format.](/learn/case-studies/wendys-twitter-brand-voice/)[#### KFC FCK QSR brand work in crisis-response context.](/learn/case-studies/kfc-fck-crisis-response/)