How to reach half a billion people with a single press ad

On November 1st, Burger King rang a simple ad in two of France’s largest newspapers.

What it said was, please buy a Big Mac. Actually, buy from KFC, Domino’s, Pizza Hut, buy food from the restaurants that employ thousands of staff to help them get through this second round of lockdown.

The next day, Burger King ran the ad in the UK.

The ad generated PR in every national newspaper in the country. It was shared on Twitter and Facebook so that it ended up reaching around the world.

According to eye-tracking specialists Lumen, print advertising in lockdown has been generating 21% more attention than before. In other words, if you’re a marketer, don’t write off the power of a good press ad just yet.

Source: Every quarter, Directory publishes 40 case studies of innovative marketing communications campaigns in the magazine and uploads 150 to directnewideas.com. For information, email patrick@directnewideas.com