Crispin Porter + Bogusky (Boulder)

In 2009, Burger King and Crispin Porter Bogusky (HQ in Miami) were awarded the Grand Effie Award for the “Whopper Freakout” campaign at the 41st annual Effie Gala. With the 50th anniversary of the Whopper approaching, Burger King decided to conduct a social experiment and remove the Whopper from the menu completely. For the first part of the experiment, they used the deprivation strategy to see how people would react if America's most beloved burger was banned from the menu without warning. The second part of the experiment consisted of giving customers competitors' burgers. Burger King launched a series of TV spots to drive traffic to ‘Whopperfreakout.com’ where people could view a full-length 8-minute documentary on the experiment. This campaign skyrocketed Whopper's quarterly sales...they increased by double-digits! I absolutely love this campaign because its very creative and unique. You don't see many commercials that utilize the deprivation strategy and by doing so, you can physically see how good the Whopper must be if customers freak out if they are deprived of them.