Thanks to mega-marketers like Burger King and McDonald's, fast food marketing is definitely a global affair. But even among their many markets, certain nations still stand out.
For McDonald's, France comes to mind, thanks to recent years packed with creative work from TBWA\Paris. For Burger King, Mexico and Brazil are both fun markets to watch thanks to work from We Believers and David Sao Paulo respectively.
But this week, our eyes have turned specifically to Sweden.
Why Sweden? Well in part because the country is reopening at a faster pace than other nations—because it never really closed (more on that in a moment).
But Sweden also has an enduring reputation for creative marketing, with iconic campaigns like The Swedish Number still being referenced as work that reshaped the industry.
In fact, the agency behind The Swedish Number is also behind some of the best fast food work currently coming out of Sweden. Ingo in Stockholm was one of the key agencies behind Burger King's award-slathered Moldy Whopper campaign, for which Ingo created the highly shared visuals of mold growing with morbid beauty over burgers.
This week, Ingo rolled out a less grotesque but still head-scratchingly creative campaign, encouraging Swedes to use their passports as loyalty cards at Burger King, getting a free globally themed burger with each stamp.
The insight behind the campaign is that Swedes don't have much else to do with their passports these days. Because the country declined to declare a lockdown for Covid-19, much of Europe is balking at letting Swedish residents enter.
If you don't mind your passport potentially becoming ineligible due to being covered in burger stamps, this promotion might give you some level of comfort in such isolated times?
But close behind Burger King Sweden's new campaign was one from McDonald's Sweden, which more directly addresses the pandemic. Nord DDB came up with the idea of having children treat their grandparents, after months of stress from the disease's spread, to customized Happy Meals with messages of love and appreciation.
(Btw, if you're in the mood for a good cry, may we recommend going back to some earlier McDonald's work from Nord DDB: a highly emotional story of Sweden's first Ronald McDonald House.)
Which countries are you keeping a close eye on these days when it comes to creative marketing? Drop me a note at the email below or hit me at @Griner on Twitter.
Yours in quarantine and 125 days out from my last Impossible Whopper,
David Griner
Creative and Innovation Editor, Adweek
David.Griner@Adweek.com
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