My Most Immortal Ad: Fernando Machado
In the run-up to this year’s Immortal Awards, LBB’s jurors will each select an ad that they believe deserves the title of Immortal. With the entry system now open, LBB’s esteemed jurors will take it in turns to select an ad that’s iconic to them, revealing the reasons why it’s stayed with them until this day.
Here Fernando Machado, the global chief marketing officer of Restaurant Brands International, heads back to that time in 2007 when Burger King dropped the Whopper. Cue outrage…
Burger King ‘Whopper Freakout’ (CP+B, 2008)
Says Machado: “Sorry, I had to pick a Burger King one. Not because I work for Burger King, but because one of the reasons I came to work at Burger King was this ad.
“CP+B was on fire. The Burger King CMO, Russ Klein, was developing one piece of groundbreaking work after another. The team with Rob [Reilly], Andrew [Keller] and Tiffany [Rolfe], among others, teamed up with Henry Alex Rubin to create what I consider to be one of the best pieces of advertising in history.
“This spot is rooted in a powerful insight, unashamedly puts product at the centre (it’s not yet another “for good” campaign), and got executed in a real and raw way (at a time when that was not common). It led to tremendous business results, an infinite number of parodies and an endless series of industry accolades. I cannot get enough of it and I’ve probably watched the almost 8 minutes long version one trillion times. Or more.”
The Immortal Awards entry system is now open. Every member of Little Black Book is entitled to up to five entries, depending on their membership tier. This year, Bronze members receive two entries, whilst Silver and Gold members get five entries. The full list of rules, including eligibility dates, can be found here.
If you’d like to enter the Immortal Awards but you’re not yet a member of LBB, contact Lynchy here: michael@campaignbrief.com.
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