Mornings in South Korea are exceptionally hard. Koreans are too busy to

have breakfast, or even some morning coffee. We decided Burger King needed

a ground-breaking promotion to catch the interest of the Korean commuters

and attract them to Burger King stores immediately, because Burger King

Korea was also struggling with low brand awareness and sluggish sales of

the coffee and morning menus.

In that effort, we created a funny sleeping mask with the message saying,

“Wake me up at XXX station”. People wearing this sleeping mask could sleep

peacefully, knowing that someone would read the message and wake them up at

the right station. There are also 2 free King Americano coupons inside it,

which the wearer can share with the person who wakes them up. As well as

the sleeping mask itself being a promotion tool, the mask wearers promoted

Burger King unintentionally.

This campaign was executed from Feb. 23, 2015 until Apr. 15, 2015. First,

we distributed sleeping masks around 9 Burger King outlets near 5 different

subway stations stations (Gangnam, Hongik Univ., Samsung, Yeoksam, and

Sinchon Station) that are the most crowded during the morning rush hour. We

also gave sudden notices for the distribution spots via Burger King’s

social media pages beforehand, which evoked people’s curiosity and led them

to actively participate in the campaign. Though the two month-long

promotion is over now, many commuters are still using the Burger King

sleeping mask every morning. That is, consumers are spontaneously

continuing the campaign by themselves. As per the request of numerous

consumers, Burger King expanded this campaign to outlets around 8 stations

in Busan, the second-biggest city in South Korea.

The total average in morning sales increased by 18.7% in participating

Burger King stores; social media mentions of Burger King increased by 44.5%

with positive response by consumers. And Burger King’s brand popularity

showed an increase of 33%. (Feb~March 2015 vs. previous month) Furthermore,

Burger King Korea is planning to make more sleeping masks with other city’s

station names, and is considering to introduce a new morning menu that

includes the mask.

But not only that – the sleeping mask wearers had priceless deep sleep, and

those who saw these funny eye patches were able to share a good laugh.

Though the harsh conditions of South Korea are nearly impossible to be

changed, this campaign allows their mornings to be somewhat restful.