What would you do if you were watching the presidential debate, trying to choose a candidate and came across with an ad where a Burger King Whopper is teaching the importance of voting consciously?

We believed people would talk about it. In fact, they did this and much more. The idea crossed the boundaries of advertising and became the most talked about and shared content in WhatsApp groups in Brazil. And WhatsApp in Brazil is way bigger than any other group chatting platform.

In Brazil, voting is mandatory, but people can still choose to vote in protest by pressing the blank ballot.

In the last presidential elections, voter apathy reached an all-time high, with 29% of voters intending to vote blank, according to the pre-election polls - a number that would surpass all candidate votes.

But when people vote blank, they give up their right to have it their way, and when they do this, it means they let others choose on their behalf.

Burger King wanted to change this, so the brand let people try the taste of voting blank, using BK’s most famous burger: the Whopper. And by doing so, we encouraged people to have it their way, by showing them that when they vote blank, they can't complain about the results.

We wanted to show that casting a blank ballot is not as great as it sounds. Each and every one of us deserve our country our way– and an informed voting decision is the first step in that direction. So we created a special burger to draw attention to what can happen if you let someone else decide for you, and have no say in what you want as a voter: the Blank Whopper – a new and different kind of Whopper.

Basically, blank voters who took part in this activation, received 2 buns with mayo and onion, with this message on its wrap: this is a Blank Whopper, made with ingredients chosen by someone else. When you let someone choose for you, you can’t complain about the results.

The stunt was recorded and became a 1-minute video which we launched during the biggest television debate of Brazil’s presidential run.

Featuring an exclusive report, the advertising campaign for media came out in sync with the airing of the commercial during a break at the presidential debate on Sunday evening. Later it extended to a range of other channels, from the ones covering politics to editorials on topics such as international, advertising, economics, social, and so on. The campaign was not limited to the local Brazilian press: the agency has a strong PR work abroad, as is hardly ever seen among Brazilian campaigns. Over a week, with a more intense PR work, dozens of interviews were arranged – by the agency’s main creative professional and the client’s marketing team – at the most relevant and influential papers, with the Blank Whopper receiving the highest notice and praise from the country’s most respected commentators.

We wanted to show that casting a blank ballot is not as great as it sounds. Each and every one of us deserve our country our way – and an informed voting decision is the first step in that direction. So we created a special burger to draw attention to what can happen if you let someone else decide for you, and have no say in what you want as a voter: the Blank Whopper – a different kind of Whopper. Blank voters who took part in this activation, received 2 buns with mayo and onion, with this message on its wrap: this is a Blank Whopper, made with ingredients chosen by someone else. When you let someone choose for you, you can’t complain about the results. As this is a campaign on elections, we kept a varied focus, with content on channels that have reached voters of distinct profiles.

One of the greatest results in PR this campaign has achieved is the shift in intended blank votes. Before Blank Whopper, 29% of Brazilians said they would vote blank. After the campaign, with the actual result of the ballots, this figure dropped to a mere 2.65%.

Other results:

- Global Trending Topic on Twitter (in the first 20 minutes of the campaign).

- Youtube Trending Video

- Google searches for the term “blank vote” grew 133%, during the campaign.

- Uncountable shares on WhatsApp

- The most shared video on Burger King’s history in Latin America.

- Reached our category Top of Mind historical best on the quarter of the campaign (IPSOS Brand Tracking Q4’2018)

- A local market campaign that got 2.8 Billion media impressions.

- Elected Ad of the Year by O Estado de S.Paulo, the second largest Brazilian newspaper.

- Most talked-about campaign in 2018, in the fast food market.

- 30% of people who saw the campaign reconsidered voting blank.

- Blank vote went from 29% of voting intentions to 2,65% of the votes, the lowest rate in the last 20 years of democratic elections.

- A Blank Whopper helped voters to vote consciously.

Brazilians know they can vote blank; however, what the majority of the voters don’t know are the real consequences of voting blank. Until this campaign, no one had ever clearly illustrated the effects of protest voting. So, we did it, using a clear and simple metaphor, taking into careful consideration the fact that Brazil is a huge country with more than 200 million inhabitants with many coming from poor regions. Thus, the metaphor had to be as simple as: a Blank Whopper made with ingredients chosen by someone else. And the message had to be as simple as: when you let someone else choose for you, you can’t complain about the results.