First Published On: Restaurant Dive

Dive Brief:

Burger King and the Clio Awards are teaming up on the King's Fools' Challenge, asking students to brainstorm the fast food chain's next April Fools' day prank, according to a news release shared with Marketing Dive.

The fast food chain is taking over the Clio Awards' Student Integrated Campaign category as part of the 60th annual competition. The most creative effort will win a Gold Clio statue, and Burger King will fly the winners to Miami to work with its creative team to bring the prank to life.

Entries can include a combination of ideas around audio, branded entertainment, branded content, design, digital/mobile, direct, experiential/events, film, innovation, out-of-home, partnerships and collaborations, print, public relations or social media. A shortlist of submissions will be recognized with an editorial piece on Muse by Clio.

Dive Insight:

Pranks and marketing stunts have become a key part of Burger King's marketing year-round, so it makes sense that the brand would seek out innovative prank ideas for April Fools' Day. Previous stunts have helped the brand connect with hard-to-reach younger consumers, and this time around, the brand could deepen connections with this group by crowdsourcing fresh ideas from up-and-coming creatives. Burger King is likely hoping to out-prank its past April Fools' stunts, including the Left-Handed Whopper from 1998, which as been ranked as one of the best April Fools' Day pranks.

Crowdsourcing creative ideas is a tactic other brands are using to engage with consumers in unique ways and spark an emotional connection, especially as younger demographics resonate with brands when they and respond to their needs. The King's Fools' Challenge follows a similar effort by Diageo's Smirnoff vodka, which last week asked fans to submit ideas for celebrating the Fourth of July holiday — the winner of which will see their party idea brought to life.

Burger King's past efforts seeking consumer input on social media have helped the burger chain to drive engagement. The chain's branch in Spain crowdsourced the "InstaWhopper" effort last year by asking Instagram users to build their own burger through polls on Stories to receive a coupon. The campaign earned 270,000 interactions across more than 45,000 unique users and boosted the brand's Instagram following by 10%.

In its most recent marketing stunt, Burger King offered mobile users in Brazil a free Whopper if they virtually set fire to its rivals' ads. The company's app featured a "Burn That Ad" banner, which users can tap while pointing their smartphone camera at a print, coupon or billboard ad from a competitor. The app uses augmented reality to overlay digital images of a blazing inferno that burned the competitor's ad and revealed the coupon.