The Sky's the Limit for Burger King's Astro Whopper Launch

Burger King is taking its marketing to astronomical heights with its latest Astro Whopper campaign. The campaign draws inspiration from a flaming hot sun-like star called Gomez's Hamburger, located 6,500 lightyears away in outer space. 

Gomez's Hamburger, or IRAS 18059-3211, was discovered by astronomer Arturo Gómez in 1985. The 'burger' appears as a disk of dust seen edge-on and the 'buns' are created by light reflecting off dust. In true flame grilled, or space grilled fashion, Astro Whopper seizes the opportunity to challenge all burger fanatics to find Gomez's Hamburger in the sky – developed out of creative agency Uncle Grey (Denmark), in close collaboration with Grey South Africa & AKQA Copenhagen. Using compass and gyroscope technology, fans in South Africa can participate in the activation by pointing their cameras up above to locate the celestial hamburger's location. If successful, fans receive a free Whopper here on Planet Earth. 

“Astro Whopper is Famously Effective at its core. We leveraged a larger-than-life cultural entity to spur conversations and create cultural fame. In this instance, we had to travel 6,500 light years – all in the service of the Whopper,” noted Lars Samuelsen, creative chairman of Uncle Grey. 

To kick off the campaign, the creative trio launched a mini documentary featuring the galaxy's discoverer himself, Arturo Gómez, who after almost 40 years, revealed the answer to one of the universe's biggest mysteries: what kind of burger is Gomez's Hamburger? (Hint: it’s flame grilled). The campaign includes a strong teaser phase on social, digital OOH placements, and in-restaurant screens/menu-boards promoting the celestial entity.  

Ezelna Jones, marketing executive at Burger King, said, "We're thrilled to bring a cosmic twist to our classic Whopper. The discovery of Gomez's Hamburger presents an opportunity to merge astronomy with the love of burgers in a fun and engaging way. The Astro Whopper campaign invites our customers to gaze at the stars with a delicious reward in hand.”