The most influencing burger of the year

Starting point

The pandemic has treated the restaurant industry hard. In addition to sales challenges, fast food business has suffered from an acute shortage of employees.

The goal for the collaboration between Hesburger and Pyhimys ( a popular Finnish rap artist and influencer ) was to improve Hesburger's brand image in the core target group, get more job applications, and increase sales with the new campaign product.

In 2021, we created a collaboration that spoke to the audience on many different levels, and exceeded each of our targets. In addition, the Bökö -jingle, a key element of the campaign, became a huge viral phenomenon in the key target group.

Choosing the right influencer

Influencer marketing works best when the brand and the influencer have a genuine connection.

Mikko Kuoppala aka Pyhimys started his working life at Hesburger, and calls this work relationship as the only real place he worked in before becoming a full-time artist.

This meant that everything related to working in a Hesburger restaurant, such as the drive-in service phrases and flipping the burgers were truly familiar for him, providing opportunities for an exceptionally wide and deep collaboration.

Target group

Hesburger's target group is wide. However, the Bökö collaboration focused specifically on youth and young adults who are both fans of Hesburger products and in a search, like Pyhimys was 15 years ago, for their first real job.

The strategy and executions

To meet the set targets we understood that this can not just be a campaign but a wider collaboration as e.g. recruitment challenges and maintaining a profitable business in general were a plight for the industry in the midst of the pandemic.

We needed an influencer with an appropriate profile to match and improve Hesburger’s brand image. For recruitment efforts we wanted to show the restaurant environment and the actual work to eliminate possible false images related to working in a fast food industry. To increase sales, we tied the collaboration to a campaign product fully created by our influencer, Pyhimys.

Recruitment - workplace introduction and a rapping drive in

The collaboration kicked off with a visit from Pyhimys to his former workplace, where the artist met with Hesburger employees and discussed what working in there really is like. This content was shared through both Pyhimys’ and Hesburger’s own channels.

Then we got to work. Pyhimys went to work in a real drive-in Hesburger to take orders from customers. The orders needed to be rapped, of course. Hesburger clients amazed us and Pyhimys with performances which captivated both with sympathy and technical skills. All the drive-in rap artists were rewarded with a free Hesburger meal.

 

Own burger - Bökö by Pyhimys

Next Pyhimys showed his skills in the kitchen and created his own campaign burger. For a former Hesburger employee inventing a burger was easy, and most importantly the end result was unique. Pyhimys also gave the burger a genuine name: Bökö.

Between the tasty oat rolls you will find cucumber and paprika mayonnaise, beef steak, fresh onions, tomatoes, pickles, cheddar cheese and iceberg lettuce.

 

Bökö advertising and the jingle

In order to reach wider audiences, a TVC was created for the product campaign. The film is driven by the catchy Bökö-jingle written and performed, of course, by Pyhimys. The cheerful end result, which draws its visual style from the US West Coast, worked excellently in TV, radio and online video advertising.


Pyhimys got free hands in the creation of the Bökö-jingle. He approached it with the idea that the end result would create a “meme -style” refrain which youngsters would start to use in their slang and communication. In addition, the artist himself has always been entertained by a certain kind of self-irony, so the early 2000’s “Yo, man, Chigago” -spirited character in the ad’s with all the clichés, felt like a suitably annoying but at the same time a sufficiently sympathetic approach.

 

Bökö clothing collection

Bökö was the first time Hesburger's logo was changed according to a product campaign. Thus, the apt name also allowed for much more than just a name for a burger.

A unique Bökö clothing line was designed which was seen worn not only by Pyhimys but also by other selected influencers too. In addition, the Bökö clothes were used by Hesburger employees in the restaurants and the collection was and still is available in the Hesburger online store.

 

The results and a viral phenomenon

What an influencer first, the audience later. Rarely does an advertising jingle manage to blow up social media, as was the case with Bökö. Almost a year-long collaboration between Pyhimys and Hesburger proved to be very successful. The Bökö -jingle was immediately adopted by the younger audience, and its catchy beat and lyrics became an unprecedented viral phenomenon.

From the beginning, the song aimed at a certain kind of “meme” that was planned to work in different social media environments where Hesburger’s core target group spends its time. Bökö gained the most popularity on TikTok , where more than ten thousand organically created versions of Bökö -jingle by users have already gained more than 8 million views. In addition Jodel, Instagram and Youtube became flooded with user generated Bökö content.

The Bökö -phenomenon fuelled the collaboration into record breaking results in job applications, campaign sales and social media results.

All in all, Bökö by Pyhimys truly was the most influencing burger of the year.

  • User generated Bökö films in TikTok

  • Views for the TikTok films

  • growth in job applications