A&W has created a “Burger Patrol” that came to the rescue of hungry skiers as part of a stunt filmed at the Lake Louise, Alberta ski resort.
The experiential stunt targets a millennial audience (aged 16 to 36) and was released as a Facebook video on Feb. 1.
As of Feb. 10, it had a reach of more than 3.6 million Canadians and 2.86 million views, as of Feb. 10. It also had 17,263 likes, 3,801 comments and 3,782 shares during that period.
During filming on Jan. 21, A&W “burger ambassador” Ryan handed out about 400 Teen Burgers to skiers.
Ryan is being used in situations where people can go for a burger right away in places where they wouldn’t normally expect to find one, says Bob Simpson, creative director, co-director and writer at Rethink in Vancouver.
“You just think of being up on the ski hill, or someone stuck on the chairlift and if someone were to throw you a hot burger right now you’d be pretty happy.”
Last August, Rethink created a similar stunt for A&W in which Ryan handed out burgers to people floating in a river channel in Penticton, B.C. It garnered more than 2 million views on social media.
Once the ski hill idea was hatched, other elements were added like Martin, a St. Bernard dog that accompanied Ryan and carried a burger barrel. Ryan skied with a six-foot tall insulated takeout bag full of burgers on a sled that mimicked the sled used by the ski patrol.
A&W brought a food truck to the ski hill and team members cooked the burgers on-site. “The burgers were pretty much hot of the grill,” Simpson says. “You can see the expressions on people. They’re pretty darn happy to get these burgers.”
Most of the shooting was done on one run and the team was accompanied by members of the Canadian Ski Patrol, who tweeted “No burgers from us, but we’ll save your bacon if you lettuce.”
The video was supported with a paid amplification strategy using Facebook and sponsored content articles, mostly on blogs, says Rethink account director Dan Culic. Areas targeted included those near ski hills such as Whistler, Mont Tremblant and Blue Mountain.
Public and media relations were handled by Strategic Objectives.
