BK's Wacky (But Helpful) Take on 'Driving Home for Christmas'

The jolly elves at Burger King U.K. and BBH London get up to marketing mischief with a fresh take on “Driving Home for Christmas,” the Chris Rae tune that plays seemingly non-stop around the British Isles this time of year.

They’ve reworked the track for an audio-first campaign. The new words, delivered mainly in highly-targeted radio spots, are designed to guide hungry motorists to nearby BK drive-thru locations.

Here’s an example:

“If you’re driving home for Christmas,
And need to put food in your faces,
Our drive thru is open for business
At the Leicester Burger King.

Head east on Meridian Way,
5th exit round the leisure park.
Fancy a milkshake?
Our machines tend to work.”

And here’s an eight-minute, ’80s-style music video, with singin’ and dancin’ tech on display:

Alas, no limited-edition perfume. That’s more a KFC thing. You’ll have to drive to Spain for that.

“It’s hard for brands to stand out at Christmas. So, instead of trying to out-Christmas anyone, we decided to hijack it,” says BK brand and communications director Soco Núñez de Cela. 

There’s OOH, too, which plays on the dual definition of “Whopper,” with Kris Kringle chowing down:

A whopper’s a tall tale. So … they’re saying Santa’s not real? Way to wreck Xmas, BK! (Don’t worry. I still love your fries.)

“We wanted to cut through the Christmas feels with something a bit more fiery,” Felipe Guimaraes, deputy ECD at BBH, tells Muse. “Burger King is a disruptive brand, so obviously the first place we looked was at two Christmas classics: outing Santa as a fake and ruining the beloved music we play on repeat.”

“We simply wanted to appeal to those who don’t take themselves or Christmas too seriously,” Guimaraes says. “Instead, we played into the self-deprecating nature of the British public, to help us spread the word about BK this festive season. 

As for the wacky video, “There is only one voice you want to hear giving you directions on the drive home for Christmas, and it’s not the backseat drivers. It’s your satnav,” he says. “It was a no-brainer. So we found the official voice of TomTom Satnavs to record the song for us.