Why Burger King South Africa Focused on ‘The Small Pleasures’
South Africa is known for many things, its distinctive humour, rugby and load-shedding power cuts, to name but a few. Using the former to soothe the inconveniences of daily life, the teams at Burger King and Grey South Africa decided to infuse the restaurant's latest ad with classic South African humour, to show its value.
In ‘The Small Pleasures’, we see our protagonist stand in a car park, looking at the space where he believes his car should be parked. It’s a dilemma we’ve all faced. The horror of losing your car, the dread of not knowing where it is, the prospect of searching an entire car park to find it. But not to worry, it turns out he’s just in the wrong place - it’s B2 he needed, not B1 - what a relief!
With a hilarious voice-over to highlight the situation and poke fun, as well as comment on the general challenges of life, the Burger King brand highlights how it eases life’s small slip-ups. With affordable meals, it has the power to change your day for the better - one meal at a time.
Sharing more about how the team struck the right tone of voice with the spot, added in subtle details and some unusual talent on set, Grey South Africa’s creative director TJ Njozela speaks to LBB’s Nisna Mahtani.
LBB> Smiles and affordable meals - that is what Burger King aims to give customers and what you wanted to convey in this spot. What was the starting point of the brief on this one?
TJ> Burger King is famously known for its flame-grilling and the Whopper. Mara people don't know a lot about its other offerings. For example, the King Value Meals start from just R39.90 (about 2 USD)…yeah, it's really that affordable. It's so affordable that you wouldn't think it's a meal with a cheeseburger, drink, and fries. It's a small meal that's big on value, all we had to do was tell people about it.
LBB> How did you land on celebrating 'The Small Pleasures' of life, and how did the ideation process of this concept transpire?
TJ> South Africans are going through a lot right now. We pay for electricity that's only on when we're asleep or at work. Our economy is going through mid-month blues… the whole time. It feels as though there is very little to be happy about at the moment, except, of course, winning the Rugby World Cup. And yeah, we're a nation that eats, drinks and sleeps rugby, but we'd also like to eat food, drink sodas, and sleep, having had a moment of reprieve from the challenges of life.
Our strategy was based on the notion that something positive, no matter how small, can change your day for the better. Our creative articulation of this is 'The Small Pleasures Of Life'. Because with the King Value Meals that are big on value, anyone can enjoy small pleasures no matter what.
LBB> At some point, everyone has experienced the terror of losing a car in the parking lot, but this spot cleverly makes light of it. How did you strike the right balance between humour and reality?
TJ> We spent a lot of time cooking up (see what I did there?) a lot of scenarios where a person would experience a small pleasure. The important thing was to ensure they weren't moments of huge relief or unrelatable. Forgetting where you've parked your car is something that has happened to most people. If you're the kind of person who doesn't really pay attention to where you've parked, it happens quite a lot.
Performance was critical in this spot. The protagonist had to come across as perplexed and not distressed because the missing car simply resulted from going to the wrong parking level. We wanted to convey the feeling that you know it's somewhere there, not gone, and so casting the right person with the right facial expressions was key.
LBB> There are so many subtle nods to Burger King which feature, such as the B1 and B2 font, the subtle dashes of orange and the general vintage styling of the campaign. Can you share how you were mindful of adding these in?
TJ> One of the worst things that can happen to a brand is when you create something memorable that stands out and makes people laugh, but they can't remember the brand behind it. So, we were very intentional about subtly adding brand cues throughout the commercial. BK's distinct retro vibes, font, and brand colours helped us do just that.
LBB> The narration plays a big role in capturing the audience's attention. What was the starting point of writing the script, and how did you find the right narrator to convey it?
TJ> Once we had the scenario, we had to think about how to heighten the tension in a moment that someone experiences alone. We wrote several scripts to find the best way to execute them and landed on an insight that guided how we wrote the radio scripts and the narration for the TVC.
The voice-over is basically that annoying and sarcastic internal voice we all have. To make it even more antagonistic, we used a second voice that's being spicy for no reason but with a seemingly friendly delivery. We experimented in the studio and finally landed on a delivery that worked, where the main narrator is even more judgemental, and the ad-lib voice punctuates that.
LBB> Getting into the nitty-gritty of the filming process, how long did it take to capture all the shots, and what was the location you chose?
TJ> We filmed at the Greenpoint Stadium parking lot in Cape Town. We chose the location because there are unique features in that parking lot, like the diamond shapes on the walls, that make it distinct. It took a day to get all the shots we planned to get and try a few we thought of on the spot. Being a visually simple script, the most important thing was to capture the right performance, framing, and camera angles, which we managed to do, even though we were cooped up in a cold parking lot all day on a beautiful sunny day in Cape Town. Such is la vie!
LBB> Regarding the camera work, we see zoomed-in and out shots, pans from the camera and a range of perspectives – from the plastic bag to the security monitor screens. How did this dynamic way of shooting add to the drama and tension of the spot?
TJ> Our camera language uses a variety of comedy techniques. The camera angles, movements and framing were used to add to the humour and capture the performance at its best. We intentionally avoided trying too hard to be funny because that usually comes across as forced. Even the plastic bag that floats in the parking bay where the car should've been was a great addition, and the plastic bag is one of the most amenable talents I've ever worked with.
LBB> During the editing process, how did you bring the shots together with the music and narration to form a cohesive storyline to enhance the campaign? What were some of the challenges of incorporating so many different elements and aspects into a short timeframe?
TJ> To tell the story in 30 seconds, we had to sacrifice a lot in the edit. There are some shots that were favourites that didn't make the cut because there wasn't enough time to include everything. We had to find a way to tell the story in its most succinct form without compromising the integrity of the script.
The music was also debated at length, right down to the day that we had to send the final material to stations. In the end, we opted for a track that complements the retro feel of the commercial, heightens the tension, and serves as an anchor for the narration. It's all the elements working harmoniously that make the final piece interesting, relatable, and funny.
