Burger King boosts 'Call of Duty' Twitch event with Grubhub delivery

Brief:

Burger King two weeks ago transformed one of its restaurants into a gaming hub for "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare," the video game made by Activision Blizzard, in an event that was livestreamed on Twitch, per an announcement shared with Mobile Marketer. The chain offered free delivery from Grubhub of meals inspired by the Burger Town restaurant that appears in the game and bonus gaming content.
The fast food company gave customers who visited a restaurant in Long Beach, California, on Oct. 24 a chance to win free Whoppers for the next 15 years by testing their gaming skills against professional "Call of Duty" gamers Scump and FaZe Apex. For customers outside the Los Angeles area, Grubhub offered free delivery from select restaurants in 16 cities, which appeared as "Burger Town presented by Burger King" restaurants in Grubhub's app.
Grubhub is offering exclusive gaming content to customers who enter the code "BKCALLOFDUTY" at checkout through Nov. 6. Players can receive an in-game "Burger Town Emblem" for their first qualifying delivery order, followed by a code to unlock a "Burger Town Calling Card" for their second order and a code to unlock the "Burger Town Bubby Weapon Charm" for the third order, per the announcement.

Insight:

By combining their marketing efforts, Burger King, Activision Blizzard and Grubhub seek to boost awareness among a shared target group of younger customers who are more likely to play video games and order food through mobile apps. The promotion blended an experiential marketing strategy with mobile-based couponing and a popular video game franchise to reach a shared audience.

Twitch, the livestreaming platform owned by Amazon, specializes in gaming content and is popular with Generation Z. Activision Blizzard last week said "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" sales surpassed $600 million during the first three days of release, making it the fastest-selling game of 2019 so far. As the company ramps up advertising ahead of the critical holiday shopping season, Burger King and Grubhub can piggyback on the publicity to boost food delivery orders.

Video game-related promotions have become more prominent among major brands, with more than 2.5 billion people worldwide saying they play the games, per researcher Newzoo. Burger King last month offered free delivery from Uber Eats to "Kings of Soccer" gamers who dressed virtual players in the jerseys of a U.K. soccer team it sponsors, and posted videos of their ball-handling skills to Twitter. Rival Wendy's last month became of the first sponsor of Giphy's new video game platform that lets people share customized micro-games in their social media posts and mobile messages. Wendy's also recently created a branded avatar for the hit multiplayer game "Fortnite," which is popular among U.S. teens.

Burger King's latest promotion may help Grubhub to gain more customers as the food delivery app copes with greater competition and pushback from restaurants over fees. Grubhub last week reported that orders and customer growth had slowed in Q3, triggering a 40% plunge in its stock. The company faces more intense competition from rivals DoorDash, Postmates and Uber Eats. To boost adoption, Grubhub has had to offer more free-delivery promotions from major restaurant chains, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company in August signed a deal to provide delivery from Shake Shack locations nationwide, and in September started delivery service for McDonald's in New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut.