Burger King on Dec. 2 will launch a collaboration with “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants” that spans new ads, a special menu, toys, packaging, an app takeover, experiential activations and more, per details shared with Marketing Dive. The latest film in the zany kids’ franchise will be released in theaters by Paramount Pictures on Dec. 19.
“Our long-standing partnership with Burger King has always been built on bold ideas and shared creativity — but this SpongeBob campaign is next-level,” said Michelle Hagen, executive vice president of worldwide partnerships at Paramount Pictures, in a statement. “It’s the ultimate mash-up of imagination and innovation.”
The limited-time menu features items that draw inspiration from the world of SpongeBob, including a Krabby Whopper on a yellow square bun, along with Mr. Krabs’ Cheesy Bacon Tots, Patrick’s Star-berry Shortcake Pie and a Pirate’s Frozen Pineapple Float. Items are available a la carte or as part of a Bikini Bottom bundle. A kids meal comes in a pineapple-shaped box with one of six toys and a crown.
The menu and SpongeBob characters are showcased in playful, bubble-filled ads by agency BarkleyOKRP that will run on TV, streaming, YouTube and social. The effort follows a summer collaboration with Universal’s “How To Train Your Dragon” that drove Burger King’s best King Jr. meal sales in more than a decade, according to an earnings call by parent company Restaurant Brands International, encouraging the QSR to continue building family engagement.
Burger King saw U.S. comparable sales grow 3.2% in Q3 2025, it’s highest mark in more than a year. The chain appointed Joel Yashinsky as CMO of its U.S. and Canada business in April after the executive spent more than seven years as chief marketer at Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar. Previously, Yashinsky worked for nearly two decades at Burger King rival McDonald’s.
Marketing Dive spoke with Yashinsky about how the SpongeBob collaboration came together, Burger King’s other marketing initiatives and how the chain is approaching value.
The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
MARKETING DIVE: Why team Burger King with SpongeBob?
JOEL YASHINSKY: It’s a natural fit for us for a number of reasons. One, it’s fun, and Burger King is really all about fun. Two, it’s multigenerational. SpongeBob has been around since 1999, so we’re able to speak to different generations of fans. Three, it ties into what we’ve been trying to do in terms of talking about how playful, fun, interesting and tasty our food is.
How long does it take to bring a partnership like this together?
With great credit to our marketing and culinary team: They’ve been working on this for longer than I’ve been at Burger King. When I came in, there was a lot of discussion about all that’s taking place with the SpongeBob promotion and the work that had been done to get us there. It’s almost a year-long process in terms of working with the partner, identifying the opportunities, and looking, from a culinary standpoint, at what type of food matches up and creates that fun experience in the restaurants for our customers.
How do you speak to the different generations — millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha — that have a relationship with SpongeBob?
We’re developing content for the right audience in the right channel. What’s really fun about SpongeBob is that the content sort of creates itself. We work very closely with the SpongeBob team, but what we’re really working on now is elevating [the toy experience] for kids, the social media component that will reach Gen Alpha and Gen Z, and what we do in terms of reaching millennials.
For a marketer, it’s a really great challenge to make sure you have the right content in the right channel at the right time, with the right message. Everybody will get a kick out of SpongeBob in the way we’re bringing it forward, whether it’s the TV commercial or a TikTok post or what we’re doing on Instagram Reels . But certainly, in today’s day and age, the beauty of being able to target your message in the right channels for that right guest helps make your overall approach more more specific and more effective.
A recent earnings call noted that the “Whopper by You” platform has helped Burger King broaden reach with women and Gen Z. What does that platform mean for your marketing?
We’ve done a lot of work to put the brand into the hands of our fans and into our guests. The other efforts that we’re putting forward in terms of our food and specifically our “Whopper by You” promotion — where we’re creating new Whopper flavors that are inspired by our guests – is something that I think is a powerful place for a brand to land.
Whether it’s a Whopper or a shake or an old favorite like Cini Minis, we’re able to listen to our guests and make sure we’re focused on what they need. Being focused on what our guests want versus what a celebrity might be talking about… we think is a much stronger play for a brand.
How are you marketing around value during a tough moment for consumers in a crowded restaurant market?
We know our guests are having challenging times right now when it comes to the overall economic environment. Our goal right now is to provide them a great lineup of choice, flavors and different price points. We’re really pleased with how our Duo and Trio promotion has worked for us because it has great choice and selection. We know guests really want to have the choice in terms of what they can get.
That flexibility has been a proven winner for us. We have a great everyday value platform for our guests to utilize while we also obviously communicate more full-margin premium products, like our Whopper by You. We believe we have premium products as well on our everyday value platform. So how do we balance that out? The communication of that is really important.
We’re also seeing people with obvious changes in their behaviors in terms of snacking, and so we’ve had a lot of focus on our frozen beverages and desserts. It’s really about providing guests what they need. When it comes to value, it’s important that there’s good value, flexibility and choice. The feedback we’re getting from our guests is that they appreciate what we’re doing.
