The curious case of the missing mascots

To launch Burger King's New Breakfast Offering into a competitive South African QSR landscape it was necessary to show up like a serious contender. So we decided to utilize our sports sponsorship platform in a unique way. As a sponsor of the storied rugby franchises The Bulls and The Lions you'd think we'd focus on using the rugby players to headline our launch film but no, we decided to instead focus our story telling efforts on the tow teams' mascots.

From pitch to plate, we partnered with two powerhouse rugby teams, the Blue Bulls and the Lions, to launch Burger King’s new breakfast offering as the new MVP of the morning. By tapping into one of the most passionate rivalries in local sport, we reframed breakfast not as a routine, but as a moment worth rallying around.

The idea played out through a high-impact, social-first film that brought the intensity of match day into the morning rush. Big personalities, competitive banter and bold visuals mirrored the drama fans expect on the field, while heroing Burger King’s breakfast as the fuel that gets you game ready.

By grounding the launch in culture rather than category tropes, we created work that felt unmistakably local, unmistakably Burger King, and impossible to ignore. The result was a breakfast launch that didn’t just announce a new menu, but showed up ready to play, and play big.