Just recently, Burger King UK has added the Wagyu Burger to its menu. Though many food enthusiasts find joy in the news, the arrival of the burger left Gordon Ramsay with a bitter taste. Available nationwide for a limited time, the wagyu beef burger is launched to pamper even the pickiest taste buds. So why does the chef disapprove of the new product? Because this time, it wasn’t him behind the recipe. The bitter taste is not from the food, but rather from regret of not being part of the process of developing the tasty burger.
Ramsay has built himself a reputation as a very confident man and chef. However, the birth of the Wagyu burger shattered his confidence, as the BK staff completely ignored his chef skills. As a result, Ramsay feels caught off guard and even resorts to pep talks with himself to navigate through this (clearly uncomfortable) situation in his life. With BK employees constantly keeping him out of the kitchen and after multiple failed attempts to improve the recipe, the chef eventually accepts that he had no contribution to creating the brioche bun.
The unusual side of Ramsay lies at the center of Burker King’s new campaign, creatively titled “Not Made by Gordon.” Crafted by BBH‘s in-house studio, Black Sheep Studios, directed by Artur Wolgers, and photography by Mark Peckmezian, the videos document Ramsay’s constant — but failed — efforts to be part of the process. The OOH posters complementing the initiative extend the joke, portraying a chef visibly affected by BK’s decision not to allow him to be part of the creation of the burger.
Now, all jokes aside, Ramsay declared that BK’s choice to add The Wagyu to the menu was a “smart move.” Commenting on the burger, the chef said: “Take it from me, The Wagyu tastes flaming great and anyone trying it will be able to taste the gourmet quality of the beef… which is so important for any great burger. It’s amazing to see how Burger King UK have made wagyu so accessible to the public, and I absolutely love how the product celebrates the best of British beef farming.”
Teaming up with a chef of Ramsay’s caliber and teasing him seems like a bold move. Felipe Serradourada Guimaraes, Executive Creative at BBH London, explains why they settled for such a strategy: “When you’re so confident in your product, you hire a celeb chef just to tell the world they had nothing to do with it. That’s pure Burger King.”
Despite having no role in developing the product itself, his appearance in the initiative is a first, marking his debut in a QRS campaign outside of his own restaurant portfolio. The campaign will run across TV, print, OOH, and radio.
CREDITS
Brand: Burger King UK
Agency: BBH London
