Power of Online 25 | SunMatrix Ramble

Burger King: Anti Pre-Roll Pre-Roll

Turning the internet’s biggest annoyance into the idea

The smartest digital work often starts with a blunt truth the audience already feels. Burger King’s take on pre-roll irritation is a clean example of that approach.

Pre-rolls on YouTube are considered as one of the most annoying things on the internet. Here, “pre-roll” means the ad that plays before a video starts.

It is a fact that even Burger King acknowledges, even though they profit enormously from them.

So for their campaign in New Zealand they decided to take a slightly different approach. They created 64 videos that made fun of the annoying pre-rolls and then tailored it to the video that was about to be watched.

How 64 tailored pre-rolls made interruption feel relevant

The mechanism was contextual creative at scale.

Instead of running one generic pre-roll, Burger King produced a library of short spots designed to match the viewer’s intent. The pre-roll referenced the type of content about to play, making the interruption feel less random and more like a commentary on the moment. By “contextual creative,” I mean variants that change based on the content about to be watched.

That shift matters because it changes the viewer’s question from “how fast can I skip?” to “what are they going to say about this one?”

The real question is: can you turn the skip reflex into a moment of curiosity.

In global consumer brands buying always-on video, contextual creative is the simplest way to make paid interruption feel earned.

Why self-aware interruption can win attention

Pre-roll is hated because it steals time and breaks flow.

Extractable takeaway: If you cannot remove an interruption, acknowledge it and pay it back with relevance.

This idea reduced that emotional tax by acknowledging the annoyance and using humor to create alignment with the viewer. When a brand says what people are already thinking, it earns a small amount of trust. Tailoring the message to the next video adds a second reward: relevance.

In other words, it does not remove the interruption. It makes the interruption entertaining enough to tolerate.

The business intent behind mocking the format

The intent was to keep the media advantage of pre-roll while reducing the brand penalty that comes with it.

By turning the format itself into the joke, Burger King aimed to increase watch time, reduce skip reflex, and improve brand sentiment. The audience still gets interrupted. But they feel understood, and that changes how the brand is remembered.

If you have to run pre-roll, self-aware contextual creative is a cleaner play than pretending the format is not annoying.

What to steal for your next video campaign

Start with a shared frustration. If the audience already dislikes the format, acknowledge it instead of pretending it is fine.
Make relevance the reward. Contextual tailoring can turn an interruption into a moment of curiosity.
Scale with a clear template. A creative system. Many variants. One consistent joke structure.
Earn seconds, not impressions. In pre-roll, attention quality is the real KPI.

A few fast answers before you act

What did Burger King do differently with pre-roll in New Zealand?

They created 64 pre-roll videos that mocked the annoyance of pre-roll and tailored the message to the video the viewer was about to watch.

What was the core mechanism?

A library of contextual creative variants designed to match viewer intent, making the interruption feel relevant and humorous.

Why does self-aware humor work in an interruptive format?

Because it aligns the brand with what viewers already feel, reducing irritation and increasing willingness to watch.

What business goal did this support?

Improving attention quality and sentiment while still benefiting from the reach and placement of pre-roll media.

What is the main takeaway for brands?

If you cannot remove an interruption, redesign it so the audience gets a payoff. Relevance and humor are two of the fastest payoffs available.

One Man’s Dance Pushes Bon Jovi to Hot 100

A Boston Celtics fan is shown on the big screen during a break. Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” is blasting. He commits fully, dancing like the arena is his stage. It is the kind of moment that feels tiny in real time, until the internet decides otherwise.

In 1987, Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” topped the Billboard charts for four consecutive weeks. Then in 2009, Jeremy Fry did an epic dance to it while the Boston Celtics blared it during a break at a home game. The dance was then uploaded to video platforms four years ago and, at the time, was reported to have been watched more than 5 million times.

Then on October 17, 2013, a user named Jose Duran re-uploaded the clip to his own channel, adding the title “One Man Dances Like Nobody’s Watching While Everyone Is. He’ll Crack You Up!”. In one month, that newly uploaded video was reported to have been watched more than 12 million times and Liked on Facebook more than 1.7 million times.

This renewed interest has landed “Livin’ on a Prayer” at the number 25 spot of the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

The re-upload loop that restarts demand

The mechanism is not complicated. The re-upload loop is when the same asset re-enters feeds as if it is new because its metadata and context reset. An old clip gets a new headline, a new uploader, and a fresh social context. That reframing makes the content feel “new” to people who missed it the first time, and “worth sharing again” to people who remember it.

A re-upload is not the same as a repost. It is the same asset packaged as a new piece of media, with new metadata (title, thumbnail, description) that can change how algorithms and humans interpret it.

You should treat reframing as a first-class distribution lever, not a leftover tactic, especially when you already own a library of strong moments.

The real question is whether you have a repeatable way to notice the loop restarting and package the next iteration deliberately.

Why it turns into a chart event

In social and content-driven organizations, recontextualizing an older asset with a sharper framing can restart attention and measurable demand without changing the underlying product. What makes this story more than a funny clip is the translation layer. The viewing spike does not stay inside the video. It spills into listening, searching, and buying behavior, and that shows up in consumption-based charts.

Extractable takeaway: When a second wave hits an existing asset, optimize the wrapper first. Title, thumbnail, and context are often the fastest path to downstream demand.

It is also a reminder that “distribution” is not only paid. Sometimes distribution is the internet looping back on itself, and your role is simply to recognize the moment and understand what it can move downstream.

What to steal if you market catalog content, brands, or culture

Package beats production. A new framing can outperform a new asset when the original moment is already strong.
Headline for retellability. If people can summarize the clip in one sentence, they will share it more.
Watch the “spillover” signals. Search, streams, downloads, and social sharing often move together when a loop restarts.
Be ready with the next step. When attention spikes, the easiest follow-on action should be obvious, not hidden.

A few fast answers before you act

What caused the Bon Jovi chart comeback in this case?

A second viral wave. A re-upload with new framing drove renewed sharing and viewing, which then translated into higher consumption of the song.

Why can a re-upload outperform the original upload?

Because metadata changes distribution. A new title and context can reach new audiences and re-trigger sharing among people who already know the clip.

What is the core mechanic behind “viral recontextualization”?

The same content is made to feel newly discovered by changing how it is introduced. The asset stays the same. The wrapper changes.

How do you spot that a “second wave” is starting?

Look for a sharp uptick in shares and searches around an older asset, especially when the spike is attached to a new uploader, headline, or meme format.

What is the practical takeaway for marketers outside music?

Build and maintain a library of “still-good” assets, then learn how to repackage them for new contexts. The easiest growth sometimes comes from distribution, not production.

ActionAid: Donate Your Profile

ActionAid is an organisation committed to many projects, like fighting hunger and poverty. But in Italy it is known primarily for sponsoring children.

To communicate the broader work of ActionAid with a small media and production budget, DLV BBDO created “Donate Your Profile”. Participants donated their Facebook and Twitter profile pictures so that awareness could be generated for the stories of people ActionAid helped.

How “Donate Your Profile” worked

The mechanism is a simple identity swap. People hand over the most visible square in their social presence. Their profile photo. In return, they display a campaign image tied to a real person’s story, so every comment, like, and share carries that story into everyday social traffic.

Support from Radio 105, Radio Deejay, La Stampa, Marc Marquez and other Italian celebrities and brands helps normalise the behaviour. Once well-known accounts participate, the “donate your picture” action looks safe, easy, and socially endorsed.

In Italian cause marketing, borrowing social identity can outperform paid media when budgets are tight, because it turns personal networks into distribution.

The real question is how to turn a low-budget act of support into something people carry through their normal social behaviour.

Why the profile swap spreads

This works because it converts passive support into a visible, persistent signal. A profile picture is not a post that disappears in a feed. It is a durable badge that travels wherever you show up online, and it prompts questions that naturally lead to explanation and sharing.

Extractable takeaway: If you need earned reach without heavy spend, move the call to action from “share a post” to “change a default”. When people change a default surface, the campaign rides along with their normal behaviour.

The reported impact

The project was described as becoming the 5th most trending topic on Twitter and generating over 79 million media impressions, with more people joining in as the support network grew.

What to borrow from the profile-swap pattern

Pick a high-frequency surface. Defaults like profile photos travel more than one-off posts.
Make the action reversible. People participate faster when the commitment feels temporary.
Seed with credible partners. Media brands and recognisable faces reduce hesitation.
Turn participation into a conversation starter. The best mechanics invite questions, not just clicks.

A few fast answers before you act

What is “Donate Your Profile”?

It is a campaign where people replace their Facebook and Twitter profile pictures with a campaign image, so ActionAid stories gain awareness through everyday social interactions.

Why use profile pictures instead of posts?

A profile picture is persistent and high-visibility. It shows up repeatedly across comments and interactions, so the message travels without requiring constant re-posting.

How did the campaign scale beyond early participants?

Reportedly through support from media brands and celebrities, which makes the behaviour feel normal and increases follow-on participation.

What results were reported?

Reported results included reaching the 5th most trending topic on Twitter and generating over 79 million media impressions.

What is the main risk with this pattern?

Trust. If people are unclear about what is being changed, for how long, and what they are authorising, participation drops. The exchange must be transparent and easy to undo.