On October 15, Tesla unveiled its long-awaited Roadster, featuring a live-streamed, rocket-thruster-backed “levitation” into the air at a SpaceX testing facility.
From IKEA to Domino’s, several brands jumped in on the moment to share their reactions to Tesla’s Roadster. Burger King UAE responded with a particularly witty, on-brand Instagram post that showed flying cars zooming around a futuristic Burger King fly-thru.
The brand’s viral response is a great example of reactive advertising. Reactive advertising (also known as real-time marketing) refers to advertising that’s an off-the-cuff, unplanned response to a viral cultural moment. Whether it's a ten years in the making brand reveal, a defining pop-culture trend or a move from one of their main competitors, reactive advertising immediately capitalizes on an already attention-grabbing moment. More than just a fast response, great reactive advertising brings an “added” layer to the conversation, whether that’s a witty joke, a new insight or pop-culture throwback.
In this post, I take a look at Tesla’s Roadster commercial and the impact of the well-executed reactive advertising from Burger King.
Tesla’s second-gen Roadster is reportedly Tesla’s first-ever “flying car.” Tesla demonstrated its SpaceX rocket-style-thruster-fitted vehicle in a livestream demonstration on the 15th of October at the SpaceX testing facility in Texas.
The Roadster was rolled out in red with a spacesuit-fitted test dummy, dubbed “Starman,” at the wheel. Audiences watched as the car made its way up the ramp, lifted into the air and flipped in the sky before returning back down to the ground in a haze of dust. The live reveal was later shared online, racking up billions of views.
Tesla’s Roadster has been in the works since 2017, when Tesla shared a Roadster prototype. The unveiling was subsequently followed by seemingly slow development and a series of ever-shifting launch dates.
Ten years later, Tesla has finally unveiled its “flying” electric vehicle (EV), capable of reaching up to 230mph and 60mph in 0.81 seconds. The brand is asking for $50,000 from any consumer who wants to secure a Roadster post production (predicted to be 12-18 months). The car is estimated to cost around $250,000 in total.
Austin Parsons at Car and Drive says, "Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed that the new Roadster will be able to reach over 230 mph and be capable of "crushing every track record that has ever existed." An underside fan system, like the one found on the McMurtry Spéirling, will supposedly keep the two-door coupe glued to the ground, while an array of cold-air thrusters is said to aid the Roadster to a claimed sub-one-second 60-mph time and allow it to do aerial gymnastics. Does all of that sound too outlandish for a production car? We think so. While the road-going version of the new Roadster will surely be a brutally quick and capable EV sportscar, we doubt it'll be a flying car for the masses."
Tesla’s advertising campaign quickly gained attention. It racked up billions of views in hours and was met with a blend of curiosity, cynicism and astonishment. For many consumers, Tesla’s rollout seemed like the “first” physical manifestation of their long-held Back to the Future-esque dreams of flying cars.
The campaign also drew attention from the skeptics.
Matthias Schmidt, independent automotive analyst, called the car's tech “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory stuff that will never see the light of day." While Michael Thompson, CEO of flying car company Skyfly, called Musk's reveal, “A stunt,” noting that, “The technology does not materially advance practical flying cars.”
How did Burger King respond to the Tesla unveil? Burger King’s response was funny, imaginative and on-brand — making it a perfect example of effective reactive advertising.
Burger King took the opportunity to make a wry, tongue-in-cheek joke about the transformative potential of flying cars on the Burger King drive-thru experience. On October the 16th, Burger King UAE posted an image of flying cars circling a Burger King “Fly Thru,” to their Instagram account. Beneath the photo, they posted a caption that read “Maybe it’s time…”
Burger King’s response immediately capitalizes on the momentum of the Tesla moment. Beyond simply reacting, Burger King makes their response distinctly their own — using the moment to reimagine the classic Burger King drive-thru.
Great reactive advertising often reflects consumers’ emotions connected to the original moment, while also bringing a levity to them. Burger King took consumers’ and experts’ skepticism and playfully extended it with a more outlandish version of the Roadster’s capabilities. Their response also served as the perfect “daydream” fuel — connecting with consumers’ long-held fascination with flying cars in a fun and inventive way. The ad served both as a playful joke (“Maybe it's time…”) and as an imaginary exploration of a more exciting “drive-thru” experience.
What are the key elements of effective reactive advertising? Great reactive ads typically share three things in common.
While proactive advertising demands long-term planning, reactive advertising requires an immediate response to capitalize on consumers’ attention. To do this effectively, brands must actively track breaking stories, competitor news and pop-culture and social media trends and act within minutes or hours of the moment happening.
Beyond acting quickly, brands need to understand how to respond in ways that connect with consumers. Which jokes will resonate? Which insights will be welcomed? Which emotions need to be connected to and elevated?
Great reactive advertising typically brings a new layer of humor or insight to a trending moment. Burger King’s reaction was fun, witty and emotion-led — allowing consumers to play with the idea of a more fun drive-thru experience.
Effective reactive advertising also puts a brand’s signature on a trending moment. Done well, it provides an original, brand-aligned take on a current cultural phenomenon. As Rajiv Singh at Open Magazine says:
"When a cultural moment supplies an obvious joke, competitors can arrive at neighbouring punchlines. Being quick gets a brand into the conversation. Being recognizable within it requires more. Marketing and branding experts reckon that a borrowed moment works when the brand adds something that belongs to it."
Staying relevant without forcing a connection means only reacting when your reaction is authentic and brand relevant. Simply jumping on current trends can feel like a disingenuous grab for consumer attention, undermining trust. Rather than mindlessly capitalizing on a viral moment, smart brands ask whether the moment has relevance for them.
One of the most iconic examples of reactive advertising in recent years is Oreo’s response to the Super Bowl XLVII. An unexpected power outage cut the lights in the Superdome for over 30 minutes. Within ten, Oreo’s social media team had uploaded a tweet of an Oreo in a dimly lit room alongside the caption: "Power out? No problem. You can still dunk in the dark."
Source: Leo Morejon
The witty tweet successfully poked fun at the outage and brought a reassuring lightness to consumers’ frustrations over the blackout. The move made the brand feel like part of the cultural moment, outperforming many of the official paid sponsors for the halftime show.
Another standout example of reactive advertising comes from the U.K. grocery store Lidl, which weighed in a legal battle surrounding the British birthday party classic: chocolate caterpillar cake. In 2021, U.K. grocery chain Marks & Spencer launched a much-talked-about intellectual property lawsuit against supermarket competitor Aldi, claiming Aldi had infringed on their "Colin the Caterpillar" trademark with their rival "Cuthbert cake”.
Source: BBC
Known for their playful, tongue-in-cheek marketing — Lidl immediately jumped in with their own retort. Lidl Ireland's then Twitter account shared a picture of a Google search for, ''Insects that look like caterpillars that aren't," alongside the caption: "Our legal team's search history right now."
More than just a witty response to a competitor, the move was timely, relevant and totally aligned with Lidl’s brand voice — making it a classically Lidl response to a trending event.
There are several ways to measure the effectiveness of your reactive advertising. From impressions to virality, attention is the first measure of effective reactive advertising — helping you to quantify how well your ad resonated with consumers.
But attention means little if consumers fail to connect your ad to your brand. Measuring brand recall allows you to assess how effective your ad is at strengthening brand linkage — making sure consumers immediately identify the creative as belonging to your brand and can easily make the connection to your brand when they think of it.
Brands must also balance cultural relevance with brand association. Brands can easily capitalize on the attention of a viral moment — but for it to be effective, it needs to reflect their wider brand identity.
The reason Burger King’s response worked so well is because it didn’t just move in on a cultural phenomenon, it did so in a way that was immediately recognizable as belonging to the Burger King by featuring the brand’s distinctive drive-thru in a fresh and funny way.
But turning a wry joke or witty meme into a viral advertising campaign requires more than just speed. While speed is essential when it comes to reactive advertising, speed doesn’t mean acting impulsively without first measuring the impact of your creative. Like I cover above, the wrong response can easily read as inauthentic to consumers — testing helps ensure your creative feels authentic and brand aligned.
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