Keep It Real
Burger King launched the Keep It Real campaign to generate buzz around their removal of artificial ingredients from their menu. They teamed up with three celebrities – Nelly, Lil Huddy, and Anitta– to create meals that can be ordered off of the improved menu. We were tasked with designing merch that were to be sent to influencers, one item per celebrity: a dad cap, a tote, and a hoodie. We also designed franchisee t-shirts to be worn by employees during the campaign. The design team was small, myself and my art director, with a large collaborative spirit.
The challenge was working on designs that reflect the changes to the menu, Burger King’s new branding, and the celebrity. We went through many design rounds, then finally landed on graphics that were in the style of the new branding, but reflected elements of each celebrity in their own subliminal way.
services
Apparel Design, Merch Design, Illustration
Each design screams Burger King with subtle elements of the celebrity. For Lil Huddy (Chase Hudson) I illustrated “Real” with a broken heart in ketchup with a lil fry. For Anitta (Larissa Machado) I combined her signature with tropical aspects. For Nelly (Cornell Haynes Jr) I made a call back to his iconic lyrics with a literal burger on fire (the burger, the burger, the burger’s on fire).
Research
The project was a long journey and quite a challenge. The main obstacle was finding a design balance between Burger King brand guidelines, the specific celeb aesthetic, and the fact that Burger King had removed 120 artificial ingredients from its menu. We began by researching the celebrity in extreme depth: What does their existing merch look like, how do they dress themself, what products would a fan realistically wear, and what graphic design trends can we apply to merch? We also dove into studying the Burger King guidelines, seeing what we can pull and where we have to follow.