Burger King has teamed up with esports team FaZe Clan to introduce the brand’s first plant-based meaty burger.
FaZe Clan Takes a Bit Out of Meatless Burger
American fast-food chain Burger King is going Eco-friendly by introducing the Impossible Whopper, a “0% beef” hamburger that was showcased with the help of FaZe Clan, an esports organization.
To get a taste of the promotion, on August 7, Burger King’s mascot appeared on one of FaZe’s challenge videos where team members had to guess what a specific food item was by tasting the meal.
With FaZe sitting down to have a bite, Thomas “Temperrr” Oliveira, Lucas “Blaze” Mosing, Alex “Adapt” Pinkevich, Jakob “Teeqo” Swarden, Jack “Cizzorz”, and Jarvis “Jarvis” Kaye all had a go at the Whoppers.
While members were a little surprised to have tasted two Whoppers in a row, Burger King quickly explained that the second meal was in fact made of plants. That wasn’t the first and only appearance of the brand’s mascot either, with “Burger King” participating in a video with Oliveira Kaye, Jack, and Danny “Dubs” Walsh the following day to continue promoting the burger.
Burger King Promotes Healthy Food through Esports
While fast food could have been the fuel of esports athletes, with competitive video gaming becoming professional, more teams have hired health specialists to monitor the nutritional habits of players.
This has prompted companies to reconsider what they put in their food. Burger King has been particularly keen on partnering up with esports initiatives, having already sponsored the BLAST Pro Series in April.
There have been multiple other partnerships worthy of consideration, including Wendy’s support of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a game that almost dominated the 2018 sales, even though it was only released in December.
Even Tastier Partnerships
Wendy also teamed up with NRG’s Nairoby “Nairo” Quezada, an FFG community member and gamer. So far as fast-food chains go, Burger King has not been alone. KFC has long been supporting the vertical.
In January, KFC and Call of Duty UK announced the special branded event KFCRoyale, just one in a line of many partnerships to follow. KFC’s Twitter channel already has 66.7K followers, showing the power traditional brands can rein in by entering the esports segment.
Meanwhile, a number of companies have begun showing interest in producing esports-branded merchandise is all the rage, but fans aren’t taking it all for granted. Mountain Dew and G Fuel are just some of the brands that have come up with “esports energy drinks”.
However, in the words of Overwatch League creator Mike Sepso, esports fans don’t want to be jerked around, and that’s why adding value is crucial.