Burger King on Dec. 2 will launch a collaboration with “The SpongeBob Film: Seek for SquarePants” that spans new adverts, a particular menu, toys, packaging, an app takeover, experiential activations and extra, per particulars shared with Advertising and marketing Dive. The most recent movie within the zany youngsters’ franchise will likely be launched in theaters by Paramount Footage on Dec. 19.
“Our long-standing partnership with Burger King has at all times been constructed on daring concepts and shared creativity — however this SpongeBob marketing campaign is next-level,” mentioned Michelle Hagen, govt vice chairman of worldwide partnerships at Paramount Footage, in an announcement. “It’s the last word mash-up of creativeness and innovation.”
The limited-time menu options gadgets that draw inspiration from the world of SpongeBob, together with a Krabby Whopper on a yellow sq. bun, together with Mr. Krabs’ Tacky Bacon Tots, Patrick’s Star-berry Shortcake Pie and a Pirate’s Frozen Pineapple Float. Gadgets can be found a la carte or as a part of a Bikini Backside bundle. A youngsters meal is available in a pineapple-shaped field with certainly one of six toys and a crown.
The menu and SpongeBob characters are showcased in playful, bubble-filled adverts by company BarkleyOKRP that may run on TV, streaming, YouTube and social. The trouble follows a summer season collaboration with Common’s “How To Practice Your Dragon” that drove Burger King’s greatest King Jr. meal gross sales in additional than a decade, in keeping with an earnings name by mum or dad firm Restaurant Manufacturers Worldwide, encouraging the QSR to proceed constructing household engagement.
Burger King noticed U.S. comparable gross sales develop 3.2% in Q3 2025, it’s highest mark in additional than a yr. The chain appointed Joel Yashinsky as CMO of its U.S. and Canada enterprise in April after the manager spent greater than seven years as chief marketer at Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill & Bar. Beforehand, Yashinsky labored for practically twenty years at Burger King rival McDonald’s.
Advertising and marketing Dive spoke with Yashinsky about how the SpongeBob collaboration got here collectively, Burger King’s different advertising initiatives and the way the chain is approaching worth.
The next interview has been edited for readability and brevity.
MARKETING DIVE: Why staff Burger King with SpongeBob?
JOEL YASHINSKY: It’s a pure match for us for quite a lot of causes. One, it’s enjoyable, and Burger King is basically all about enjoyable. Two, it’s multigenerational. SpongeBob has been round since 1999, so we’re in a position to communicate to totally different generations of followers. Three, it ties into what we’ve been making an attempt to do when it comes to speaking about how playful, enjoyable, fascinating and attractive our meals is.
How lengthy does it take to convey a partnership like this collectively?
With nice credit score to our advertising and culinary staff: They’ve been engaged on this for longer than I’ve been at Burger King. Once I got here in, there was a whole lot of dialogue about all that’s going down with the SpongeBob promotion and the work that had been executed to get us there. It’s nearly a year-long course of when it comes to working with the accomplice, figuring out the alternatives, and looking out, from a culinary standpoint, at what sort of meals matches up and creates that enjoyable expertise within the eating places for our clients.
How do you communicate to the totally different generations — millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha — which have a relationship with SpongeBob?
We’re creating content material for the suitable viewers in the suitable channel. What’s actually enjoyable about SpongeBob is that the content material type of creates itself. We work very intently with the SpongeBob staff, however what we’re actually engaged on now’s elevating [the toy experience] for youths, the social media element that may attain Gen Alpha and Gen Z, and what we do when it comes to reaching millennials.
For a marketer, it’s a extremely nice problem to be sure to have the suitable content material in the suitable channel on the proper time, with the suitable message. Everyone will get a kick out of SpongeBob in the best way we’re bringing it ahead, whether or not it’s the TV industrial or a TikTok put up or what we’re doing on Instagram Reels . However actually, in at this time’s day and age, the fantastic thing about having the ability to goal your message in the suitable channels for that proper visitor helps make your general strategy extra extra particular and simpler.
A latest earnings name famous that the “Whopper by You” platform has helped Burger King broaden attain with ladies and Gen Z. What does that platform imply in your advertising?
We’ve executed a whole lot of work to place the model into the arms of our followers and into our visitors. The opposite efforts that we’re placing ahead when it comes to our meals and particularly our “Whopper by You” promotion — the place we’re creating new Whopper flavors which can be impressed by our visitors – is one thing that I believe is a robust place for a model to land.
Whether or not it’s a Whopper or a shake or an previous favourite like Cini Minis, we’re in a position to hearken to our visitors and ensure we’re centered on what they want. Being centered on what our visitors need versus what a star is likely to be speaking about… we expect is a a lot stronger play for a model.
How are you advertising round worth throughout a tricky second for customers in a crowded restaurant market?
We all know our visitors are having difficult instances proper now in relation to the general financial setting. Our objective proper now’s to offer them a terrific lineup of selection, flavors and totally different worth factors. We’re actually happy with how our Duo and Trio promotion has labored for us as a result of it has nice selection and choice. We all know visitors actually wish to have the selection when it comes to what they’ll get.
That flexibility has been a confirmed winner for us. We’ve a terrific on a regular basis worth platform for our visitors to make the most of whereas we additionally clearly talk extra full-margin premium merchandise, like our Whopper by You. We imagine we now have premium merchandise as nicely on our on a regular basis worth platform. So how will we steadiness that out? The communication of that’s actually vital.
We’re additionally seeing individuals with apparent modifications of their behaviors when it comes to snacking, and so we’ve had a whole lot of concentrate on our frozen drinks and desserts. It’s actually about offering visitors what they want. In terms of worth, it’s vital that there’s good worth, flexibility and selection. The suggestions we’re getting from our visitors is that they recognize what we’re doing.
