Project Overview
Burger Urge is the coolest burger joint you’ve never heard of. Unless you grew up in Queensland in the 90s.
Having lost their way while scaling the business, we partnered with Burger urge to re-inject the swaggerful, anti-establishment vibes that had originally put Burger Urge on the map.
The result, a truly distinct anti-brand that is equal parts appetite appeal and fun. Oh, and since relaunching the brand, like-for-like sales are up 12% (trending at +4% pre launch).
Project Commissioner
Project Creator
Team
The General Store
Genevieve Read, Design Lead
Matt Newell, CEO & Founder
Pat de Silva, Project Manager
Project Brief
Burger Urge was started by three mates at uni. It was so popular that it had queues of people stretching out the door and around the corner. Before they knew it they had a cult following.
But as they grew, they started adopting some of the techniques of the larger, global-chains, quickly moving away from their distinctly edgy identity that made them so beloved, and towards a middle ground that failed to stand for anything.
Our job was to help Burger Urge get their swagger back and reignite the anti-establishment vibe that originally put them on the map.
Project Innovation/Need
Sitting in the middle is tough. On one side we were competing against the soulless global giants slinging processed shit. And on the other, a growing fast casual cohort led by the likes of Grill’d, where burgers had started to look more like a salad roll with a patty in the middle.
Needing to carve out a distinct point of difference, we created a razor-sharp brand strategy that celebrated Burger Urge taking back the burger. Making burgers “the way they should be” - burgers that nourish the body and the soul.
And to tie it all together, we re-injected the anti-establishment vibes that had originally put Burger Urge on the map, developing a distinct brand character, called Smurgy. Derived from the B & U of the business name, we unleashed Smurgy across the entire business and let him run wild.
Smurgy allowed us to flip the traditional category norms. Where in most cases a brand is led by the brand name and supported with a logo, Smurgy is truly the dominant force of the brand identity.
Staying true to the anti-brand vibes that were part of the original business DNA, Smugy rarely appears consistently - from sitting on top of different, colours, textures and images, to being created out of different strokes and even with different emotions.
The Smurgy is a celebration of great burgers and not really giving a F&*K what anyone else thinks.
Design Challenge
Our design challenge was straightforward: how do you design a brand platform for an anti-brand?
This work is a triumph of creativity over rational thinking. We broke as many of the rules of branding as possible. We took the name of the store fronts (featuring the Smurgy only), we appropriated Australian cultural icons and we wrote the most offensive copy imaginable (below are some copy samples from the menu).
THE NEW YORKER
Burger shops like to name their burgers after cool places that have absolutely zero resonance with the ingredients or flavour they’re named after. This is a burger created with Aussie ingredients but we made it sound American because hipsters and millennials yearn for that gentrified shit like they yearn for an ironic band shirt or a witty hashtag at a wedding.
w/ beef, cheese, pickles, aioli, mustard & ketchup
THE LAMB
This is the Samsung Galaxy of the burger world. Like the uncool kid who got bullied for being a little bit different. Well, we get it, you’re cool, you’re actually AHEAD of the game, we know you had those ideas first mate. WE KNOW. So next time you’re feeling a little anti-establishment, forget beef and dabble in lamb. You’ll enjoy it like a ginger enjoys a pity root.
Ask for it to be made Huawei-an and we’ll add a slice of pineapple for free.
w/ lamb, cheese, pickles
Effectiveness
Since relaunching the brand, like-for-like sales are up 12% (trending at +4% pre launch).
12 brand new stores have been rolled out with the business working towards retrofitting all stores by 2023.
Sean Carthew, Founder & CEO, described the partnership with the agency as “truly remarkable.. .these guys just got exactly what we needed and have given us our secret sauce back. It’s amazing how much our customers and team love the new brand. Even I’ve fallen in love with it again!"
Graphic Design - Identity and Branding - Food
This award celebrates creative and innovative design in the traditional or digital visual representation of ideas and messages. Consideration given to clarity of communication and the matching information style to audience.
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