In an inspired grassroots marketing campaign, Burger King accidentally 'dropped' thousands of wallets containing real dollar bills and Burger King vouchers all over the U.S. cities of Chicago, Illinois and Orlando, Florida.

"It's on the King"

Last week the fast food giant sent undercover agents to scatter their prizes all over the cities and if anyone attempted to hand it back to them, their line was: “Keep it. It’s on the King”

So what was inside? A few bloggers have recounted their experience of finding wallets with bills ranging from $1 to $100 inside, Burger King coupons, a driving licence for 'The King' and fake receipts for items such as 'pinky rings'. A sticker inside the wallet read : “Samaritan! Don't worry about lost & found. The King wants you to keep this wallet and everything in it.”

One may wonder why the fast-food giant chose Orlando of all places to litter with free cash, but this sunny city is home to the “Worlds Largest McDonalds PlayPlace”, putting Burger King at somewhat of a disadvantage.

One mother commented that her son was the recipient of some pretty hot prizes in his lucky wallet: « My son too found a wallet, but his had a $100 bill, a $100 food coupon and a receipt for the King’s gold…well the gold is worth $5000..it’s not fake.»

Copy-cats

However, this PR stunt is not at all new as McDonald's launched a similar campaign in 2006 and in 2000 GE Financial Network launched a four week « Tossed and Found » campaign, featuring prizes such as a $100,000 GE Funds Investment Account or $12,000 towards a residential mortgage.

Something tells me GE won't be relaunching that campaign any time soon...