As crazy as 2021 has been, probably the last thing that anyone expected was to walk into a fast-food joint and walk out with some extra cryptocurrency. Restaurant Brands International's (QSR 5.47%) Burger King has to have one of this month's wildest promotions with its Burger King with a Side of Crypto campaign.
The country's second-largest burger chain has teamed up with Robinhood Markets (HOOD +2.62%) to give away more than 2 million crypto tokens. When a member of Burger King's free loyalty rewards program, Royal Perks, places an order of at least $5 at the chain, they will receive an email containing a code for a free coin to be redeemed on the Robinhood trading app. But if you're hungry for a shot at free crypto, you'll need to hurry. The promo ends Sunday. Once it's over, recipients will have four more weeks to claim their tokens on Robinhood.
Image source: Getty Images.
It's a Double Whopper
The good news is that Burger King really is giving away more than 2 million full cryptocurrency tokens. People aren't going to get fractions of a Bitcoin (BTC 0.24%), Ethereum (ETH 1.89%), or Dogecoin (DOGE 3.80%) token after buying that combo meal.
The bad news is that the odds of that free crypto being anything other than a dogecoin are 1 in 9,091. And each member of the Royal Perks program is limited to one entry per day. The breakdown of the giveaway is as follows:
- 20 bitcoins
- 200 ethereums
- 2,000,000 dogecoins
Obviously, the breakdown was going to favor Dogecoin -- those tokens are changing hands for about a quarter apiece these days -- and not Bitcoin, which is teetering around $60,000, or Ethereum which is going for about $4,200. It's still an interesting promotion, though, and genuinely a win-win-win proposition.
We've covered what Burger King regulars get. They're getting what is likely a free dogecoin to go with a meal that they were probably going to buy anyway. And Royal Perks members already score deals on the app, so they're getting that free crypto token on top of what's probably already a discounted meal.
Burger King parent Restaurant Brands International is also a clear winner here. It's going to lure in scads of crypto-seeking customers. And Burger King's scoring plenty of free publicity from this clever campaign -- I can assure you this isn't the first article covering the promotion.
Finally, there's Robinhood -- possibly the biggest winner here. Even if it is the one footing the bill for the prizes -- and it's not quite clear which of the two companies is paying for the "side of crypto" -- the trading platform will get an influx of new customers visiting it at a pivotal time. Robinhood is now a broken IPO in the wake of the share price slide it took after it posted disappointing quarterly results three weeks ago. It has seen a dramatic quarter-over-quarter drop in trading and actively funded accounts. If this promo attracts new users to register for the free tokens, or woos some former users back into trading more actively, it's a smart tactic in its wider efforts to regain relevance as a cryptocurrency platform.
With Robinhood ready to step up its game by expanding into crypto wallets and other financial products, it could use an infusion of new accounts -- and the ones this promotion produces will likely be cheaper to acquire than those derived from its more conventional advertising and referral leads. The Burger King crypto promo ends this weekend -- but for the businesses behind it, the real game continues.
