Music in advertising works best when the song is the idea, and Burger King Kuwait's If I Were You is a clear example. It is a karaoke number sung by a crew member from behind the till, with the lyrics running along the bottom of the screen so the audience can sing along. The treatment and the song came from Ghazy, co-founder of iklipse, through &That French Guy, the agency's creative arm.
iklipse is a creative and AI production agency working across the GCC, Egypt and beyond. This is the story of one of our favourite small films, and what it says about writing music for brands.
The film puts a karaoke screen inside a Burger King.
The setup is simple. A Burger King crew member in a cap stands at the counter and sings. The title, If I Were You, glows in bubble letters beside him. The words scroll along the bottom of the frame like a karaoke machine.
The joke builds as the song goes on, because the singer is giving the customer advice. The campaign's award entry finishes the line for us: "If I were you, I'd get free food." That is the whole offer, delivered as a chorus. No voiceover, no product shot with a price slammed on top, no list of terms read at double speed.
It ran in Kuwait in 2023. M+C Saatchi Middle East was the agency, Good People produced, and Major Tom handled the music and sound. Ghazy wrote both the treatment and the song.
Why a karaoke format suits a fast food offer.
Karaoke is participation by design. The words are on screen, the melody is easy, and you are invited to join in. For a promotion, that matters. The audience reads the offer while hearing it, which is the oldest memory trick in advertising and still the most reliable.
It also matches the brand. Burger King likes to play the cheeky one in its category, happy to wink at the audience. A crew member who sings to you from behind the till is that personality in human form. He is warm, a little ridiculous and very sure of his advice.
The till is the right stage.
Setting the song at the counter keeps the film close to the real moment of choice. The person in the cap is the person who will take your order. It turns a staff member into the brand's spokesperson, which feels friendlier than a celebrity holding a burger they will never eat.
Music in advertising works when the song carries the message.
A lot of brand music is wallpaper: a licensed track under pretty pictures. It sets a mood and then disappears. The films people remember tend to do something harder. The lyric is the message, and the melody is how it sticks.
Ghazy writes this way across his work. In Rexona's Alphabet of Cheering, he wrote a football song that runs from A to Z, one cheer for every letter, and built the treatment around the lyrics. In If I Were You the song is shorter and sillier, and it follows the same rule. Write the words first, and make the brand's point inside them.
Three questions we ask before writing a brand song.
- Can someone sing the key line after one listen? If the offer is buried in verse three, it is lost.
- Does the song belong to this brand? Swap the logo and check whether it still fits. If it fits anyone, it belongs to no one.
- Does it survive without picture? People hear ads from the next room, on the radio, through a phone on the table. The audio should tell the story alone.
Post-production makes a karaoke film feel like karaoke.
A lot of the charm sits in the finish. The bubble letter title, the scrolling lyrics and the timing of each word against the beat all have to feel like the cheap, joyful karaoke machine everyone recognises, while still looking like a polished Burger King film. Get the lyric timing wrong by a few frames and the joke falls flat.
That kind of craft is the daily work of our post-production and video editing team: graphics that read on a small screen, subtitles that are part of the design, and cutdowns that keep the hook when a 30 second film becomes a 6 second bumper. Music driven films are especially sensitive here, because the edit has to respect the song's structure. You cannot cut a chorus in half and expect people to sing it.
What other brands in the Gulf can take from it.
Gulf audiences watch a lot of brand content on their phones, sometimes with sound and sometimes without. A brand song with on screen lyrics plays well in both cases: sound on, people sing; sound off, they still read the offer.
- Make the offer the hook. If your promotion fits in one line, put that line in the chorus.
- Use your own people. Staff, regulars and franchise owners carry more charm than a stock model.
- Design the type with the music. On screen lyrics are a creative element, so plan them with the same care as the shot list.
- Keep it short enough to repeat. A song people hear five times should still be fun on the fifth.
If you have an offer that deserves a song, our team at iklipse can write it, shoot it and finish it. Get in touch, or see more of the work on our works page.
Frequently asked questions about music in advertising.
Who made Burger King's If I Were You?
The treatment and the song are by Ghazy of &That French Guy, iklipse's creative arm. M+C Saatchi Middle East was the agency, Good People produced, and Major Tom did the music and sound.
Where and when did it run?
The film was made for Burger King Kuwait in 2023.
Is an original song better than a licensed track?
For a brand message, often yes. An original song can carry the offer in its lyrics and belongs only to you. A licensed hit sets a mood but rarely says anything about the product.
Sources: iklipse case study, Burger King If I Were You campaign credits.
