Mercury and BurgerFuel giving away free burgers to spread word about EVs

Mercury chief marketing officer Julia Jack in front of electric vehicle Evie. Photo/Supplied.

Mercury might be working hard to position its brand as one of the most progressive around, but the company's latest effort relies on an old-school marketing tactic: a classic food giveaway.

Teaming up with BurgerFuel, the company will this weekend distribute 200 free burgers at Queens Wharf in Auckland from 11am.

While the burgers will likely run out quickly given New Zealand's insatiable love for free food, the energy company will also be working with BurgerFuel on a promotion that will see mini-burgers sold for $5 (usually up to $7.50).

The burgers might get all the attention, but the promo price of $5 is really the point of the entire campaign.

At a time when consumers are being hit by high petrol prices, Mercury wants to drive home the point that it only costs around $5 in energy charges to fuel up a 24kWh electric vehicle, such as the Nissan Leaf.

"We're paying a premium for a dirty, imported product when the cleaner, New Zealand-made alternative is comparatively cheap as chips… or burgers to be more accurate," says Mercury chief marketing officer Julia Jack.

"We've got a fantastic opportunity in New Zealand where our home-generated, renewable electricity means you can do the right thing for the country, the environment and your wallet, and we want to celebrate that."

This comes off the back of Mercury's elaborate marketing campaign, which saw a 1957 Ford Fairlane (the epitome of a muscle car) converted into a canary yellow electric vehicle, dubbed Evie.

The campaign challenged the notion that electric vehicles are the boring safe option, offering an alternative glimpse at the electric future.

Electric vehicles still remain a niche, with only 10,000 registered on New Zealand roads.

But there are signs of this changing, with one in 50 vehicles currently imported falling under the classification of electric.

"We're absolutely at a tipping point when it comes to EVs," says Jack.

"More than ever, Kiwis are acutely aware of the environmental and financial costs of driving on fossil fuels.

"EVs can run at the equivalent of 30c a litre on a much cleaner fuel source, so why continue to pay more and suffer the damage caused by petrol and diesel?"