Craving VICIO: Marketing, Strategic Creativity, and a High-Performance Team

VICIO: The Internet’s Most Desired Burger

What Do They Sell?

1. Premium burgers (such as the Double Cheeseburger and the Truffled burger).

2. Fries, sauces, and desserts made in-house.

3. Experiences and content in every order: from stickers to provocative packaging phrases.

How Did It Start?

It all began in 2020, during the pandemic, in Barcelona, when Aleix Puig (winner of MasterChef 7) joined entrepreneur Oriol de Pablo to create a restaurant concept that did not depend on a physical location. Their first idea, a tapas concept, did not work. Soon after, however, they found the perfect formula: burgers designed for the digital environment, with strong storytelling and a product that travels well through delivery.

In just a few weeks, they went from cooking in a ghost kitchen to having a waiting list of delivery riders. They have not stopped growing since.

Creative Team & Marketing Leadership

Since February 2024, Jesús Cubero has been VICIO’s Chief Marketing Officer, leading the brand’s communication and positioning from Madrid across its 11 current cities. Cubero has more than 18 years of QSR experience, having worked with brands such as Burger King, KFC, and Telepizza. His arrival reflects VICIO’s evolution toward a more structured marketing phase while maintaining its disruptive approach.

The company has a creative leadership committee made up of co-founders Aleix Puig and Oriol de Pablo, plus a core team of around 80 people dedicated to design, technology, and marketing, while the wider group reached 800 employees by the end of 2024.

Creative Culture: The “Fast, Good & Loud” Mindset

VICIO is built around three pillars: speed, quality, and notoriety. Its corporate manifesto embraces a challenging spirit: moving fast, hacking platforms, staging fake police controls, and even delivering by jetpack. This attitude permeates the culture: no idea is automatically banned, mistakes are treated as learning opportunities, and originality is prioritized over safety.

How Do They Build Such an Effective Team?

1. Phygital startup mindset: They combine digital agility with physical operations, encouraging constant experiments and A/B tests in creativity, packaging, and campaigns.

2. Disruptive recruitment: They attract industry experts by looking for profiles from entertainment, agencies, and technology.

3. Creative autonomy: Internal teams (branding, digital, campaigns) have the freedom to execute ideas without passing through multiple layers of hierarchy.

4. Proprietary technology: Internal order and demand optimization algorithms feed a creative strategy based on real customer behavior data.

Brilliant Examples of Creativity Executed by the Team

1. Kim Kardashian / Free Delivery Campaign: They recreated Kim’s Balenciaga look and activated their community to tag her. Although she did not respond, the campaign generated more than 3,700 comments and led sales that week, with free delivery fulfilling the actual promise.

2. Jessica Goicoechea vs. Goiko Billboard: A giant billboard was installed in Madrid showing the influencer enjoying a burger, with a clever slogan playing with the rival brand. The offline campaign generated massive digital virality.

3. Infiltration at the McDonald’s Convention: The team booked a room at the executive hotel and placed flyers on door handles, generating direct attention through an irreverent narrative.

4. Original Branded Content:

1. Hangovercure.tv: More than 48 hours of Netflix-style hangover videos, generating over 30,000 visits in 12 hours.

2. Cheat Meal: A show with influencers Yenesi and BB Trickz filmed in their own store and distributed on TikTok and YouTube, reaching millions of views.

5. Collaboration with Nil Ojeda (“Somos Inocentes” campaign): They created a fake public trial to launch a limited menu, which sold out on the first day and generated strong viral engagement.

6. Brand partnerships: Collaborations with companies such as Nike and Red Bull have produced limited-edition products and packaging with viral impact.

Key Strategies: How They Make Creativity Work

Instant pop-culture topics: They respond quickly to trends such as Kim Kardashian or Goicoechea to capitalize on the moment.

User-generated content (UGC): #RandomVicio encourages follower creativity challenges, with weekly reposts.

Packaging as a creative medium: Irreverent copy on boxes and promotional materials becomes part of the brand’s virality.

Combining digital and street marketing: From flyers on door handles to giant outdoor campaigns, everything is reinforced on social media.

Conversation-driven narratives: They use intelligent provocation aimed at consumers and competitors without directly naming them.

Team: Structure and Impact

1. Leadership under Jesús Cubero (CMO).

2. Founders Aleix Puig & Oriol de Pablo as brand visionaries.

3. Approximately 80 people in the creative core (marketing, design, and strategy), within a broader team of 800 employees.

4. Self-managed teams with a data-driven approach and creative freedom.

Why Are Their Marketing and Team So Strong?

1. Vision and culture from the top: The founders and CMO promote an environment where boldness and the unexpected are rewarded.

2. Operational agility: They can design and implement campaigns in days—or even hours—without bureaucracy.

3. Data as creative fuel: Their internal technology provides real customer insights that become effective creative ideas.

4. Omnichannel consistency: Every communication piece keeps the same irreverent tone across social media, offline, packaging, product, and branded content.