THE PROBLEM
In a world where conflict and natural disasters are consistently causing food insecurity the work of organisations like the United Nations World Food Programme is increasingly necessary. Despite government support everyone with the ability to help will be required to, in order to reach Zero Hunger. We need each individual to care about hunger and the United Nations World Food Programme’s work enough to donate. So first, general awareness by individuals is needed. Therefore our first goal became to make people care about hunger. In fact only 1 in 5 say they would donate to save those 3 million children a year from dying! Astonishing but true.
In our world of wealth disparity there are 20x more smartphones than there are hungry children:- a tiny contribution everyday from each of those smartphones would ensure no child goes hungry. The United Nations World Food Programme created a simple to use app, Share The Meal, to engage with those users. STM allows them to donate a meal. Every time they are eating they can seamlessly make sure someone somewhere else can too.
THE IDEA
A powerful new global cinema advertising campaign featuring leading names from the film, advertising and humanitarian worlds, aimed at stirring global cinema audiences into action to tackle global hunger, launched in cinemas across the world & on Facebook and Instagram, to coincide with the start of the annual United Nations General Assembly session in New York. The 60-second cinema advertisement was conceived by advertising legend Sir John Hegarty and The Garage Soho. It was directed by acclaimed film director Lynne Ramsay and produced by award-winning production company Somesuch & Co.
THE EXECUTION
On the mother of screens for creative – cinema, the unnerving narrative depicts a bustling news conference, with journalists scrabbling to interview the recipient of a breakthrough medical research award – Miriam. As the film progresses Miriam talks. She tells the journalists ‘there is no medical breakthrough’. As she continues, the room grows still. Miriam begins to fade as she says that in fact she died of hunger when she was only 8 years old. Her voice, now a child’s voice, calls on us to feed our future and download ‘Share The Meal’.
We learn that 3 million children die of hunger every year and that we can help stop it with this simple app.
THE ROLL-OUT
The ad premiered at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity
It then ran in 34 countries globally for a period of 8 weeks
THE RESULTS
Awareness of the World Food Programme
Downloads of Share the Meal app
Meals for starving children funded
Revenue for Share the Meal
Source: Nielsen research conducted in USA during first week of campaign