AD JUDGE

Organization: UN World Food Program
Ad: "Ronaldhino"
Market: Global
Product: World Food Program- Public Service Announcement
Agency: N/A
Year: 2006
Link: http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp093788.wmv

Verdict: 4 out of 10

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June 2006 and time for the World Cup!! Time for fans around the world to get together to celebrate the fiesta that only football, the king of sports, can provide. Time for large corporations to associate themselves with the sport and time for the football stars to grace our TV screens and enrich our morning-after office discussions.
So, no surprise to find out TV ads and sponsors leveraging the latest stars to get their message through.
But as this blog centers on public service announcements, it was refreshing to find one PSA ad that highlights football with one of its main global stars.

The story is simple - perhaps too simple. Take Ronaldhino, take a football, make an ad. If only good advertising could be so elementary. (Are you listening Nike?)

The ad is straightforward. Ronaldhino takes a football from his fridge, cooks it and sits at his table for his snack. Of course, "he" may be able to live off football (get it?), but not everyone can. So, the UN World Food program with our help can feed those people than cannot.

What can I say? Indeed, the message is clear and one may even profess that Ronaldhino, the magician showman of the Brazilian team, lives off football (just metaphorically?). Perhaps it is creative and timely to the World Cup. But it is simply ludicrous and even worse, so irrelevant to the plight of millions that indeed are hungry. I may be wrong, but it may even be deemed offensive to the cause it tries to advance.

Have a look instead at their excellent website www.wfp.org with its sobering facts:
800 million people going to bed hungry every night;
24,000 people die from hunger daily.

How trivial then is Ronaldhino and his football craze?

The website tries to reassure us that "as a WFP Ambassador Against Hunger, Ronaldhino uses the same uplifting passion that enables him to inspire both team mates and fans to draw attention to the plight of the 300 million hungry children around the world."

I do not doubt his sincere beliefs and help for the needy. Simply this ad, does not "cut it". I would have preferred to have seen him in action, on the field, addressing the issue by helping those hungry children in person. Maybe his football skills could be of help in overcoming their misery, even for a few moments. To inspire and even to create hope.

And the ad, beyond all, is delivered with such poor production values, as if it was shot on amateur video. Don't even get me started on the awful green supers. I understand and I praise WFP for their claim of having the lowest overhead spend (9%) of all UN organizations, but please do not spare on production quality when you can afford to have a great star like Ronaldhino. Although, I have to admit, that the music fits nicely in the simplicity of the story.

Evaluation:

The ad is simple and understandable, but is moderately relevant to the desired audience by being presented in such an unrealistic setting. The message is neither credible nor persuasive. It may be well-branded and ownable and somewhat distinctive. The presence of the star and the situation may make it memorable (next day in the office test) but unfortunately is neither engaging nor "calling to action" to make me get off my couch and help.

Detailed Score: 4 out of 10

1. Understandable: H
2. Relevant: M
3. Credible: L
4. Persuasive: L
5. Well-branded: H
6. Ownable: M
7. Distinctive: M
8. Memorable: M
9. Engaging: L
10. Makes Me Buy: L

My conclusion is also simple:

UN WFP - get those who create your excellent website to also do your advertising! In the meantime, stick to more traditional approaches, such as http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/newsroom/wfp098380.wmv

As for Ronaldhino - I'd rather watch you on the field or in spoof videos showcasing your skills http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1177437902170449843
(and be careful, even mere mortals claim can match it....

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9127943894975122879

G. Evans
Jun 2006

This blog will evaluate ads from around the world against the following ten evaluation criteria:

For each criterion there will be a score of L(ow), M(id) or H(igh), corresponding to 0, 0.5. or 1 points.

The sum of the ten scores will give the final verdict score out of a perfect 10!