Valentine’s Day saw controversial icon and soccer superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic launch a new campaign when he removed his shirt to reveal 50 new tattoos carrying a campaign message during the match between his team Paris St-German took on Caen.
Each tattoo revealed the name of just 50 of the 805 million people who are currently suffering from famine worldwide.
The campaign, fronted by Ibrahimovic, has been developed by the United Nations World Food Programme(UNWFP) and aims to raise hunger awareness.
Ibrahimović played with the names of people such as Carmen, Mariko, Antoine, Sawsan, Chheuy, Lida, Siatta, Rahma, Yaae (who all receive food assistance) tattooed on his body to highlight hunger and what WFP is doing about it.
The on-pitch launch at at Parc des Princes was followed by a campaign YouTube film.
This initiative from the World Food Programme, the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger, aims to drive awareness and subsequently donations to support its objective of getting food to where it is most needed and to saving the lives of victims of war, civil conflict and natural disasters.
The campaign is designed to bring attention to names that no-one cheers for and use the Swedish captain’s profile to help those battling hunger and disease.
‘Wherever I go people recognize me, call my name, cheer for me,’ said the silkily-skilled Swedish striker. ‘But there are names no one cares to remember. That no one cheers for: the 805 million people suffering from hunger in the world today.’
‘I have supporters all over the world. From now on I want this support to go to the people who suffer from hunger, they are the real champions. So whenever you hear my name, you will think of their names,’ he explained at the campaign launch press conference at PSG’s headquarters in Paris.
‘If I could, I would write every single name on my body. But there are 805 million people suffering from hunger in the world today … So whenever you hear my name, you will think of their names. Whenever you see me, you will see them.’
The core campaign links the launch stunt and awareness video (with music, Tornado, by Jónsi http://smarturl.it/qeqdrs), plus social media promotion (including on Zlatan’s own platforms) to a specific microsite at www.wfp.org/805millionnames where users can learn more about WFP and the people who it assists every day.
The campaign was developed in tandem with agency Forsman & Bodenfors on a pro bono basis, in collaboration with film production company Newland and media integration agency Matter, plus support from Be On / AOL and Lundgren & Lindqvist.
Comment
Following on from the fantastic success of its World Cup, Shakira/Activia partnership (see previous case study), UNICEF’s World Food Programme has again turned to football for a new campaign
The WFP, which reaches more than 80 million people with food assistance in 75 countries every year, is largely voluntarily funded.
This campaign aims to drive viewers to the campaign website at http://WFP.org/805millionnames
to learn more and ultimately make donations.
‘Each one of the 805 million people suffering from hunger in the world has a name, a voice, a story to share,’ explains WFP’s France Director Marina Catena.
‘Zlatan accepted the challenge and wished to carry their stories on his own skin so that the world does not forget them.’
‘We are extremely grateful to PSG for supporting our initiative to spread such a strong solidarity message that, I am sure, will shine beyond France and the football world,’ adds Catena.
As well as support from its star player, from the club and its fans, the awareness campaign is alos supported by the Paris-Saint-Germain Foundation which supports a range of case campaigns largely focusing on children in need in and around Paris.
‘We are building a great football team and we wish that the values of solidarity and help that are foundations of our team are also shared towards people in greater needs. ‘Dream bigger’ is PSG’s motto and so we have decided to support our football player Ibrahimović and WFP in this innovative campaign to raise global awareness on the fight against hunger,’ comments Nasser Al-Khelaïfi (chairman of PSG owner Qatar Sports Investments).
And, yes, despite the worthy cause, Zlatan still got a yellow card for removing his shirt.
Links
WFP 805m Website
http://cdn.wfp.org/2015/805millionnames/
WFP 805m Website
https://www.youtube.com/user/WORLDFOODPROGRAM
WFP 805m Campaign Launch PR
http://www.wfp.org/news/news-release/football-star-zlatan-ibrahimovic-kicks-campaign-beat-hunger
WFP Twitter:
@WFP_FR
Twitter hashtags:
#805millionnames
#WFP
#UNWFP
#UnitedNations
#WorldFoodProgramme
Forsman & Bodenfors:
