Cinema: A Powerful Medium for Change
“Purpose is a key ingredient for a strong, sustainable, scalable organizational culture. It’s an unseen-yet-ever-present element that drives an organization. It can be a strategic starting point, a product or company differentiator, and an organic attractor of users and customers.
With its larger than life screens, surround sound, and a global audience of approximately 8.90 billion moviegoers, Cinema is the ultimate vehicle for reaching the highly desirable and influential movie going audience with an appeal for social change.
Additionally, Cinema is uniquely placed as the only advertising medium to have a worldwide trade organization dedicated to Cinema Advertising (SAWA), and it is the only advertising medium in the world able to effect change for good on a global scale.
Since 2015, SAWA and its Members each year have supported the United Nations Sustainable Development goals with a Global Cinema campaign in more than 30 countries.
United Nations Development Programme & SAWA Partner to Launch Global Cinema Campaign Aimed at Raising Awareness of the Climate Emergency
New York, 11 May 2022—The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and SAWA Global Cinema Advertising Association today launched an eight-week international cinema advertising aimed at raising awareness of the climate emergency and spurring broader, urgent action to address it.
In the 60-second cinema ad, Frankie, a computer-generated dinosaur is seen storming into the UN General Assembly, seizing its iconic podium, and urging stunned-looking dignitaries to avoid the dinosaurs’ fate—extinction—by making changes to tackle the climate crisis.
At the red-carpet launch of the film’s cinema release, SAWA and the Global Cinema Medium will be presented the inaugural UNDP “Frankie” Award for Climate Impact. The honor recognizes SAWA and the Global Cinema Medium’s tremendous efforts to screen the 60-second spot in 30 countries during a two-month campaign. The cinema ad, produced in 15 languages, has been mastered and distributed by UniqueX in the United Kingdom.
The animated Utharaptor, the first computer-generated character to appear inside the iconic General Assembly building, anchors UNDP’s “Don’t Choose Extinction” campaign. The original film was voiced in 39 languages and features famous actors from around the world, including Jack Black (English), Eiza González (Spanish), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Danish), and Aïssa Maïga (French). It has been translated into more than 60 languages.
“While the global cinema ad is entertaining, it addresses issues that could not be more serious,” UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner said. “It urges countries to phase out fossil fuels subsidies, which harm the environment in ways that threaten our very existence. UNDP is deeply grateful to SAWA and the Global Cinema medium for its commitment to climate action and generous support in sharing this film through cinemas in 30 countries around the world.”
“Since 2015, the Global Cinema Medium has partnered with the United Nations to advance its Sustainable Development Goals. Again, in 2022, although cinema has been one of the hardest hit industries during the pandemic, our Global Cinema advertising companies have committed to supporting this campaign on climate change—seen as one of the most pressing challenges of our time.” said Cheryl Wannell, SAWA, CEO. “Gen Z, Millennials and Gen X put climate action high on the list for both themselves and the brands they use. They are among the hardest demographics to reach and comprise the core cinema audience.”
“Fossil fuel subsidies contribute to climate change and growing inequalities around the world. But there isn’t enough global awareness or understanding around this issue. The cinema release of the Don’t Choose Extinction campaign hopes to change all that by using creativity to inform and inspire millions of moviegoers around the world to take action,” said Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, UNDP Goodwill Ambassador and the Danish voice of Frankie the dinosaur.
For more information about the “Don’t Choose Extinction” advertisement and campaign, and to learn how to get involved in addressing climate change, please visit https://dontchooseextinction.com.
Zero Hunger and #FeedOurFuture – UN World Food Programme
Zero Hunger is the second of the 17 Global Goals for Sustainable Development adopted by the 193 Countries in 2015. Worldwide, 821 million people go to bed hungry every night. Three million children die of hunger every year. Achieving Zero Hunger is possible if the people of the world unite in its support.
SAWA, the Global Cinema Advertising Association has formed a powerful partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP) as an important step toward generating political and social will to eradicate hunger in our lifetime. The “Feed Our Future” campaign which began in 2018 highlights the huge loss of potential to the world when children, families and communities don’t have the food and nutrition they need. Every time a child dies, our future dies with them.
The UN World Food Programme Wins 2020 Nobel Peace Prize
SAWA congratulates the UN World Food Programme on winning the prestigious 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. It has been the global Cinema medium’s honor to help raise awareness around the world of SDG #2 – ending world hunger.
DigitalCinemaReport.com
The UN World Food Programme Campaigns – 2018 and 2019
At the 2018 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity SAWA, in partnership with WFP, the world’s leading agency fighting hunger, launched “Feed Our Future,” WFP’s first global Business to Consumer marketing campaign aimed at inspiring a world with Zero Hunger by 2030 (SDG2).
The multi-platform Campaign was launched in September 2018. At its core lived a thought-provoking, disruptive 60-second Global Cinema advertisement conceived by Sir John Hegarty and The Garage Soho, directed by Lynn Ramsay and produced by Somesuch & Co. The ad compelled audiences to imagine the potential that is lost every time a child dies of hunger. The campaign asked viewers to help starving children by downloading the UNWFP ShareTheMeal app and donating 50 cents to save a child’s life for a day. In addition to print and social media presence, the Campaign was also supported by Facebook Messenger where viewers could interact with Miriam, the star of the Cinema ad.
Thanks to the collaboration by SAWA, the Global Cinema Advertising Association and the Global Cinema Advertising Companies, the advertisement aired pro-bono in 34 countries for an 8-week period. The two-fold activation also strategically partnered with Facebook to target a digitally savvy audience with concrete actions they could take to eradicate hunger.
Cinema’s Ability to Effect Change – 2018 Campaign Results
Analysis of the 2018 “Feed Our Future” fully immersive campaign confirms the ability of Cinema to effect change for good on a global scale.
The Global Cinema campaign reached more than 43 million people thanks to Facebook’s Messenger integration and generated over 100 pieces of earned media globally. In the first week alone, ShareTheMeal downloads increased by 60%+, which led to an 11%+ increase in donations.
Additional stats from the “Feed Our Future” campaign include:
IN-CINEMA ONLY (the very first week)
- + 38% New Users
- + 60% Revenue from Users
- Brand awareness for the UNWFP rose 40% with cinema goers
MESSENGER BOT
- 4.6K BOT Traffic
- 240+ users on average per day while World Food Programme BOT daily average is 7
FACEBOOK LIVES: NEW YORK CITY – DUBAI – INDIA
- Approximately 13 million impressions
- Approximately 9 million people reached
- Over 140K Likes, Comments, and Shares
- Total of 54.4M Impressions on Social
MEDIA COVERAGE
- 103 pieces
- 282M impressions
TOTAL IMPRESSIONS
- Over 316M via broadcast and online media
- Around 54.4M social media impressions
2019 UN World Food Programme “Feed Our Future” Campaign
Due to the overwhelming success of the 2018 global Cinema campaign, in 2019, a 60-second cinema ad directed by Nick Gordon and again conceived by Sir John Hegarty and The Garage Soho premiered at SAWA’s Seminar held at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity in June 2019.
Thanks to support by the SAWA network of Global Cinema Advertising Companies, the 2019 “Feed Our Future” ad is now featured on cinema screens in more than 35 countries around the world. The 2019 campaign is running for eight weeks, ending in November. The compelling message includes a call to action to help keep children’s voices alive by visiting wfp.org and donating to help save a child’s life. Click here to view the ad.