Ster-Kinekor Sales aims to support the 'Feed our Future' campaign as part of its partnership with SAWA, the Global Cinema Advertising Association, and WFP.

The new campaign aims to build on 2018's results, which helped to double awareness of WFP among those who saw the ad. The campaign raised more than half a million dollars through online giving and through a 38% increase in downloads of the agency’s Share the Meal donation App, globally.

"We have every reason to believe that this year, the 'Feed our Future' campaign is going to take us even further in terms of raising WFP brand visibility and engaging a wider audience in the fight against global hunger," says Corinne Woods, chief marketing officer at WFP.

"We think that this year's campaign is even more emotionally engaging, and we expect more people will respond to our call. In a world full of noise, cinema has proven incredibly effective for us at cutting through to not only establish our brand, but also to convert cinema-goers into active supporters and donors," Woods adds. 

"The cinema medium makes the most of its space, creative and audience to deliver gripping content, showing consumers advertising at its very best," says Motheo Matsau, deputy CEO, Ster-Kinekor theatres.

"In 2020, the cinema medium is predicted to become the fastest-growing ad medium ahead of the Internet. For brands like the World Food Programme, which want to reach the hearts and minds of millennials, the immersive experience that cinema gives is the most powerful of all storytelling mediums," adds Matsau.

Ster-Kinekor says that the creative force behind the new advertisement is Sir John Hegarty of The Garage SOHO, who has delivered a product designed to appeal directly to cinema audiences.

The advert highlights the potential loss to the world when children's voices are silenced due to hunger. The poignant narrative of the ad sees a group of Syrian refugee children who were selected from the local community playing in rubble and gazing out of bombed-out buildings in an apparent war zone.

A small chorus of voices begins singing How Can I Tell You by Yusuf Islam / Cat Stevens. As the short film progresses, one by one these children disappear until only one voice remains — a conclusion that aims to mirror the harsh realities faced by the three million children around the world who, according to the campaign, lose their lives to hunger or malnutrition.



For more information, visit www.wfp.org or www.sterkinekor.co.za. You can also follow Ster Kinekor on Facebook or on Twitter.

*Image courtesy of Ster Kinekor