Episode 48 - Kiyan Prince Foundation Ad Reviewed by Nuffield Health and GSK

In this latest episode of Advertisers Watching Ads, our partners Contagious have chosen a very unique ad for the Kiyan Prince Foundation featuring their partnership with EA Sports. Honouring the memory of a young man tragically killed at the age of 15 and the potential of what he could have become, the ad is shining the spotlight on the amazing work done by the Foundation, through the words of Kiyan’s dad.

But does the ad do enough to actually showcase the Foundation’s work? Does it have a clear Call to Action and can its impact be measured? Finally, can it be repeated in the future, showcasing other athletes perhaps?

We’re joined by Virginia Barnes from Nuffield Health, Haris Munif - ex Head of Marketing at Samsung Gulf- , and Jerry Daykin from GSK to discuss the merits and the impact of this very special advert.

Transcription of audio file

This automated transcription gives you a good idea of what was said, but it’s not 100% accurate.

Tom Ollerton 0:08

Hello, and welcome to Advertisers Watching Ads. My name is Tom Ollerton. I'm the founder of Automated Creative, and this is a weekly show where brands watch other brands' ads and discuss what makes them good and bad. We're partnered this week, as we have been for a while, it's really exciting with Contagious, who have shared a bunch of different ads that we could have talked about today. I did a LinkedIn poll that decide which was the best and we, we have a really actually brilliant ad to share with you today. But before we get to that, let's meet this week's guests

Virginia Barnes 0:39

Hi, I'm Virginia Barnes. I'm the Brand and Loyalty Director at Nuffield Health.

Haris Munif 0:45

Hi, everyone. My name is Haris and until recently I've been heading marketing for Samsung for the TV and audio division based in Dubai.

Jerry Daykin 0:53

My name is Jerry, and I'm the EMEA Media Director at GSK Consumer Healthcare.

Tom Ollerton 0:58

Fantastic. Thank you so much for joining us. Let's see this week's ad.

Unknown Speaker 1:04

My name is Kai and I am a professional football. At least I would have been... had I not been killed when I was 15.

Unknown Speaker 1:22

There's two stories I want to tell you about my son. First one is about how he lost his life to a young person carrying a knife.

Unknown Speaker 1:37

But I want to tell you the other story, the powerful one about the man he was destined to become

Unknown Speaker 1:46

Everybody used to talk about how much of a wonderful talent he was and he was always destined to play at the top.

Unknown Speaker 1:53

Were he alive today his hard work, positivity and talent would have seen him among the stars of the game. Now I understand everyone's got what it takes to become a pro baller. Everyone's got something they're good at. So stand tall. Stand strong. Let that be your story. Your only story. See the man Kiyan was destined to become. Find him in FIFA, as the face of JD, in match attacks and on the team sheet at QPR.

Tom Ollerton 2:51

Brilliant. Okay, Jerry, what was your initial response to that ad when you saw it?

Jerry Daykin 2:56

I think it's a, it's an incredible piece of work. It's bold. It's a risky space to get right. You know, you're talking about very serious issues. You're, you're talking about somebody who tragically died and the choice to bring that person down, obviously, paying that person back. Obviously, it's, you know, in a charity partnership, but there's a sort of commercial branded side to it as well. So I think it's, it's more risky, but I think they do a really good job of navigating it there. For me, it was it was a really powerful story.

Virginia Barnes 3:26

I think... I think it's incredibly powerful. I think the reason why it's so successful is because of his dad, Dr. Mark Prince, OBE, is sort of central to that story. And I think he's performance is the wrong word, but the way he is magnetic, and the way he speaks, the character, like his delivery is incredible. But yeah, I also had the thought about I wonder where this came from? What, what was the brief? Where did this begin? Because I don't know how you done pick, like, was it in like a PR thing for EA games? Or like, I would love to know where this began. And I'd also really like to know, what, whether it's working or not now, what is this delivering? And how is that measured even? Like, is it, is it through sort of the impact on the Kiyan Prince Foundation?

Haris Munif 4:03

What I felt was, though some things were like a little unclear especially like you know, this has been around a knife attack incident. So the aspect that what is the the contribution by the consumers? I mean, where is that going exactly? Is it around education on certain issues... It's about, it says helping young people. But how is it really helping young people? Probably that should have been addressed a bit more clearly, towards the end, like what is the specific cause here?

Tom Ollerton 5:29

That was my take on it, I thought that the call to action at the end was quite weak.

Jerry Daykin 5:33

It kind of ticked a lot of boxes around. Yes, it's sort of purposeful advertising, but it feels like it's not overstretch for them, given all of the authenticity around it. From an EA perspective, I think it's very effective. From like a charity perspective, I didn't get, I didn't, I didn't know about the foundation before. Now, I did.

Tom Ollerton 5:52

Yes. Absolutely paying respect to a player that potentially could have been a massive star. But is that enough? Virginia, what, what should EA be doing here to, to give back outside of just the representation of Kiyan as a character?

Virginia Barnes 6:10

Yeah, the question that... I'm hoping that this is the launch film, and that there is more information that follows. I think the foundation is about helping young people be that, to be their best. I haven't clicked through the foundation's website.

Tom Ollerton 6:25

Is this repeatable? Is this sustainable? Quite often, in this show, when we're looking at innovative campaigns that can often be quite cool and eye catching, and PR-able, which is, which is lovely. But the real opportunity is something that's repeatable, sustainable, that doesn't need reinventing every time to continue adding value to the foundation of the brands that are involved. Would this work in whatever the Formula One equivalent is, for example? Or is there... Is this a one off? Or could it get further?

Haris Munif 7:03

This needs to be a much more long term and repeatable effort. So I think it would kind of be a shame if they do not kind of like build up on this further, and probably bring in other brand partnerships as well, which would resonate, resonate with the, with the younger audience with the millennials and the gen Z's that probably are being being targeted, in addition to their to their parents. So I think there are a lot of other brand partners that could kind of like come on board. I think that, I think the call to action, the last frame should, should also be kind of like, "Go and visit the foundation's website and try to learn more about the story." I think that definitely got longevity, and I think it should be implemented as such.

Tom Ollerton 9:23

So unfortunately, we have to wrap the show up here on a count of five, I'm going to ask you to vote out of five how many points you would give this ad, so just hold up your fingers, please. So, three, two, one... A four and a five. The most popular advert in a long time on Advertisers Watching Ads. Thanks for joining the show today, guys. Thanks to Contagious. We will see you all next week.

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