Drogba vs Messi Epic Food
Turkish Airlines
Issue 34 | March 2015
Agency
CP&B London
Creative Team
Executive Creative Directors Matt Gooden Ben Walker Creative Directors Ben Carey Henrik Delehag Copywriter Emma Penz Art Director Philip Sinclair
Production Team
Agency Producers, Print Ali Power James McNichol Agency Producer TV Rob Steiner Planner Nimi Raja Production Company HSI Director Joseph Kahn
Other Credits
Account Team Charles Faircloth Genevieve Sexton Ilkay Dibekoglu Avital Fineman Advertising Manager Serdar Ekrem Sirin Interactive MarCom Manager Tu¨rk Hava Yollari A.O Neset Dereli
Date
November 2014
Background
When Turkish Airlines 'Widen Your World' campaign sent Kobe Bryant and Lionel Messi on a 'Selfie Shootout', the film clocked up over 137 million views.
The challenge was, how do you follow the YouTube's most-watched ad of 2013?
The answer was, by pairing Messi up with fellow soccer star Didier Drogba. And with food.
This was not just because Turkish Airlines had won awards for its catering but because of an insight. Culturally curious travellers, when they visited another country, wanted to experience life as the locals lived it.
Idea
For many, it was the food they ate in the little restaurants and tucked-away cafes that made their holidays memorable. Food really did widen their world.
So in 2014, Turkish Airlines sent Didier Drogba to search out the most epic food on the planet. At all the locations (which showcased Turkish Airlines destinations) Drogba saw that Messi had been there before him.
The endline was, 'We fly to more flavours than any other airline.'
The video was supported by an initiative calling on viewers to upload photos of their own photos at EpicFoodMap.com for the chance to win a trip to the locations featured in the film.
Results
Not yet available
Our Thoughts
The video/film which won the Grand Prix at Cannes last June was adam&eve DDB’s ‘Sorry I Spent It ON Myself’ commercial. On YouTube it has amassed 600,000 views. By contrast, Messi and Kobe Bryant’s ‘Selfie’ video got 173 million views and won precisely zip. Populist doesn’t always go down well with juries and I have no doubt this extension of the campaign will get treated equally with many ‘likes’ from real people and no ‘likes’ from jurors.
For me, the cheesy acting by Drogba is what gives the execution its charm. But behind that, the strategy of selling an airline on the food of the destination countries it flies to is intriguing. Looking at EpicFoodMap.com there have certainly been a lot of uploads, providing evidence of interest. I’d love to see the numbers for this idea. My bet is it will drive both brand awareness scores as well as sales.