Remember this Shopee x Cristiano Ronaldo ad? I’m sure you do. First premiered on 16 August, that ad went viral around the world from August to September. In this blog post, let’s talk about why that ad trended, in simple terms:
Cristiano Ronaldo, The Perfect Celebrity Endorser
5 times winner of the prestigious Ballon D’Or and best Fifa Men’s Player of the Year, Cristiano Ronaldo is known to be one of the most prominent football player in history. Apart from being verified, Cristiano Ronaldo boasts an astonishing 234 million followers on Instagram. Cristiano Ronaldo is influential, and often seen as a sport ambassador by top retail brands such as Nike and Tag Heuer, considering the world’s total population is standing at 7.594 billion, 3% of the world follows him on Instagram! Cristiano Ronaldo instils a strong brand association and build a positive image of Shopee, he is the perfect celebrity endorser for Shopee as he has the ability to grab consumers’ (and soccer fans!) attention, drawing mass attention on the platform he is promoting for, Shopee.
Baby Shark was Trendy and Catchy
Apart from having a famous celebrity endorser, Shopee takes the production a notch higher by using ‘Baby Shark’ as the campaign jingle. Known for its catchy beat and simple lyrics, the song was such a big hit that got on Billboard’s Top 40 chart. By choosing that particular trending jingle, Shopee achieved more than just a single aim: they attracted the attention of the children as well. This boosted sales as children get fascinated by the jingle, this leads their parents to view Shopee and SEO leads them to Shopee’s sales platform!
Word Of Mouth
The huge traction that the ‘Cristiano Ronaldo and Baby Shark’ combination garner for Shopee is astounding. Through word of mouth, information about Shopee spreads. Cristiano Ronaldo gets spoken about, conversations eventually lead to Shopee. The catchy jingle and the successful selection of the perfect celebrity endorser resulted in a huge increase in brand awareness for Shopee.
Conclusion
In my opinion, I passionately feel that the Shopee x Cristiano Ronaldo ad was the best ad in 2019. What do you think? If you disagree, let me know in the comments section below!
Malcolm's Marketing Blog 
The best advertisements are ones that are able to capture your attention from the start to the end, all while forming a deep impression of one’s business. As a student majoring in sales and marketing myself, I believe that it is importance to engage our clients/customers through the things we do; for they will come (and stay) when something we able to drive a message that strongly resonates with them. I do agree that the Shopee x Cristiano Ronaldo ad was one of the better adverts of 2019, but what about short film advertisements? I believe it is a trend nowadays for companies to utilise short films to bring a message across to their audience. Some examples may include Singapore’s telcos such as Singtel and M1, or even technology giant Apple. Although there are usually 3-4 minutes long, the first 10 seconds are enough to captivate my attention to continue watching them till the end.
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Hi Jovin, thanks for your comment! Yes, I agree with you that short films bring strong messages across audiences. Check this ad by Mc Donald for the festive season of Ramadan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4twTZru9Go). The locals love it as it story-tells their culture, the struggles during the fasting month and how the community come together to help each other, truly heartening!
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I believe that the Shopee x Cristiano Ronaldo ad was one of the best ads in 2019! The song ‘Baby Shark’ was indeed very catchy and easily repeats in the head. This causes many people to remember Shopee and further drive their attention to shop there. As a student majoring in marketing, I am confident that all businesses are to create some sort of Ads to promote its brand to the public to increase brand awareness and consumer engagement. This will lead to an increase in consumer traffic flow and sales growth in the long term.
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Hi Sylvia, thanks for your comment! I holistically agree with you! PPC marketing and paid media are important marketing strategy that business should adopt if they want to scale!
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Hi Malcolm, came across your blogpost and I really agree that the Cristiano Ronaldo x Shopee ad was one of the best ads in 2019. Making use of the catchy ‘Baby Shark’ song and a famous soccer player that many know of really helps to expand Shopee’s targeted audience and attracts more people to shop at Shopee. As a consumer of online shopping, I have noticed that more of my friends who are fans of Cristiano Ronaldo also became interested in shopping at Shopee after this ad.
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Hi Krystal, thanks for your comment! In my honest opinion, I think Shopee really outdid that ad, it was amazing! Shopee gained countless benefits and awareness from that digital campaign!
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WOW! This ad was in 2019? Felt like it was just a few months back (in 2020)! Anyways, yes, how can anyone forget this ad! Till this day, the song is still stuck in my head (I kid you not)! It is very insightful how you explained and breakdown the various factors that led to the success & popularity of the SHOPEE X CRISTIANO RONALDO ad! As a consumer, I wouldn’t really think about why the ad trended. However, as someone with some basic marketing knowledge, this blog post entry you have here actually educated me & open my eyes to the facts that the ad used a high profile celebrity who’s of course, very well known (even to a non-football fan here) also with the combination of the very catchy baby shark song that’s in all our heads (children & adults alike) & hence led to the ad becoming SENSATIONAL! Thank you 🙂
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Hi Dayne, thanks for the comment! I’m very glad that my blog post helped you better understand why the ad trended. Also, if non-footbal-watching consumer like you could be impressed by the Shopee x Cristiano Ronaldo ad, many million others who idolise the celebrity would feel so too! You’re welcome, Dayna! Thanks for dropping by my blog.
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Hi Malcom, this was a really engaging post! Not sure if you already knew but Shopee actually paid $1million to CR7 for this ad! I will not deny that it is the best ad because it definitely captured my attention. I’m wondering if this ad was able to generate more revenue for shopee in terms of new customer bases eg. those who prefer premium high-quality products. If you are someone who does not opt for products that are not of that superior quality, eg products manufactured in china, would you convert to Shopee if you saw this ad? Let me know, thank you!
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Hi Roshini, thanks for the comment! Wow, I did not know that the figure was so big, thanks for that sharing! There are many reasons to use the Shopee platform but if I am currently not using it, I do not think I would convert to Shopee just because of the ad. I would definitely check the ad out and in that way, Shopee has done a great job in grabbing my attention. But there are no Call-To-Actions or special discounts and promotions that could lead to conversions. So, to put it short, I would be enticed but would not convert to using Shopee! Cheers!
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https://thecurious605531859.wordpress.com/2020/10/13/coronavirus-cristiano-ronaldo-positive-for-covid-19/
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Hi Jules, thanks for your comment! Yes, I have read that news! It is unfortunate that Ronaldo contracted the COVID-19 virus, I hope he gets better soon.
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