Ad of the Week: Meals on Wheels - America, Let's Do Lunch

Want to know how much I love these spots and how effective they are? I just signed up to volunteer a few lunch hours a month to deliver Meals on Wheels. And I usually never leave my desk at lunch. But I found the campaign so compelling, it moved me to take action. This is not a cause I already had an affinity towards or have past history with. I have no seniors in my life who need this service., so no personal connection. They are just great PSAs that made a compelling case for giving up a few lunch breaks and getting out there, helping and meeting some interesting people.

The only version of this campaign I found that I could share here is the minute long version that compiles all the stories into one video. It's nice, but I think it's the least compelling of them all. What really worked for me was the individual stories, which you can view on their website here, Each spot showcases one interesting client, tells their story and ends with them inviting you to visit, by saying, "America, let's do lunch." Each of these spots also features a shot of a volunteer delivering lunch. It's a good combination of storytelling and a specific call to action (volunteer and donate your lunch break) that makes you feel like, "yeah, I can do that."

The one titled "Meet Lola" features a senior who loves her garden (she opens the spot saying, "The color in my garden keeps the pink in my cheeks." She goes on to explain that she was always very independent, but after a fall she has need to depend on Meals on Wheels. Another spot, "Meet the Spanns" opens up with the revelation that this cute old couple has been married 76 years now. She explains how they chose their house because it was green and she loves green because she's Irish. And now she can't get around as well as she used to, so they have Meals on Wheels bring them food. Every one of these spots in excellent storytelling and beautifully shot and edited. Again, I encourage you to go to the site and view the individual story spots. Once they're available on YouTube I'll add them to this post, For now, here's the compilation :60.

Wheels on Meals – America, Let's Do Lunch

I hope you found it as compelling of a non-profit marketing strategy and execution as I did. I can honestly say this was my first ad of the week that moved me to complete their call to action before I completed the blog post about it.

Mike McClure, new Meals on Wheels volunteer