Do you still remember Shopee’s Cristiano Ronaldo ad in 2019, in which the famous Portuguese footballer danced to the ecommerce platform’s earworm tune?
That ad generated a lot of discussions in the Momentum Works community back then. While some branding professionals thought it at best cheapened the Shopee brand and at worst was nonsensical, we remembered what our driver in Indonesia told us: “This ad made my whole family laugh. Everyone is talking about it. Whoever that made C. Ronaldo dancing like this must have a lot of fun.”
More than 5 years later, after a rollercoaster ride of pandemic high, massive stock market reversal, and an assault by TikTok Shop on its home turf, Shopee finally gets the Ronaldo mojo back.
Well, not exactly the same Ronaldo. A few days ago, Shopee signed retired Brazilian football star Ronaldinho Gaúcho as a brand ambassador. Ronaldinho, known as “the wizard”, was known for his creative and entertaining tricks. He won multiple awards during his 20 year career.
A video ad featuring Ronaldinho has been aired in multiple countries, including his native Brazil, for the 3.15 shopping festival. In the 30 second ad, Ronaldinho did not repeat the 2019 C. Ronaldo dance, but demonstrated his signature football moves of agility.
Here is the version for Indonesia:
After Blackpink in 2018, Shopee always prioritised fun for its global and country ambassadors. The last time Shopee had a global ambassador, however, was Jackie Chan in September 2021, at the height of the pandemic ecommerce boom. When that ad was aired, many in our community saw this as a bad omen – as many brands Jackie Chan represented soon entered a slump.
The worry turned out to be true unfortunately. Two months after the Jackie Chan ad, the global stock market crashed, sending the share price of Shopee parent Sea Group down by more than 90% at one point.
Sea Group, which recently delivered a solid set of Q4 2024 results, seems to have weathered through the challenges of the last three years.
In the last few years, Shopee mostly worked with local icons in individual countries. With Ronaldinho, the global fun is back. We hope it will last.
