Thawing out Johannesburg
Johannesburg's recent history of rolling power cuts, together with the winter months, served as the inspiration for Cadac's 2007 winter campaign that has been rolled out in and around the Johannesburg and Tswane region. The outdoor campaign promotes the use of Cadac's refillable gas cylinders for lighting, cooking and heating using the angle “Survive Darkest Africa”.
Last year Italian premium beer brand Peroni Nastro Azzurro launched its commercial homage to filmmaker Federico Fellini's 1961 masterpiece La Dolce Vita, starring South African model Landi Swanepoel. This year, it recently launched an interactive consumer campaign designed to communicate Peroni's quintessential relationship with Italian style and to immerse consumers in the paparazzi experience.
Teams of photographic students across the country have been roaming the playgrounds of South African modern sophisticates, capturing paparazzi moments of effortless style, living La Dolce Vita with Peroni.
Peroni brand manager Lee-Ann Botha believes that approaching brand activations in an unconventional manner further propagates the brand message as opposed to traditional promotional executions. “The activation literally brings Fellini's paparazzi to life,” she says. “La Dolce Vita was a cinematic and cultural landmark in so many ways, the conduit to the spread of Italian style globally, and the creation of what we know today as the paparazzi – capturing celebrities and modern sophisticates in moments of elegance and effortless style. There is much value in making a brand come to life that is consistent with all communication.”
Following its recent launch to major metropolitan areas, the television commercial for the new addition to the Hansa family aims to position Hansa Marzen Gold as more than just a rich, flavoursome brewed beer. The commercial, which has been flighting on SABC, e.tv and DStv since 31 May 2007, is a celebration of this classic style of beer. Set in Europe in the mid-1800s, the ad romanticises the moments of inspiration that gave the world the Marzen-style of beer – a style known for its deep amber colour and rich flavour.
Primedia Activation's recent campaign for Sentech's My Wireless campaign was designed to be a hard-hitting direct sales drive, generate awareness and create a database. Through the use of bright orange uniforms, décor and pamphlets, a statement was created in key areas of convergence in and around Gauteng to educate and entice passer-bys to sign up to Sentech's offering, which is aimed at technology-savvy candidates in the LSM 7+ category.
Deciding on these locations took more than a gut-feel. "Getting the message to consumers is one thing, but getting it to the right consumer is another," remarks Karen Willson, GM of Primedia Activation. Primedia Activation used geo-demographic precision targeting to tighten the net: MarketScan, a national database of Southern African suburbia that helps pinpoint specific target markets in suburbs, schools, traffic intersections and shopping centres.
Mamba Media's Street Smarts, published bi-weekly in the Daily Sun newspaper, is an ongoing comic series for FNB. The series highlights the financial institution's Smart Future initiative, addressing financial issues and specific new product benefits relevant to the targeted readers. All products and benefits of Smart Future are covered on an individual basis, providing first-hand demonstrations of how it both simplifies and allows a person to control their own personal finances.
Bokomo Weet-Bix's “Thank You” campaign has been making South African consumers look twice at their favourite cereal pack. Bokomo has replaced the Weet-Bix name on its cereal packaging with the words “Thank You” in the same font and style as the Weet-Bix logo, for a limited period. This temporary name change pays tribute to all South Africans who have helped make Bokomo Weet-Bix South Africa's number one selling breakfast cereal for more than 75 years.
Through a 7.5c donation to Childline for every pack of Bokomo Weet-Bix sold from April to September 2007, up to a guaranteed R1 million, and by making the Childline logo and telephone number available on every Weet-Bix pack, Bokomo Weet-Bix intends to make a difference in many a child's life.
The “Thank You” campaign also contains a competition element.
“What if someone had said I will never be able to do it?” This is the question asked by Jonty Rhodes in the television commercial for Epilepsy South Africa, created by Tomcat Advertising Agency on a pro-bono basis. The 30” advertisement emphasises the potential that there is in people living with epilepsy. To revolutionise attitudes towards epilepsy, Tomcat created the new payoff line: “Epilepsy is not a cause to discriminate; it is a motivation to realise potential.”
To communicate this, Tomcat made use of celebrities living with epilepsy, such as South African cricket legend Jonty Rhodes, e.tv presenter Pat Pillay and M-Net presenter Geri Rantseli. “What these individuals have achieved is nothing short of incredible,” says Thomas Houghton-Dixon, director of client services at Tomcat. “They are changing the way society looks at people with epilepsy and we are embracing this change.”
TBWA Cape Town has brought the plight of homeless people into the public eye with a campaign for The Haven Night Shelter, which has a number of shelters around the Peninsula, and aims not just to get people off the streets but also to literally get them home. The campaign draws attention to the differences between the haves and the have-nots by using media consumed by those looking for a new roof over their heads.
The Haven ads look as if they were produced and placed by estate agents with headlines and descriptions such as “Location! Location! Location!” and “Sensational City Living” typical of property ads. But instead of showing visuals of multi-million rand houses, the photos are of bus shelters, benches and the underneath of bridges. Press ads ran in the Cape Argus Property sections, flyers were dropped in post boxes, and “On Show” signs were placed at locations similar to those shown in the press ads and flyers.
