Illegal billboards, brilliant billboards and a very strange unicorn

The wild west of Joburg’s billboards

In court documents served by Solidarity on Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi and the City of Johannesburg, Solidarity dwelt on the fact that the city never bothers to respond to OOH advertising applications.

The civic organisation also went further by citing its advertising supplier, Provantage, as a respondent in the legal action and later threatening to get its money back from the company. About to be thrown under the bus?

Solidarity then agreed to an out-of-court settlement with the City, which had all along stuck to its guns and maintained the banner was placed illegally.

So bad has OOH in Johannesburg become that I reckon probably three-quarters of the ads are illegal, because they either violate national road legislation or municipal bylaws. The ad business, unsurprisingly, claims it tries to battle against the red tape and gets nowhere.

That doesn’t seem to stop billboards going up everywhere, even while court action is in progress (a favourite trick of some advertising companies).

Cape Town doesn’t look nearly as much of a mess because the bylaws are strictly enforced.

I am going to refrain from commenting on the legalities of the Solidarity banner, which, in pure ambush advertising terms, deserves an Orchid for the massive coverage for minuscule outlay.

They knew it was going to be taken down – and they were there to record the event, funnily enough.

PR & Communications

Tlhogi Ngwato | You cannot fact-check your way out of outrage

Tlhogi Ngwato  13 Nov 2025

When OOH gets it right

However, when done properly, OOH can be a massive force multiplier for an advertiser. This is amply demonstrated by billboards conceptualised by Grid Worldwide on behalf of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) – Doctors Without Borders.

The message is a stark, simple reminder that all of us with roofs over our heads and our health need to count our blessings… and support those like MSF who risk their own lives to help their fellow human beings.

Relating our perceived daily urban difficulties to the real life-threatening ones MSF deals with every day is brilliant.

An Orchid for Grid Worldwide for a good well well-executed creative campaign. No social media storm. No court cases. No ducking and diving.

And a nod of thanks to a colleague from the PR world, Sasha Kupritz, for bringing the campaign to my attention.

Advertising

RMB brand film: Talent is the heart of our business

8 Sep 2025

RMB’s CGI unicorn: Making the mythical mistake

I don’t quite get why Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) would want to use a CGI unicorn to try to impress the world with how wonderful its staff are.

"At RMB, we attract unconventional thinkers with unique skillsets and an appetite to bring possibilities to life.” That’s the explanation.

And we see these supposedly extra special people through their formative years doing… nothing particularly exceptional. Yet they all seem to get along famously at RMB, eventually.

Maybe because there is a unicorn at the boardroom table. Would I want a mythical creature looking after my money? Not so sure… the growth might turn out to be mythical, too.

It’s a strange way of making the point that “Talent loves company.” RMB loves that catchline so much they trademarked it. Go figure.

For me, it’s an Onion, though. And not a unique one at that.