Chillibush gives Cobra more bite to empower women

PR & Advertising campaign for Cobra Loyalty Programme enables women to take their community stories to parliament.

ChilliBush, an agency that offers a '360 degree' communication service, has been appointed by Reckitt Benkiser to provide advertising and public relations (PR) for a community upliftment programme for Cobra. Working with Cobra's R800 000 budget, ChilliBush conceptualised the Cobra Loyalty Programme that will see nine women being chosen to take their community stories to Parliament. One woman from each province will be selected to present her story of how she would use R150 000 to help her community. The winner will be chosen in November with the input of the Deputy President and the Speaker of the National Assembly.

Reckitt Benkiser's product, Cobra, has been around for 75 years and remains South Africa's most established floor care brand, aimed primarily at women, as the homemakers and often the cornerstones of South African communities. As such, Cobra is passionate about the often silent and unrecognised roles that women have played in helping South Africa to grow through the struggle years and in the years since democracy. To address this, ChilliBush conceptualised a campaign that would enable Cobra to thank all of the women who have been using Cobra to clean their home, by creating a reward programme that would enable the company to assist in community upliftment initiatives.

With this year being the 50th anniversary of the Women's March to Pretoria in 1956, ChilliBush saw it fitting to use the opportunity to take women to Parliament. The campaign encourages women, both urban and rural, between the ages of 24 and 50, to write in with their stories of how R150 000 will enable them to empower their communities - whether it is a library, a green area, a clinic or even a school.

For ChilliBush PR, a major coup was securing the support and involvement of the Deputy President, as well as access to a member of parliament for input from the Presidency, into every media interview that will take place. This Member of Parliament will be the parliamentary spokesperson for the duration of the campaign.