[Orchids & Onions] Made in SA Chev ad drives point home

The company's latest television ad for the facelifted Cruze sedan was, they tell me, shot in and around Barberton, in Mpumalanga, of all places.

But that does give it an uniquely South African flavour. Mind you, I could be biased because I do love that part of the world.

We see a schoolboy watching as his classmates put together wire cars for a big contest.

He then scavenges all sorts of bits and pieces - collecting all the soft drink cans he can along the way - and spends his evenings crafting his own creation (with a little forced help from Dad, of course).

© Golkin Oleg – 123RF.com

When the car makes its debut, everyone is in awe. And, it has clearly been copied from the family Chevy Cruze - also in attractive red.

We see him making a huge impression on his classmates and, on the way home from the contest, with Dad driving, Mom's voice comes up on the Bluetooth-enabled hands-free feature, asking them how it went. This is a nice way of showcasing what has become a must-have for many new car buyers. Then the Cruze pulls away into the distance along a peaceful, tree-lined avenue.

Apart from the fact that the ad is a local piece and addresses local people, it also works because it shows the car as part of the family.

Nice one, Chev. You get this week's first Orchid.

The radio ads for NetFlorist don't always hit the sweet spot - sometimes they veer off into crude and distasteful. That, though, is not the case with the latest one.

We hear, once again, Harold (of Relationship Line fame) offering someone advice - someone who is perilously close to sleeping on the couch for the rest of his life because he is late for his anniversary celebration.

Don't worry, says Harold, whether you're Usain Bolt or Forrest Gump, you'll be able to run, run, run and get your order in to NetFlorist before noon. Do that, and it will be delivered the same day. A real-life (and relationship) saver.

The punch line prompts the giggle, though: "Run, Florist, Run..."

It brought a smile to my dial - and how often can you say that when you're sitting in traffic?

Plus, it makes a clear call-to-action pitch for NetFlorist's same-day delivery service. Your beloved won't know whether you planned it weeks ago - or only remembered when you heard the NetFlorist ad.

Orchids to NetFlorist and its agency, FCB Johannesburg.

As a war veteran myself (yes, Mr Mugabe - you owe me a farm), I am always interested in the stories and lives of those who have taken up arms in a conflict and are real soldiers, not wannabes.

I thought the ridiculous Donald Trump made a total ass of himself this week when he had a go at Senator John McCain the latest American political silliness.

Trump said he wasn't impressed with the fact that McCain (Republican Presidential nominee in 2008) had spent five years in a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp after being shot down on a bombing mission in 1968.

Reports in the US media recorded that while McCain was in the camp battling starvation and beatings and learning to walk again as he recovered from injuries sustained in his plane crash, Trump was living the high life as a draft evader in an Ivy League university.

Later on, the record shows, McCain was tortured because he refused to sign a confession for broadcast to the media.

Trump remarked that he didn't think much of McCain's time as a POW, because he would rather meet people who "didn't get captured".

Clearly no one told Trump that, at the time McCain was shot down over Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital had the highest concentration, in numbers and sophistication, of any air-defence system in the history of Planet Earth, so McCain was not incompetent.

The mistake Trump made was attacking a genuine American war hero. Since 9/11, virtually all Americans worship their armed forces. So, Trump could have committed political suicide. And, because he is a high-profile businessman, his loose-lipped comments were not the smartest from a marketing point of view.

Which is a roundabout way of getting to the latest campaign for the Department of Military Veterans here in South Africa. A television advert showcases the work that the department is doing in looking after all former combatants - which is a good thing.

But you have to wonder how many of those behind the campaign have actually been in uniform themselves.

If they were, they would have noticed that, in the ad, a still image of a soldier saluting has been flipped, perhaps for artistic effect, so that it is his left hand doing the saluting.

Problem: the SA National Defence Force uses the right hand to salute, as did all the non-statutory forces in the past.

Onion for the Department of Military Veterans. Your credibility is important in a campaign like this and you've damaged it badly.

*Note that Bizcommunity staff and management do not necessarily share the views of its contributors - the opinions and statements expressed herein are solely those of the author.*