Sugar Ray who? Did what?

The four-year-old Johannesburg based creative network, that's been quietly building up an impressive body of work for some of the most well-known brands in the country, including McDonald's MasterCard and Nestle, just dropped their latest piece of work, as agency of record for eMedia Holdings.

Under the guidance of Marlin Van Noie, Sugar Ray Leonard has spent the last year putting together a group of talented, overactive and opinionated millennials who fear no evil. Growing the team from 5 to 20+ over the last 10 months, on the back of large campaigns for McDonald’s and Salsa Mexican Grill, the agency has ended 2018 in style, with a massive national campaign for SA’s largest FTA satellite broadcaster, Openview.

A mega-TVC, featuring SA sporting icons Siya Kolisi and Wayde Van Niekerk, the Nelson Mandela Bridge and huge Jozi crowds is but one element of the integrated campaign that also boasts a string of radio ads - already creating a stir on-air, print ads, billboards and digital media, pretty much everywhere you look.

The Gig:

Mid 2018, they were handed the brief of briefs – “We want to reposition our existing brand to take it to the next level”.

No big deal, right?

They turned what started as a look and feel exercise into an integrated campaign, culminating in THAT epic TVC…the one that launched on Wednesday, 21 November and that you’ve probably seen or been sent a link to watch. SRL has subsequently been named Openview’s agency of record and along the way, they’ve also managed to re-launch the much-loved and trusted eNCA brand and helped eMedia with the launch of new TV brands, OpenNews and KuierTyd - the broadcast network’s foray into the Afrikaans TV market.

The Openview campaign is a simple response to curiosity around “Free Satellite Television” by introducing the idea of free high-quality entertainment as a right for EVERYONE. Pulling in the big guns, Sugar Ray Leonard and Partners brought none other than Tebogo “Tebza” Malope of The Star Film Company on-board to direct this masterpiece.

The TVC sends a strong message around liberation by choice and the value behind “Free”. This effect was amplified by calling on two top-ranking athletes, South Africa’s own record-breaking Olympian Wayde van Niekerk and the Springboks’ 2018 captain Siya Kolisi. The Openview commercial was filmed at various locations in Johannesburg and features 200+ cast.

“The team at eMedia really put us through our paces in terms of carving out the positioning for Openview. We finally got to the ‘freedom of entertainment’ thought, and it felt right for Openview to be the liberator of Entertainment, the brand for the people. As an agency it is a pleasure to work on a brand that actually has something of value to offer to the consumer,” says Marlin van Noie.

Seems like this is not the last round for this fresh agency. Not by a longshot.

For more information on the agency or campaign, please visit www.sugar-ray-leonard.joburg or contact Niressa Singh on +27 74 880 6735