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#BehindtheCampaign: Touch, pause... engage with MTN's Springbok TVC
The brief
“These days people are looking for an internet connection that gives them faster speeds, reduced latency, and better coverage. We were tasked with highlighting how 5G on the MTN network delivers on all those attributes,” explains Nomsa Mazibuko, general manager: brand and communications.
The insight
The most common use case to demonstrate that is streaming. “Anyone who streams content, especially sports, can relate to the panic you feel when your stream goes down at the worst possible moment of a big game. We used that insight to develop our ad,” she explains.
Creating the TVC
The ad recreates a rugby match. Mazibuko says it was easy for the Boks to perform –“because nobody does rugby better than them. Nobody”.
But there's still much to consider when filming with South Africa’s most loved team. “ They're world-class athletes, not actors. We always consider this when scripting scenes that involve them. We try not to put them in situations that require too much acting,” she says.
That said, she adds that while you’d expect them to be nervous, they weren’t at all. “They're used to being on set. They find ways to make it fun for themselves.”
The team are also given clear instructions so that they know exactly what we need from them. But overall, she says, they’re easy to direct. “The Boks easily followed Peter Pohorsky’s direction. He is good and knows how to pull performances out of anyone, especially if they’re not seasoned actors,” she says.
The shoot took place at Loftus Versveld in Pretoria over two days (23 and 24 June). Of that only three hours were with the Boks.
“This time limit meant we had to meticulously plan every second of every shot so that we maximised the time we were allocated. There was no room to play,” says Mazibuko.
Those three hours were the most stressful of the two-day shoot. “Shooting at night in the freezing cold didn't help either. We had to keep our cast warm during takes and amped up to keep performing,” she adds.
Overall, she says the shooting with the champions was amazing. “It was cool to see how much time the Bokke had for everyone on set. They understand and appreciate how much people love them and were willing to take pics and have quick chats with everyone.”
The cast who made up the team that the Boks were playing against were players from an actual local rugby club. “They had a blast. You could tell that this was a dream come true even though they stood no chance of holding back the Bok maul,” she says.
“And as for the stadium – while it looked full, we only had 100 extras. We had to add a lot of people in during post-production,” she adds.
Credits
MTN South Africa
Nomsa Mazibuko, general manager: brand and communications
Pondo Belot, senior manager: go to market operations
Pratiksha Jekison Singh, senior manager: brand and communications
Bongani Ntshingila, senior manager: sponsorship and events
Banele Sibunzi, manager: brand and communications
Agency: TBWA \ Hunt Lascaris
CCO: Peter Khoury
ECD: Keith Manning
CD: Jeff Tyser
CD: Nikki Taylor Garrett
Producer: Rachel Andreotti
MTN Lead: Karen Ballenden
SA Lead: Paul Binikos
BUD: Qaqamba Jacobs
PM: Sharika Abrahams
Strategy: Demi-lee Jacobs
Producer: Plank Films
Director: Peter Pohorsky
Producer: Seamus Bax
DOP: Willie Nel
Editor: Xander Van Der Westhuizen
Audio: Audio Militia
Sound engineer: Garrick Jones
VFX: Chocolate Tribe
VFX Supervisor: Rob van den Bragt
VFX Technical Director: Tiaan Franken
VFX Producer: Corlia Ohlson de Fine
Online Artist: Johan Wentzel
Composers:
Johan Wentzel and Jean du Plessis
Animators:
Mpho Vukea, Tanaka Musewe, Taija Hartwig, Tegan Theron, Nkosana Kyle Sibanda, Taryn Jordan, Michael Howard