At this week's OHMSA Awards Joe Public continued its winning streak, being awarded best campaign in the ‘Ambient Media' section for its ‘Speedkills GP' initiative for Arrive Alive. In addition, and only two weeks ago at the Eagle Awards, the agency walked away with a Bronze Eagle in the Campaign Category for Mahindra ‘Since 1945' and a Silver Eagle in the Product Category for Mahindra's ‘Pink' ad.
“2008 has been an incredible year for Joe Public,” says Managing Director, Gareth Leck. “The recent awards affirm our focus to provide great creative, backed by a solid brand building strategy for our clients.”
The OHMSA win reinforces the effectiveness of the ‘Speedkills GP' campaign, which continues to impress months after its execution. The campaign was initiated to combat reckless driving resulting from the many South African drivers who remove their number plate to avoid receiving speeding fines.
The Joe Public team of Xolisa Dyeshana (Creative Director), Brendan Hoffmann (Art Director) and Vincent Osmond (Copywriter) approached Arrive Alive with the idea of placing magnetic “Speedkills GP” number plates onto offending vehicles in the Gauteng region. Each license plate carried a stern anti-speeding message from Arrive Alive on the reverse side.
“Despite its iconic status in India, Mahindra's heritage is relatively unknown to the South African consumer. With this Eagle winning campaign, we wanted to highlight that Mahindra was in fact founded in 1945 and built the car made famous by World War 2, the Willys-Overland Jeep.”
The print ads were crafted to replicate keepsakes from that time period, breaking with the traditional sleek style of car advertising. In addition, each ad incorporated long-copy which showcased interesting historical facts regarding World War 2 while highlighting the performance of the vehicles, which Mahindra is now famous for. By using this unique style, the brand not only stood out in the print media but also cemented its rich history in the minds of consumers.
The team on the award winning Mahindra work is Clint Bechus (Copywriter), Brendan Hoffman (Art Director) and Pepe Marais (Executive Creative Director).
