Afrikaans is cool and full of bounce, the 2010 Pendoring campaign shows

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Afrikaans music, theatre, art, books... to mention but a few, are setting the world alight and who better to show exactly how cool and full of bounce Die Taal is than the Afrikaans rapper, Jack Parow?

Precisely because of the growing popularity of the king of Afrikaans rap, particularly among the younger generation including agency creatives and students who are the main target market of the Pendoring advertising campaign, the creative team of Draftfcb Johannesburg has decided to include Parow in the 2010 campaign of the Afrikaans advertising awards.

"We believe it's time to move away from the rather tired and outdated image of Afrikaners being depicted as a bunch of staunch, strict and rigid souls and instead portray them as they are today: modern, creative and imaginative people - exactly what Jack Parow personifies," explains copywriter Morné Strydom.

And it's not only South Africa's younger generation who rave about this new cult figure; rap enthusiasts across the globe are covering him in glory, and some are extremely keen to learn Afrikaans so that they can better understand his rap songs, says Strydom.

To be involved with Pendoring and send out the message of cool Afrikaans advertising, is as "kief" as warm coals, enthuses Parow: "I'm crazy about Afrikaans, it's such a cool, expressive language. I really don't want to rap in any other language but Afrikaans!"

Draftfcb Chief Creative Officer Brett Morris says the campaign concept is actually quite simple: Jack Parow's fresh and quirky approach to music, and particularly Afrikaans, as portrayed in his Cooler-as-ekke rap song, attracted a whole new audience and offers an ideal platform to show the world how cool Afrikaans is. "So the campaign evolved quite naturally with Jack Parow demonstrating cool Afrikaans in his popular rap style, culminating in an invitation with the pay-off line: "Skep in die taal en bewys jou cool!"

The scenes for the posters and print advertisements were conceptualised in true Jack Parow style and filmed at a house in Greymont, Johannesburg. A bunch of well-known advertising creatives like Jonathan Beggs (Ogilvy), Jonathan Deeb (Black River F.C.), Angel Jones (morrisjones), Festus Masekwameng (Mother Russia), Neo Mashigo (Draftfcb), Annette Nel en Stefanus Nel (Baie-Lingual-Blink-Stefanus) en Paul Warner (MetropolitanRepublic) happily joined in as "co-actors".

The Pendoring website (www.pendoring.co.za) developed by OFM Digital Platforms, also sports the 2010 campaign theme in typical Jack Parow style.

According to Franette Klerk, Pendoring GM, Draftfcb's creative team succeeded excellently in creating a comprehensive, integrated 2010 Pendoring campaign with TV, radio, print, online and viral (http://www.youtube.com/user/pendoringawards) components.

In addition, this year Pendoring also boasts its own Facebook supporters' page and can be followed on Twitter as well. Anyone who wants to become part of Pendoring's inner circle, can visit www.pendoring.co.za, join the Pendoring Facebook supporters' group and follow it on Twitter.

"To ensure the impact and message of cool Afrikaans, particularly Afrikaans advertising, hit home and reach marketers and advertisers personally, the campaign also includes direct marketing elements like T-shirts and cooler boxes in line with the theme of cool Afrikaans.

More good news for marketers is that the client/company of the Prestige Award winner will receive advertising space/airtime sponsored by participating partners worth a cool R2.5 million.

"In addition, agencies and students will get the opportunity to show their mettle in and about Afrikaans in a fun rap competition with the winner steaming away on a luxury cruise.

"The campaign is, however, not only targeting creatives and marketers; the general public across the entire cultural and colour spectrum are invited to join in the Pendoring fun and enter the 'Mense se Doring' competition where they can vote for their favourite Afrikaans ad of the past decade - and win great prizes to boot.

"With so many exciting components and facets, the 2010 Pendoring campaign aims to motivate each and every South African to place cool Afrikaans on the front burner, in every sphere, in all respects.

"More importantly, the campaign wants to demonstrate to marketers that Afrikaans speakers cherish and enjoy their language and that they, as an important consumer market with considerable disposable income and spending power, deserve to receive commercial messages in the language they prefer and best understand," stresses Klerck.

• The creative team: Brett Morris (group chief creative officer), Grant Jacobson (executive creative director), Morné Strydom (copywriter), Alan Lewus (creative director) and Steve Tanchel (photographer).