Ads take on classic 80s song, rename a town

You need the hippo

The new ad features a remake of the 80s' classic hit, Starship's 'We Built This City', by changing the lyrics to 'You need the hippo', to reflect the product offering and use a music video to showcase the brand icon's capacity for showmanship.

The process began in January 2011, when Upstream Advertising, the hippo.co.za marketing and advertising division, approached its above-the-line agency, human.kind and social media and experiential activations agency, Native, to create a campaign that focused on bringing the character behind the hippo.co.za product offering to life.

"The challenge was to take the hippo to the next level - take him from the billboard to the breakfast table," says Rick Rupping, brand manager at Upstream Advertising.

Between the two agencies, the first step was to develop an exhaustive character profile, which served as the platform from which they could build the sprawling, multifaceted 'You Need the hippo' campaign.

"We decided that if we wanted to showcase the brand's vibrant personality, what better way to do it than with a slick music video, allowing him to combine his love of getting down, with his love of getting quotes," says Matthew Cooper, creative director at human.kind. "The video parodies the 80s pop culture and glam-rock with shutter-shades, neon tubing and nods to Bowie, AC/DC and Tron."

Masters & Savant Worldwide were brought on to produce and animate the video. "When human.kind approached us to be involved with this commercial, we were able to take him and his friends into new places and spaces. As far as the artwork goes, we deliberately paid homage to the 80s with our choice of colour palette and ensured we maintained the glossy look synonymous with the revitalised brand," explains Roger Smythe, MD of Masters & Savant Worldwide.

The campaign extends to radio, outdoor and print with each element featuring equal measures of the revved-up attitude in the video. The campaign was taken to the next level through social media and experiential activations.

According to Julie Webb, Native's creative lead on the account, "We created a Facebook page, which updates regularly with topical content, product content and behind the scenes peaks into the making of the music video and bloopers."

Kind acts of randomness

It also created a Facebook app, a 'Need-O-Meter', which aggregates Facebook friends by scanning their recent status updates.

"He identifies which of your friends are 'needy' and scans for friends who need to be congratulated, given a 'high four' and even potential 'hippo-condriacs'," says Webb. "It's all about listening to what people are saying out there."

The brand transcends the digital space and makes appearances in the real world by surprising unsuspecting fans with kind acts of randomness.

"For these experiential activations we have created a hippo costume that looks identical to the TV character. The suit features animatronics and acts as a larger than life puppet in the real world. Once we have identified people who have complained or said something that indicated that they needed cheering up - we arrange for the character to appear in their life, whether it's at work, at home, at a restaurant - with a gift. We will be operating on the element of surprise," says Webb.

The content of these visits will be shared with fans on Facebook and Twitter via YouTube.

"We are thrilled with the outcome of our new campaign and have already noticed a spike in leads and sales. The song is now firmly stuck in consumers' heads," concludes Rupping.

Rebranding a town

Following its sponsorship of Rocking The Daisies, an annual music festival that takes place just outside the town of Darling, Carling Black Label is campaigning to have this historical town's name changed to Carling for the duration of the music festival, 7-9 October 2011

"We're taking over Darling and we're giving it a champion name. It's not Darling, it's Carling," explains Carmen Heunis, Carling Black Label brand campaign manager.

The viral campaign extends to the website, Facebook and Twitter and offers prizes to fans. For more, go to www.carlingnotdarling.co.za, join on Facebook or follow on Twitter.