Moving, colourful ads, gifts grab attention

Get bucks even quicker

Hot on the tracks of South Africa's latest YouTube sensation, the mountain biker taken out by a Red Hartebeest, 140 BBDO placed a series of banner ads for its client Capitec Bank on the site. Its heading - 'Get Bucks even quicker'.

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"Just shows how targeted and immediate you can be with digital," says 140 head of communications planning, Matt Riley. "Social media platforms, such as YouTube, if used correctly, are the ultimate tactical and topical medium. Google have been most supportive and proactive themselves on marketing this clever space and Capitec saw the smart yet simple fit immediately."

Community painting comes to South Africa

Dulux's 'Let's Colour' project to beautify and uplift communities and their surroundings, especially grey and drab areas where regeneration is urgently needed with a splash of colour, has come to South Africa after successful shoots in Brazil, France, the UK and India as part of its global campaign.

Following reclaimed venues of a school in Soweto and a home for the displaced in KwaZulu-Natal, the new project gave a colour uplift to four additional sites in downtown Johannesburg.

"The project has a strong social upliftment element and the fact that it is going into rundown areas and regenerating them is really something quite special," says Fresh Eye Film Production's creative director, Greg Francois. "It is this balance between the aesthetic result and social upliftment value that guided us when selecting our locations for the ad, along with the need to form cinematic flow with the international locations."

"We are not selling paint; we are selling cans of optimism as these have such a wonderful effect, especially in areas that have been forgotten, like downtown Johannesburg. These areas were once so vibrant but over the years have been neglected. If you start adding colour to these grey, gloomy areas you see the immediate change of the before and after and the very positive affect it has," adds Dulux's communications manager, Bennum van Jaarsveld.

Random act of kindness

The first summer rains on the Highveld is a much-anticipated occurrence but for commuters using public transport, it also spells the chance of getting drenched in the heavy downpours while waiting for a bus, taxi or train.

Yesterday, Wednesday, 19 October 2011, just as the first giant rain drops started to fall, a crew from KFC came to the rescue of commuters stuck in long queues waiting for their transport and handed out red umbrellas to the travellers in a random act of kindness.

"After a long day at work, it can't be pleasant to be caught in the rain while waiting for public transport, so we decided to surprise commuters by stopping by and handing out umbrellas," said David Timm, CMO for KFC South Africa.

KFC handed out hundreds of umbrellas to public transport commuters along William Nicol and will hand out thousands more to travellers in the weeks to come.