Pink poppie promotes prawn

Joe Public Advertising was tasked with the development of a TV and in-store campaign to punt Ocean Basket's latest promotion - a sizeable queen prawn and calamari combo at only R79. Likening the 'arrival' of the Queen Prawn to the 'Coming of the Queen', the result is a TV campaign that depicts three vastly different South Africans anticipating the arrival of Queen Elizabeth in their own unique ways.

The executions include a retired gent decked in medals and regalia, a poppie in a pink paleis dressed to the nines accompanied by her corgi and a statistician who predicts the probability of meeting the queen. The authenticity of their performances and sheer light-heartedness of the message makes for entertaining and memorable TV.

"The advertisements serve the dual purpose of promoting the special offer and building the Ocean Basket brand as a fun, down-to-earth and accessible seafood destination," comments Liezl-Mari Long, Creative Director at Joe Public. "As a brand, Ocean Basket doesn't take itself too seriously, and our advertising takes its cue from there."

The Joe Public team eschewed actors in favour of real people to allow for a more spontaneous feel. "Flexible scripting allowed us playful interaction with cast on the day of the shoot, resulting in what feels like very 'real' interviews," comments Long. Director Craig Ferguson from Public Pool Productions shot the three 20-second commercials on set, on the same day - quite a feat in production.

The agency's approach appears to be working for Ocean Basket, who was a finalist in the Franchise Association of Southern Africa (FASA) Brand Builder of the Year Category this year.

The campaign appears to be very successful. "Since the promotion broke we have had two excellent weekends, with some stores selling out of stock on both Friday nights and then having to replenish on the Saturday. In other stores we have seen queen prawn turnover pick up by more than 400%", says Brendan McGhee, Head of Marketing for Ocean Basket.

The advertisements are flighting on SABC, eTV and MNET during November and December. The team responsible include art director Brendan Hoffmann, copywriter Clint Bechus and TV Producer Bronwyn James.