Red & Yellow's creative hustle helps NGOs sharpen their marketing skills

The one-day creative hustle at Red & Yellow's Cape Town school gave these organisations access to consulting hours with some of the local advertising and communications sector's top marketers, art directors, and graphic designers. The experts and students worked with the beneficiaries on a range of projects, from designing logos and drawing up social media plans to crafting bespoke marketing communications strategies.

Volunteers from agency giants such as Quirk, JWT, Nomads, The Creative Group and Kaffeine all spent their Saturday at the Red & Yellow campus to give something back to the community. Red & Yellow had hoped to provide 67 industry hours to the beneficiaries - that target was smashed with more than 60 volunteers donating 270 hours of their time on the day.

Empowering NGOs and SMEs

"At Red & Yellow, we are determined to use our industry knowledge and connections to empower local NGOs and to help those from disadvantaged backgrounds," says Kira Koopman, who organised the event along with the Outreach team at Red & Yellow. "Good marketing is critical to the success of any organisation that needs to raise funds from the public, yet so many NGOs and charities do not have the budget or dedicated skills for marketing. Our idea was to give them an opportunity to work with some of the best in the industry on their immediate marketing and communications priorities."

Red & Yellow's Professional Development content team also presented a workshop to help those without marketing budgets or backgrounds to understand how to implement marketing strategies and use marketing tools without needing to hire expensive advertising agencies.

Practical prizes for selected winners

Melina Lewis, Director at Tankwa Sky, walked away with a spot on one of Red & Yellow's online courses, while Ari's Cancer Foundation won a website starter kit plus hosting for a year, valued at over R8,000, sponsored by the Yellow Door Collective. Says Josh Jansen, representing Ari's Cancer Foundation, "This is exactly what we've needed and it has come at exactly the right time for us."

Origin, Sir Juice, Eat Out the Box, RedBull, Ecco Café, Simba PepsiCo and Devil's Peak Brewery donated food and beverages to keep volunteers and representatives from NGOs and SMEs energised.

"When you have a dream, that's all it is until you put it down on paper. The biggest motivation is when people appreciate your dreams and see the visions you have," says Monalisa Ntshele, Founder at CapeRise Entertainment. "We see a future and our ambitions have been resuscitated, thanks to this event."

What's next?

Red & Yellow is committed to helping nurture a marketing, advertising and communications sector that is inclusive and has a positive impact on society. Its Red & Yellow Springboard Marketing Institute is South Africa's only advertising learnership programme.

The Red & Yellow School launched the Institute in 2014 to give young people an opportunity to achieve a fully funded National Certificate in Advertising. This programme has already given close on 100 students with no access to tertiary education an opportunity to enter the world of marketing.

The school hopes to repeat its Mandela Day initiative and expand it to the new Johannesburg campus next year. In the interim, it will support the charities, NGOs and SMEs present at this year's creative hustle with follow-up workshops and feedback sessions to help them integrate their marketing campaigns and ideas into their businesses.