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Acceptance into local parlance is advertising's golden arrow
The unconscious adoption of words from advertising messages into local parlance by the person-on-the-street is a powerful indicator of advertising success. When a campaign message is acknowledged by your target audience to the extent that it becomes part of everyday communication, then you know you have created great responsive advertising that is truly in touch with what is going on in the community.
This is according to Ray Asiroglu, Strategic Planning Director of The Agency. "It is every advertising creatives' dream come true when a phrase or pay-off line is imported into local lexicon because it means your brand is recognized, as well as the value of the contribution of this brand to people's everyday life. There are many examples to illustrate the point," says Asiroglu.
"There is little doubt that many of the best advertisements to emerge recently have been those that transcend racial and cultural barriers in delivering communication solutions. Being able to deliver diverse and appealing messages that are broadly understood and appreciated by South Africa's many unique cultural groupings is an achievement to be exceptionally proud of," he adds.
The Agency has a number of examples that demonstrate this stance:
The commercial for Telkom in which an elderly man's words 'Molo Mhlobo wami' transcended all barriers was quickly absorbed into local lexicon and independent research shows that it is still the most recalled advert by consumers today - more than two years after its last screening. Local leaders, including Nelson Mandela and President Mbeki, have used the same words in public, speeches as have international figureheads such as US singing star Stella Adams.
The Agency's commercial for Vivo Breweries was a first for the SABC who were persuaded by The Agency to relax the 'pure language policy', enabling them to introduce slang or 'isi chamto' (meaning lingo) into the commercial and the words 'iyavaya eyethu' entered daily vocabulary.
Other shining examples include:
"When an advertising message becomes part of the vernacular used within a defined community to classify something, it becomes part of their everyday parlance which is a manner of speaking that is natural to native speakers of a language. It soon becomes a language often full of jargon, but not necessarily intelligible to outsiders who have not been exposed to the advertising message," explains Asiroglu.
When this happens it is a clear indicator that not only was your message spot on, but so is the medium by which the message was delivered. Both creative and media specialists understand this fundamental decision principle and consider the interdependent nature of the message and medium relationship when creating advertisements. There are two things about message/medium interdependency that creatives and strategists must understand - firstly, no medium is right for every creative execution and second, ads and media must be matched to exploit the potential communication impact of the message.
As for achieving the unconscious adoption of your advertising message into the consumer psyche, Asiroglu offers the following advice:
Step 1 - talk the same language
Step 2 - get out of the office and go to where the action is
Step 3 - talk to people at the rock face, observe, listen and ask questions
"It is a mistake to presume that common sense is 'common'. Broadly, as an industry, we still tend to make assumptions based on our own opinions and we are still far too compartmentalised. While I agree that many agencies are making tremendous progress in reaching South Africa's many multi-cultural groupings, much work and research lays ahead. We need to strive not just to deliver messages that people understand, but ones that become part of their everyday life," concludes Asiroglu.
