DStv goes to the movies with new outdoor campaign

The campaign is focused on major metropolitan areas, and features a combination of general brand and channel-specific billboards. There are 28 billboards which carry different executions of the brand campaign and 40 regularly changed channel specific boards.

The brand campaign uses movie titles combined with instantly-recognisable music, movie and film characters to communicate DStv's diverse entertainment offering. Each of the five executions play on a movie title and appeal to different segments of the target audience. The "twist" and interest value of the boards lies in the combination of the title with the choice of stars featured on the boards.

"Our starting point was to find a simple, accessible and engaging idea that would communicate the diversity of entertainment offered on DStv," says Graham Pfuhl, director of sales and marketing for MultiChoice. "Since DStv has always owned movies through its channels such as M-Net and Movie Magic, and because well-known movies have high recall for the consumer, we chose memorable movie titles that also make a statement about DStv."

So we have "As good as it gets" and "The Incredible Journey", featuring movie stars such as Brad Pitt and Charlize Theron. "Calendar Girls" groups female music, movie, fashion and sports stars, while "The Fast and the Furious" focuses on high profile sportsmen and women. "What women want" is obvious, with a selection of the most desirable men from music, movies and sport. Step forward, South African cricket captain Graeme Smith.

DStv's channel-specific advertising campaigns are run in conjunction with the overall brand campaign. Current billboards include a campaign for movie channel Turner Classic Movies, Animal Planet, BBC Prime and The Discovery Channel. These executions retain the look and feel of the channels they are advertising, with DStv branding clearly visible.

The variety of executions highlighting channel propositions or linking to specific programming further illustrate the DStv brand promise of "So much more".

Marketing and advertising will continue to play a vital part of achieving DStv's growth, says Pfuhl. "To the television industry in the multichannel era, branding is an essential tool - it's an illuminated sign in a crowded marketplace. And it's not just about letting channel-hopping youngsters with short attention spans know where they are: increasingly, it embodies a whole proposition about a channel's vision and values. Successfully communicating those values is what will drive our success in the future."