Revolutionising the communications industry

The billboard, part of Nedbank's "Make Things Happen" campaign conceptualised by ad agency Net#work BBDO, was unveiled recently. The beneficiaries are over 1000 children from the MC Weiler Primary School in Alexandra Township in Johannesburg and the kitchen will immediately have enough power to boil 18 1l domestic kettles continuously at any one time.

MC Weiler School principle Flaki Ramothata says they are currently paying for electricity to keep the kitchen going at approximately R2300 a month. "This saving will go a long way towards our feeding scheme enabling a lot more of our students to receive breakfast and lunch. Presently we are only able to feed the desperate cases. We experience outages about two or three times a month - so it is comforting to know that this will no longer be a problem for us."

In line with Nedbank's other environmental and educational initiatives, this billboard is the first of many that will be installed at various school sites around the country in the bank's ongoing efforts to ensure there are no more hungry children in South African schools.

The solar billboard is a 4.5 x 18m double-sided board comprising 10 solar panels which charge twenty 105-amp deep cell batteries. Each panel generates 135 watts of power. The power from the batteries inverts from a direct current to an alternating current, supplying 6755 watts of power per light day.

Net#work MD Abdulla Miya says the creative use of this medium goes beyond the norm. "This billboard is landmark work and will lead to a revolution in the communication industry. We are actually making a difference to people's lives and that is really rewarding for us."

Adds Net#work's creative chief Mike Schalit, "This kind of communication is really close to my heart. Why shouldn't advertising, especially in SA, pioneer ways of putting something back into the community? Even more so when it comes to the ugly duckling outdoor billboards - the biggest perpetrator of crimes against urban blight. Talk about rape and pillaging the landscape. Here's our chance to lead the world in showing how we can convert urban pollution into urban renewal."

Tom Boardman, Nedbank chief executive commented in his speech at the unveiling that the bank is passionate about education and that education is the only thing that creates equal opportunity for everybody. He said the Government and the private sector should work together to make sure that there are no hungry children in our schools and that this solar billboard is the first of many more of the bank's initiatives to assist in education. He also mentioned that Nedbank would be providing more affordable banking.