Heritage Day brought hundreds of South Africans together at Loftus Versfeld for the World’s Biggest Braai, but once the fires had cooled, another very South African challenge remained: cleaning 500 greasy braai grids.
Sunlight Ultra Power took on the post-braai clean-up as a live demonstration of its 5X grease-cutting power, using cold water and just one 750ml bottle of the dishwashing liquid to clean all 500 grids.
50 wash stations, 500 grids
The challenge was broken down across 50 wash stations, with each station responsible for 10 used braai grids. Each basin contained cold water and 15ml of Sunlight Ultra Power.
After 15 seconds to build up the foam, all 50 stations began washing the grease-covered grids simultaneously. With 50 stations using 15ml each, the total came to 750ml – the equivalent of a single bottle of Sunlight Ultra Power.
The entire challenge was completed in less than 11 minutes.
The activation was designed as a real-life test rather than a controlled product demonstration, putting the dishwashing liquid to work on the grease and residue left behind after hundreds of Heritage Day braais.
Seeing and feeling the difference
Influencers and content creators attending the event moved between the wash stations to see the results first-hand, comparing the grids before and after they were cleaned.
Because braai grids are naturally dark, the difference was not simply visual. Attendees could also feel the grease and residue being removed from the surfaces.
The 500 cleaned grids were then brought together in a collective display, reinforcing the activation’s message: “500 grids, one powerful clean.”
Creators including Denzhe Makungo (Black Venda Man), Xolile Vesile, Sinoyolo Sifo (Sifo The Cooking Husband), Jana Jooste and Rynhardt Schoeman (Janey and Waney) attended the activation and subsequently shared content with their online communities. Robyn Mentor was also part of the Heritage Day experience.
Turning the post-braai clean-up into a challenge
For Sunlight senior marketing manager Caroline Blumrick, the activation was designed around a familiar part of South African life: enjoying a braai is easy; dealing with the dirty dishes afterwards is less appealing.
“South Africans love a braai, but cleaning up afterwards is probably the part we could all happily do without,” says Blumrick. “We wanted to demonstrate Sunlight Ultra Power’s cleaning performance in a way that felt relevant, memorable and uniquely South African.”
Using cold water added another layer to the challenge, while allowing eventgoers, influencers and creators to watch the cleaning process unfold in real time.
From Heritage Month to 500 braai grids
Throughout Heritage Month, Sunlight has encouraged South Africans to embrace the cooking, shared meals and inevitable dirty dishes that come with gathering around food through its #SunlightDirtyDishCount and #CookOutsideYourCulture campaigns.
The Heritage Day activation took that message to a much larger scale, turning the aftermath of hundreds of braais into a demonstration of the product’s grease-cutting performance.
The final tally was simple: one Heritage Day, one 750ml bottle of Sunlight Ultra Power, 50 wash stations and 500 braai grids cleaned in under 11 minutes.
As far as post-braai clean-ups go, it was a sizeable mess, and an equally sizeable demonstration of what one bottle can do.
