For Dis-Chem, getting South Africans to move more has become more than a health message. The retailer is turning its Better Health positioning into a cultural experience, using music, employee participation and local talent to launch a new Heritage Day campaign.
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The result is Freedom, an original anthem released by Dis-Chem on Heritage Day, 24 September, designed to celebrate movement while reinforcing the retailer's broader health and wellness proposition.
The campaign began with a simple question posed to Dis-Chem's social media followers: “What does Better Health mean to you?”
The responses became the creative starting point for acclaimed South African conductor, composer and producer Ralf Schmitt, who interpreted the collective answers as a song about freedom.
“Dis-Chem started 2026 with a strong core belief that we wanted to get South Africans to move more, because we know that just as little as five minutes a day of moving your body will bring tremendous health benefits,” says Dis-Chem chief marketing officer Megan Kim de Vroeg.
From customer insight to original music
Rather than simply attaching the Better Health message to an existing piece of music, Dis-Chem built an original cultural asset around the responses of its community.
Schmitt, conductor and co-founder of the Ndlovu Youth Choir, composed the track, which was first performed in April by the newly formed Dis-Chem Freedom Choir at the retailer's Leadership Summit.
The choir comprises 40 Dis-Chem employees — 32 from Gauteng, three from the Western Cape and five from KwaZulu-Natal — selected from more than 100 entries during national auditions.
“It was a very exciting process to write a song about what Dis-Chem staff and South Africans felt Better Health means for them, and my interpretation of that was, it’s freedom,” says Schmitt.
The initiative effectively brought the brand's employees into the creative process, turning staff participation into part of the campaign story rather than simply using employees as an internal audience.
Putting employees at the centre of the brand
For Dis-Chem, the Freedom Choir also provides an opportunity to demonstrate the human side of a large retail organisation.
Glen Sefularo, a Dis-Chem merchandiser at the Tambotie Mall branch in Randfontein and a member of the choir, says the song reflects more than the people who created it.
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“This song describes us as individuals, what we stand for and what we are,” he says. “So, it’s not only about the person who wrote it, but it’s South Africans who are asked to reply to it, and they responded wholeheartedly.”
The approach gives the campaign an additional layer of authenticity: the people working inside the retailer are not simply delivering the brand's message but are participating in creating it.
Adding star power to the health message
After being performed internally at various Dis-Chem events, Freedom was re-recorded in August as a commercial release.
The final track features Mi Casa frontman J'Something, Amapiano vocalist Thatohatsi and hip-hop MC Early B alongside the Gauteng-based Dis-Chem choir.
The collaboration gives the campaign a stronger lifestyle and entertainment dimension, potentially allowing the Better Health message to reach audiences beyond the retailer's traditional health and wellness communications.
For J'Something, the attraction was linked to the purpose behind the campaign.
“Dis-Chem’s passion for improving lives can either be seen as marketing jargon, or it can be understood as the genuine purpose behind the business,” he says.
“So that I hope that on Heritage Day, this song can revive the acknowledgement and awareness of our freedom, whether it’s freedom to move or freedom to express.”
Turning a retail proposition into a cultural moment
The campaign reflects a broader shift in lifestyle marketing, where retailers are increasingly looking for ways to build relevance beyond products and promotions.
For a health and beauty retailer such as Dis-Chem, movement provides a natural connection between the brand's commercial categories — from healthcare and pharmacy to sports, wellness and personal care — and a broader consumer lifestyle.
Music creates another way into that conversation.
Rather than telling consumers to exercise through conventional health messaging, Freedom frames movement as something associated with enjoyment, expression and freedom.
The accompanying music video was choreographed by Cape Town-based jazz funk and hip-hop choreographer Rudi Smit, adding dance and physical movement to the campaign's visual language.
The song and video therefore extend the campaign from a retail health message into an entertainment proposition that consumers can participate in and share.
Freedom, safety and better health
The Heritage Day launch also comes against a broader national conversation about freedom, particularly women's freedom and safety.
Dis-Chem considered delaying the release in light of that context, recognising that access to better health is also connected to people's ability to live safely and with dignity.
“We recognise that true freedom and better health depend on people being able to live their lives safely, with dignity and without fear of violence,” says de Vroeg.
The retailer ultimately chose to release the song while acknowledging that broader context, positioning freedom of movement and access to safe spaces as part of its vision for a healthier society.
“We are acutely aware of the need to provide safe spaces where all South Africans – men, women and children – can achieve their health goals as an essential part of building a healthier society,” she says.
Extending Better Health beyond the store
Freedom is available on Spotify, Apple Music and other major music streaming platforms from Heritage Day, while the accompanying music video is being released on Dis-Chem's YouTube channel.
For Dis-Chem, the campaign illustrates how a retail brand can use culture and entertainment to make an existing brand proposition more tangible.
Better Health starts with a commercial purpose rooted in healthcare and wellness, but the retailer is extending that proposition into music, movement, employee engagement and South African cultural identity.
In doing so, Freedom becomes more than a Heritage Day campaign. It gives Dis-Chem another way to invite consumers into the brand's health conversation — not through another product message, but through something designed to be heard, watched, shared and, ultimately, moved to.
