After last week's post, I started getting many nostalgic remarks about longing for the days of great - daring even - work. And how a lot of that work was strictly exploratory. Which made me start reminiscing about some of my own favourite ads. It's been a while since I talked about hardcore advertising, so, why not? Some know me from my advertising work anyway, but hopefully even if you know knothing about the field, I will still weave enough of a story to enthrall.
For this piece, it's only right to start locally with one of my favourite brands when it comes to local advertising, Nandos.
How a chicken fast food chain had the guts to not only venture into but end up owning political satire so powerfully, is a testament to the collective balls of both client and agency. And a case study for linear thinkers.
I've admired Nandos' work since I joined this industry and I've been in awe of Ahmed Tilly, the Creative Director at the helm of most of the Nando's work I've fallen in love with.
Nandos is testament that we could make great work in Africa that's relatable globally, without losing our heritage, production values, or local context. As to whether South Africa counts as Africa, is a different conversation for a different day.
In order to understand what I'm going to be talking about, please pause here, go to YouTube and type "Nandos Last Dictator Standing" and then come back.
What you just saw is an ad that got banned in Zimbabwe and resulted in boycott calls from sycophantic political loyalists. It however earned laughter and applause everywhere else. I put that ad up the day Mugabe stepped down. That ad, my friends was brilliant and prophetic.
That work was simply a reflection of an extremely sensitive finger on the social pulse and very lateral and daring thinking. You don't get that by linear thinking. It shows a deep sense of spontaneity, bravery, audience contextual awareness that takes a gamble on delivering an instantly impactful yet simple message for a brand that is clearly punching above its jurisdiction.
That was the beauty of all the brand work across the world that came from exploratory thinking for brands mature enough to be comfortable with knowing that blazing success like a rocket launch, could come with a very present element of potential failure or backlash. It's testament to a brand chief brave enough to risk pushing their brand into unknown territory where success or failure is uncertain. But my my, how that thinking paid off and created a piece of work that outlived both chief and agency and carved out a real piece of legacy and unmistakable territory ownershi for a fast food brand. And that's what brand building used to be. When the legacy of a brand outlived the tenure of those who built it on both client and agency side.
Apple and Nike and VW haven't done great in terms of PR, product innovation or reputation for a while but still manage a cult following based on a legacy that is potent enough to have outlived their mishaps. And you literally can trace those legacy foundations to "Think Different", "Just do it", and "Lemon" all campaigns birthed from... you guessed it.
Maybe I'm a fanatic. And perhaps my tastes in advertising don't matter when I'm not the target. So I guess the real question of effectiveness is this: What do you guys think of the Nando's ad? Is it good work? Is it Polarising? Insensitive? True? Harmless? Is the work something that you want to share? What?
And most importantly, what do you think about the brand after that ad? Is it a brand you'd check out if you saw a shop on the corner?
The reason I picked that ad is that it makes one of my favourite quotes "a lot of truth is said in jest" true. As consequence, when something would happen, people would wait for the Nando's response. And that in turn caused virility. Things go "viral" when people outside the immediate circle deeply relate and relate enough for it to burst out of that circle into others. And repeat. This ad rode on universally relatable insight to the point where the work crossed borders - and that's one of the marks of great advertising: When people decide to share the very thing that interrupted whatever they were doing, we've won as an industry.
Now that the xenophobia rubbish in SA has started again, we realise the impact of switching on exploitative thinking where exploration once ruled. Whereas in the past, people would've been looking for the brand's narrative to bring some semblance of common sense and order to the situation, even if only by pointing a reflective satirical light on the foolishness of this matter, and calling the general mass consciousness to a sense of order since government won't, there's been nothing. Just silence shrouded in fear or confusion. The brand no longer has the voice and socially conscious relevance it once commanded.
Because alas, the minds that were brave enough to champion it in the past, have moved on - or been pushed out of the room. Or they're just plain tired of fighting over likes vs legacy.
If in doubt, go back to YouTube and search for the Nando's Diversity ad.
You could never have put the wildly successful results of those two ads on any type of spreadsheet. In hindsight or retrospect