The ad, which will begin flighting again from Wednesday, 8 August 2007, received widespread positive media coverage, including an Orchid in the weekly Saturday Star's Onions and Orchids column and a Hero rating on Andy Rice's Ad Feature slot on CapeTalk and Talk Radio 702.
A moving recognition of one of the previous Brand South Africa ad campaigns came from teenager Nica Cornell, who wrote in The Timesthat she was saved by an ad in the International Marketing Council (IMC) of South Africa series, “Today I woke up”.
She described how she remembered that she was 10 years old when she saw the ad for the first time – right when she was “looking at a world that felt like it had just turned on me”.
The ad was about “my people”, telling her that if they could do it, so could she. “That if a woman missing a limb could be setting swimming records, and a person with nothing could feel as though she had everything, because she was home, then so could I.”
Four years later, Cornell saw the ad again and it had the same effect, and so she wanted to thank the people who had made the ad, because “a few years ago they saved a girl who needed to be reminded why she loved her country and her life”.
In another show of ad success, European readers of The Economist last year voted Brand South Africa adverts among the 10 most memorable ads published.
The adverts, which were specially developed by the IMC to attract investment and tourism, were voted in the top 10 by readers – along with brands Rolex, Cartier, Lexus and banks like HSBC.
Says Yvonne Johnston, CEO of the IMC, “Our communication is aimed at changing how people think and feel about their country. We need to create a behavioural change in the time leading up to 2010, showcasing a country Alive with Possibility.”
