There is one thing you have to say about British celeb chef Jamie Oliver… and that is that he oozes enthusiasm, whether it be for food, for cooking or even life itself.
That makes him a good choice to punt your product or brand – having a household name enthuse about what you have to offer means you have one foot in the door of consumer persuasion.
On the other hand, celebrity brings with it unique risks – like the person’s fame threatening to overwhelm your marketing messaging.
Jamie Oliver and Checkers: A recipe that works
He’s been out to South Africa on a few occasions to promote Checkers – and, though it may have cost them an arm and a leg, they’re flying in the retail space, so they can clearly afford it.
Using Oliver was a smart move right from the beginning because Checkers is positioning itself as the savings person’s alternative to Woolies – plenty of quality but at a lower price.
Now, while I’m not a food fundi by any stretch of the imagination and am not usually involved in the household supply chain, I think the two retail giants are much of a muchness when it comes to food quality… and in some areas – like their specialist cheese offering – Checkers edges its rival. I wonder how long Woolworths will be able to ride on the back of elitism…
Oliver’s latest ad for Checkers has been around for a while now, but every time I see it, I smile. His humour, coupled with a naturally relaxed-funny script – involving local personalities like rugby stars Pieter-Steph Du Toit and Trevor Nykane as well as comedian Marc Lottering – sets the perfect tone for a bit of fun.
The rugger buggers are even taken aback when trying to answer Oliver’s questions around meat and he remarks that Pieter-Steph is a “bit of a chop…”
All the while, the banter is about food, with a pinch of information sprinkled in. Underlying it all is the message that Checkers provides healthy, environmentally friendly food.
The punchline Choosing better has never been this simple sums it all up.
Orchids for Checkers and Jamie Oliver. Not the first and probably won’t be the last… It’s a great partnership.
A simple, powerful story told right
Even as society is in real danger of drowning in screens, I was struck the other day by how the still, or frozen, image still has immense power to leave an impression on the mind.
This time, it was a simple shot of a child struggling to get away as Gogo forcibly rubs Vaseline all over his space before sending him out into the wild weather.
It’s a tradition many black households in South Africa know only too well: You don’t argue because Gogo knows best and Gogo knows that a layer of Vaseline on the skin will protect against dryness, harsh winds and cold.
Who knows? Maybe that’s one of the reasons that at the same age, South African black skin looks for smoother and less weathered than white skin…check it out sometime and tell me I’m wrong.
The other noticeable thing about the ad and the campaign in general is that it is another indication that, at last, local, indigenous (read non-white and non-mid Atlantic) advertising is starting to make its mark.
As Unati Moalusi, chief people officer at VML South Africa, the agency responsible, notes: creatives have brought their lived experiences to the work. That culture – our heritage – finds an authentic voice in this…as opposed to filling all the Western-style ads with black faces and trying to call it transformative.
Orchids to Vaseline and VML for a simple, but classic, ad.
A costly lesson in humility
The elite in this country – those living the high life or those with connections to, or who are part of the “new rich”, or who are politically connected need to start reading the room.
After the obscene and boastful consumption by those allegedly involved in the looting of the Tembisa Hospital (who really needs six Lamborghinis?), we would guess ordinary South Africans – those struggling to put food on the table – are getting sick and tired of various high flyers shouting “Look how amazing I am!”
What particularly galls me is when this egotistical cult of personality (which says, effectively, that it's my own cult, because I am not really newsworthy in reality) sees government or parastatal funds wasted on boastful advertising.
One such was the squandering of money by Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) on praise singing for its chief financial officer, Luzuko Mbotya, who supposedly was responsible for the state-owned entity turning a R1bn plus profit.
His gloating followed a few months after Acsa announced its results as proof of “black excellence".
It’s easy to make a profit, though, when you don’t have any effective competition, which is the case with Acsa, which competes with only one major airport, Lanseria, which is privately owned.
Profit or not, Acsa still has myriad problems – from dirty toilets at OR Tambo International, to parking ticket machines which are so slow they cause long back-ups as people try to leave the airport.
And that’s not counting recent reports about aviation fuel shortage issues in its network,or one that says an expert assessed its bomb safety plans as next to useless.
If you were doing such a good job, Mr CFO, surely top financial journos would seek you out to write about it, rather than you having to pay to be profiled? And since when should a fish be praised for swimming?
You get an Onion for using other people’s money to try to make yourself look heroic.
