#Effies2025 | Sanlam's F-Show breaks through the finance category
The campaign itself was a break in the traditional advertising of Sanlam, which is viewed as a legacy company.
It is also a campaign that broke out of the category’s traditional advertising.
Finance, and finances, says Sanlam’s chief marketing officer, Mariska Oosthuizen, is no laughing matter.
“People take it very seriously.”
So, imagine your agency comes up with the idea ofa comedy show as a campaign to engage people by laughing at finances, and one called the “F-show”.
Oosthuizen recalls how she had to sell this to her CEO. “I thought this was going to be difficult enough, given that Sanlam is a legacy company.”
But she convinced the CEO, and the campaign has certainly paid off for Sanlam.
“The insight was that people do not want to talk about finances; we do not have a good relationship with our money.
“But South Africans love to laugh at themselves, so why not laugh about their money.
“It was wonderful to bring something like that almost out from under the shadows,” says Oosthuizen.
There was the risk that the campaign might upset some of the company’s older clients, but it had the bonus of attracting an entirely new generation of younger people.
She says the brand and the agency were brave, and that paid off. “We are so happy with the results of the campaign. We are seeing people wanting to engage with their money and to talk about it, and this is making them better off.”
Listen further
Listen further to Oosthuizen on the golden thread that follows all of the Sanlam campaigns, from the One Rand Man to the F-Show and to Accenture Song strategist Chisanga Mubanga on how the long-standing relationship between Sanlam and the agency has contributed to the camapign's success and how the campaign is an example of how strategists close the gap between brand potential and market realities.
Look out for more ACA Effie Awards interviews.
