Maria McCloy
Last week a Johannesburg bus was used for more than just transporting people around town, but was instead transformed into a new type of interactive advertising campaign.
As the open-top bus bedecked with balloons wound through Johannesburgs streets, teenagers danced to Skeem and ODa Meesta who played the latest kwaito and RnB sounds as they made up rhymes about Jet, the fashion store whose hyper-stylish new city outlet they helped launch.
Everybody and their mothers want to get the young black market, the fastest growing in South Africa.
Gavin Mills of Ogilvy & Mathers event marketing division said they needed more excitement and vibe in the relaunch campaign, so in addition to posters, print and radio advertisements they wanted to set up a dialogue with people, not just one way communication which consisted of 15 kids on the bus and 20 others who went around town doing routines and handing out Jet pamphlets.
Mills said Jet Storess target market was across the board, from young people to families.
But wasnt the tone of the campaign very specifically aimed at the black urban youth? He conceded that most influential trends are created by kids and that the aim was to make the Jet brand younger, fresher, more dynamic and alive. And that it was crucial to choose a vibey group that was acceptable and known to the target audience.
Mills described the campaign as part of a below-the-line strategy but said that the bus was more of an even marketing initiative. He got the idea after seeing a similar bus touring through Johannesburg with Olympic, rugby and soccer team winners.
The bus did not have a set route, but stuck to areas where young black people hang out.
All sorts of people the bus passed by either stared or danced as Jet pamphlets were thrown to them.
Mills is delighted with the impact of the campaign saying the noise they created attracted lots of people, in a bigger way than they ever could have with just leaflets and posters, and they didnt have to deal with factors like literacy levels and availability of media. Everyone in the area saw the campaign clearly. Id definitely use the strategy again.
And of course it was exposure for Skeem and ODameesta too. Sportingly they did not only play stuff from their albums, but a variety of music from other kwaito artists like Sbu, Skhizo, Thebe and Ma Kap Kap.
Their manager clearly saw the effectiveness of the strategy, and was already planning to use the open-top bus driving round Johannesburg for the launch of some of their label Ghetto Ruffs new projects.