Media

Twinsaver recently embarked on a national above-the-line campaign to get South Africans involved in “the softer side” of life. In line with this theme, the below-the-line activation was conceptualised and executed by promotions specialists Isilumko Media, powered by Studentwise; and consisted of an intensive mall activation across 12 of the country’s busiest centres. The campaign focus was to raise funds and create awareness for Twinsaver’s chosen cause, namely assisting disadvantaged communities to develop sustainable organic vegetable gardens thereby providing these communities with the raw ingredients to make nutritious meals.

The specialist team at Isilumko Media designed the visually appealing 360° branded mall set and all the elements of the campaign’s activities, all geared to ensure maximum attention and involvement from the over 2million mall patrons that were exposed to the promotion. The 18.5m² Twinsaver branded set took the shape of a veggie garden complete with friendly scarecrow and dungaree clad promoters – a distinct contrast to what mall patrons and tenants are used to seeing.

Children were drawn to the unique and fun set and were encouraged to take part in the colouring-in competition (which included a single seed for growing at home). This gave promoters the opportunity to discuss the fundraising aspect of the campaign with mom and dad and promote the high-quality educational DVD to interested parties. The DVD provided step-by-step instructions on how to build your own organic vegetable garden at home and was offered in exchange for a small donation of R20. All the proceeds were added to the fund for the development of the disadvantaged community gardens and by creating a partnership with the public, Twinsaver has generated buy-in for this CSI project and therefore ensured a greater recall and entrenchment of the “softer side” message for the brand. The focus of the campaign was thus not accruing donations but rather creating awareness and recruiting support for the project.

CSI driven brand campaigns have become increasingly popular for a number of obvious reasons. The need for development in South Africa is conspicuous in all communities and the positive reflection on a brand associated with such social development is invaluable. When financial managers are crunching numbers, CSI spend is more easily justifiable when supplemented by promotional budgets to increase the PR reach of the campaign; achieving somewhat of a “two birds with one stone” scenario. Campaigns being driven by CSI objectives attract more support from the public, resulting in higher campaign recall and a shimmering brand image. “We’re noticing more and more that even CSI spend is having to be accountable to the income statement and this is why purposefully building activations into the project, facilitates a variety of results driven conclusions” says Brendan Powell, General Manager at Isilumko Media.

Twinsaver Marketing Manager, Hugh Wilson encapsulated the role of the activation in the overall campaign strategy: “Our main aim behind a face to face interaction with the people of South Africa was to ensure our campaign had multiple consumer touch points. The campaign was facilitated by press / TV / radio and the activation element gave the campaign legs and brought it to the people to ensure a full 360 degree turnkey solution. The interaction was key and the message behind the CSI campaign was for people to get involved and contribute towards a meaningful and worthy cause!”

The handpicked Studentwise promoters communicated the message precisely and tactfully by inviting patrons to partner with Twinsaver in this noble endeavour. Just over R70 000 was raised through the DVD initiative with the three top performing malls (Fourways, Northgate and Menlyn) distributing 1 342 DVDs. “The initiative was exceptionally well received by the mall masses and just over 10% of all one-on-one interactions resulted in a donation for the DVD” adds Powell.

“The team here at Isilumko Media feel extremely privileged to have worked on a campaign of this nature. It was exceptionally successful, will have a lasting, positive effect on our most vulnerable communities and has really lifted the face of the Twinsaver brand in the minds of South Africans.”