Relentless marketing

This is especially so in times of economic downturn, when the natural instinct for corporate bean counters is to cut back on the things they don’t really understand – and advertising and marketing are top of the list of those particular things.

That was something I first heard from high-ups in the local operation of Coca-Cola, who explained that the American brand had got where it has because of its relentless marketing – and from taking very seriously indeed any threat to its dominant position. When I asked why they were bothering so much, because Pepsi (Coke’s main global competitor) was an also-ran in South Africa, they said, simply: Everything people drink is a competitor to us.

Two other major consumer icons, also from the Star-Spangled Land – McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) – are some of the biggest advertisers in our country at the moment. There’s hardly a social media, TV or YouTube platform where ads for either or both are not going to pop up repeatedly.

Both brands are not merely recycling existing material – as many others do. They’re constantly changing it up, not just in the advertising but in the product and promotions… to keep their customers coming back.

You can’t help but notice both of them – and that’s coming from me as someone who is not a great fan of fast food: Why go out for a burger when you can have steak at home, as Paul Newman once said – although he was referring to his wife, his words are applicable to my wife’s home cooking.

Having said that, I am always drawn to well-produced, cinematic style ads, even if I am not an evangelist for that particular brand.

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One which initially confused me a bit – until I discovered it was a promo for a competition – was one of the latest by KFC.

It follows a young dude, heading for Gogo, with a KFC bucket, but who gets waylaid in all sorts of places along the way. I love the subtle nods to action and cinema noir movies, set in small towns, with a cast of strange people. The ad, though, doesn’t end up in a chainsaw massacre, but shows repeated scenes of the bucket being refilled, no matter how much everyone grabs a piece of the fired chicken.

There are shades of sci-fi movies too, as said dude appears to flee from the supernatural forces that are following him to refill the bucket.

On second viewing and checking out KFC’s socials, I put two and two together: the fast-food chain is running a competition where you win a “bottomless bucket”. Achieve that and you’re suddenly going to be very popular indeed.

It’s quite an enticing prize and the concept is pitched in an intriguing way. But the whole execution is professionally done, using local talent and locations. And that is something which, annoyingly, is happening less and less with SA brands – even big ones – relying on stock shot video for their imagery. AI can only be just around the corner – with all that implies for our creative industry.

So, Orchid to KFC for a clever piece of promotion and associated video. And a second one for showing your feet are on South African soil, by using our local resources to sell yourselves.

Plausible deniability

Someone who has been vehemently denying using local talent (if you can call them that) to market himself is Johannesburg Executive Mayor Dada Morero, who caused a social media clapback after a whole bunch of “influencers” suddenly started singing his praises as the Man who Saved the City.

The influencers ignored the actual state of the city – which is “crumbling” ... and that’s about the kindest word to use.

Yet Morero and his communication team maintained, with straight faces, that this fortuitous praise singing was not bought. Their words, though, were carefully chosen: Morero said he had not personally ordered the campaign, nor had his comms team. Plausible deniability right there…

That still leaves the possibility that they were telling the truth and some other factotum or middle man arranged the campaign.

How plausible is it that influencers suddenly decide to support you? Especially when you consider their social media timelines, which mainly consist of paid plugs and vacuous reposts. One of the influencers, Katalia, lives in Pinetown, yet was moved to post about Morero opening a clinic in Joburg. Wow, Comrade Mayor, with that sort of magnetic presence, you should get the potholes fixed and traffic lights back on in no time.

City of Johannesburg (whoever was responsible) gets an Onion for silly attempts to market itself which backfired and then for making it worse by doubling down.

The episode also showed the dangers of using influencers to push your brand, because social media is becoming increasingly sophisticated and aware and can smell out fake from a long distance.