Springbok Toughness Highlighted As RG Snyman Cast As Viking In Pick n Pay Campaign

Eating like a champ

One UK wag responded that American football was the sport made for those who are too soft to play rugby…

But that reminded me that, even in a game where tough is written into the rules – and where balletic diving never happens (as it does all the time in football) – our national rugby team is known for being hewn out of granite.

Many is the foreign team which has gone home nursing bruises from up close and painful personal encounters with the likes of Ox Nche, Eben Etzebeth, Siya Kolisi and RG Snyman.

And the latter is one of the centre cameos in the latest Springbok ad for sponsor Pick n Pay. Not for nothing is RG, with his Norseman-like hairstyle and massive physique, cast as a Viking, intent on plunder and inflicting defeat on opponents.

But, even as he appears, the question has already been asked – by fans and pundits all over the world: What are they feeding them?

Enter that legendary Bok-building Ma, who looks at her “little boy” as he protein-loads on extra helpings of lamb chops.

The message is clear: Our boys are carnivores and it works. And, where does a carnivore go when he (or she) wants top quality meat? Well, Pick and Pay, of course. Cue the message of the ad: Eat like a Champion.

It’s a great patriotic ad to run as we pursue our campaign in The Nations Championship… and as other teams despair of being able to counter our power rugby. But, at the same time, it’s also a great plug for Pick and Pay and a timely reminder that if you haven’t got the steak, chops and wors for the braai, you’d better get a move on and get down there.

Halo's Dean Oelschig says he and his team had a ball making the ad, commenting on social media that it was an opportunity to make a “different” kind of rugby ad. You certainly succeeded there, Dean.

It didn’t hurt to the sports fans among them that they got to work with rugby legends like RG, Siya and Eben as well as overseas heroes like the All Blacks’ Dan Carter. Great example of Go Big or Go Home on that front, too…

Orchids to Pick and Pay and Halo. The ad has proved to be just the right scene-setter.

Own goal

Sometimes, in marketing and advertising, you can be too clever for your own good.

Latest example of that is a social media campaign run recently by Takealot, which is about to get engaged in an existential fight for its life with the global giant in wish delivery, Amazon.

Jeff Bezos didn’t turn his company into the behemoth it is today by playing Mister Nice Guy… but he certainly didn’t have a go at brand suicide on the way, either.

And by that, I mean, he never acknowledged his opposition publicly. That is one of the golden rules of marketing: Don’t give your competitors any free air time, especially if you think you might be having a dig at them.

Takealot clearly were missing during those fundamental marketing school real world lessons, or they would not have put out such a silly piece of promotion.

Pegging it to the Fifa World Cup success of Bafana Bafana (Bit of ambush advertising there, too), Takealot’s pitch ran: The boys made history and your wallet is about to win too!

It went on: Get 20% OFF site-wide with code AMAZ20.

Really – getting your customers to think Amazon, when that is your main competitor? What were you thinking?

People are, obviously, not going to rush off to Amazon immediately, but you have primed their sub-conscious to react the next time they see a plug for Amazon.

Way to go Takealot! Onion for you! Zero % OFF!