The ‘We’ve been having it’ TV commercial for Vodacom has been judged the funniest in the country at the 2008 South African Comedy Awards, now in its second year.
Developed by Draftfcb Johannesburg, the ad features a benign, slightly ridiculous and very funny dictator who makes outlandish claims and suffers from a misguided superiority.
The Draftfcb team consisted of executive creative director Grant Jacobsen, copywriters Neo Mashigo, Grant Sithole and Freedom Masiba, and art director Marcus Moshapalo
Over the years, Vodacom’s brand advertising has introduced South African television viewers to a handful of interesting – and amusing – characters.
First on the scene were Bankole and De Pina, who gave us a new phrase to add to our vocabulary, “Yebo Gogo’. A few years later, Mo the Meerkat danced onto the screens and soon became one of the country’s favourite personalities.
Commenting on the awards, Draftfcb South Africa group executive creative director, Ashley Bacon, said: “Building brands that are genuinely respected and admired in the South African marketplace is all about creating effective communication that wins the hearts and minds of South African consumers.
“And local humour is one of the tools that we at Draftfcb use to good affect to endear our clients’ brands to consumers. We know that reflecting South African society in their brand communication in an honest, realistic and humourous manner so that consumers can recognise themselves – and, yes, chuckle at themselves – ensures likeability and builds recall, and we work very hard to get the mix right.’
