Fifty Comrades Marathon athletes pounding through a working hospital was the central concept of a pro bono television commercial (TVC) created by Euro RSCG South Africa for Breast Cancer Awareness Week.
Directed by Ian Mason of Frieze Films, the 45-second commercial opens in a quiet hospital where everyone is going about their daily business, when the presence of the runners is first implied, then revealed in glimpses, until eventually they are pounding their way, en masse through the hospital. The ad culminates with all the athletes converging in the hospital foyer, blocking the entrance door. Suddenly the message becomes powerfully apparent as the ad ends on a slower, poignant shot of the woman being kept out of the hospital – the crux of the idea. The animated pink shoelaces reinforce the symbolic link between the pink and the Breast Cancer Awareness cause.
The Pink Drive provided special pink gear for the Comrades Marathon athletes to show solidarity with breast cancer sufferers. Once all the 2010 pink shoelaces, pink sweat wrist bands and pink socks were handed out to registered runners, other competitors in the field wore their own pink items in support of the PinkDrive initiative.
PinkDrive CEO, Noelene Kotschan, said, “Much of this support was due to the fantastic ad created for us by Euro RSCG. Many people who registered with us said it was the ad that inspired them to join the PinkDrive in the first place.’
Created by the Agency’s Executive Creative Director, James Daniels; Art Director, Romy Lunz; and Copywriter, Balekane Mokodotoa, the ad was shot and directed by Mason at the old Kempton Park Hospital on Johannesburg’s East Rand and the Randburg Athletic Club.
“We decided to focus on the idea of staying out of hospital by picking up potential breast cancer early,’ says James Daniels, executive creative director of Euro RSCG SA. “The message is clear that thanks to the money they will raise by running in pink at the Comrades, these runners are doing their bit to help keep women out of hospital, and possibly save a life.’
Mason added, “Apart from its conceptual strength, the script also lends itself to really interesting and compelling visual imagery, with the hospital environment.’
Post production was conducted at The House in Bryanston by Andrew Traill, with music by Rob Schroeder of Rob Roy Music.
