Nando’s recently released “blue-light brigade” television advert has proven to be a smash hit online.
The advert, which shows a comic interpretation of what would happen if four blue-light brigades were to try to halt each other at an intersection, was released on YouTube. A related hashtag has been promoted on Twitter, #NoBlueLights, and social media users were invited to have their say in a poll on Mxit or like posts on Facebook.
The YouTube video has received over half a million views thus far and is currently trending on YouTube in South Africa, ranking in the top three most popular videos at the moment. And in just a few days, over 8 000 people participated in a poll across social media channels, including Mxit, which asked, “Should blue light brigades wait in line like everyone else?”
The hashtag #NoBlueLights has gained fantastic traction on Twitter and the related Facebook posts have received over 600 likes.
According to Nando’s chief marketing officer Mike Cathie, the idea behind the advert was to “give people a voice on something they really care about”. Evidently this has translated well to the digital and social media space.