Jozi-based agency 7 Different Kinds of Smoke (7DKS) was selected as the team to tell audiences the tenth season of Idols would be bigger and better than before. Twitter, taxi and bathroom media, digital and traditional outdoor, as well as TV and radio were used to deliver the tongue in cheek through the line campaign.
“A whack of deliberately over-the-top excuses such as ‘I have to take my parrot to attack-training’, were seeded across multiple channels, with the idea of creating a bit of conversation and laughter. Our strategy was to simply play up on people’s FOMO as a means of creating awareness around the show’s on air date with a view to driving appointment viewing,” says 7DKS creative partner, James Cloete.
Outdoor, TV and tactical and traditional radio spots drove the campaign, but DJ’s were also used to extend the conversation about Idols X both on air and in social media. Twitter then gave the public the opportunity to join in and show off their own creativity by making their own excuses and tagging them with #MakeYourExcuse. The ‘social’ and ‘user friendly’ nature of the idea served to spread the word further without breaking the bank on media spend.
In addition to this year’s season promising to be bigger and better than ever before, Idols, which has traditionally always been flighted on M-NET’s channel 101, was also aired on Mzansi Magic; a channel designed specifically for strong locally developed content.
