It’s a big week for the Sowetan newspaper as the much-anticipated Loeries week kicks off in Cape Town. Why? The newspaper and its agencies have been nominated for two, wait for it, film awards.
Sowetan’s #KnowYourPlace film has cracked the nod for Film Crafts: Online Film (above 90s) by agency House of Brave and Film: TV and Cinema (above 90s) by The Rudeboy Collective.
Takunda Jinda, head of marketing and subscriptions at Arena Holdings, says the central concept of the film was “premised on an insight that in the past, Sowetan’s readers were deprived of information, denied access and told what they can and cannot do”.
Jinda says Sowetan wanted to highlight the achievements of South Africa’s well-known, globally successful ambassadors by contrasting today’s images with negative stereotypes that they have fought against in the past.
“The goal here is to inspire the next generation of changemakers to remain resolute in their pursuit of greatness; to know that no matter what anyone has to say, only they can determine and know their place in the world. And we felt that the Sowetan was a perfect vehicle for this kind of campaign,” says Jinda.
“It is a newspaper that knows its place. It punches above its weight and has always pushed the envelope. For over 40 years now the Sowetan always stood and fought alongside the vulnerable in our society. It is known for challenging authority when it needed to, and for always being there to celebrate excellence.”
House of Brave was brought on to the project to bring it to light creatively. The agency’s Vanessa Pearson, executive creative director partner, says it’s not so unusual for newspapers to embrace “film-type” work. She points to The New York Times with their multi-award-winning ‘Truth’ campaign, by Droga5, and the Cannes award-winning film for The Independent many years ago, called ‘Litany’, which starts with ‘Don’t talk, don’t touch, don’t walk’, and ends with ‘don’t read’ etc. “ So there’s a history of really sharp thinking and execution when it comes to marketing publications,” she says.
Asked how the agency got to grips with the serious topic, Pearson says It helped that they were dealing with literal experience. Both corporately and individually. “As a country we know what the realities have been, and in a lot of instances, still are. In addition to that, the creative team have also lived that reality and experience, so it was the birthing of an idea from a place of understanding, and tangible knowledge of the psychological and physical barriers of discrimination and prejudice. But when you juxtapose the negative with the positive, it makes for an impactful piece of communication. In storytelling we call that a collision,” she explains.
Pearson says the creative could not have embarked on this particular journey without the vision, input and constant striving for excellence and no less on the part of Jinda and his “superb marketing team”.
“From the get-go they were so involved and willing to give input, push us further and provide incredible insights. I don’t believe that the best work can happen in a vacuum. Great work is a reflection of a meaningful partnership between agency and client, and especially one where you’re working towards the same goal, which is work that touches and moves your audience, which in turn reflects in the numbers and response,” Pearson says.
Jinda says the first marketing campaign under Arena Holdings came with a certain amount of nervous tension. “The campaign was developed right at the beginning of lockdown. Many of us were still figuring out how to operate Zoom, some of us working on couches, or in the kitchen, very few of us had even set up a home office as we thought we would only be working from home temporarily,” he says.
Pearson also talks to the impact of Covid-19 on production. “
In executing we came up against some novel challenges, the first of which was the landing of the global pandemic in South Africa and going into lockdown. But thanks to the power of technology and some quick adapting to Zoom and Teams, we were able to continue the momentum. I must admit that we did also have an extremely challenging budget for a film, but we were able to overcome this with clever thinking and sourcing of available footage. Together with our client, we partnered with the awesomely talented team at Rudeboy Collective, who worked their creative magic and brought the film to life through evocative imagery and the hauntingly beautiful soundtrack.”
Jinda says because the concept was very gritty, “it took multiple team sessions to interrogate how the campaign could be received and we carefully curated many images and deliberate wording to ensure the message landed correctly without offending anyone. The aim was to inspire people to know better and to understand that credible and reliable information is key to better oneself.”
#KnowYourPlace will live on, he adds. “We will celebrate more characters regularly across all mediums. While the campaign uses public figures to tell this narrative, we will also give ordinary South Africans an opportunity to share their #KnowYourPlace stories on social media and we will also reward these readers for sharing their stories and inspiring others.”
