So there I was, minding my own business when this strange advertisement crossed my tv screen.
As I live and breathe! On my screen is none other than Jo-anne Strauss, former Miss South Africa and current Top Billing presenter: laughing, talking on a cellphone and walking with not a Louis Vuitton bag, but a Shoprite yellow plastic carrier bag.
I hardly ever take a second look at advertisements.
But that split second of Jo-anne left me stunned and staring at the screen.
Clever marketing, Shoprite
Next followed Brumilda van Rensburg, formerly Louwna on Egoli and Sharleen Surtee-Richards famous diabetic and another former Egoli actress.
Makhaya Ntini had a part, Bafana Bafana player Siphiwe Tshabalala and I think Leon Schuster (who seems to be on every second advertisement these days, so I could have hallucinated him).
There were a few other celebs, but my mind was still stuck on Jo-anne Strauss.
I always pictured Top Billing presenters as averse to shopping for food and household products. (They eat and use the bathroom???) Ms Strauss did have very little in her Shoprite carrier bag, to be fair.
Or if they ate at home at all, it would be from Woolworths Food, don’t you think?… baby vegetables and lettuce and tiny bits of stuff.
At a stretch I could imagine Jo-anne running into Pick n Pay or even Checkers or Spar for a bottle of sparkling water.
But Shoprite? Are you serious?
That yellow decor would clash with that flowing designer evening gowns I imagine she wears on a ‘normal’ day. (And Jeannie D, I imagine, wears too small clothes and practices her Julia Roberts-like laugh all day.)
Obviously Shoprite’s latest marketing campaign’s purpose is to get the public to their stores to spot celebrities.
Why else have all those celeb shoppers in their advert?
I wouldn’t place any bets on spotting Jo-anne Strauss in your local Shoprite though.
Wanna guess what she has tucked into her yellow Shoprite plastic carrier bag?
What on earth??? This Cell-C vs Vodacom nonsense must the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen all week.
In case you’re wondering…
Vodacom launched their change to red campaign on 1 April with loads of fanfare. Advertisement, SMSes and MMSes to us lucky customers.
They just about threw everything but the kitchen sink into their attempts to inform us that their branding had changed from their usual blue, to Vodafone red.
Along came Cell-C and with their own advertisement, ridiculing Vodacom’s marketing efforts.
‘CEO’ Trevor Noah mentioned something about the colour change not meaning its the biggest cell phone network. Or something to that effect.
It didn’t sound all that convincing to me, regardless of what he said.
Especially since I thought Vodacom had a bigger customer base than Cell-c.
Vodacom took offence anyway and laid a complaint at ASA.
And for good measure served lawyers letters on all and sundry.
All and sundry includes someone who worked on Vodacom’s marketing campaign and was subsequently employed at Cell-C’s advertising company.
In my opinion Vodacom is adding fuel to an almost dead fire, especially since Cell-C’s campaign looked like amatuer hour on Youtubem
As is the case for other Vodacom customers, I received an sms just a few minutes ago informing me of their new branding.
I’m sure we Vodacom users are jumping for joy. NOT.
Anyway, they’ve gone from their usual blue to Vodafone red, because as their advert says, red is simpler.
Whatever!
Bring on cheaper cellphone call charges and especially data charges – then we’ll talk! Does anyone still SMS?
The changes were made to bring Vodacom in line with Vodafone, their international parent company.
Vodacom has already started rolling out their new marketing campaign on television, SMSes and billboards on major highways.
And they’re using their ‘old’ advertisement characters to do so.
As the saying goes: a change is as good as a holiday, but for customers of the major telecommunications companies the main changes we want to see are the ones to our pockets.
Not to mention real competition between the networks.
Pick n Pay’s latest marketing tool isn’t new at all. Many other retailers have loyalty programs, including Clicks.
But somehow this new smart shopper card Pick n Pay is marketing on tv and Facebook – with smart shopper app and all – is making me take note. Clever marketing by the way.
Calling the card a smart shopper card is…smart too.
We like our retailers and everyone else for that matter to think of us as smart people Even when they’re taking our hard earned money on a regular basis.
And we all need to grocery shop, like it or not. Being offered rewards for a horrible (for me) chore can only be good.
Currently I shop at Checkers because I dislike the layout of the Pick n Pay store in my local mall. So we’ll see whether convenience and comfort wins over offers of rewards.
Anyway, the Pick n Pay smart shopper card will reward customers with 1 point for each R1 spent and also double, triple and bonus points on special offers.
At the end of each quarter shoppers will be able to spend their earned points at Pick n Pay.
Apparently all you have to do is apply in-store with your ID number and start shopping.
I might go check it out on Monday since I have to go shopping anyway.
Because whether I use the smart shopper card or not, I like the whole campaign and the way it’s been rolled out on tv and on social media at the same time.
MTN owned all cellphone adverts before and during the Soccer World Cup. So it seemed like Vodacom, Virgin Mobile and CellC took a break,
Now however, Vodacom hit back with their Daddy Cool advert that makes absolutely no sense to me at all. But it’s so much fun that I always look up from whatever I’m doing when the advert comes on tv.
Vodacom seldom fail where their marketing campaigns are concerned – their service is another story.
And this one is another one that works. If you consider that they’ve been quiet of late.
Even when they’re taking our hard earned money on a regular basis..jpg)
