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.

I think they’ve just outsmarted other retailers.

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.

Vodacom won most of the cellular networks’ advertising campaigns recently with the Single ladies advert and the Elton and Jan ones.

But from out of seemingly nowhere Mtn have come up with the Ayoba Yoba series of adverts on radio and tv.

They’re catchy and very noticeable and people are using the phrase on Facebook and in conversation.

I even asked my Xhosa speaking colleague what the phrase Ayoba Yoba means. He did a little dance and said there is no direct translation…

But it’s a joyful partying spirit he said.

Suddenly Vodacom’s adverts are looking blah.

Even their giving away a million rand a week – or whatever they’re doing – just doesn’t seem very exciting. Except to that 1 person winning.

Plus as a Vodacom customer they are just getting on my nerves with their repeat sms ads.

My favourite advertisement by far on tv right now is the Savannah one with Barry Hilton.

A man walks into a bar orders a Savannah while the barman plays a small banjo.

A monkey appears takes the Savannah and walks off.

The man tells the barman, “Do you know your monkey just stole my Savannah? ”

The barman replies, “If you hum it, I’ll play along.”

Classic!

I laugh every single time.

The Pretoria courts ruled what we all knew since our mothers first gave us our first tennis biscuit. Only the biscuit with the fat little man on it could be deemed a real tennis biscuit.

The pretender to the throne, called GM Patel Foods cc, tried to pass off their own coconut biscuit at the real Mccoy, to no avail.

Nation Foods which holds the trademark to the recipe for tennis biscuits as well as the packaging, have been baking this delicious treat since 1911!

According to IOL.co.za:

 The trade mark is a square with a flower design on the outer edges.

In the centre are two rectangles with a third curved rectangle, slightly wider than the other two between them.

The rectangles are blank.

The applicant’s package has, on about two-thirds of it, a white background on which there is a representation of a baker in the top left corner and the name Bakers in prominent black letters.

Apart from the word TENNIS boldly written in red letters, the words “The Original” appear in gold letters.

The packaging also has written on it the words “Made with real butter, real syrup and real coconut”.

Just typing this has made me want a tennis biscuit or three – the real one, mind you!

We knew Nando’s wouldn’t cave to threats from Julius Malema and the ANCYL after they threatened militant action if the ads weren’t pulled.

After their meeting with Malema and co, Nando’s promised to remove the offending ad and did so, but replaced it with another one starring the same puppet.

Last night Nando’s started airing a new advert with puppet Julius blurred and his voice distorted as usually happens on actuality or news programmes when they want to protect someone’s identity.

This time there is no mention of the name Julius.

Senior brand manager of Nando’s Lara Easthorpe explained that the initial intention of the marketing campaign was not to poke fun of Julius Malema, but wanted to  bring a light-heartedness to the elections.

Which they did. 

We were talking about the advert at work around the coffee table on Friday and everyone was pretty much amused by it.

Julius Malema and the ANCYL have just given the adverts a much longer air-life than it otherwise would have had.

Well done to Nando’s for coming up with the ads in the first place and then continuing with it under pressure from someone who is obviously not the sharpest tool in the shed!

After casting our vote today, my sister and I went to our nearest Wimpy, in Kenilworth Centre to collect our free coffee as advertised.

We are arrived there at around 10.30am.

Walking into the mall, we saw Wimpy packed with diners having breakfast – more so than usual.

We went around to the take-away counter and was greeted by a friendly cashier who ordered our coffee – with some other voters’  standing in line.

Even though they were dealing with a line of diners waiting to be seated as well has an already full restaurant, staff remained patient and friendly.

A big ups to Wimpy for delicious coffee and great service.

Their marketing campaign brought much goodwill to the Wimpy brand, something which other brands will probably try to emulate next time.

Nando’s has their ‘voters roll’ roll – but it somehow doesn’t have the same effect as a free coffee.