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Vodacom ad tickles judges' funny bone

Draftfcb Johannesburg's ‘We've been having it' television commercial for Vodacom has been named as the country's funniest ad at the 2008 South African Comedy Awards.
Vodacom ad tickles judges' funny bone

Developed by the team of executive creative director, Grant Jacobsen; copywriters Neo Mashigo, Grant Sithole and Freedom Masiba; and art director, Marcus Moshapalo, the ad features a benign, slightly ridiculous and very scruffy dictator who tickled South Africa's funny bone with his outlandish claims and misguided superiority.

Over the years, Vodacom's brand advertising has introduced South African television viewers to a handful of interesting - and amusing - characters over the years.

First on the scene were Bankole and De Pina, who gave us a new phrase to add to our vocabulary, ‘Yebo Gogo'. A few years later, Mo the Meerkat danced onto the screens and soon became one of the country's favourite personalities. And, when it comes to product advertising, there's also Lucky & George, who continuously play a tune on the nation's rib case.

Commenting on the awards, Draftfcb South Africa group executive creative director, Ashley Bacon, said: “Building brands that are genuinely respected and admired in the South African marketplace is all about creating effective communication that wins the hearts and minds of South African consumers.

“And local humour is one of the tools that we at Draftfcb use to good affect to endear our clients' brands to consumers. We know that reflecting South African society in their brand communication in an honest, realistic and humourous manner so that consumers can recognise themselves - and, yes, chuckle at themselves - ensures likeability and builds recall, and we work very hard to get the mix right.”

It's not only for Vodacom that Draftfcb creates work that tickles the funny bone: also up for nomination this year from Draftfcb was the ‘Urbanite' Toyota Hilux commercial.

The SA Comedy Awards is the only national awards show that recognises the talents of comedians, playwrights, journalists and others across the spectrum of performance, print and broadcast media. It is now in its second year.

12 Sep 2008 11:27

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