Fish & Chip: THE CAMPAIGN THAT NEVER FLIGHTED

Credits & Description:

Advertiser: TASTE HOLDINGS
Agency: METROPOLITANREPUBLIC
Category: Best Integrated Campaign Led by PR
Advertising campaign: THE CAMPAIGN THAT NEVER FLIGHTED
Digital Director: Angie Hattingh (Metropolitanrepublic)
Creative Director: Ernest Ray-Ray Mphande (Metropolitanrepublic)
Art Director: Bheki Yende (Metropolitanrepublic)
Cartoonist: Mdu Ntuli (MduComics)
Account Manager: Karabo Motjuwadi (Metropolitanrepublic)
Copywriter: Ntokozo Tshabalala (Metropolitanrepublic)
Copywriter: Nwabisa Tolom (Metropolitanrepublic)
Chief Creative Officer: Paul Warner (Metropolitanrepublic)
Producer: Simone Bosman (Metropolitanrepublic)
Strategic Director: Tlali Taoana (Metropolitanrepublic)
TV Producer: Tshepiso Moerane (Metropolitanrepublic)
Group Account Director: Kim Nast (Metropolitanrepublic)
Art Director: Sakhumzi Piliso (Metropolitanrepublic)

Client Brief Or Objective
The goal was to establish Fish & Chip Co. and their $2.50 meal promotion as a worthy contender amongst the fast food heavy weights. With the tiny budget of $55 000 we could not just create word-of-mouth, but we had to get them on the front page of newspapers, prime time TV, radio, social media, print, online and other channels.

Effectiveness
We turned $5 000 into $2 million worth of free PR and media coverage.ROI of 36 692%We dominated the front page of newspapers – a media space that can never be bought.Our commercial the SABC wouldn’t show, aired on prime time news.The full commercial transcript was read on radio talk shows.100 000 YouTube views within 24 hours. The commercial reached ¼ of all South Africans on Twitter. All 600 Fish & Chip Co. outlets never knew what hit them, they sold out more fish than they could catch. And now every South African knew who the biggest fish in the fast food pond was.

Campaign Description
Fish & Chips co. is South Africa’s smallest Fish and Chip franchise. They came to us with $55 000 for a brand campaign, enough to make one commercial and flight it only once. That’s not enough to stand out from the big boys like McDonalds. We knew that using our controversial president, Jacob Zuma, in our campaign would get the attention of not only South Africans, but also the state owned national broadcaster, SABC. We spent $5000 to produce a commercial highlighting the topical news story of President Zuma spending $27.5 million dollars to build his personal mansion in an area rife with poverty. And as we expected, the commercial was deemed offensive and banned by the SABC before it even flighted.But, South Africans hate censorship and a debate around freedom of speech erupted. We had given the media the bait to run with our campaign and produce our communication elements for us.The front page of newspapers would be our press commercials, our commercial would air on prime time news, the transcript read on radio talk shows, and street pole headlines would be our outdoor. Within 24 hours, leading journalists had tracked down the only two available copies online. The media made sure that for an ad that never aired, everybody would get to see it. In the end the results were astounding, our $5 000 TV commercial turned into $2 million worth of free PR in under 10 days, a return on investment of over 36 692%.

Execution
There are weekly reports of South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma being involved in controversy. The latest scandal involved him allegedly spending $27.5 million on a mansion. So, how better to get the country talking about our brand than to latch onto the most talked about topic. Getting the president to willingly participate in a commercial that shows him and his family enjoying a $2.50 meal would be impossible. So we approached South Africa’s most popular tongue-in-cheek cartoonist, to create characters that resemble our president, his family and his flashy mansion. We knew that using Zuma in our campaign would probably put us in a position where the campaign would be pulled off air, this is exactly what we got. The night before the TV commercial was scheduled to flight it was deemed offensive by the SABC and banned. This leaked to the press almost immediately. The following day we were on the front page of newspapers, news websites and international press. Radio DJs, and talk shows got South Africans talking about our $2,50 promotion.

Relevancy
Fish & Chip Co. came to us with three problems. One, South Africans were not aware of their brand, and those who were didn’t know the difference between them and their main competitors. Two, they were competing with much bigger international brands in an already saturated, fierce fast food market. Three, they had very little budget ($55 000) to take on the global giants and promote their flagship $2.50 meal promotion. And to make it a little more interesting, Fish & Chip Co. had never done any PR or advertising for the brand before.

Strategy
We could rely on the media to generate talkability about Fish & Chip Co. and their $2.50 value meal.The best way to get this right was to maximize our small $55 000 budget by finding a unique hook that would shake up the country and get people talking.We knew that using President Zuma in our campaign would probably put us in a position where the campaign would be pulled off air by the state-owned national broadcaster. This is exactly what we had hoped for, as it would trigger the nationwide conversation we were gunning for.