Category: Best Use of Radio as a Medium
Advertiser: SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM OF MILITARY HISTORY
Product/Service: MUSEUM
Agency: DDB SOUTH AFRICA
Executive Creative Director: Gareth Lessing
Scriptwriter: Stuart Turner/Brendan Hoffmann/Julie Maunder
Production Company: STERLING SOUND, Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA
Sound Engineer: Lorens Persson
Date of First Appearance: Jan 1 1900 12:00AM
Entrant Company: DDB SOUTH AFRICA, Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA
Full script of the ad IN ENGLISH, REGARDLESS OF THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE OF THE AD
SFX: (Morse Code-encrypted text) A one-man submarine used in WW2.
ANN: Hmm, yes. Another reason to visit the South African National Museum of Military History.
In Saxonwold, Johannesburg.
Brief Explanation
The following commercials were created to attract war enthusiasts to the South African Military museum. We wanted to speak to them in a way that only they would truly understand, and so we used the most commonly known and used language in armed forces across the world: Morse Code.
Using this universal form of communication, encrypted messages were flighted across radio stations, followed by a message from the museum, in English.
When decoded, these messages were actually attractions found at the museum, such as 'A display of over 350 War medals' and 'A one-man submarine used in WW2', and 'The first model of the RI assault rifle'; something only the very people we were targeting, would understand.