‘Steve’ loser campaign not as good, but works

EVEN though he grated me quite often, I have to acknowledge that FNB’s Steve was certainly one of the South African advertising sensations of the past few years. Not only was everyone talking about him – and his desperate attempts to win people away from FNB – but the campaign was hugely effective in gaining new business for the bank.

Following up on something iconic is not always easy: ask Vodacom who, to my mind anyway, never quite scaled the notice-factor and humour of Yebo Gogo. So when FNB decided to do “Son of Steve”, it was always going to be a risk.

The new campaign identifies “Steve” as a word for a loser… someone who keeps getting things wrong. Like doing business with the wrong bank. There are various executions with radio and print taking centre stage and I must say I have been a bit in two minds about whether the new Steve works or not.

It is not – and can never be – as good as the original. However, it does make you listen and read. So it works as advertising. And that is what it is all about. So an Orchid (again) to FNB.

Another brand which has a high and, these days anyway, positive public profile is Land Rover. I like its new TV ads, which show its vehicles in rough, tough and hard-to-bluff situations all over the world (including here in South Africa). Nicely shot, subtle yet to-the-point. Orchid Number One for Land Rover.

The brand’s print work is also good. One which caught my eye this week was for the Freelander 2. Over a pic of the car, with mountain bikes in the background, the ad said simply: “A stay-in weekend? Never heard of it”.

Bang on for the target marketing. Bang on for the brand ethos of Freelander. Orchid Number Two.

Recently, I awarded an Orchid to Liberty for its TV ads based on the real experience of the company founder Donald Gordon. I was not aware which ad agency was responsible. I am happy to make that right today in awarding the Orchid for Liberty to FoxP2… a bunch of people who always seem to be doing surprising things.

Telkom, we all know, is going through the trauma of restructuring and retrenchments, in order, its bosses say, to make it more competitive. You can already see that new business approach showing itself in the company’s marketing.

There are a lot of tempting offers being aired by Telkom right now and, even as a Telkom landline and ADSL customer myself, I cannot not be tempted by some of the packages.

One particularly good print ad which caught my eye in The Star this week had an impressive tag line: “Live on your phone, not in fear of your phone bill”.

That hits a basic human truth and the promise of an “all you can eat” contract (SIM only) for R999 a month is something to give heavy phone (and data) users pause for thought.

Nice one Telkom. Good to see parastatals lifting their skirts to dance in the real-world economy. Orchid to you.

My daughter, home from university this week, screamed in outrage at the TV. I couldn’t figure out what was going on (I seldom do with women) – but then it became apparent her anger was directed at DStv, who had just shown the same “house ad” back-to-back on the Fox Channel.

That’s unforgiveable people. It speaks to an organisation not taking enough care or caring enough about its customers. Onion for you, DStv.