The campaign is premised on the gamification model, says Abey Mokgwatsane, managing executive: Brand Communication and Marketing. "Last year customers won a vast array of prizes, including data, by spinning the wheel of fortune. This time around we are encouraging customers to interact with the promotion by ‘shaking’ their devices to receive daily rewards. Ultimately these fun, innovative campaigns are another way that we seek to deliver greater value to our customers."
Here, Mokgwatsane and Nashville Mungofa, integrated creative director at Ogilvy & Mather South Africa, provide some insight into the campaign.
What does it entail?
Mokgwatsane: With summer fast approaching, Vodacom’s new summer campaign is set on getting customers into the spirit of the season. The manner in which South Africans move and dance as a show of celebration is showcased in the Vodacom Shake Every Day TV ad. Viewers will follow the quirky Vodacom character Bra Shakes, as he journeys throughout South Africa teaching customers how to shake and win.
The journey includes encounters with culturally diverse South Africans demonstrating creative methods of shaking, such as Tsonga and Bollywood dances, an everyday car guard creatively shaking as he gestures a car into a parking spot as well as a cameo by Shakes Mashaba.
By engaging with this promotion customers will be able to shake their way to a range of daily gifts such as bundles, digital content, one of 12 Renault Clio hatchbacks and even a grand prize of R1m.
How does it work?
Mokgwatsane: Customers need only download the My Vodacom App from their respective app store (if they haven’t already) and navigate to the promotions page. They will then be presented with the option to take a peek at their daily gift and shake their smartphones to receive it.
Alternatively, they can dial *111*33# and follow the onscreen prompts to receive the above-mentioned prizes. An important point to remember is that customers have to shake within the allocated time frame. The time limit will be indicated in the My Vodacom App notification, or SMS.
Comment on your work with the client.
Mungofa: The journey on the campaign has been an incredible one. As the Vodacom brand underwent a repositioning a month earlier, we needed to do things in a fresh, new way. We had to push boundaries a bit, but fortunately, the process was made easier by a client who trusted the creative team to meet the objectives. One case in point was using a West African track, 'Shake Body' by Nigerian artist Skales. It’s a contemporary, African sound that’s making waves internationally and locally, and the lyrics were a perfect fit.
Coming to the actual product, the Shake technology by itself was very exciting. So, we knew we had to pull out all the stops to ensure the rest of the campaign did the same, starting with the TVC. It features Bra Shakes, a lovable protagonist who goes around the country encouraging South Africans to shake their phones in various ways to claim their prizes. The rest of the integrated campaign seamlessly brings the Shake aspect to life and we’re looking forward to seeing it winning awards…
When does the campaign run until?
Mokgwatsane: The campaign started on 13 October 2017 and will run until 31 January 2018.
What’s the objective?
Mokgwatsane: Shake Every Day is already gearing up to be a resounding success with 14 million customer interactions reached during the self-discovery phase alone. Following the official launch, we continue to see an increase with an additional 2 million customers shaking every day. This brings the total number of interactions to 16 million in less than a month and 107.6 million gifts redeemed.
A big part of our customer segmentation journey has been focused on rewarding loyal customers while also delivering enhanced and more personalised value products and services. Through customer engagements we have undoubtedly seen an increase in customer appreciation for the brand. This is particularly significant for Vodacom as it is expected to further contribute to solidifying our Net Promoter Score lead over our next-best competitor.
