Recent months has seen an experiential marketing campaign building, as the Kiwi Takkie Brite ‘Be the Bozza’ campaign touches the hearts of SA’s lucrative commuter market.

The campaign, which was conceptualised by Kiwi’s advertising agency, Ogilvy Cape Town, took the new-look Takkie Brite brand and created a new sneaker-cleaning industry.

‘Be the Bozza’, as the campaign was titled, was not only an entrepreneurial search but a key activation idea that promoted awareness of the brand and positioned Kiwi as the country’s leading sneaker cleaner; all through an innovative yet risky idea.

“It was something that had never been done before and, while we took a huge risk, we have reaped amazing rewards,” explains Pumza Payi, Marketing Director for Kiwi and the Takkie Brite brand. “We wanted to hit the untapped market by changing consumer’s habits of cleaning takkies whilst keeping Kiwi top of mind and at the same time uplifting our consumers. It seemed like an almost impossible brief, which is why when we hit onto the ‘Bozza’ idea, it excited us so much. It was bold yet felt right.”

The ‘’Be the Bozza’’ campaign was an entrepreneurial contest which searched for the ultimate ‘Bozza’ to run the new Takkie Brite Bozza wash stations at Randburg and Vereeniging taxi ranks. Based on the concept of handy shoe shine stations, the wash station would provide a one-stop convenience service for those whose takkies are in need of a wash; cleaning, freshening and whitening.

The offer, which included comprehensive training, free Kiwi Takkie Brite cleaning products and fixed salaries for the Bozza and his/her chosen assistant for two months, would culminate in the ultimate showdown, with one aspiring Kiwi ambassador taking home the ‘Bozza’ title, which included R20 000 cash and a bursary to study business management at one of the leading business training institutions.

Over 175 entries were received, with the successful two finalists trained to operate the Bozza wash station at each taxi rank. Judged on their ability to effectively use the Kiwi Takkie Brite range, sales revenue and overall customer satisfaction, the best performing wash station’s entrepreneur was awarded the ultimate Kiwi ‘Bozza’ title in a showdown at the Randburg taxi rank in May.

When asked about the creative work, Ogilvy Cape Town Managing Director Gavin Levinsohn had this to say, “We’re noticing an increasing shift from broadcast advertising to the power of activations and interventions. We have a phrase to capture this at Ogilvy – ‘acts not ads’.”

He continues, “This Kiwi Takkie Brite initiative, in which we stimulated creative entrepreneurship, is a powerful example of this and we’re incredibly proud to have been a part of it.”

To truly execute this campaign to its maximum effect, Ogilvy employed the services of ComutaNet as an experienced hands-on taxi rank activation partner. Together they identified Randburg and Vereeniging as the two taxi ranks that would work best for the project - both had high feeder rank status with an average footprint of 432,820 daily commuters travelling to many of the black Gauteng townships.

As experts on the South African commuter market, ComutaNet’s invaluable on-the-ground experience helped to anchor this campaign at the taxi ranks.  Steve Duck, ComutaNet Media Consultant explains that,

“The campaign was unique as through the regular activations we held, we started to see new consumer behaviours emerging.  Consumers were experimenting with the brand, creating a cleaning culture and started demanding the product.  As a pilot project, it was just amazing and we are happy to have been involved”.  Duck adds, “There was no doubt that this was a logistic-heavy campaign with many potential pitfalls but, with a strong partnership and tenaciousness it paid off handsomely.”

The wash stations were located under the highly visible brand marks which were placed in strategic areas at the taxi ranks, with a giant 4-sided 6m x 2,5m brightly coloured takkie for identification and instant affiliation with the Takkie Brite brand.  In addition to this, ComutaNet drove various stage trailer activations and incentives were rolled out, all to engage consumers, facilitate product testing and actually educate them on the benefits of using Takkie Brite.  ComutaNet also ensured that widespread interior taxi branding and a high frequency Rank TV advertising campaign was executed at all sites. The combination of outdoor, audio visual and interactive media was highly impactful.

The results were overwhelming.  Not only did the campaign create an entirely new industry, the untapped takkie cleaning market but, in those two months of operation, over 1037 pairs of takkies were cleaned, and the Bozzas earned approximately R10 000 from profits alone.

 

And, over the two months of the campaign, PR coverage worth over R1.7 million was generated.  The idea of a ‘takkie-washing industry’ was also successfully seeded through strategic PR. As one City Press journalist reported, readers started to forward their own business proposals and were interested in opening the wash stations in their areas.  This campaign, the first of its kind was being seen as a sustainable business and created a new economic market.

 

“The outcome has been outstanding,” comments Payi. “Not only was it a fresh, bold idea with a well-considered, comprehensive roll-out, but we were also able to touch the lives of two inspiring entrepreneurs and speak to our consumers in a new, authentic way. We’re currently looking to expand the programme so, all I can say is, watch out at a rank near you…!”