by Herman Manson (@marklives) Peter Gird is an adman-turned-producer and, in the face of limited production spend by South Africa’s broadcasters, he has set out to merge TV content and advertising like it’s never been done in SA before.
Soon South Africans will be able to see their localised edition of the hit reality series, Undercover Boss, after Cooked in Africa Films, in which Gird is a partner, obtained the local licensing rights from all3media International.
Going undercover
In the reality series, corporate executives (the bosses) goes undercover in their own companies, doing the work of an ordinary employee. The idea is that the execs will emerge with new insights into how their organisations treat their people and the challenges often faced by entry-level employees.
At the end of the show, undercover bosses will reward hard-working employees they had gotten to know during the course of the production.
The SA version of Undercover Boss is scheduled to premiere in 2015, and filming should start this July.
Tweaked show format
Faced with limited spend by local broadcasters, Gird has decided to tweak the show’s format to allow for corporate CEOs to buy their way onto the show. Essentially, Gird is selling companies 46 minutes of prime-time exposure, focusing on their businesses. Only one company will be covered in any given vertical (retail, banking, vehicle manufacturing, etc).
Because South Africans are likely to know their chief executives, CEOs may nominate another senior board exec to take his or her place. Gird believes the content, with its people-centric format, will grip audiences, allow organisations to showcase their businesses to broad audiences and boost internal staff morale, as well. Each shoot will take around 10 days, generally at multiple locations.
Gird will retain editorial integrity of the show; he controls the production and end product. Issues arising during filming (maybe a cockroach is filmed running across a kitchen floor in a fast-food joint) won’t be edited out — but execs will be allowed to come up with a solution and fix the problem on air.
Gird started his career in 1980 at Rightford Searle-Tripp and Makin. At the time, ad agencies were still importing directors for TV ads from England (the SABC started its nationwide service in 1976, and advertising started running in 1978). Gird tried his hand at directing and quickly rose through the ranks at a time of incredible growth for SA’s ad industry. He soon became a member of the board and helped the agency win a Grand Prix at the Loeries for seven years in a row.
Introduced to branded entertainment
In 1991, he launched his own production company, Peter Gird Productions, where he was involved in the production of the first TV commercial for Vodacom to be flighted in the country (his relationship with Vodacom would last for another 10 years). He also directed ads for MasterCard internationally but decided to call it a day in 2006, after his exhausting schedule finally caught up with him. It was during a stint at 2.0 Media that he was introduced to branded entertainment.
With increased media fragmentation and an explosion of (satellite) TV channels, Gird realised the demand for content would increase exponentially. At the same time, he saw that people are becoming less and less engaged with ads, while services such as PVR allows for ads to be skipped completely.
Justin Bonello had launched Cooked in Africa Films in 2003. He and Gird joined forces in 2010, following the successful collaboration on Fresh Living TV show for Pick n Pay. The show was aimed at helping consumers do better for their families and encouraged people to submit problems online that would then be addressed and resolved on the show.
A real success
Ultimate Braai Master, where amateurs compete in outdoor cooking challenges, was their next project, also by Pick n Pay. The advertiser-funded show was a real success, with an average audience rating of 604 482 viewers (it just left SABC 3 for e.tv). All3Media International has picked up the Ultimate Braai Master internationally.
Gird insists his production company works in premium entertainment. Apart from the audience, he gets high production-value shows and brands that receive exposure well beyond what any 30-second slot could afford them. Broadcasters also benefit, as sponsors generally protect their investment in the branded content by buying ad slots around the show.
Generally, the branded content produced by Cooked in Africa isn’t limited to TV; touch points includes live events, digital, social media, secondary broadcasts, media partnerships, apps and even in-store activations.
Producing ROI
Ultimate Braai Master is a R30-million production, says Gird; just slapping the show on TV would never produce ROI for its sponsor. If the show focuses on chicken one week, the retailer will ensure touch points in-store. The show has even produced a bestselling boerewors for Pick n Pay.
At the moment, Cooked in Africa Films has 22 shows on the global market, including Charly’s Cake Angels (Snowflake Flour covers production costs), Cooked (sponsored by Woolworths), Long Miles Coffee Project and Ultimate Braai Master. Broadcasters include The Food Network, National Geographic (which just picked up Seasons at Terroir — paid for by Kleine Zalze) and The Travel Channel.
— MarkLives’ round-up of top ad and media industry news and opinion in your mailbox every three work days. Sign up here!