by Oresti Patricios (@orestaki) Last week’s Ad of the Week was a nostalgic trip to a time before television. This week, it’s a self-referential trip for Vodacom, which has reprised a favourite campaign from yesteryear. Who doesn’t remember the ‘Yebo Gogo’ duo?
Michael de Pinna reprises his role as the flabby white guy in leopardskin tights, and an inappropriate manner. His foil is the irrepressible Kole Omotosho, playing the tin windmill seller, who once again comes to the former’s rescue with the loan of a phone — a Vodacom cellphone, that is.
The music is the opening riff from Blondie’s ‘Call Me’ — but it suddenly grinds to a halt as the yuppie dude realises it’s not a refreshment stop, but a hawker’s stall. The woman behind the table looks at him with disdain. “Betaal,” she says, to his dismay. He searches his pockets, but of course, they are empty. She showers him with a flurry of vernacular curses, which sends him reeling.
Cut to a wide-shot, and who should be hawking his tin windmills nearby, but the Omotosho character, who lets out a friendly whistle and offers him a cellphone. Cut to Beigel-Boy on the phone, saying, “Hello, I need some cash – quick!”
It’s not the greatest punchline, but what makes the ad work is the performance by de Pinna; the expression on his face says it all.
De Pinna and Omotosho featured in the very first ‘Yebo Gogo’ ad, way back in 1994, and the ensuing campaign gained such a following that the general public began submitting story ideas to FCB’s Francois de Villiers, the man who came up with the idea (Vodacom’s current agency is Ireland/Davenport). The two characters and their various encounters became something viewers looked forward to, and the campaign ran for years.
Vodacom was started in 1993 by UK-based Vodafone and Telkom in a 50/50 deal. In 2008, Vodafone invested R22-billion to buy out 15% of Telkom’s shares, giving the mother company a strong majority shareholding. Telkom listed and sold the balance of its shares on the JSE. In 2011, Vodacom reportedly spent R200-million in a rebranding exercise that brought it more in line with the Vodafone image, adopting the white-and-red logo, font and branding. The name has stayed the same, however.
Vodafone is a very strong international brand, with majority stakes in 21 companies worldwide, as well as minority shareholdings and partnerships with some 40 others — making it the second largest mobile telecommunications company in the world. Vodacom is the largest mobile telecoms company in South Africa, and has expanded into Tanzania, DRC, Mozambique and Lesotho.
The iconic characters that FCB created evoke a certain nostalgia with the viewer, and this makes sense, as research has shown that people enjoy nostalgia in uncertain times. It taps into a desire for simpler, better times. Although Vodacom is only 20 years old, it is a testament to the brand that an ad like this can both entertain and evoke a sense of the past that is somehow reassuring.
So here’s hoping there will be more adventures of Beigel-Boy and Windmill Man to brighten up our screens this winter!
Ad of the Week, published on MarkLives every Wednesday, is penned by Oresti Patricios (@orestaki), the CEO of Ornico, a Brand Intelligence® firm that focuses on media, reputation and brand research.
If you are involved in making advertising that is smart, funny and/or engaging,
please let Oresti know about it at info@ornicogroup.co.za.
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