Engen channels Super Bowl-style advertising in their new ad with Springboks
The Engen / Springboks signing is a signal of a new dawn in South African sports marketing.
As regular readers will know, we're big fans of the NFL (the Seahawks in particular) and all of the glitz and glamour and marketing wizardry that goes into making it such a compelling show.
For years we've been saying that South African rugby, and the brands that support SA rugby, should at least pay close attention to the tactics of the experiential machine that has turned the NFL, from a sports tournament, into one of the greatest media assets on the planet.
And increasingly, it is becoming apparent that this is exactly what is happening.
Now in a related move petroleum giant, Engen, have selected to partner with a few of the Springboks to act as brand ambassadors, but also star in their latest Super Bowl-style ad campaign for the brand.
The 2-minute long spot relies on 'Super Bowl-style humour' to give the brand more of a friendly, memorable appeal. It reminds us so much of that classic Reebok Terry Tate 'Office Linebacker' Super Bowl ad from 2003...
As far as South African advertising goes this style of big budget traditional brand building featuring local sports stars is new.
We can't recall any sports heroes previously scoring this kind of big budget spotlight before, but thank goodness it is now finally happening. We need these sports federations and players to get financial backing that they deserve so that sport and its related media can flourish and offer more opportunities to future stars. Our athletes perform remarkably well with very little support on a global stage right now, just imagine what they will achieve if there are proper resources fuelling their future success.
Our sense is that this Engen signing is the start of many more to come. In South Africa, sport is a good news story just begging for brand support. This is a media opportunity with almost unhinged future potential. The smart marketing budget allocators should be hard at work right now designing their plays in the arena for 2025.
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Jon Cherry