Say hello to 8.ta, South Africa’s latest cellular network powered by Telkom. Launching another cellular offering in an already saturated market can be a daunting challenge but 8.ta have tasked advertising agency McCann Erikson with the creative mission of developing a campaign that draws people’s attention and captures their imaginations.
McCann Erikson created a pre-launch campaign to familiarise potential customers with the 8.ta offering and stimulate brand awareness through word-of-mouth.
Pre-launch television commercials were directed by creative legend Keith Rose, with an unlikely cast ranging from aliens to white colonialists, greeting the nation with the word ‘heita” in aerial landscapes by photographer Michael Poliza.
The campaign aimed to give meaning to the brand in four stages. The “emoticon” element of the campaign expressed the brand’s commitment to making telecommunications simple and “to make communications more accessible to more South Africans”.
