Campaign: The Spear of the Nation
Brand: Goodman Gallery
Agency: ANC

Summary

Art is not something that gets talked about in a country where people care far more about sport, politics, celebrities or the business of survival. So how do you make art matter? Faced with a challenging brief, ANC developed an integrated campaign for the Goodman Gallery that achieved an outstanding return on investment and demonstrated the power of a big idea.

The brief

Remind South Africans that art matters.

Communication context

In a cluttered communication context, art receives little coverage in comparison to sport, politics or entertainment. Achieving high awareness levels with communication around a subject often perceived as obscure and elitist would be a major challenge.

The target market

Primary: South African adults LSM 4-6, current and lapsed ANC supporters
Secondary: South African adults LSM 8-10, media and influencers

The insight

Research showed that everybody has a different idea about what "art" is - but few South Africans actually understand it. Saying that art matters would not achieve the cut through the team was looking for: it would have to be demonstrated in a way that was simple and easy to understand.

For this reason, the decision was made not to tackle art generically, but to focus on a single work which exemplified the power of art to make us feel and (in some cases) think.

Campaign proposition

The proposition needed to be simple enough to be memorable and compelling, but flexible enough to be tweaked for the needs of different target audiences. After exploring alternatives such as "art makes the world beautiful" and "art makes you think", it was decided that a provocative approach would be most effective. In consultation with the client, the agency felt that "art is offensive" was best positioned to cut through the clutter.

Key messages

Based on focus group findings, the team knew that for art to be made relevant to a broad cross-section of South Africans, messages relevant to their needs and aspirations would need to be deployed. Hot button issues guaranteed to provoke a public response were selected. For LSM 4-6, the message focused around racism and respect for African culture. For LSM 8-10, the key message was the link between art and freedom of speech and in turn with fears of the erosion of other freedoms.

The strategy

The strategy was simple: create a highly political artwork guaranteed to offend most South Africans, draw attention to it, foment public outrage and maintain the hype.

The creative concept

The key visual needed to be simple and easy to understand while attracting as much attention as possible. Many South Africans may have missed the historical references in Brett Murray's painting of Jacob Zuma as Lenin, but the addition of male genitalia made the offensiveness of the work obvious. Thus it required little in the way of interpretation, important in a conservative market with very low levels of art literacy.

The strong visual also provided a focal point for a campaign in which so many different elements were employed. When the campaign needed refreshing, the key visual was updated during an activation which in turn generated further conversation.

Elements

The team knew that traditional above-the-line advertising would be wallpaper. In order to ensure talkability, extensive use was made of events, flash mobs, activations and word of mouth to drive conversation. All relevant touchpoints were used, with television and radio debate, extensive coverage in print and online and discussion on social media. Events and announcements were carefully timed to ensure maximum media coverage and prevent wearout.