Orchids and Onions: Reassurance from Ford and laughs from Mozambik chain

It’s interesting how a brand can intertwine itself in your family history. When it comes to cars, Ford has always been around the Fitzpatricks (my mother’s family) and Seerys for decades.

When my uncle left for North Africa in 1940 to fight against Rommel, my mother looked after his Ford V8 coupe and blasted it over Constantia Nek at highly illegal speeds on occasion. Her first car as a married woman was a Ford Popular and that was the first car I remember.

My first car was a Cortina GT; my sister’s first was an Escort 1300 (written off after she was T-boned, ironically, by a Ford Galaxy); my wife had a Cortina 1300 for a while; my daughter’s first car as a student was a Fiesta (and now as a qualified vet she has another one) and my brother-in-law flies, rather than drives, his turbo Focus.

As with our family, Ford’s history is intertwined with that of South Africa for the last 96 years. And, at this time of crisis and uncertainty, they just sent a message to the country (and their fans): we are here to stay… for generations to come.

It’s a comforting thing to hear and the new ad, put together by ad agency Net#work BBDO, while it tends towards the clichés of motherhood and apple pie, as the Yanks would say, still managed to warm the places the other reassurances can’t. It says: this won’t last forever. We’re not going to run away. If you need us, we’re here. And I think that Ford – and a few of the other big motor brands – are the ones which will survive the post-Covid shake-up in their business.

They’ve got the range of products (showcased in a subtle style in the ad) for ordinary folks. And they’re ordinary folks, helping out, too, from supporting various nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) to using their workforce to help make face shields (250,000 so far, more than half of which have been donated to the department of health and NGOs).

Ford said it expects a loss of about $2 billion in the first quarter as broad economic shutdowns throughout the US and Europe hammer sales. GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File/JUSTIN SULLIVAN

As a piece of brand building, it strikes the perfect tone of we’re-all-in-this-together humility. So It gets an Orchid for Ford and another for Net#work BBDO.

While Ford’s campaign was unity and patriotism, the little spots put out by the Mozambik restaurant chain – both in support of the campaign by restaurants to have the booze ban lifted and to punt their own special offers – took a completely different tack. The cofounder of the Portuguese-themed restaurant chain, Brett Michielin, fronted up as “The President” declaring “a state of gatvol”.

He was, he said, gatvol of wearing a mask; gatvol of his wife “spraying everything down like she’s Chemical Ali”; gatvol “of my friends deciding they’re all gin connoisseurs and makers of alcohol” (accompanied by a ticker tape message at the bottom of the screen opining that home-made gin tastes like petrol); gatvol of drinking “shooters” of water instead of tequila…

In the end, the President says he’s not gatvol of cooking and brings out the “holiday vibe” with a weekend special. It’s simple (must have cost nothing to shoot and edit), but it speaks to the frustration of many South Africans while, at the same time, giving a glimpse of the chain’s delicious food (sit-down or takeaway). But it brings a bit of a smile… and humour with marketing is like booze and good food. At least we can have one of them (for now).

Orchids to Mozambik and their marketing and comms guy, Hein Kaiser, who put this together quickly and cheaply. Watch out, big bucks ad agencies …

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