Orchids and Onions: Advertising campaign shows winds of change at Sanral

As far as government agencies or parastatals that we love to hate go, the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) is right up there with Eskom.

The roads agency plays a critical role in the economy, designing and building what is still the best highway infrastructure in Africa, the sort of image which is used regularly to set us apart from the rest of the continent.

Yet, Sanral has such a bad public image that the mere name has almost become a swear word.

And that is, as we all know, because of the contentious e-toll project in Gauteng or, more correctly, from the way the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project was implemented – with millions of road users disregarding payment.

In the process, the boycott of toll payments has become the biggest single mass defiance campaign in the history of a democratic South Africa.

Most of the damage to Sanral’s image was done by one man, – someone you might call the Donald Trump of the civil engineering sector – Nazir Alli, the former CEO of Sanral.

In blustering, dictatorial and often inaccurate tirades, Alli tried to force the concept of electronic toll collection down the throats of the public. And that did not go down well with motorists, whose level of ignorance about the scheme was such that they believed they were being hoodwinked.

Marketing mistake number one: bad communication.

It didn’t help, of course, that the final cost of the project saw the country saddled with some of the most expensive roads in the world.

It didn’t help either that some of the experts trotted out by Sanral to justify tolling were guilty of misleading the public.

Now that Alli has left Sanral, one can feel the winds of change in the air.

The organisation has changed its “do what we say” approach to one of marketing persuasion.

It has realised it needs to sell its product to a public who is constantly battered by more and more price increases.

Rather than bombard us with figures as Alli did – in the hopes maths-challenged people wouldn’t see the logical sleight of hand which was his forte – the “new” Sanral is looking at the benefits roads bring us.

The first ad in the series was focused on the joy in an ordinary family coming together from all over the country for a celebration. Connecting people via excellent roads. It’s a great ad because it is not only true, it is subtle – as is the best of marketing – and shows Sanral for what it is: a facilitator.

The latest in the series looks at how roads are essential to living the lives we want. So we see coffee on its journey from the estate, through roasting to the final, aromatic and deeply satisfying cup.

Something like 80% or more of our goods are transported by road, so without the efforts of Sanral, our treats and daily necessities might be more difficult to obtain or be more expensive. Elegant point, elegantly made.

Sanral still has a lot to do to redeem itself, especially as e-tolls have still not been resolved, but these ads are an excellent start.

Well done to Sanral and its ad agency, Blueprint. Orchids for your marketing skills and bravery.

The problem with using social media for marketing, as I have said many times, is the danger for any flaws to be magnified and seized upon to actually damage your brand.

Latest in line for that lesson is seafood restaurant chain Ocean Basket, one of my favourite family places. It generated a bit of a flurry on social media this week when it aired a promotion that many likened to the “glory hole” fad which had its origins in the San Francisco gay bathhouse culture of the ’70s and early ’80s.

Suffice to say, many commentators were reminded of “glory holes” by Ocean Basket’s hands appearing from holes in a backboard, holding various meals.

Perhaps, as our online colleagues noted on citizen.co.za, the comments were more of a judgment on those making them than on Ocean Basket but, nevertheless, the comments were there. And they were incompatible with the ethos of a family restaurant.

And Ocean Basket may complain till the cows (or cod) come home that this is a misinterpretation of its message, but I ask: why did anyone not foresee the possibility?

Given the woke and raucous nature of social media, you have to be extra careful – and you weren’t.

So you get an Onion.

I hope it was not intentional.

Brendan Seery.

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