THE Home of Legends branding campaign driven by the Eastern Cape government’s communication machinery has drawn interesting comments from various sectors. Interesting among those, is an opinion expressed on this page by Mvusi Sicwetsha (“Legends project flawed”, DD September 17) who by the virtue of being a government communicator I would have regarded as being a proponent of the campaign.
Having worked as a journalist and as an obstinate government media-liaison practitioner, I first plied my trade in branding and marketing in the year 2002 when I joined the University of Fort Hare.
Under the leadership of its former vice- chancellor, Professor Derrick Swartz, the institution had an involved campaign to extricate itself from the ruins of maladministration and associated bankruptcy, systems failure, a dwindling student market and outdated curricular.
Fully conscious of what was at stake, the institution formulated Strategic Plan 2000, which was its salvation blueprint.
A multi-pronged marketing and communication campaign underpinned the turn-around plan mobilising various sectors of the institution’s community.
With nothing that spoke to academic and research competence as well as modern facilities, which are the main draw cards to institutions of higher learning, Fort Hare had no armoury to use in competing for the affections of its markets (prospective students, academics and administrators). It was seriously disadvantaged compared to other players in the sector. The ingeniousness of the marketing and communication team led the institution to use its rich history as a rebranding tool. The nostalgic campaign that spoke to Fort Hare being the breeding hub for African leadership evoked strong emotions. Subsequently, the university’s value proposition strengthened positively impacting on staff morale and the positioning of Fort Hare as an attractive learning institution and employer.
Provocateur, entrepreneur and thinker Dirk Knemeyer describes branding as “the emotional and intellectual associations’ people make with a specific person or thing”. Fort Hare in its post 2000 resurgence successfully applied this association tactic increasing the brand’s appeal and yielding excellent results.
Noteworthy for the readers of this publication would be the Daily Dispatch/University of Fort Hare Dialogues.
Evocation of history to spur people into action, buy into brands and pledge loyalty is a common tactic employed by not-for-profit organisations, political parties and commercial entities equally. Where it does not exist, legends are created.
With the latter, two popular restaurants Mugg & Bean and Nando’s come to mind. Entrepreneurs Fernando Duarte and Robert Brozin bought the Rosettenville restaurant called Chicken-land. They quickly rebranded it Nando’s using Duarte’s first name which is historically attached to Spanish, Portuguese and Italian heritage.
They went further and created for their customers an emotional journey that connects Nando’s to the Portuguese legacy associating their brand with Barcelos Cockerel legend of the 1400s, the Portuguese explorers of the 1500s, as well as the early 1900s Mozambiquan-Portuguese communities that came to South Africa during the Gold Rush.
Mugg & Bean on the other hand tells a fictitious but compelling story of two strangers, Clement Mugg and Joshua Fenomah Bean, who were on opposite sides during the American Civil War.
Having lost family and faith, the two strangers independently turned their backs on their homelands and headed west to San Francisco. As firm friends, in “1868” they founded Mugg & Bean General Merchants.
The legend might have married the customers to the brand; in reality though, we all know that the restaurant chain was founded by a South African restaurateur, Ben Filmalter in 1996.
In politics the ANC exploits its historical heritage in promoting the organisation and mobilising for votes. Visibly envious organisations like the Democratic Alliance, as we saw earlier this year, have insinuated historical linkages with some of the ANC’s stalwarts as a way of appealing to the masses. Unfortunately this backfired in their case.
Vigorous branding as described is an expression of the essential truth or value of an organisation, product, or service. Underlying branding initiatives implying a great history should be equally vigorous processes of service delivery calibration as well as communication and marketing efforts.
The potency of the Home of Legends campaign should not be underestimated nor sabotaged, as we have seen happen to many similar initiatives in the province. It can give wheels to the Eastern Cape’s strategic framework as expressed in various documents.
If the Eastern Cape is to position itself as a true Home of Legends in South Africa, and indeed the African continent, the efficiency of our institutions, efforts of individuals and outputs should show that we indeed are legends. Nando’s and Mugg & Bean are liked and their legends are believed legitimate. This is so because their current actions affirm the assumed brand legacy and they deliver on their promise optimally.
Equally the success of the Home of Legends campaign will reside not in the visibility of posters, billboards, social media posts and advertisements but in how it communicates brand Eastern Cape, impacts on the organisational culture of the Eastern Cape government, garners support of private public partnerships, promotes positive sentiment towards government and how government is supported among other things.
To achieve brand equity, all government systems that reside in the province should be working in unison. They should all seek to be counted as legends through various facets of the campaign that are geared to achieve varying results, giving due recognition.
If, as experts put it, marketing is what you do, branding is what you are. My assumption is that the Home of Legends campaign will not reside only in our history but will evolve to reflect present-day achievers motivating each provincial citizen to strive daily for the legendary status. This was the case with the legends who lent their names and faces to this drive. They did not just become legends but dedicated their lives to social justice.
One of the contemporary greats in athletics, Usain Bolt says that he is annoyed “if people say I’m arrogant ... but I am a legend. It’s not arrogant. It’s a fact”.
If this kind of attitude were to prevail as a direct consequence of the Home of Legends, where everyone is a proud achiever in the little pockets that they serve, unprecedented success for the province would have been achieved.
I am looking with much expectation to the day where every Eastern Cape citizen proudly declares: “I am a legend, I am the future, I am of the Eastern Cape.”
The Home of Legends might have its shortcomings, like being diminished to a sector focused campaign. In my view, however, it is an excellent value proposition and to rule it out as completely irrelevant is naive.
Mncedi Mgwigwi is project manager of INNOVATE Eastern Cape. He is writes in his personal capacity
Mistake to underestimate potency of Legends drive
Having worked as a journalist and as an obstinate government media-liaison practitioner, I first plied my trade in branding and marketing in the year 2002 when I joined the University of Fort Hare.
Under the leadership of its former vice- chancellor, Professor Derrick Swartz, the institution had an involved campaign to extricate itself from the ruins of maladministration and associated bankruptcy, systems failure, a dwindling student market and outdated curricular.
Fully conscious of what was at stake, the institution formulated Strategic Plan 2000, which was its salvation blueprint.
A multi-pronged marketing and communication campaign underpinned the turn-around plan mobilising various sectors of the institution’s community.
With nothing that spoke to academic and research competence as well as modern facilities, which are the main draw cards to institutions of higher learning, Fort Hare had no armoury to use in competing for the affections of its markets (prospective students, academics and administrators). It was seriously disadvantaged compared to other players in the sector. The ingeniousness of the marketing and communication team led the institution to use its rich history as a rebranding tool. The nostalgic campaign that spoke to Fort Hare being the breeding hub for African leadership evoked strong emotions. Subsequently, the university’s value proposition strengthened positively impacting on staff morale and the positioning of Fort Hare as an attractive learning institution and employer.
Provocateur, entrepreneur and thinker Dirk Knemeyer describes branding as “the emotional and intellectual associations’ people make with a specific person or thing”. Fort Hare in its post 2000 resurgence successfully applied this association tactic increasing the brand’s appeal and yielding excellent results.
Noteworthy for the readers of this publication would be the Daily Dispatch/University of Fort Hare Dialogues.
Evocation of history to spur people into action, buy into brands and pledge loyalty is a common tactic employed by not-for-profit organisations, political parties and commercial entities equally. Where it does not exist, legends are created.
With the latter, two popular restaurants Mugg & Bean and Nando’s come to mind. Entrepreneurs Fernando Duarte and Robert Brozin bought the Rosettenville restaurant called Chicken-land. They quickly rebranded it Nando’s using Duarte’s first name which is historically attached to Spanish, Portuguese and Italian heritage.
They went further and created for their customers an emotional journey that connects Nando’s to the Portuguese legacy associating their brand with Barcelos Cockerel legend of the 1400s, the Portuguese explorers of the 1500s, as well as the early 1900s Mozambiquan-Portuguese communities that came to South Africa during the Gold Rush.
Mugg & Bean on the other hand tells a fictitious but compelling story of two strangers, Clement Mugg and Joshua Fenomah Bean, who were on opposite sides during the American Civil War.
Having lost family and faith, the two strangers independently turned their backs on their homelands and headed west to San Francisco. As firm friends, in “1868” they founded Mugg & Bean General Merchants.
The legend might have married the customers to the brand; in reality though, we all know that the restaurant chain was founded by a South African restaurateur, Ben Filmalter in 1996.
In politics the ANC exploits its historical heritage in promoting the organisation and mobilising for votes. Visibly envious organisations like the Democratic Alliance, as we saw earlier this year, have insinuated historical linkages with some of the ANC’s stalwarts as a way of appealing to the masses. Unfortunately this backfired in their case.
Vigorous branding as described is an expression of the essential truth or value of an organisation, product, or service. Underlying branding initiatives implying a great history should be equally vigorous processes of service delivery calibration as well as communication and marketing efforts.
The potency of the Home of Legends campaign should not be underestimated nor sabotaged, as we have seen happen to many similar initiatives in the province. It can give wheels to the Eastern Cape’s strategic framework as expressed in various documents.
If the Eastern Cape is to position itself as a true Home of Legends in South Africa, and indeed the African continent, the efficiency of our institutions, efforts of individuals and outputs should show that we indeed are legends. Nando’s and Mugg & Bean are liked and their legends are believed legitimate. This is so because their current actions affirm the assumed brand legacy and they deliver on their promise optimally.
Equally the success of the Home of Legends campaign will reside not in the visibility of posters, billboards, social media posts and advertisements but in how it communicates brand Eastern Cape, impacts on the organisational culture of the Eastern Cape government, garners support of private public partnerships, promotes positive sentiment towards government and how government is supported among other things.
To achieve brand equity, all government systems that reside in the province should be working in unison. They should all seek to be counted as legends through various facets of the campaign that are geared to achieve varying results, giving due recognition.
If, as experts put it, marketing is what you do, branding is what you are. My assumption is that the Home of Legends campaign will not reside only in our history but will evolve to reflect present-day achievers motivating each provincial citizen to strive daily for the legendary status. This was the case with the legends who lent their names and faces to this drive. They did not just become legends but dedicated their lives to social justice.
One of the contemporary greats in athletics, Usain Bolt says that he is annoyed “if people say I’m arrogant ... but I am a legend. It’s not arrogant. It’s a fact”.
If this kind of attitude were to prevail as a direct consequence of the Home of Legends, where everyone is a proud achiever in the little pockets that they serve, unprecedented success for the province would have been achieved.
I am looking with much expectation to the day where every Eastern Cape citizen proudly declares: “I am a legend, I am the future, I am of the Eastern Cape.”
The Home of Legends might have its shortcomings, like being diminished to a sector focused campaign. In my view, however, it is an excellent value proposition and to rule it out as completely irrelevant is naive.
Mncedi Mgwigwi is project manager of INNOVATE Eastern Cape. He is writes in his personal capacity
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