Aptly entitled “Bonjour Madame”, the campaign ran from August 1 to 31st with a special focus on August 9th; the National Women’s Day public holiday.

Designed and created by Net#work BBDO, the campaign included a wide range of activations and channels including print, radio, outdoor with moving billboards, social media and service station forecourts. The emphasis was placed on welcoming and pampering female customers and enabling them to win a range of prizes including a Citroen DS5, a trip to a chocolate festival in France and consolation prizes such as hampers, spa treatments, French perfumes, magazine subscriptions and dinners at French restaurants.

Essentially, the campaign was based on research showing that women made up around 35% of Total South Africa’s customers at its 530 service stations around the country, indicating significant room for growth.

The success of the “Bonjour Madame” campaign has conclusively proven that targeting ladies can also be highly effective in this market.

“Women have very strong buying power and are often the buying decision-makers, factors that were powerfully proven and reinforced through this campaign,” said Paula Masterson, the Account Director at Net#work BBDO.

With Total South Africa wanting a strong French flavour for the campaign to directly play on its French heritage, a suave French mascot was created- “Emmanuel”. His image was used to communicate the message that women deserved special attention and recognition. Mirror decals were also placed in Bonjour and La Boutique convenience stores’ restrooms with the message “looking magnifique”.

Although National Women’s National Day on August 9th was the day with the most activity at Total’s Petroports and large sites, Friday’s thereafter during August were also targeted to give women customer’s special attention – such as forecourt attendants wearing berets and dishing out goodies like cheese and biscuits, nail polish, hair clips and magazine subscriptions.

A strong part of the campaign was a competition linked to a VIP card issued to women spending R50 or more in Bonjour or La Boutique outlets. VIP card holders went into the draw for the grand prizes – the Citroen DS5, the trip to France and the consolation prizes.

According to Nadia Vosloo, Total South Africa’s brand and communications manager who managed this campaign and worked closely with the agency, it was important to have a blend of French flair and South African flavour.

“As a company, we are distinctively French, but we are also proudly South African, so it was important to get this mix right. This came across really well through the various activations used in the campaign, including the French accented “le pap and wors” advertisement created for radio. The radio ad sparked some debate on 702 with Redi Tlhabi declaring it her funny ad of the week. Family, friends and staff told us whenever they had heard the ad on various radio stations and that it was very entertaining. The Bonjour Madame campaign made a lot of sense because firstly it communicated that we are a French company, it talks to women and it is the name of our convenience stores. The campaign resulted in Total increasing sales across the board by 11%.”

“Although the campaign’s focus was external; targeting female customers, we wanted to create some excitement amongst Total staff and to this end a French bistro was created at the company’s head office in Rosebank, Johannesburg. Mime artists, croissants, cheese, nougat, posters, French flags, and even an accordion player were there to launch the campaign to Total staff,” says Vosloo.

Following the overall success of August’s Bonjour Madame campaign, Total and Net#work BBDO are planning further phases during 2013 as Total continues to focus on female customers as an increasingly important element of their target market.