The new King Price TVC tells the story of a man who accidentally botches up his lobola payment by offering 50 kettles as opposed to 50 cattle, which doesn’t make sense to his intended or her father.

The first ad in the series showed a farmer with his tractor. The ad went viral, reaching over one million views within 24 hours of it first being posted on an internal King Price Whatsapp group.  

King Price’s general manager for marketing, Natalie Bisset, says that the insurer is a proudly South African brand with a commitment to taking the grudge out of the insurance buying decision.

"We talk to our clients as if they’re special friends, so we’re casual, down to earth and sometimes a little cheeky, but always humble and respectful. Our brand tonality is humourous. If there’s an opportunity to make our country laugh, we’ll take it," says Bisset.

The insurer’s lobola ad was conceptualised and created by Freckle – the same team responsible for the tractor ad. "We’ve worked extensively, and very successfully, with Freckle’s Bennie Fourie and Bouwer Bosch," adds Bisset.

"In fact, our 2016 Movember campaign, starring Peter de Villiers and his 'fabulous mo’, still gets YouTube views. It’s a wonderful example of our unique South African humour. It’ll be due to Fourie and Bosch’s ability to respectfully capture South Africa, and its cultural idiosyncrasies, that our new campaign will still be making South Africans chuckle two, and perhaps even 10, years from now," Bisset says.

Bosch says that the lobola ad came about in Dullstroom at King Price’s Lekkerland Carnival, where he, Fourie, and Stephan Bredell, who works on innovation and culture for King Price, were throwing around concepts to follow up the tractor ad.

"Stephan offered coffee, saying he was going to put the kettle on, and that sparked some wordplay. We also wanted to create something culturally diverse and proudly South African, so we played with the concept of lobola," adds Bosch.

Fourie wrote the script and directed the shoot, while Bosch is the assistant director and editor. Merichen Wessels, who was a part of the tractor ad team, is the creative director.

Eduan Kitching, who shot Fourie and Bosch’s feature film Vuil wasgoed, directed the photography. Producer and musician Peach van Pletzen is responsible for the music and the guitar track was played by jazz student Janu Botes.

For more information, visit www.kingprice.co.za. You can also follow King Price on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram.