The initiative aims to be a manifesto that calls upon people to unlimit their lives — not with ordinary 'pom-poms' and a 'rah-rah' corporate call, but through a co-lab of 21 collaborators, says the group.

The group adds that these collaborators tell their own unlimited stories in the face of tragedy, stigma, bias, inequality and the daily grind of a 'normal' routine, adds the group.

The Unlimited and Joe Public Cape Town created this approach on a scale not yet seen in South African advertising, says the duo. With 21 individual collaborators and 15 directors contributing to bringing to life the manifesto of The Unlimited, in one TV advert, 'The Story of UN' signals an inclusive shift in approach that hopefully inspires others in the industry to follow.

According to the duo, there's no holding back on The Unlimited's new brand campaign — it is bold and brazen, raw, provocative and unapologetic in its call that everyone in the country shift the status quo. To do this, The Unlimited asked collaborators, "What does unlimited look like in your life?"

The brand TV ad and online content reflect the interpretations of the manifesto of The Unlimited by a host of South Africans whose stories reflect the company's shifting lives mantra. The group says that each of these creators was given free rein to document how their lives are unlimited, and their life story creations combined to present 'The Story of UN'.


"Scripted as our manifesto, the commercial is a stake in the ground in terms of who we are and what we stand for. However, it's also very much a look through the lens of what it means to unlimit your life, and how different that can be for a variety of people," says the head of brand at The Unlimited Susie Hart.

"We wanted something real and inspirational to share with the audience and so, the campaign is about being out there and authentic in being your true self — all the things that are incredibly important to us as a business," adds Hart.

Hart says that The Unlimited was inspired by the collaborative nature of the project as it transformed into being the most unlimited creative brief of her career.

According to the creative agency, the approach by Joe Public Cape Town in realising the potential of such a brief is a phenomenal story in itself.

Hart adds, "They not only sourced this collection of people doing extraordinary things, [but they also] created a co-lab of directors and creators, with the unparalleled Fausto Becatti of Bioscope being the overall director. The result is a plethora of characters and cultures that come through in a unique and powerful way."

The duo adds that the campaign collaborators were united by one common trait: the undying will to defy expectations and challenge the norm.

Executive creative director of Joe Public Cape Town Brendan Hoffmann adds, "For us, there's absolute beauty in the way the campaign was created, unhinged and totally authentic to each collaborator. The Unlimited is a maverick business unlike any other and we wanted their brand work to reflect this."

The objective, Hoffmann says, was to get lots of people to produce lots of different styles of work and then to take pieces of those stories and create the final TV ad.

"What an opportunity it has been to work with a brand that doesn’t play by the rules because it gave us the scope to open up the opportunities to so many more creatives in the process, as we built our narrative through an organic approach of multiple voices and individual footage," concludes Hoffmann. 

For more information, visit www.theunlimited.co.za. You can also follow The Unlimited on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram.