According to the brand, news spread fast: Many assumed it was an honest mistake, some thought it was intentional and a few guessed that it was the beginning of a campaign with a big revelation coming.
"Well, that cat is out of the bag — or should we say the piggie is out of the box. The billboard was part of a campaign to launch a new cooler box for Spring, aptly named the 'Springbox', a cooler box specially made for carrying Eskort braai meat," says Eskort.
"Spring signifies the return of the braai season, and we wanted to create something special for braai lovers across South Africa. So, we came up with the Springbox," says Marcelle Pienaar, group marketing manager at Eskort.
"We wanted to launch it in a way that captures people's imaginations and gets them talking, and that is how we came up with the idea for the billboard," Pienaar adds.
The Eskort marketing team says that they had mobilised a Twitter / X army and some carefully selected influencers to ensure that the billboard became a trending topic. It worked, and for one whole week, '#Springbox' trended, gaining significant exposure across many media platforms and gaining widespread attention for Eskort.
Eskort then revealed that it was all a planned ruse. It updated the billboard and released a series of online ads and content from the same influencers it used before.
"Now that the ruse is over, we want people to know what the Springbox is. We want all the braai lovers out there to get themselves one, so they can show it off to their friends the next time they have a braai — maybe even over a game of rugby," concludes Pienaar.
The Eskort Springbox will be exclusively available at Eskort stores this Spring.
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