South African vitamin and nutritional supplement company, Vital Health Foods, has introduced its new brand positioning campaign by flighting a distinctly new, fresh and bold 'life champions' 45-second television ad on M-Net; SABC2; and SABC3.
Conceptualised and produced by DraftFCB Cape Town, following an extensive research campaign undertaken by Yellowwood Future Architects, the 63-year-old household brand recognised a need to contemporise its feel in the minds of a massively growing health-conscious market. The creative team, lead by Executive Creative Director, Francois de Villiers, set about formulating an integrated through-the-line campaign which would communicate the brand’s new positioning – life champions – for people who desire good health but struggle to achieve it on their own. The message: Vital is your life champion, supporting and inspiring you to be healthy and enabling you to champion all aspects of your life.
“The client was clear with us – produce a big idea – that could translate itself through a multitude of mediums: television; print; radio; digital; point-of-sale; and CRM,” says Natalie Davidsson, group AD for Draft FCB in Cape Town, “and so work began on a television ad that would entrench our propositioning on a hugely proportionate scale.”
Produced in Cape Town by Bioscope Films and directed by Hylton Tannenbaum, the ad features a real life couple championing their way through everyday real life scenarios such as waking up to the alarm clock; feeding kids then dropping them off at school; and briefing colleagues at a board meeting. The style of acting and cinematography is characterised by bold, vibrant and generous colouring; textures; and choice of location. “The ad has an almost Moulin Rouge theatrical tonality to it. We had to not only position the brand through its heritage and excellence, but also convey its bold, confident can-do attitude to life, highlighting a best-at-what-we-do efficacy and practice,” says de Villiers.
Launched in 1947 by John Grieve senior, the wholly-owned family business has grown from strength to strength, capturing over 25% market share in South Africa, with exports to Australia; Sweden; Czech; and Africa. In 2009, former marketing director for Vodacom, Andre Beyers joined the team at Vital, with the overall responsibility of redefining core target markets; repositioning the brand; and retaining relevance in the minds of its loyal consumer base.