Ricardo Coetzee, spokesperson for Virseker says: "We knew from the word go that the campaign had to be uniquely Afrikaans. With the clever use of storytelling, the four TV adverts drive home the message that Virseker not only offers excellent car and home insurance, but also does a great deal for the Afrikaans community.”

Coetzee continues: “There is a social element attached to Virseker, a percentage of all policyholder’s insurance premiums is placed in a Trust – at no extra cost to the policyholder - and then allocated to educational causes that are close to the hearts of the Afrikaans speaking community.”

The TV adverts are set in a typical small ‘dorpie' or town, where everyone knows everyone else’s business. They centre on two main characters, Tant Siela and Oom Mossie. These two characters, which are played by much-loved South African actors, Elize Cawood and Wilson Dunster, habitually sit on their front ‘stoep’ and observe the antics of their interesting neighbours.

Erika Spethmann, client service at human.kind, adds: “The initial shot of the street is based on the Desperate Housewives idea, where there are no walls or fences separating neighbours and everyone in the community knows one another. The characters are people we all know: Tant Siela with her big hair and her big mouth, and Oom Mossie, who obligingly listens to all her stories. The scripts are heart-warming and funny and tap into the Afrikaans culture perfectly.”

The four adverts were shot in Boksburg, took two days to film, and had a cast consisting of four people, a cat and a parrot. They were directed by award-winning Picture Tree director, Alan Irvin, who says that the four scripts are really appropriate to the Afrikaans-speaking market.

“Tant Siela and Oom Mossie sitting on the stoep discussing the neighbourhood is a scene we are all accustomed to, and therefore, it will be easy for the audience to connect with this kind of humour. It has been a lot of fun developing the ads, and working with consummate professionals has made our job that much easier,” says Irvin.

The comprehensive campaign, which kicked off in June, included elements of TV, radio, print and digital, with TVCs appearing on SABC2, SABC3, Kyknet and M-Net. Print adverts are expected to appear in publications such as Vrouekeur, Huisgenoot and Tempo.

The overarching theme for the campaign is about what it means to be Afrikaans – all the little idiosyncrasies, the humour, the food, the storytelling, and the eccentric characters. “A delightful Afrikaans campaign for a delightful Afrikaans insurance brand,” concludes Spethmann.