Brand South Africa has been on my mind lately.
What with all the events from sport (Caster Semenya), business (Steinnhoff) to politics (looming national elections), and everything in between that affects the mood about the country both internally and globally?
So, I did what comes naturally and crunched the numbers to gauge the online strength of the Nation Brand.
I plan to publish a 4-part series of the results of my online analysis within the next week.
In this first part I ask:
just how connected is the Nation Brand with topics of “national importance”?
Let’s dig in.
Table of Contents
Context
Thanks to the passion I have for online media and my love for analytics; I keep tabs on the many topics that pop up on my Twitter TL.
As an aside, one such topic that is currently gripping the country is Eishkom. Here is a related video that is sure to get me cracking up for days still:
This video made my day...
— AntitheisticaLee ❤💚🖤 (@UnmovedLee) March 21, 2019
This country is a joke stru! Hahahahaha#EskomLoadShedding #Eskom #LoadShedding pic.twitter.com/OngLl7oByL
I have since liked and retweeted the video, and shared it on Whatsapp.
So, to answer the key question – whether Brand South Africa is connected with topics of “national importance”, I selected what I consider a key event concept in the entertainment calendar of this country for the past 4 years.
Cassper Nyovest, a local Hip-Hop artist turned mogul, came up with the music performance concept and called it #FillUp.
He staged the first annual show – #FillUpTheDome – in 2015. The event was attended by 20 000 youth.
Both the youth and the entertainment media gave it rave reviews, including for stage setup, the quality of his performance and overall value for money.
This made the event a record breaking Hip-Hop show at the venue.
On the back of this success, Cassper staged #FillUpOrlando (2016), #FillUpFNB (2017) and #FillUpMosesMabhida (2018).
By many music show standards, this concept is unique, and it has almost immortalised Cassper as one of the most creative South African entertainers since the dawn of democracy, if not ever.
Is Brand South Africa part of the heart beat?
I did a search on Twitter – my proxy for social media, to see if the Nation Brand ever mentioned any of the 4 #FillUp events.
Here are the Twitter search results:
As Twitter search results show, @Brand_SA did not tweet once about #FillUpTheDome (2015), #FillUpOrlando (2016) and #FillUpMosesMabhida (2018) events.
Despite the prompting in 2017 by @The_eNitiaters (related to #FillUpFNB), the Nation Brand I can confirm that the Nation Brand did not bite either.
Out of sight out of mind?
Why should the Nation Brand have participated in online mentions of annual #FillUp events?
This quote captures the reason why the Nation Brand should have been involved in online mentions of #FillUp events:
Cassper Nyovest has outdone himself once again and filled up Moses Mabhida Stadium!
The Doc Shebeleza hit-maker is a notorious record-breaker with selling out and filling up our biggest concerts with his shows.
He’s literally the only South African rapper who holds this record. Previously, Cassper Nyovest did a #FillUpFNBStadium concert last year, making him the first South African hip-hop artist to hold a concert at the FNB Stadium with a turnout of 68 000 people – that’s triple the number of tickets sold when he filled the Ticket Pro Dome in 2015.
Source: Cosmopolitan Magazine
Here are the attendance stats of #FillUp events for the past 4 years, supporting my view:
#DidYouKnow: Cassper Nyovest’s #FillUpFNB event is the biggest Hip-Hop show at the FNB stadium to date.
The second largest show was by Eminem in 2014, which sold 65 000 tickets.
I took special interest in the #FillUp story – a demonstration of a dream brought to life by a South African who was prepared to risk it all – not once, not twice, but 4 times!
It represents a never-say-die attitude that is an integral attribute of many prosperous nations.
#FillUp is one of the best of examples of South Africans who play their part in inspiring others to reach for the skies, by fire by force.
The connection between #FillUps and the youth
In addition to Cassper’s demonstrable tenacious spirit that lead to breaking of records, I believe that the #FillUp concept has become a part of South African youth culture.
Thus, they – the events – could have been used effectively to connect the Nation Brand to the country’s largest constituency.
Lost opportunity?
Yes, unfortunately.
But, I hope this blog post will get the Nationa Brand to sit up and take note. #LessonsLearnt
You can find Brand South Africa’s mandate on page 17 of 2017/2018 Annual Report
How the Brand South Africa could amplify #FillUp events
Some of the creative ideas that were tossed around by the eNitiaters as part of amplification of #FillUpFNB are shared here below.
A poster for social media content, which clearly celebrates the achievements of King Mufasa – Cassper Nyovest’s alter ego:
@Brand_SA – Cassper Nyovest Poster for Social Media
Brand South Africa could do more than tweet about #FillUpFNB.
The Nation Brand should have joined the many South Africans and celebrities who supported the event including our very own Black Coffee – the nation’s internationally recognised DJ.
🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 @rikyrickworld last night live on Stage..... @casspernyovest Well done for inspiring the Nation.#fillupfnb pic.twitter.com/vNO5Y5QQ4v
— Black Coffee (@RealBlackCoffee) December 3, 2017
