MTN ad hits the right note

Johannesburg - "That's ayoba" or "that's not ayoba".

The phrases that have come alive with MTN's summer campaign by The Jupiter Drawing Room, Johannesburg.

The ad made its appearance when South Africans were all ayoba-ed out, after the word was thrown about in conversations and on radio stations for months on end.

It seemed like a good concept that had just missed the trend - but instead it gave ayoba a new lease on life. While you would often hear ayoba or ayobaness before, now it's "that's ayoba" for anything that gets the nod.

It reminds one of Mandoza's kwaito hit Nkalakatha, which would just not die. It spread through the different racial groups ages after black youth had danced and hollered to it, and finally become sick of it. Yet by some unknown force, the original fans would fall in with the excitement every time it attracted new enthusiasts.

According to Jupiter Executive creative director Peter Khour, "the campaign seeks to break down one of the biggest impediments to national unity - the language barrier - and gives the nation a positive word that everyone can unite in using".

MTN chief marketing officer Serame Taukobong says the campaign is being used to showcase its involvement with the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

There will be double tickets given out for 25 games, as well as R28m in prizes up for grabs. Ayoba ambassador Ray Ray is also being used in an MTN Zone promotion, where he appears as a weatherman showing the country heating up as users make calls for mahala (free) over 100 days.

- Fin24.com