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The on-going story of Generations - one of SA's favourite soapies, on SABC1 - is built around an ad agency called Ezweni Advertising. So when clothing retailer PEP decided on a rebranding and repositioning exercise, its real-life ad agency - Zoom - came up with the idea of writing that into the script.
The SABC was enthusiastic and the fictional agency, Ezweni, was shown pitching for and winning the account. Viewers then followed it as it developed PEP's new branding and design, culminating in the unveiling of the new corporate tag line: "Best prices - and more."
On Friday morning (27 July), shoppers saw the new corporate identity in stores, just as they had the night before on TV. During the build-up to the big reveal, Queen, one of the characters, wore PEP clothes on the programme for six weeks.
Everyone was so pleased with the way the idea worked out that PEP has signed a 12-month collaboration deal with Generations, so that the PEP story can continue. Advertising and in-store marketing will continue to reflect what's happening on TV.
The reason for PEP's repositioning, says marketing director Marcus Banga, is that "customers no longer want to be associated with a purely price-based brand. That makes them feel poor and unappreciated. Our previous positioning - 'Lowest prices for everyone' - reinforced a 'cheap and nasty' impression. Now we offer 'best' prices, implying value for money rather than 'lowest' prices.
"And we offer a whole package of good service with the widest range, which includes health, wellness and beauty products, insurance, footwear, textiles, fast-moving consumer goods and cellular. Through Generations we saw an opportunity to reach 15m people and make them part of the story. Our brand essence is a promise of more, which customers can experience. We want customers to feel proud to do business with us."
PEP is southern Africa's biggest single-brand retailer, operating 1 350 stores targeting lower LSM groups in 10 countries.
