Cow Africa

A day in the life

2009-06-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

To illustrate how the Grid forms part of everyday life, we created this video. To find out more, go to www.thegrid.co.za or SMS 'GRID' to 33313 (50c).

Zoopy Framed is a 'Hot Thang'

2009-06-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

The Sunday Times recently featured the Framed campaign we did with Zoopy. Read the article below or click through to it here.

The campaign has ended in the meanwhile, but you can still access all the videos at zoopy.com/framed.

Mobile Cow

2009-05-20T03:55:00.000-07:00

We just launched a WAP version of our site through Mippin. Nice and easy to set up and costs nothing - just go to www.cowafrica.com/mobile on your phone.

Cool Ts

2009-05-18T04:33:00.000-07:00

We're launching the Illustrators t-shirt range this Thursday at Hello Again (44 Bloem Street, Cape Town). The project aims to produce a new line of t-shirts based on work from exciting up-and-coming illustrators from across the globe. T's are limited to 100 prints of each design and will feature x3 designs of each illustrator. A new illustrator's range will be released each season. The shirts are currently only available in South Africa.

The first range will feature x3 designs from Niark1 (France). for more info visit the website or email info@theillustrators.co.za

Join the Facebook group for regular updates on new releases.

LAUNCH

21 May 2009, 6pm

Hello Again
44 Bloem Street
Cape Town
South Africa

Ama What What?!

2009-05-05T07:59:00.000-07:00

Interesting backlash against the Ama Kip Kip label

You've been Framed!

2009-05-03T12:12:00.000-07:00

We recently went all Leon Schuster on the South African public for Zoopy's new prank show, Framed.

From Sandton to Cape Town we had farting grannies, urban gorillas and classist police officers aggravating the unsuspecting public with really funny consequences.

Here's a small taste of what you'll find at www.zoopy.com/framed... There are some pretty decent prizes up for grabs as well!

Grid 30"

2009-03-11T04:07:00.000-07:00

The 30" TV spot we recently did for The Grid.

The Grid 30" from Cow Africa on Vimeo.

OSA chat at Cow

2009-03-09T06:40:00.000-07:00

Our friend Karsten Huneck from the Office for Subversive Architecture was in town last week and chatted to us about some of their latest work.

Also check out the colab between Cow and OSA in London and Manchester here and a piece on BD Online

Our sequel

2009-02-18T04:11:00.000-08:00

Our second television advertisement is in the pipeline! This time we're doing it for mobile social network The Grid. Making use of a green screen, good looking people and some serious post production, the ad will be airing during Idols this coming Sunday.

So while the ad is still in the making, here are some photos from the video shoot...

10 seconds of fame

2009-02-03T23:12:00.005-08:00

We did a 10 second television commercial for Gridstar, Vodacom's new online talent show where people can film themselves putting their talents to good use and upload it via their cellphones.

The ad aired during the premiere of South African Idol season 5.

Gridstar Promo Video from Cow Africa on Vimeo.

How healthy are you?

2009-01-27T23:28:00.000-08:00

This one is a bit of a blast from the past. About a year ago we did a 'Turn over a new leaf' campaign for Lipton tea and one of the elements for the campaign included an interactive quiz.

By answering eight questions ranging from "How many cups of tea do you consume in a day" to "When it comes to alcohol, I..." the quiz is able to determine whether you are doing fine or if you need a couple of extra sessions on the old treadmill.

Throughout the quiz you could interact with different elements such as cigarettes, a skipping ropes etc. that would give you more information about Lipton tea.

To see how fit you are, take the quiz here. Did we mention it won a 'Best in class' Interactive Media Award?

And South Africa's gadget guru is...

2008-12-09T18:52:00.000-08:00

For the final leg of MWEB's search for the South Africa's tech guru we took the top four scorers on the Gadget Genie quiz to compete in a tech-triathlon, complete with general knowledge quiz, gadget review and office olympics.

If you haven't put your skills to the test yet, take the Gadget Genie quiz and see how you rate on the Geek-o-Meter.

Floyd bicycle kicked the ball to you from Benoni

2008-11-25T12:01:00.000-08:00

To showcase the location-based technology of The Grid, Vodacom’s mobile social network that determines your location by means of cellphone towers, Cow created a virtual soccer game.

Choosing from a range of kicks such as flick, bicycle kick and header, people could virtually ‘pass’ the ball to friends’ cellphones. Recipients of a pass would get an SMS stating where the ball was kicked from and what type of kick was used (e.g. “John just headed the ball to you from Melville”). Friends could pass a virtual ball to each other across the country using only their cellphone.

As incentive to ‘play it forward’, airtime and a Samsung Soul is up for grabs. Just one month since the game went live the campaign delivered 1412 new registered users and 1475 referrals.

To play it forward, SMS 'soccer' to 33313 or go to wap.thegrid.co.za from your cellphone. The Grid is also available as a downloadable Java application (South Africa only).

Bookmarks online awards finalists

2008-11-10T00:39:00.000-08:00

x4 Cow sites have been chosen as finalists in the Bookmarks online awards.

Lipton Habits - Effective use of application Finalist
The Grid Viral Soccer - Mobile Finalist
Mweb Gadget Genie - Microsite Shortlisted
Flora Heart Man - Microsite Shortlisted

Mobikasi - Soweto Street Culture

2008-11-05T04:39:00.000-08:00

To illustrate how The Grid’s location-based technology works Cow launched Mobikasi, a geo-tagged documentary for cellphones, which explores youth culture in Soweto.

Instead of showing the twenty-five minute documentary in a linear fashion from start to finish, Mobikasi splits the content up into twenty-five inserts of one minute each. Each one-minute clip covers a different topic that is relevant to the youth in Soweto and is geo-tagged to the location where it was shot. The location-based documentary looks at people, music, fashion, social issues and places of interest.

The Grid is a social network that uses your mobile phone to connect you with people, places and events around you. From your phone you can see which friends are in your area, chat to people across South Africa and share photos and videos – wherever you are.

The Grid is overlayed on street maps, meaning you’re able to tag content to specific addresses, recommend venues (e.g. restaurants) and even find directions to venues recommended by others.

Mobikasi can be viewed on The Grid through your cellphone or through The Grid website. To get onto The Grid, simply SMS ‘Mobikasi’ to 33313 (SMS charged at 50c, normal VAS rates apply) or visit wap.thegrid.co.za/mobikasi on your phone.

Wahey! Cow wins PRCA agency of the year!

2008-11-05T04:00:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to everyone at Cow in London for winning PRCA agency of the year 2008!

More on the PR Week website here.

Taking the challenge

2008-10-13T03:56:00.000-07:00

Did you know that high cholesterol cause 56% of the world’s cardiovascular disease? Well, Flora does, and to coincide with Heart Month in September, Flora launched the Flora pro-activ 3 Week Challenge.

The aim of the campaign was to educate South Africans about cholesterol and the importance of knowing what your cholesterol levels are, as well as getting people to take the 3 Week Challenge. To do this, Cow created a website where we outlined the facts about cholesterol and how Flora pro-activ can help you reduce your cholesterol levels. We also took to the street to see just how much the average South African knows about their cholesterol levels.

Check the site out here.

Best in show!

2008-10-03T06:36:00.000-07:00

Our PR partners Cow UK last night (2 October) received the accolade for best consumer PR agency of 2008, as well as winning the award for consumer PR campaign of the year.

Judged by in-house marketers, the Grocer 'Gramia' advertising and marketing awards featured agencies across the marketing spectrum competing for the 20 different categories. Cow finished the night with two of the four PR 'diamond' awards, on each occasion being up against a short-list of five.

Cow won consumer PR campaign of the year for the Aunt Bessie's mash van. This involved Cow taking advantage of the bad weather in April 2008. Instead of standard cones, Cow came up with a seasonal alternative for Aunt Bessie's featuring sausage and mash, all offered to the public via special ice cream style van.

29 under 29
At the same time, Cow account manager Nicki Oldham was selected by PR Week as one of the industry's "29 under 29." A member of the PRCA's frontline committee, Nicki was chosen by the judges for her work across a range of clients including General Motors (Vauxhall), City & Guilds and Audible.

Cow's campaigns have either been award winners or finalists 41x since 2002. Cow is based in London and Cape Town and clients include Burger King, General Motors, Heinz, Arla Foods, Bandai, SpinVox and MORE TH>N.

All your base are belong to us

2008-09-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

As part of the new MWEB Gadget Genie campaign, we've developed a micro site reminiscent of yesteryear’s 8-bit arcade games. The aim of the site is to attract pop tech lovers and to ultimately find South Africa’s gadget guru.

The micro site features a quiz that takes place in a typical platform-game world. Here the player has to face the Evil Dr Floppy and overcome his tough technology questions in a race against time. The micro site forms part of a larger campaign that will roll out in early 2009.

For some of today’s technologically inclined, 8-bit gaming was their first real run in with technology - be it on a Commodore-64, dad’s monochrome 286 Olivetti or at the mall’s gaming arcade.

Check out the micro site here. As a mobile extra, we've created a WAP quiz. To see how you rate, go to http://www.mwebgadgetgenie.co.za/wap/ from your mobile phone.

We're not cheap

2008-09-25T07:18:00.000-07:00

We like to change the signage on our front door from time to time...

Five Black Bins

2008-09-03T04:39:00.000-07:00

Five Black Bins from Cow Africa on Vimeo.

Five Black Bins brings together five Cape Town design studios to redesign five garbage bins in Woodstock, Cape Town. The urban design project was conceptualised and curated by non-traditional agency, Cow.

Five random addresses in Woodstock were selected. Designers were briefed to use the bin as a canvas but to take into consideration the context of its surroundings as well. Am I Collective, Cow, Kronk, The President and Room 13 were the five agencies that got involved.

Once the designs were completed, bespoke vinyls were printed. Cow then abducted the selected bins, applied the vinyls and returned the transformed bins to their homes.

The current black garbage bin (or "wheelie bin") dates back to the late 70s and was introduced to South Africa in the late 80s. They typically hold 120, 240 or 360 litres, with 240 litres being the most common.

“We were interested in how homeowners decorate their bins by painting their street name and number on to prevent them from being stolen,” says Steyn Strauss from Cow. “This got us thinking about the space and how the bin works together with the house it's in front of, as well as the street and neighbourhood it’s in.”

The bins, (if they’ve not been stolen) can be see at the following addresses:

15A Chamberlain
29 Chamberlain
4 Devonshire
13 Cavendish
37 Balfour

We're so over the rainbow

2008-07-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

Recently during a Friday afternoon wind-down, we had the pleasure of enjoying a rare sight from our new offices in Gardens, Cape Town.

You're my Russian roulette

2008-07-16T03:46:00.000-07:00

For Flora's sponsorship of the Comrades Marathon 2008, Cow decided to illustrate what would happen to your heart when doing healthy and unhealthy activities - literally.

Shot in Cape Town and Durban, the heart suit was made in 36 hours and put to good use by getting a physical theatre actor to act out certain activities in high-traffic areas.

To view the site, click here.

I |heart| being kind to others

2008-06-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

As part of the “If you could see your heart, would you take better care of it?” campaign, we got felt toy designer Jaco Haasbroek to design some “good hearts” and “bad hearts”, and with the help of Elaine at Woo-man, they made heart toys for a teddy bear crane machine. The machine was on display at the Flora stand at the Comrades Expo held at the Durban ICC. All proceeds from the machine went to the Heart Foundation charity.

Do the (Flora) Heart Man

2008-06-23T07:52:00.000-07:00

June is Comrades month, and, as one of the main sponsors, Flora asked us to do something online to launch their Comrades campaign internally.

The aim of the campaign was to introduce Unilever employees to the new Flora campaign, to get volunteers for the Comrades Half Way Mark and to get participants for the internal Flora triathlon at the internal campaign launch.

To do so we created an internal site where users were able to control Heartman, passing all the campaign elements (from the TV adverts to the out of home advertising). We created flash game for users to play, with the aim being to “eat” all the good, healthy foods and give the unhealthy foods a miss.

From a staff complement of 1 500 employees, the site had over 1 309 visits, with 81 people volunteering to help out at the Half Way Point. Only 40 volunteers were needed. Check out the site here.

How to make a heart in 36 hours

2008-06-19T07:56:00.001-07:00

What do you do when you want to communicate Flora’s official sponsorship of the Comrades Marathon on the internet? Film a guy in a gigantic heart suit of course…

Getting hold of an oversized heart-shaped suit is a different story so we decided to make one from scratch. Cruising the streets of Durban we came across an incredibly creative foam cutter and artisan called Anthony, working for L.R. Foam who single-handedly put together the most amazing foam heart suit in South Africa (then again, it’s probably the only in the world…)

The next step was to find the best tailor in Durban to make both a good and bad heart suit from 32m² of red felt. We soon tracked down Anilla, ex-costume designer for the University of KZN who made the covering for the suit in record time.

Flora Seed Man

2008-06-03T11:55:00.000-07:00

We recently completed this interactive internal site for Flora. The aim was to introduce the entire Unilever SA base to the new Flora campaign elements.

In the site users are able to walk the Seed Man character through various campaign elements, from watching the television commercial to print and various other executions.

From a staff complement of 1,500 employees, the site went viral recording over 2 400 visits with 280 entries into the competition (more than 10% conversion rate). The Seed Man site was also awarded Global Best Practice for the full Seeds campaign by the Global Marketing President of Unilever.

www.floraseedman.co.za

...

Knock knock...

2008-04-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

We've moved! Well we're sort of still in the process. You know boxes standing around, complete chaos... The kettle is always on though. So why not pop in and come say hello?

Our new address is:

Unit 205
17 on Jamieson
Jamieson Street
Gardens

What will it be? 99 Flake or 99 Sausage?

2008-04-16T01:46:00.000-07:00

Cow in London recently created a Mash Van for Aunt Bessie's Mashed Potato. Served from a specially customised ice cream van, Aunt Bessie’s will offer cones filled with creamy, warm homestyle mash and a banger topped with gravy and a sprinkling of garden peas.

The all year round snack solution is in response to predictions from the Met Office that the UK can continue to expect increasingly wetter summers. Last year’s weather was largely responsible for a massive 6.6% drop in ice cream sales in 2007 . By comparison sales of unseasonable comfort food soared during the wettest English summer for 200 years.

No habits were harmed during the making of this ad

2008-04-09T04:46:00.000-07:00

Lipton asked us to create something to bring their Turn Over A New Leaf campaign to life online. So we created a nifty little Facebook application to help users kick a bad habit or adopt a good one.

The aim was to get the Lipton brand into the Facebook user base and to offer users a support network with which they can turn over a new leaf.

When registering for the application users are asked to choose from a selection of bad or good habits. Included in the 10 habits are: Potty Mouth, The Procrastinator, Smokey, Temper Tantrum and Ab Man.

Facebook applications are a dime a dozen so we wanted to come up with something that is inherently useful and utilises the networks that people depend on to change their behaviour.

Install application

Or visit the Flash Site here.

Beans on tap

2008-02-13T04:20:00.000-08:00

Ever wished you could have baked beans on tap? We have, and so did our friends at Cow in London. So much so that they actually created a font that pours you a pint of Heinz Baked Beanz. Genius.

2Lt Ford Cortina Mk II Automatic

2007-12-11T12:03:00.000-08:00

The car to drive... if you're two officers on the beat to rev up summer. All the stunt driving in the opening sequences were done by Cows, we took turns in taking corners and burning rubber. A big thank you to Officer Swift of the Metro Police who let us off with a warning for driving around with blue lights. Repect.

Poultry donation

2007-12-11T11:37:00.000-08:00

Our Nando’s Peri Police Officers, Steve Peri and JJ Hotstix, had themselves a busy week. Here they are handing over a cheque to the value of 530 quarter chickens to Director Barnes, the Station Commissioner of the Cape Town Central Police Station.

Peri Police raid Cape Town

2007-12-04T09:35:00.000-08:00

Police on the scene, you know what I mean? Cow recently teamed up with chicken to create the Nando's Peri Police Force. This crack team of officers patrol the streets of Cape Town on foot or in their souped up 2Lt Ford Cortina Mk II Automatic.

When last did you eat Nando's?

The street stunt involved hitting a series of areas in and around Cape Town, serving people with a Warrant of Abreast (a quarter chicken voucher), if they haven't been to Nando's recently. All this was filmed candid camera style and a series of videocast episodes were published to the Peri Police File microsite.

Remember, eat responsibly.

Eat My Video

2007-09-13T03:04:00.001-07:00

Tired of the same old same old music videos being pushed your way on MTV and VH1? We are. So as part of our chapter for the Bowling Club we hosted Eat My Video at the Labia, Cape Town on Wednesday the 26th of September.

Eat My Video started in Belgium and features a selection of quality music videos from the last six months on the big screen. The screening featured some of the hottest new bands and directors and included videos by zZz, Shitdisco, UNKLE and Tunng amongst others.

Videos were introduced by Jaron Albertin (Canada) who has directed for Death From Above 1979, Emily Haines, Cut Copy and Maximo Park.

The feature included identity design by Daddy Buy Me A Pony and the opening sequence was animated by Radarboy. Black glitter posters were hand-screenprinted by Fittees.

Free Range Cows:
- Pixelspew
- Jaron Albertin
- Daddy Buy Me A Pony
- Radarboy
- Fittees

Going underground

2007-09-06T13:56:00.000-07:00

We recently started the Eating Grass blog. The aim is to document underground or fringe African publications with a focus on popular culture. This can include anything from magazines, journals, fanzines, websites, blogs and podcasts. We like to stay up to date with what the subcultures get up to and now you can too.

C30 C60 C90 Go!

2007-08-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

There's something special about giving someone a mixtape. It's not just the sharing of music, it's the time and effort you put into the selection. The press play press pause press play repeat for around 12 songs. Spending ages on deciding which song to end Side A on and how to start Side B. And then there's the cover, cutting, pasting, designing drawing, stenciling...

Well we missed it so much that we decided to try and recreate it in this godforsaken digital wasteland everyone seems to be calling the interweb. So check out the blog, there's a new tape (with sound samples) up every two weeks. We have a Facebook group for some hardcore music junkies to upload their tapes and introduce people to some hopefully undiscovered music.

You've been flash poked!

2007-01-06T03:53:00.000-08:00

South Africa currently counts as number 6 in the world for using Facebook. Not bad if you consider our low level of connectivity. So we decided to pool our resources and put Facebook through its paces by organising the first ever Flash Poke. A Flash Poke is like a Flash Mob only much better and a lot less hassle. The first Flash Poke took place on Friday, 3 August 2007 and an estimated 100 people took part. If you would like to join the Facebook Flash Poke group and find out about future pokes, click here: Flash Poke

Parking spaces

2007-01-05T08:29:00.000-08:00

Cow took over the parking lot at the Woolworths head office in Cape Town and used chalkings and tapings to get employees excited about the Peugeot 307 competition.

Free-range Cows
- World War Won

Cow muti

2007-01-04T03:22:00.000-08:00

Things to do before you die

2007-01-03T03:11:00.000-08:00

The FNB Living Facility is life insurance that pays out while you're still alive. Those nice little cash backs are just what you need to do all the things you've always wanted to do before you die. So we developed a life clock calculator to show all the great life experiences you're missing out on while the clock is ticking...

Try the Life Clock out

Awards:
Loeries 2007 finalist

Free-range Cows:
- Andries Odendaal

Postcards from the future

2007-01-03T01:22:00.000-08:00

Ever sent yourself some mail? As part of the Living Facility campaign, postcards were sent out to FNB customers.

These direct mail pieces were handwritten, seemingly sent from oneself and dated some time in the future. In it, your future self is congratulating your present self on investing in FNB's Living Facility thereby making it possible to travel the world.

Pensioners' day at Midmar

2007-01-01T03:52:00.000-08:00

We can't claim this one but we love this flyer to promote pensioners' day at Midmar Home of Discount Liquors.

Got a Girlfriend

2006-01-03T13:52:00.000-08:00

To follow up on the Get a Girlfriend TV campaign for Axe (Lynx) deodorant, we created an online homage that asked the question, what would happen if coinman actually had a girlfriend? The viral reached 2 million views in the first two weeks.

Awards
- Silver Loerie Award winner 2006, Best Viral
- The clip has been viewed almost 10 million times on Metacafe to date.

Sunglasses that reveal all

2006-01-02T03:13:00.000-08:00

What if you had a pair of sunglasses that showed you the story behind the story? For the Afrikaans Sun newspaper (Die Son), we developed a pair of sunglasses that illustrated the newspaper's knack for uncovering saucy and controversial stories. We printed posters with hidden images that could only be seen if you wore the special sunglasses. The posters featured South African personalities, Zuma, Schalk and Francois van Coke that were all in the news at the time of the campaign.

Free-range Cows:
- Daddy Buy Me A Pony

Awards:
- Silver Pendoring
- Bronze Loerie

Cow Africa identity

2006-01-01T04:02:00.000-08:00

The Hoegaarden Urban Oasis

2005-01-11T14:31:00.000-08:00

To communicate the natural attributes of Hoegaarden beer, Cow worked with outdoor installation artists, The Office for Subversive Architecture, to create an urban oasis. An artwork that would transform a concrete space in London and Manchester with which the public could interact with and experience nature in an urban environment. An outdoor pub was created and was made entirely out of real grass and wood. It had fully functional fonts to serve beer from and a jukebox that played nature sounds.

Free-range Cows:
- The Office for Subversive Architecture

Watered-down billboards

2005-01-10T14:33:00.000-08:00

As part of the Hoegaarden Urban Oasis Project we covered billboards around London in real grass. The billboards directed people to the Urban Oasis website and revealed the project as a whole. Some of the billboards at eye-level could be touched and the spaces needed to be watered throughout the campaign.

Free-range Cows
- Diabolical Liberties

Urban Oasis identity

2005-01-08T14:23:00.000-08:00

Cow worked with illustrator SuperMundane to develop an identity for the Hoegaarden Urban Oasis campaign. London design studio, Popcorn rolled out the designs in other media such as beermats, invites, goodie bags and press packs.

Free-range Cows:
- SuperMundane
- Popcorn

Sowing the seeds

2005-01-07T14:25:00.000-08:00

To reinforce Hoegaarden's natural properties seed packs were distributed at all sampling events and called on people to partake in some guerrilla gardening. Whether you were walking on your way to work or home from the pub, the packs were designed small enough to fit up your sleeve to subtly plant a few daisies and let nature take back the city.

Grass carpet

2005-01-05T14:25:00.000-08:00

British fashion label Weardowney approached Hoegaarden to set-up a bar for the launch of their new line at their boutique in NW8. The Belgian beer and knitwear fashion range are both known for doing things differently so Cow transformed a room in the boutique by carting in several tons of real grass, and laying an all natural carpet indoors.

The stunt formed part of the 2005 Urban Oasis Project.

Average House

2005-01-02T02:50:00.000-08:00

A stunt that turned 196 pieces of statistics into prime-time TV news. Cow created the most statistically average house in the UK to promote the Expenditure and Food Survey for client, Office for National Statistics. 33 pieces of national TV coverage that included live broadcasts from the house on the hour.

Awards
- Winner of European Sabre Award 2005
- PRCA Gold Award 2005: Best Media Collateral
- PR Week Award 2005: Highly Commended

Cow Africa

2005-01-01T13:44:00.000-08:00

Cow UK - www.cowpr.com
Cow Africa - www.cowafrica.com