Issued by: H-Factor


The duo is turning out creative, brand-driven promos that are more interactive and involved with clients' brands than anyone thought radio promos could be. Standard Bank's 'Get There' current account campaign is the most recent to receive the H-Factor and TMGS treatment.

The campaign centred on the daily production of two publicly staged exhibits of a nature designed to 'challenge the ego', performed by volunteers drawn from 5fm and Metro listeners. The exhibits were then filmed and posted on the website www.get-there.co.za, where the public could view and vote for their favourites. The competition ended on September 8 and yielded a winner from among the performers as well as an overall winner from the voter pool.

The heart of the campaign was however in radio and specifically in the daily featuring of the public exhibits, on 5fm and Metro. Herein lay the genius of H-Factor and TMGS, who were appointed by PR agency Magna Carta and were responsible for the end-to-end production of this multi-dimensional campaign. Among the acts staged in the course of the campaign, were a naked swim in a public fountain and grocery shopping in lingerie at a busy supermarket.

While the airtime is paid for in promos such as this, by providing such high quality, creative and exciting content for radio presenters to interact with, the material becomes part of the programming and presenters invariably find themselves spending more time on it than their sales department budgeted for. A lot more time actually, as evidenced by the campaign produced earlier this year to promote the Castrol Xtreme Auto Show.

The creative demonstrations staged under the Castrol banner so engaged radio presenters that according to campaign commissioner, Ogilvy PR, the straight 1:1 return was nearly 10 times the cost of the campaign, or in PR value, nearly 30 times - using a credibility index of three. Anyway you look at it, that's an incredible return on investment and it's no wonder marketers are beginning to sit up and take note of this new programming technology.

Equally unsurprising is that Ogilvy PR has again commissioned TMGS and H-Factor, to promote the Durban leg of the Castrol Xtreme Auto Show. The team have developed a concept under the name '5fm Presents the Castrol Chicken Run', and without giving the game away, eight volunteer teams will compete in the 'Chicken Run', which started in Cape Town on 18 September and culminates in Durban on 22 September at the opening of the show.

The masterminds behind the changing face of radio marketing are none other than Mark Gillman of TMGS Creative and Andrew Shelly of H-Factor. Gillman's 15 years of experience in radio have given him the expertise needed to create and produce these inspired campaigns, together with Andrew Shelly whose pioneering staging and production work forms the backbone of the campaigns.

Radio promotions as we know them will never be the same again and, given the PR industry's rapid uptake of this new format, we can probably, and happily, conclude that the death knell has been sounded for that most vile of PR tools, the 'live read ad'.


About H-Factor
H-Factor is one of South Africa's foremost event agencies. A powerful combination of production and technical skills, have made the agency the common denominator in some of the greatest successes enjoyed by the local special events industry in the past seven years. H-Factor is owned and managed by skilled producer and stylist Heloise Fourie and production designer and technical guru Andrew Shelly.

About TMGS Creative
TMGS Creative specialises in the creation of innovative programming concepts, production and application. No hi-tech channel has escaped the TMGS treatment and the company's creative content can be heard on radio, seen on TV and experienced on the Web.

Visit our PRESS OFFICE: H-Factor is one of South Africa's foremost event marketing agencies. A powerful combination of production and technical skills, have made H-Factor the common denominator in some of the greatest successes enjoyed by the local special events industry in the past seven years. - more....

[21 Sep 2006 14:04]

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