New Nando’s Ad Turns Up the Heat: A Look Behind the Scenes
Nando’s definitely knows how to bring humour and excitement to advertising. We’re often inundated with stale, cliche ads that seem out of touch with reality, but Nando’s ads tend to be memorable, are more likely to trend and cause some controversy. The fast food franchise recently introduced a new dish to their menu, and lucky for us, this also means a new ad.
Nando’s new dish is a Chicken Prego with chips. It features a thinly sliced and locally sourced chicken fillet basted with the choice of the diner’s PERI-flavour and is topped with grilled onions, served on a toasted garlic-buttered roll.
Getting an early jump on Spring, Nando’s has launched a brand-new Chicken Prego paired with PERi-chips (or plain if that’s your vibe). The Nando’s Prego features a thinly-sliced and locally sourced (and sauced) chicken fillet, basted in your choice of PERi-flavour, topped with grilled onions and served on a toasted garlic-buttered Nando’s roll.
The launch of the new Nando’s Prego TV advert is full of the usual Nando’s humour and edgy observations. As an anti-scamming ad, it implicates organisations and the government for taking South Africans for a ride in cases of corruption. It also makes use of Lloyd Mtombeni and Leo Prinsloo, the famous cash-in-transit guards who expertly handled an ambush of robbers who fired bullets at their van.
We went behind the scenes and spoke to the creative brains and Nando’s brand team to find out what it means to create, produce and manage an iconic Nando’s ad. We also got a sneak peek at some real life South African heroes who cameo in the ad.
Lead Creatives: Megan Naude/Dimitri Leontakianakis
Can you describe this campaign?
Times are tough right now and South Africans are feeling pretty vulnerable and desperate. To add insult to injury, a few organisations, syndicates, individuals and even our government are feeding on that desperation through the promise of prosperity. Through advertising, we’ve positioned Nando’s as a public protector, against the scammers that promise you the world but deliver nothing but disappointment and peril – positioning our Always Affordable meal as something genuinely worth your money, especially when your budget is tight.
What has it been like to work on a Nando’s campaign?
Working on Nando’s is always an amazing opportunity. It’s exciting to work for a brand that puts itself out there and fights to turn South African tension into light-hearted moments that galvanise the people when they’ve had enough.
What is it like working with the Nando’s team in creating this ad?
We always believe that more heads at the table means more viewpoints, insights and diversity of thought. The Nando’s team really has their finger on the pulse of South Africa and it’s wonderful to collaborate with them on their campaigns.
How do you start approaching a creative concept for Nando’s?
Research is the first and foremost thing. It is important that we read the room and come up with ideas that are representative of how South Africans are feeling, which is more and more challenging as the mood and tensions change and shift often. From there, the brainstorming begins – a lot of ideas don’t make it very far but that’s part of the process and helps us identify the big juicy insights.
Director: Jabu Nadia Newmann
How do you approach shooting for Nando’s?
I approached shooting for Nando’s in the same way I would for all my work. I always want to add my own ideas to the scripts, while staying true to the essence of the story. Casting was my first and primary focus, it was important for me to find the right characters to deliver a great performance, with their own charisma and quirks. In both spots we were referencing real people or characters representing a combination of people and events, so bringing them to life (with creative license) was really fun. Each detail was carefully thought out; from dressing the cast and surroundings, to bringing in details through performance and the interactions between characters.
What unique elements make this a Nando’s ad from a production perspective?
Nando’s are known for their communications bravery and I wanted to do due diligence to that. From a production perspective there’s a lot of ground being covered in the dialogue and even more being shown on screen, so it’s a challenge to tell multiple stories in a clear and coherent fashion. But I think we managed to create two commercials with subtext and subtlety as well as being recognisable and instinctively South African. We also took a lot of care when selecting locations to ensure that we had the authenticity we were going for.
Nando’s GM Marketing: Brand Strategy & Communication: Justine Cullinan
How does Nando’s push the envelope but not the buttons of its consumers?
Because we’re often participating in existing conversations of interest, we’re always looking to respond to ongoing current affairs. So we’re often playing back things we’ve already heard, but in a uniquely Nando’s way. When we do this well, we help people navigate their thinking around difficult situations, like scams, and remind them that we can laugh at ourselves and we all have a common good worth striving for. And when we get this balance right, we are often more helpful rather than controversial or provocative
What are the elements of a typical Nando’s ad?
We try to look for unconscious truths that we then use our advertising to make conscious in a humorous way that make South Africans laugh but also leave them with hope. We look to say things that many want said on their behalf and done in a slick, smart and funny South African born and bred tone, paired with a delicious meal which makes your mouth water.
