The start of March saw chicken restaurant Nando’s roll out an integrated campaign with a cameo from in-form Arsenal and England attacker Bukayo Sako to introduce its new ‘This Must Be The Place’ brand platform and its first sonic logo
The campaign, created by agency New Commercial Arts and produced by Stink Films, was amplified across owned social channels, TV, BVOD, cinema, Out-Of-Home and radio, as well as an incentivised consumer-created social strand.
The hero film, which was helmed by Director Jonathan Entwistle (creator of the Netflix show ‘The End Of The F***ing World’), opens with a group of young friends on a bus telling a story about what happened during their visit to Nando’s the previous evening. The narrative arc spans references to spicing and hot wing roulette, eclectic soft drinks mixing and asking whether the chain services nuggets – which makes soccer star Saka spin round in his chair.
The Arsenal player co-stars with additional personalities such as Niko B, Grime Gran and Let’s Munch in a campaign that sets out to celebrate the uniqueness of the Nando’s experience which dropped in the UK from 1 March
Supporting social content then invites and incentivises viewers to send in their own personal favourite Nando’s story via social media using the #ThisMustBeThePlace hashtag for a chance to win £100 to spend in the restaurant.
“I grew up going to Nando’s with friends and family – it’s a place I associate with good times and good food, so it’s been great to be involved in the new campaign,” commented Saka in the campaign PR.
“Nando’s is such a unique place. As a restaurant, it obviously has its own distinct personality, but as a brand, it offers the opportunity to be really playful and cool. I wanted to make sure this energy ran through the film,” explained Director Entwistle. “Layering up the Nando’s stories with the really distinct characters from the creative allowed me to really nail a tone that is so perfectly Nando’s.”
The campaign was created according to a brief from a Nando’s team led by Chief Customer Officer Sarah Warby, Head of Brand Hannah Smith, Head of Brand Communications Sophie Archer, Head of Acquisition and Trading Lewis Kimber, Senior Campaigns Manager Josh Smith, Culture Marketing Lead Victoria Peacock and Brand Lead Henry McMaster.
It was created by a team at agency New Commercial Arts which was led by Chief Creative Officer Ian Heartfield and Artistic Director Nici Hofer, with Creatives Alicia Job and Jess Pacey, Creative Consultant Nabil Abdulrashid, Director of Production and Operations Matt Craigie-Atherton, Senior Producer Lucie Georgeson, Chief Executive Officer James Murphy, Partner/Business Director James Derrick, Senior Account Director Emily Ross, Account Manager Olivia Rose, Chief Strategy Officer David Golding, Planning Partner Matt Walters and Project Director Sylvie Edwards.
The production company was Stink Films with Director Jonathan Entwistle, Producer Lucy Chambers, Executive Producer Jon Chads, plus DoP Justin Brown.
The editing outfit was Work Post (with Editor Mark Edinoff, Edit Assistant Miles Watson and Edit Producer Charlie Dalton), plus post-production was run through Selected Works, audio post by 750mph, sound by Adelphoi Music and media by Zenith Media.
Comment
The spearhead spot is certainly a high-energy, entertainer piece of brand/customer storytelling. It feels like the (presumably well paid) athlete endorser is somewhat underused, so surely there will be more Nando’s Saka content shortly.
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