Inside the Ogilvy South Africa campaign that helped feed 20 million people
Castle Lager is South Africa’s largest beer brand. It sponsors the national sports teams, outsells every competitor, and is brewed using homegrown ingredients. Over the last six years, Ogilvy South Africa has been helping them turn their spent grain into a nutritious bread which, since 2022, has been distributed for free to the country’s poor.
Building this project meant a departure for the office: creative directors, used to making TV spots, began consulting with nutritionists and bakers. Instead of just designing a logo that could be used on a truck, they were dealing with logistics companies. This was done in conjunction with the bread and butter of an ad agency: producing graphics for the packaging as well as creative comms work.
“Building this project meant a departure for the office: creative directors, used to making TV spots, began consulting with nutritionists and bakers.”
It also meant thinking on an almost governmental scale to help the 55% of South Africans that live in poverty, and the more than 20 million who go hungry every day. In 2022, in partnership with non-profit organisation SA Harvest, Castle Lager and Ogilvy South Africa delivered over 20 million meals. “Those stats really meant something to me,” says Ogilvy South Africa Creative Director Sibs Zihle. “I know a lot of people that are struggling for work. So this idea actually really hit home for me, and was a huge drive to make it happen.”
This wasn’t just a humanitarian success: in terms of the bottom line for Castle Lager, brand affinity rose 21% and sales by 6.4%. For this, and its contribution to reducing waste, the campaign was awarded a Wood Pencil in the Creative Transformation category.
“It's very important to have relationships with different organisations, in fields that are not even related to yours,” says Zihle. “Because, at the end of the day, advertising can take any sort of shape or form. One day you make a TV ad, and the next day you're making bread.”