ORCHIDS AND ONIONS

Normally, I’d wonder whether a company which goes to shoot a South African commercial on location in Iceland has more money than common sense.

There are very few similarities between the two countries, either in the physical nature of them and their climate or the way they are governed.

And, on top of that, South Africans, in general, are pretty ignorant about their own country, never mind the land of Fire and Ice, which only seems to pop onto the international news radar when one of its active volcanoes spews ash into the air and brings a halt to flights all over Europe.

So, I should really have been annoyed with the latest Chicken Licken ad, which was shot in Iceland, and although SA ad agency Joe Public did used Icelandic actors and crew, it still would not have been cheap.

But perhaps because it is so different, it does stand out from the same-old, same-old of a lot of fast food advertising. And, if your brand is standing out amid the clutter, then you got your foot in the door, so to speak, of a customer’s mind.

Its a wacky premise: a boy in the village of Vík í Mýrdal starts showing odd behaviour from an early age, behaviour which is totally out of place in that country. He starts saying things like “Frikkie!”, converting a football over the goals, rugby-style, braaing fish on a beach and even telling dogs to voetsek when he walks past them.

Sounds familiar? To us, yes – but not to his befuddled family, who call in a shrink to help. He decides the boy is reliving memories from a previous life.

Then one day a stranger shows up at the door bringing a box of Chicken Licken’s new Double Chick’n Boerie Burger … and there are smiles all around.

The tag line reminds us that the fast food brand is “for those truly South African at heart”.

It’s quirky and different and perhaps a sign of a different marketing direction by Chicken Licken, since the death of its founder, George Sombonos. Joe Public is the new ad agency on the account and this looks like a sign of good things to come.

And, by going big rather than going home, Chicken Licken also shows a brand which is confident in itself.

So Orchids to all involved.