New Vodacom ad celebrates nation-building through digital education

In a significant move to showcase the social purpose of its business, Vodacom has launched a heartwarming television commercial emphasising the organisation’s commitment to building South Africa through digital education.

The commercial features a grandmother telling her new granddaughter of the wonders life can deliver – and how new digital tools make them even better. The film shows digital access helping the granddaughter to learn and connect with others in a movement for digital education.

Abey Mokgwatsane, Managing Executive, Vodacom Brand and Communications, said he was excited at how the advertisement emphasised Vodacom’s social activism, long a fundamental part of its involvement in South African society.

“Purpose is the best thing that’s happened for brands since the 4P’s, because it puts what you want to say at the source of everything the company does,” he said. “After 25 years being part of South Africa’s development, we are showing what can drive the next 25 years of development for our people.”

“Vodacom wants to inspire people, and we’re able to do that by connecting them to online education. The future is exciting!”

Now in its 25th year, Vodacom has consistently invested in digital education.

• The company’s Vodacom Foundation has donated more than R1.2 billion to various education and gender-empowerment programmes through corporate partnerships.
• With the Department of Basic Education (DBE), Vodacom has connected 3 100 schools to the internet and established 12 schools of excellence, with fully fitted computer centres and upgraded infrastructure.
• Vodacom has enabled more than 250 000 teachers to be trained in information and communications technology (ICT), maths, science, leadership and other fields, by equipping 92 of the Department of Basic Education’s District Teacher Development Centres with ICT resources and internet connectivity.
• Vodacom e-school was introduced in 2014 to provide free internet access to quality relevant, digital education content for teachers, learners and parents. The platform has more than 678 308 registered learners, and 27 000 active users, who visit the portal at least once a week.

“Our brief was to showcase the role of digital education in an exciting future South Africa,” said Ogilvy Executive Creative Director Matthew Barnes. “That has always been a Vodacom focus, but this was our first chance to emphasise that with a powerful, inspiring piece of work.

“The challenge was to create communication that captured the current reality, but would also inspire future activism around digital education,” said Barnes.

The end title of the new Vodacom TVC emphasises Vodacom’s achievements in digital education and reinforces that “Together, we can do more”, in line with Vodacom’s commitment to making educational tools and content available to more South Africans every year.