‘Light’-hearted new Sol campaign aims to show a new lens through which to view the world

Sol Beer, together with its partner agency, RAPT Creative, has conceptualised a new digital campaign – Sunny Side Up – that offers consumers an ‘upside’ to look forward to, even in trying times.

The campaign consists of a video content series featuring influencers who are known for their optimism and enthusiasm on their various social media platforms. These are not any usual influencers; they live life 100% sunny-side up. Their followers value their perspectives and humour.

“When we embarked on this journey, we quickly realised that if we really wanted to compete as a key player in the market, we needed to determine what makes us different,” said Sol Brand Manager, Warrick Wyngaard.

Featuring some of South Africa’s celebrated content curators and actors as the campaign faces – Lindah Lindah Majola, Farieda Metsileng and Mandi Mansnothot – Sunny Side Up creates a lens from which to view the world and challenges differently.

“What makes the Sunny Side Up campaign particularly relevant to our audience is that it plays on the fact that South Africans, even when faced with tough times, never take themselves too seriously. As we say – ‘tough times never last, only tough people’ and Sol wanted to turn the frowns upside down and encourage our consumers to dig deep to find resilience. We all have an optimist within us,” added Wyngaard.

The influencers feature in a series of four short format introduction films followed by longer format videos that demonstrate the optimistic lens through which they view the situation they find themselves in. Using OTT theatrical gimmicks and humour, the series aims to add some light-hearted fun and encourages the viewers on social channels to find the fun and opportunity in every situation.

“While the brand does not aim to make light of difficult situations faced by the country, it does aim to inspire those watching to adopt a positive outlook on life,” stressed Wyngaard.

“Life is all about perspective, the inner optimist. Often, it’s the softest voice that needs to be amplified. Especially right now and especially right here,” he concluded.

Speaking about the creative process adopted by RAPT Creative and its partner film agency, Spitfire, Film Director Katlego Baaitse, said it was rare for an agency to say they want to do something different and to truly follow through.

“When I was approached to be part of such an exciting, different project, my spider senses started tingling. And doing campaigns that the South African audiences are not used to seeing definitely gives you a mix of excitement and nervousness,” he said.

“It was clear from the creative brief that this had to be a curated and art department-heavy. It needed to be graphically-arresting and eye-catching, and the performances had to match the energy of the space. All this goes against the current ‘dark and moody’ look in the current echo chamber/advertising zeitgeist,” Baaitse added.

The agency was inspired by themes in popular culture for the wardrobe, which was designed and crafted meticulously by Melisa Maxted-Henderson and her team. Wes Anderson led the traditional film techniques in camera language and the team built several sets that had colour and personality.

“There were several challenges along the way including set moves that needed to feel like the same space, and creating as many in camera effects in camera as possible to mitigate challenges in post-production.

“All this, and the talent had to sing in harmony with the various elements on the day. It was inspiring to work alongside the creatives at RAPT Creative – they really pushed to create work that is really out there. And it’s an honour for myself and the Spitfire team to be a part of #TastingtheSun. This is a really different and exciting project and I can’t wait for South Africans to Taste the Sun with Sol,” concluded Baaitse.