Brothers for Life – Game of Life Campaign

The Brothers for Life today announces that some of the most famous names in sport have signed up as supporters of Brothers for Life and will form part of the campaigns on-going multifaceted mass media and on the ground efforts.

The sports ambassadors include SA soccer stars Matthew Booth and Teko Modise, SA rugby captain John Smit, SA cricket captain Graeme Smith, Bulls rugby player Tiger Mangweni, and international football superstars Ryan Giggs, Lionel Messi, Mame Biram Diof, Yaya Toure, Thierry Henri, Keita, Rio Ferdinand, Emmanuel Adebayor and Patrice Evra.

The first effort that will feature the campaign ambassadors is the Brothers for Life – Game of Life campaign being launched to coincide with the World Cup period. The messages of this campaign aims to encourage men to become part of a national movement to drink alcohol responsibly, use condoms, keep to one sexual partner; and undergo HIV counselling and testing.

Television advertising will encompass two 15-second commercials, to be flighted on SABC during the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ and during regular SABC programming across all channels. Radio advertisements featuring the campaign ambassadors will feature on community radio stations.

The outdoor media, which includes billboards, building wraps and street signage, will be placed in high-volume transit points such as the airports in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Bloemfontein and at the border crossings with Lesotho and Botswana. Messages will also feature prominently on buildings in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban in areas where visitors and locals alike will move during the World Cup period. Billboards have been placed in geographic areas that have high HIV prevalence, as well as at South Africa’s borders with Botswana and Lesotho. Buses and taxis on key transit routes in most of the provinces will also bear Sports Ambassadors’ images and campaign messages.

A leaflet promoting HIV prevention and a series of seven wall posters, featuring groups of the sports stars and highlighting several of the campaign messages, have been produced and will be distributed as part of the on-the-ground activations taking place in local communities.

Social mobilisation activities will include five-a-side soccer tournaments, door-to-door canvassing, individual workshops, HIV counselling and testing, and non-commercial public viewing areas targeting adult men and out-of-school youth in areas such as Atlantis (Western Cape), Cato Manor, Valley of a Thousand Hills and Bulwer (KwaZulu Natal), Kgalagadi (Northern Cape), Khutsong (Gauteng), Thabong (Free State) and Burgersfort (Limpopo).

In addition, the Sports Ambassadors will go online and use the Brothers for Life website, Brothers for Life Facebook page, the Kick Off football website and the Ruggavibe rugby website to reinforce key messages.

“The overall look and feel is aligned with the Brothers for Life Ambassadors outdoor creative used countrywide so far, with black-and-white photography used in conjunction with striking white and red text,” says Pepe Marais, executive creative director of advertising agency Joe Public.

“However, there is one significant addition to the messaging: some of the Sports Ambassadors’ messaging is prefaced by the statement ‘In the game of life’, which resonates both with the campaign itself and, of course, the forthcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™.”

Says JHHESA country programme director Richard Delate: “The Sports Ambassadors themselves are all household names – and that, coupled with the distinctive Brothers for Life design, the sheer size and scope of the advertising itself and the placement in strategic spots, means that our messages cannot but be seen.

“What is exciting is that unintentionally this campaign takes place against the backdrop of one of the most significant phases in South Africa’s sporting history with rugby going to the townships and the soccer world cup which shows that sport can be a powerful vehicle for social change. This campaign reinforces this bringing together different sporting personalities who are united to prevent new HIV infections and violence against women.”