Melon Mobile launches 14-Day Free Trial with a cheeky billboard takeover that has the country buzzing. 

In a move that left the country reeling in surprise, Melon Mobile, South Africa’s first truly digital telco, launched a groundbreaking tactical campaign targeting some of South Africa’s most loved brands. However, this was just the start of what is now being called one of the cheekiest campaigns the country has seen in a long time. 

Brands such as Faffies, Veldskoen, Lift, Expresso, and even our beloved Rassie woke up on Friday, 16 August, to the unexpected news that their advertising billboards had been ‘taken over’. The question on everyone’s lips was not by who, the bold brand responsible was Melon Mobile, but rather why. On closer inspection of the messaging, it became quite clear that Melon had something to shout about – their 14-Day Free Trial available to all South Africans offering unlimited calls and 5GB of data. 

“We had an incredible statement to make”, says Calvin Collett, Founder and CEO of Melon Mobile. “We built this network specifically to disrupt in a mobile space where not enough has changed over the last thirty years, particularly in the way value propositions are put together for the customer. We knew there was something big there, so instead of simply telling people about the benefits of breaking free from their current networks to experience the Melon Mobile difference, we wanted to rather go out and give 61 million people the chance to actually put us to the test. What better way to do that than to give a bold shout-out to some big brands, on their own billboards nonetheless, to try us out.” 

Nicola Van Ast, Melon Mobile’s Chief Marketing Officer, elaborates: “So many networks talk to the facts that they have the best coverage, the best deals, the best service, but when it comes to the crunch, people are left disappointed, leading to a growing erosion of trust in mobile providers in particular. We believe that people should try us before we can expect them to trust us. By challenging people to put our flexibility, prices and world-class services to the test in such an unexpected way, we’re putting them in the driving seat, which we think they appreciate. They get to test us for two weeks and can then decide for themselves if Melon is a brand they can trust and want to stick with for the long term.” 

Can we please have our billboards back? 

In terms of the brands who fell ‘victim’ to Melon’s billboard takeover, Lift Brand Manager, Haydn Henning, was left wondering “what in the Melon”. He continues: “We are so proud of our Lift billboards, so you can imagine my shock when a friend tweeted me to tell me what he had seen. While I couldn’t believe my eyes, I also couldn’t help thinking how bold the campaign is. We all want to target the entire country as South African brands. Also, I really love the unexpected brand alignment. Lift is young, fun, cheeky, and, of course, flexible and customer-centric, very much the same as Melon.” 

“What a beautiful piece of disruption”, adds Nick Dreyer, Co-Founder of Veldskoen. “It’s like someone just walked up to our billboard and stuck a post-it over it. As a brand, you’re so focused on what you’re selling, and a move like this that changes the conversation completely is what I find most fascinating about this campaign. Don’t get me wrong, it was a massive surprise. But if you think about it, how cheeky, how South African, how fun. I love that we live in a country where something like this can happen. It’s something the Veldskoen brand celebrates.” 

Not even South Africa’s favourite number 9, Faf de Klerk, was spared by the cheeky Melons. Their request to ‘let’s hang out’ across the Faffies billboard had Faf calling fair play. “As someone who always tries to do unexpected things, I wish we had thought of this idea for Faffies. I think their 14-Day Trial is awesome, the way they’ve started conversations about it is great, and overall, I’m happy to hang out with Melon any time.” 

The bold takeover also resulted in Melon Mobile being invited as guests on South Africa’s feel-good breakfast show, Expresso, even though they had unleashed Melon mayhem on the morning show’s billboard, too. This left show host Graeme Richards begging the brand to “please give us our billboard back!” 

As the dust settles, Melon will continue with the campaign by targeting other famous South Africans, launching competitions, building brand partnerships and launching an engaging influencer campaign.  

A new era of mobile 

Hailed as the new era of mobile, the benefits of switching to Melon Mobile are compelling. “We have complete coverage across the country, so users won’t need to worry about dropped calls. There are no contracts, which gives complete flexibility month to month, which is novel for South Africa. Users also have the ability to change their plans on a monthly basis, as they need to quickly and conveniently via the app. These are the kinds of things we are asking the country to test,” explains Collett. 

Van Ast adds that there is method behind the Melon madness. “We genuinely want consumers to trial us, test us, and then tell us what they want. We are asking South Africa to participate in the building of this mobile brand”, she concludes. 

To find out more about Melon Mobile’s FREE 14-Day Trial visit https://www.melonmobile.co.za/