On Tuesday, August 8th, he social media streets were buzzing over a billboard with an apparent spelling error. The billboard in question was at O.R. Tambo International Airport. It had the words, “Go Springbox. Love Eskort” prominently displayed in big bold letters. This caught the eye of some very astute observers who shared pictures and videos of the billboard, accusing Eskort of spelling the name of the national rugby team incorrectly.
News spread fast and soon speculation was rife. Many assumed it was an honest mistake, some thought it was intentional, and a few guessed that it was the beginning of a campaign with a big revelation coming.
Well, that cat is out of the bag, or should we say the piggie is out of the box. The billboard was part of a campaign by Eskort to launch a new cooler box for Spring, aptly named the Springbox, a cooler box specially made for carrying Eskort braai meat.
“Spring signifies the return of the braai season, and we wanted to create something special for braai lovers across South Africa. So, we came up with the Springbox.” says Marcelle Pienaar, Group Marketing Manager, Eskort.
“We wanted to launch it in a way that captures people’s imaginations and gets them talking, and that is how we came up with the idea for the billboard.”
The Eskort marketing team mobilised a Twitter/X army and some carefully selected influencers to ensure that the billboard became a trending topic. It worked, and for one whole week #Springbox trended, gaining massive exposure across many media platforms and gaining widespread attention for Eskort.
Eskort then revealed that it was all a cleverly planned ruse, by updating the billboard, and releasing a series of online ads, and content from the same influencers it used before.
“Now that the ruse is over, we want people to know what the Springbox is. We want all the braai lovers out there to get themselves one, so they can show it off to their friends the next time they have a braai—maybe even over a game of rugby.” Marcelle concludes.
The Eskort Springbox will be exclusively available at Eskort stores this Spring. You can visit Eskort.com to locate a store near you. If you don’t have a store near you, you can follow Eskort online @EskortFood as they will be running some giveaways of the Springbox.
Go #Springbox!
