The rest of the world has been telling our story for so long (cue bad Hollywood movies), people don’t know much about the real South Africa.

In the tradition of African storytelling, we created a short film; reclaiming our story and telling it from a South African perspective - in the process, giving our potential traveller a real taste of what it would be like to travel our unique country.

We sent our protagonist, Bheki, a humble Mbhaco maker on a journey to find inspiration. uMbhaco is a traditional Xhosa wedding dress, the design of which is inspired by the landscapes, heritage and experiences of the bride-to-be. Just like the diverse landscapes, cultures and experiences of South Africa, no two imibhaco are ever same.

Not only did we tell our story from a South African perspective, we worked with some of the top South African music, fashion and culture creators.

The campaign went live on 5 September 2017, with the film living on YouTube as well as being embedded on our website. A social media campaign, driving people to our full 10 minute short film, across Youtube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter ran until 31 March 2018. This consisted of a 60 second film trailer, canvas and carousel ads and short content pieces extending on some of the unique experiences showcased in the film.

The campaign ran in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Sweden, Portugal and Denmark.

As of April 2018, the 10 minute film had garnered over 1,98 million views, achieving 96% positivity on YouTube. The user retention graph showed that users watched an average of 57% or 5:50 minutes of the 10 minute film, with a total of over 11.5 million minutes watched.

Furthermore, we have seen a 30% increase in traffic to our website and, most importantly, people are expressing a desire to visit our beautiful country to experience it for real.