Edgars, was fast losing touch with their contemporary Afrilennial audience. We had to connect the brand to culture and relook the entire brand from the ground up – where a traditional approach would not suffice.

We partnered with Sho Madjozi, Africa’s fastest rising star and more than 30 African personalities and culture creators to relaunch the brand, and in doing so, create a cultural movement during the African creative and cultural renaissance, through music, film, fashion and lifestyle.

This cultural collaboration created branded films, social content, original music, a fashion collection and a total re-brand and re-design of Edgars.

Edgars is a 90-year-old fashion and beauty department store in South Africa, that had completely lost relevance with a contemporary African audience. In 2018 Edgars was on the brink of closing, putting 140 000 jobs at risk – potentially the largest retail disaster in South African history.

We needed to connect Edgars to culture.

But how do you connect a brand to culture in a country as diverse as South Africa? A country with 11 official languages, that is going through a creative and cultural renaissance.

We created: “DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO”

An original song, musical film, fashion collection, social media campaign that relaunched Edgars and re-connected it to culture.

We partnered with Sho Madjozi – fast rising African star, poet, Qom Rapper, style queen and personality, to be the Edgars brand ambassador, face of the relaunch campaign and creative collaborator.

https://www.instagram.com/shomadjozi/

Further to Sho Madjozi, we partnered with the most diverse group of influencers to play themselves

• Body-positive activist - Siphokasi Veti,

• Tswane Gospel Choir

• African Black Metal Band – Demagog Saturnum

• A transgender activist - Elle Rose

• TV personality and actor, Jonathan Boyton-Lee.

• African hair artist - Nkiwe Dlovu.

• The Swenkas (Zulu Fashion Crew),

• Local Pantsula Dancers

• Popular beauty vlogger - Jessica Van Heerden

• the youngest DJ in the world, DJ Arch Jnr,

• and many more…

We needed to connect to the rising middle class African millennial. Now focused on using fashion to express their unique African identity and no longer derivative of a more western style.

As a brand that stands for “SELF EXPRESSION” we decided to throw out all models - and create the most diverse melting pot of “REAL” people. ‘Creators-with-influence’ who would just be themselves, and style themselves, showing how the brand empowers self-expression. The cast would be integral to the campaign, demonstrating how the brand lives in culture, and using their social media footprint to take our message even further.

• A 3-minute branded ‘African Musical’ film which spearheaded the campaign which featured all of the African influencers – who played themselves in the film.

• An Original song “Don’t Tell Me What to Do” - Written and performed by Sho Madjozi for the campaign and released across mainstream media and platforms.

• Influencer-made content born from the film and designed for social. The content included make-up tutorials, body positive poems, choir performances, personal stories and more – all of them with Edgars merchandise at the core.

• A bespoke fashion collection: The SHO MADJOZI COLLECTION. Designed in collaboration and inspired by traditional African fabrics from her local province – reimagined for a contemporary, Afrilennial audience. The collection was shared on social more than any other Edgars collection and made our message wearable

• We made the all of influencers’ looks shoppable

The campaign created a cultural movement:

• The song took the message deeper into culture with over 65 000 streams on digital platforms

to date.

• A 533% increase in positive brand sentiment.

• An 800% increase in share of voice – from 4% to 36% (as measured against competitors:

Zara, H&M, Woolworths and Mr Price).

• earned media value of $3.8million.

• Over 133million media impressions.

• Over 5000 items from The Sho Madjozi Collection were sold during the campaign launch.

• A PR value of $1million.

The campaign helped an outdated fashion retailer reconnect with its diverse contemporary African audience to become a voice for self-expression.

Edgars had completely lost relevance with a contemporary African audience.

But how do you connect a brand to culture in a country going through a creative and cultural renaissance.

Since the birth of democracy in 1994, South Africa has undergone a radical culture shift. With the rise of a new black middle-class consumer and a bold new African identity, expressed mainly through music, art, and fashion, South Africa has become one of the most expressive places on earth – a bold and unique African identity and no longer derivative of Western style.

With this bold, colourful expressive consumer, is also a challenge. Such a diverse audience of ethnicities, genders, backgrounds and cultures do not want to be patronized, nor left out.

We needed to create the most culturally inclusive campaign possible, that celebrates our diversity and difference, showing how Edgars is a brand that stands for all types of self-expression.