McCann1886 is successfully applying the lessons it learnt during last years hard lockdown to the work it is doing for clients across the board. Last year, the approach adopted by the agency during the COVID-19 lockdown allowed it to develop work that proved so in-sync with Steers mostly metropolitan male 18-to-34-year-old target market that it performed beyond expectation.
Now, some nine months later, the agency is applying the approach and lessons it learnt during the various lockdown phases to the 60-year-old fast-food burger restaurant chains latest campaign.
McCann1886 Chief Creative Officer, Stuart Stobbs, explained that, when 2020 didnt quite go according to anyones plan, they turned to the McCann global mantra - Creativity is the Only Way to Survive - for inspiration and to redefine the agency.
This approach had three key drivers - Agility, Making and Fun.
Admittedly Agility was an obvious driver to apply to how we worked, how we built insights, how we created, collaborated and thought. The agency wanted faster outputs, but without impacting on quality, he said.
Making was all about taking ideas to finish, and upskilling staff with the knowhow to do so. Here, we reckoned, the more we could do, the better we could help clients. And Fun? Well, what would be the point of all that work without Fun, he said. Also, facing a pandemic is mentally draining, and having some fun while you work, well thats the perfect antidote or dare I say, vaccine?
The agency initially put these drivers to work for Steers when it was preparing to re-open after being in a forced shut-down for three months. The need was for an immediate and significant upturn in revenue.
Our first campaign - the Mix It Up Sharing Meal campaign - combined old ads with new footage to create six pieces of fresh and engaging content that talked to the situation we were all in and reminded consumers of the power of sharing, said Creative Director, Mthokozizi Zi Sithole.
And, knowing time was everything, we followed up swiftly with a full social roll-out ... and then proceeded to launch TVCs for the Shake It Up Sharing Meal and the Cheese Boy Sharing Meal. Agility and Making indeed worked hand-in-hand to help us keep delivering for Steers in record time.
Sithole also praised the client for their support: None of this would be possible without a solid relationship with a client who is just as agile as we were. And it turns out that, if you work together, creativity not only lets you survive a pandemic, but thrive in one too, he said.
The new executions were created for the Phanda Ribster Burger Meal by Executive Creative Director Tumi Sethebe, Creative Director Zi Sithole and Art Director Chan Ma after they were briefed to show what it really means to be phanda in South Africa while leveraging of the amazing Steers value offer.
You can view the new TVCs, which launched last week (January 12) here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KndUnzzZSRI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pyEAKjRzRA&feature=youtu.be
Phanda means hustle and, in a South African context today, that translates into an ambition or hunger to turn your side-hustle into a major success, explained Sethebe. Steers has tapped into the ethos of phanda and phandapreneurs in the recent past, supporting their endeavours with competitions to win a little seed money and opportunities to build awareness for their side-hustles.
This new campaign acknowledges that, every now and then, phandapreneurs lose their hunger for success, because they are tired or physically taxed - maybe hungry - but just dont realise it. So, our TVCs show how the Steers Phanda Ribster Meal helps them regain their phanda by giving the fuel to re-ignite it.
For our digital and social content, we spoke to real phandapreneurs, some of whom have been with Steers for a while. We interviewed them about how to cope with those moments when you feel like giving up and how Steers helps fuel their phanda, he said.
The TVCs and content was shot by Team Best and directed by Asher Stoltz, Bryan van Niekerk and Sifiso Khoza; post-production was by Mushroom Media.
ends
Credits:
Client: Steers
Campaign: Phanda Ribster Burger Meal
Steers Marketing Executive: Jeswin Leckram
Steers Marketing Manager: Tammy Ho
Steers Brand Manager: Kutloano Dingaan
Creative agency: McCann1886
Account Director: Thomas Countee
Executive creative director: Tumi Sethebe
Creative Director: Zi Sithole
Copywriter: Zi Sithole
Art director: Chan Ma
Strategist: Amy Harper
TV Producer: Caron Sandler
Production house: Team Best
Director: Asher Stoltz, Bryan van Niekerk and Sifiso Khoza
Post-production: Mushroom Media
Commercials
South Africa
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
15/06/2026
Detach from Direct-Attached: How Remote Editing with EVO Keeps Creative Teams Mo...
14/06/2026
Library captures 1960s R&B/pop drum sound
Following on from their recent wave of plug-in effects, Iconic Instruments have just launched an all-new virtual d...
14/06/2026
HBO Comedy Rooster Shot with URSA Cine 17K 65
Brie Clayton June 14, 2026
0 Comments
Large format brings viewers intimately close to characters.
Black...
13/06/2026
Latest expansion pack includes 252 presets
Devious Machines have recently introduced another expansion for their powerful multi-effects plug-in, Infiltrator...
13/06/2026
Create custom DAW/plug-in controllers using prompts
MetaGrid have recently introduced an all-new AI Builder function to their touchscreen-based control surf...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production, Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it has given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what o...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
McCann1886 is successfully applying the lessons it learnt during last years hard lockdown to the work it is doing for clients across the board. Last year, the approach adopted by the agency during the COVID-19 lockdown allowed it to develop work that proved so in-sync with Steers mostly metropolitan male 18-to-34-year-old target market that it performed beyond expectation. 
