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 ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
08/10/2026
Modern venues have come a long way since the tinny, echoing audio of the mid 20t...
08/10/2026
ESPN's first Super Bowl production will stream in English and Spanish on Disney+, while the ESPN App carries the full slate of game, ManningCast, studio, an...
08/10/2026
From high-school videoboards to War Eagle Productions, the Opelika native is learning how to lead shows and capture big moments
The future of live sports produ...
08/10/2026
The Television Academy and Prime Video have announced a six-year agreement making Prime Video the exclusive global home of the Emmy Awards beginning with the 20...
08/10/2026
Techex will exhibit at NAB Show New York 2026 (Booth 623, Javits Center, October...
08/10/2026
X Games has announced the appointment of Steve Rogers as Chief Operating Officer. Rogers previously served as COO of World Supercross and spent nearly a decade ...
08/10/2026
Fonn Group has appointed Trevor Spielmann as Sales Director for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Spielmann joins from EVS, where he held sales and business de...
08/10/2026
The flagship program will originate from major PG events with a four-camera production, live distribution across PGTV, social platforms
Perfect Game is bringin...
08/10/2026
Innovation rarely happens in a vacuum. More often, it happens at the point of collision: when worlds that have run on separate tracks begin to converge. That is...
08/10/2026
For decades, the production and broadcast services business has run on a familia...
08/10/2026
Uplynk, Zixi, BroadView Software, and Grass Valley have published The IP Converg...
08/10/2026
The NFL has announced the return of the Big Data Bowl, the league's analytics competition, now in its ninth year and again powered by AWS. Registration is o...
08/10/2026
Eutelsat has renewed its partnership with T l diffusion d'Alg rie (TDA), Algeria's national broadcasting network operator, for continued distribution of...
08/10/2026
Disney will livestream Super Bowl LXI on February 14, 2027, alongside the game's broadcast on ESPN and ABC. All Disney subscribers in the United States wi...
08/10/2026
RHStv and Red House Streaming have announced an expansion of their partnership w...
08/10/2026
Gray Media has announced a distribution agreement with TEGNA and DAZN to simulca...
08/10/2026
SVG readers can save 10% on registration and receive a complimentary Solutions H...
08/10/2026
PROTON Camera Innovations GmbH has been named a recipient of a 2026 Technology a...
08/10/2026
Industry leaders discuss real-world cloud workflows for live game production, pl...
08/10/2026
The next-gen audio technology joins Dolby Vision as part of Apple TV's immersive F1 experience...
08/10/2026
David France, Jesse Short Bull, Mato Wayuhi, N. Bird Runningwater, Jodi Archambau, Jhane Myers, Paul McGuire, Amber Morning Star Byars, Holly Macarro, Nick Tils...
08/10/2026
Dynamic panning plug-ins get an upgrade
Sound Particles have just announced major updates for two of their popular dynamic panning plug-ins. Energy Panner 2...
08/10/2026
New expandable instrument boasts full DMNO engine
UDO Audio have just announced the upcoming release of a new, expandable synth that packs the power of the ...
08/10/2026
Two new subwoofers added to monitoring line-up
ADAM Audio's monitoring range has just been expanded with two new DSP-equipped subwoofers, the Sub8 PRO a...
08/10/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
08/10/2026
Calrec gives broadcasters freedom of choice at NAB Show New York We're looking forward to meeting up with you all at NAB New York on 21st-22nd October.
Cal...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, will showcase its next generation of media orchestration services at NAB S...
08/10/2026
Clear-Com played a critical role in the production communications infrastructure for Rock in Rio 2026, one of the world's largest and most recognized music...
08/10/2026
Sohonet Launches ClearView Rush: A Leap Forward in Studio Review, Built for Crea...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Ikegami announces a major expansion to its range of broadcast-quality live production cameras. Scheduled for introduction on Ikegami booth 708 at NAB New York, ...
08/10/2026
Calrec will be located at Booth 444.
Freedom to choose
The media landscape is evolving quickly, and the broadcasters best placed for what comes next will be...
08/10/2026
LiveU has announced that CRD Audiovisuel relied on LiveUs LU900Q intelligent production unit, with built-in native LiveU IQ (LIQ ) connectivity, to deliver live...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Marshall Electronics, a globally recognized provider of high-performance video solutions for broadcast, streaming, AV and professional production, will exhibit ...
08/10/2026
14-hour package also includes A Remarkable Place to Die season 2 as well as libr...
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. 
