Cross Colours and Nando’s serve up the satire

Cross Colours and Nando’s have generated many giggles with their characteristically cheeky ‘I ate there’ campaign. In a direct spoof of the ‘I was there’ radio spot for 2010, the Nando’s campaign takes the mundane scenarios that happen every day in-store and make Nando’s out to be ‘the hero.’

“The Nando’s philosophy is to ‘take a stand against bland’,” explains Jacques Shalom, copywriter at Cross Colours. “So by creating a parody from a rather generic 2010 radio campaign, we are putting that philosophy into practice by adding some spunk and spice into the mix.”

The Nando’s radio spot features a diverse group of South Africans reminiscing about their various ‘life changing’ moments in a Nando’s store, all against background music that is sneakily similar to the 2010 campaign. “I remember a time when heroes sat around my table…” says the first Nando’s fan. “A time when the flames grilled a hundred thousand chickens…”

The ‘I ate there’ campaign has indeed garnered a reaction, with numerous blogs and Facebook pages singing its praises and people downloading the ad off the Internet. In addition, the campaign was featured as the ‘Hero of the Week’ on Radio 702’s Andy Rice show.

“We had great fun working on this campaign,” says Shalom. “When you combine the challenge of taking on such a mammoth event with the satiric, cheeky Nando’s platform, you know you’re going to have an interesting outcome.”