Ricoh SA has launched a new advertising campaign based around rhino poaching and preservation and its on-going corporate social responsibility programme.
The campaign embraces a highly emotional topic for many South Africans as it imagines a world where rhinos roam freely and aplenty across the African landscape, associating Ricoh’s dedication to innovation and sustainability through collective imagination, reflected in the brand tagline: ‘imagine.change’.
Esti Kilian, head of marketing services at Ricoh SA said, ‘We’ve been sponsoring rhino relocation for anti-poaching reasons, as well as elephant research, at Veterinary Wildlife Services in South Africa for many years already. This campaign was a natural choice for us as it is pertinent to our long-standing CSR activities and associates our brand with positive aspects of society.’
The creative concept is the brainchild of Kevin Kleynhans, executive creative director at The Mouse That Roared (TMTR), who said, ‘Following on the heels of the highly successful Helen and Juju advertising campaign, Ricoh have chosen another if not as controversial at least highly emotional subject: rhinos.
‘As a proud supporter and sponsor of Veterinary Wildlife Services, the people who amongst other things coordinate research of wildlife disease, implement wildlife capture and translocation into safer areas, Ricoh wanted to make a statement about the plight of these magnificent, highly endangered animals.
‘Naturally with a subject such as this, it would be easy to concentrate on the negative aspect of poaching, de-horning and so on. But at Ricoh, because our positioning line is ‘imagine.change’, we decided to ask people to imagine a scenario where rhinos were allowed to roam freely and safely, without fear of slaughter and persecution.
‘We have therefore created billboards and print ads with hundreds of Rhinos on a plain, and a radio spot where two people are watching the migration from a hot air balloon, not of Wildebeest, but of rhinos.’
