#MARKiesAwards 2021 highlight: Nando's SG fuels election fever with witty trendjacking

In recent years, Nando's has made a name for itself with its cheeky brand image, with notable stabs at spoofs such as poking fun at sugar daddy dating site Sugarbook, mimicking the Malaysian ministerial press conferences, and even taking a jab at other fast food chains' advertisements as part of its marketing strategy. Last year, it spiced things up and made reference to deputy prime minister Heng Swee Keat's viral verbal flub at the 2020 Singapore general elections speech. Done in collaboration with its agency Fishermen Integrated, the bold move earned it the silver award for Most Effective Use of Social Media and a finalist spot for Most Effective Use of Consumer Insight and Market Research at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE's MARKies Awards 2021.

Challenge

In terms of following and marketing budgets, Nando’s Singapore said it is a small player competing with F&B giants such as McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King, and Pizza Hut locally. Therefore, the brand believed that the effort it placed in obtaining more social share-of-voice had to be hyper-focused on its social media platforms.

According to Nando’s, brands have to stay relevant by “keeping their ears perked, eyes open, and constantly be on top of things so they’ll be ever ready to join the conversations happening in the social space.”

When the 2020 Singapore General Elections was around the corner, Nando’s said that the usual "host our own elections" concept would not have stood out during the period due to the elections being shrouded in tension. The brand observed that Singaporeans were worried over the COVID situation and the state of the economy, and also felt uneasy about having the elections immediately post-phase two of the circuit breaker. Thus, Nando’s and its agency Fishermen Integrated wanted to do more than just be part of the conversation. Instead, the brand wanted to be relevant to both its customers and the witty banter it stood for and spark a little positivity into everyone’s lives.

Strategy

The brand’s goals were to join the conversations surrounding the Singapore General Elections 2020, spread joy by spicing things up and increase Nando’s share-of-voice on the social space. 

According to Nando’s, it noticed that political parties were unable to conduct their usual large-scale rallies due to the strict safety measures imposed in response to the pandemic. Social distancing forced their campaigning efforts onto social media.

However, while moving the elections to the social space might act as a double-edged sword for some, Nando’s saw it as the perfect opportunity for it to join in. However, instead of drawing attention away from the elections by hosting its own, it decided to join the elections by forming its own political party. Nando’s explained that it followed the elections as closely as possible by watching every interview, listening to every manifesto and hung onto every minute of the nomination day speech to mimic the campaigning efforts of actual political parties.

Execution

The brand’s “campaigning efforts” included:

1. Creating its own political party by creating a bespoke visual identity and drawing up its own manifesto

2. Conducting its own meet-the-people’s session via the interactive "questions" sticker on Instagram stories 

The brand also followed the elections as closely as possible and was constantly on the lookout for any potential topics it could ride upon to create relevant, tongue-in-cheek content such as:

1. Blank cheque

2. East coast plan

3. Sherwin’s interview

Results

The campaign made waves across social media, earning the brand a feature on various articles about the election. It also made it into mainstream publications such as Bloomberg. According to Nando's, its total reach increased by more than 540% during the campaign, scoring a total of more than 26,000 shares and interactions, which is about a 720% increase from the previous month. Additionally, its engagement rate also rose by 29% as it garnered a significantly positive response through the comments on the various social media platforms such as Reddit, Twitter and Facebook.