Tradeway Promotions, leaders in the recruiting, training and managing of resources for experiential brand activations, were appointed by Sasol to activate a bursary roadshow for Grade 11 and 12 learners in Sasolburg and Secunda, to promote awareness of the Sasol Bursary Programme and to secure online registrations.

A total of 22 schools were targeted for the road show activation. Prior to the road show, Tradeway liaised with the school management regarding the Bursary Programme and also conducted pre-awareness activities amongst the students informing them of the upcoming Sasol road show activity to be hosted at their school.

The success of our activations hinges on the personal interaction of promoters with brands. We invited promoters to attend casting sessions for the Sasol bursary roadshow," explains Michelle Francis, MD of Tradeway Promotions. Successful promoters were selected by Tradeway and Sasol and then underwent thorough training, which included communication skills, brand training, promotion mechanics and role playing of the planned activation. "In addition to the right team selection, we believe that it is our commitment to intensive training that prepares and equips promoters to execute a successful activation, which meets the client's expectations and objectives," adds Michelle.

The activations were aimed at capturing the attention of the learners in an entertaining way, while communicating the benefits of the Sasol bursary programme and securing active registrations through the provision of onsite access to the Sasol bursary website.

Tradeway Promotions kitted out a branded mobile unit complete with a mobile screen, sound system and generator for the supply of power at schools who did not have access to electricity. The activation incorporated the Sasol bursary messaging through interactive quiz games and fun activities where the learners were awarded with prizes, which encouraged participation, enthusiasm and comprehension. In excess of 6 000 learners were reached during the two week activation, of which over 2 000 learners registered for a Sasol bursary.

"The success of the road show can be measured on various levels," explains Michelle "We applied our expertise in cementing relationships with schools prior to the commencement of the road show, and demonstrated our ability to manage the complexity of the activation on all levels, including supplying the client with ongoing measurement of results with respect to the number of learners who applied for bursaries, which was the key deliverable on the campaign. The core focus was not simply quantity of learners applying for bursaries but also the profile of bursary applicants who would fit the successful candidate profile," says Michelle.

"The road show has proved successful," comments Monica Luwes from Sasol Corporate Graduate Services. "The campaign results exceeded our expectations. In addition, we were pleased that the campaign seems to have inspired Grade 11 learners to work harder to improve their academic scores during 2011. Our hope is that when they get to Grade 12 and can apply for a Sasol bursary their chances of success will have improved, improving the academic caliber of applicants year on year."

Tradeway Promotions are excited to announce the official opening of their Pretoria office, which is based at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Lynnwood Road. Tradeway Promotions, leaders in the recruiting, training and managing of resources for experiential brand activations both in and out of store - with its head office in Johannesburg, made the decision to open an office in Pretoria to both enhance their service offering to clients based in the capital city and to offer an easily accessible base to promoters living in Pretoria, which will also result in the availability of more part time job opportunities in the area.

"The request for our services from Pretoria based clients has been steadily increasing as has the need to include Pretoria in most national promotional client campaigns, and it has now reached the point where the need for a Tradeway Pretoria office has become a necessity," explains Managing Director of Tradeway Promotions, Michelle Francis.

The Pretoria office replicates our Johannesburg offices on a smaller scale with a Tradeway Academy training facility where promoters undergo a series of training sessions in preparation for client activations. "Our promoters from Pretoria are excited that Tradeway has a local permanent base located centrally with ease of access from Pretoria University and other tertiary institution, as many of our promoters are students, with the added benefit that all training is conducted in the same venue," says Michelle.

In addition, the Pretoria office will also be used for promoter castings, which are conducted regularly to update and strengthen the Tradeway Pretoria promoter database.

"We are certainly excited at the prospect of now being in a position to offer our clients a more seamless service offering in the Pretoria region, and guarantee a professional operation that is able to accommodate Pretoria specific campaigns that can draw on a local promoter database, which will ensure effective experiential brand activation campaigns for all our clients," explains Michelle.

Tradeway played a pivotal role in the success of the Castrol Performance Lab, an experiential football nerve centre that immerses guests in the core Castrol brand proposition. Castrol and BP local and international guests were hosted prior to Confederations Cup Matches at six events at the Urban Tree Venue in Kramerville, Sandton, where Tradeway provided well-trained game managers and hostesses to ensure guests fully experienced the high-tech centre. Loudfire executed the construction, installation and finish to the Lab and produced the full food and beverage experiential.

The Castrol Performance Lab

Guests entered the units up to three hours before match kick off, moving freely around the Lab to either watch or participate in a range of challenging football games which enable guests to pit their skills against leading footballers, including Batak, Mindball and Dribble Challenge. Building on the proposition of performance, guests were able to learn and test their own game in a variety of activities throughout the unit.

Our teams were there to make sure that every guest left having had a personal, positive and informed experience,” says Michelle Francis, Managing Director of Tradeway. “With the Lab being a live experience venue, we needed to encourage all guests to take part and experience the technology, understanding the principles of performance and linking this to the Castrol brand. Tradeway staff effectively explained the activities on offer and the science and technology behind them.”

The Tradeway team of promoters at the Castrol Performance Lab

Staff for the coordination of the games was split into two streams - Drivers, tasked with seeking out people who were interested in learning about the experience and its relevance to football and the Castrol brand; and Mechanics, who provided a personal touch to the guest experience by hosting the games and offering demonstrations and encouragement to the guests.

Each activity delivered a core product brand message which related the high performance of Castrol products Edge and Magnatec, linking Castrol's high performance ability to high performance in football. Guests had the opportunity to view Castrol Index technology, which assesses the impact each move has had on a team's ability to score or concede a goal and how that affects their chances of winning the tournament, providing fans with real insights into what it takes to deliver winning performances.

The aim is that each guest who enters the Performance Lab has learnt something new about Castrol - Performance - Football, the core brand proposition, even if they haven't taken part,” says Matt Walker of Avery Walker, consultants to Castrol UK. “The technology on offer was complemented by an enthusiastic team of promoters from Tradeway, which helped define the ultimate guest experience of the Castrol brand. We look forward to delivering more of these effective experiential activations for the FIFA 2010 World Cup.”

Leading experiential company, Tradeway Promotions, has executed one of the most comprehensive consumer beach campaigns for its customer, the Fore Good Group, which is the exclusive distributor and brand custodian for Pringles® in southern Africa.

"The Pringles Beach Festival which stretched from Cape Town to the Garden Route was a major component that contributed to the brand's record brand share and volumes in December 2009," states Jason Frichol, Fore Good's Group Brand Strategist.

Tradeway provided a holistic solution which included all creative elements, production, resources, talent sourcing, procurement in addition to liaising and securing approval with the relevant municipalities. This was the only campaign of this scale and nature stretching from the west to the east coast.

Tradeway's Managing Director, Michelle Francis, says, "This was a highly complex execution which took months of prior planning to deliver a brand engagement extravaganza. Keeping in line with the brand objectives and traits, the main rationale was to interact with consumers and include the brand in the consumer's seasonal mindset."

The Pringles Beach Festival involved activating over ten brand ambassadors at each beach to facilitate interactions with consumers which included treasure hunts, volleyball, sandcastle building, dance offs and other competitions. Brendan Murray was the MC and was complemented by leading professional sand sculptor, Reon Zeff who built elaborate centrepieces as well as judged the consumer's creations in the sand building competitions.

Francis concludes, "The intensity of the experiential activation drove the most important aspects of this initiative which was trial of the 'perfect chip' in addition to sales. We activated registered vendors to sell Pringles on the beach in addition to directing consumers to participating stores where we were conducting complementary in store promotions. This initiative is yet another example of how Tradeway is being recognised as best-in-class when it comes to recruiting, training and managing experiential resources in and out of store."

Tradeway Promotions, leaders in the recruiting, training and managing of resources for experiential brand activations, managed the consumer recruitment element of the highly successful Hansa Pilsener "Legends in the Making" campaign, which through face-to-face interaction saw 2 000 Hansa Pilsener consumers being rewarded with tickets to staged music concerts nationally.

The recruitment activations formed part of the multi-pronged campaign run by South African Breweries Ltd brand, Hansa Pilsener to create hype and awareness around the thirteen "Legends in the Making" music concerts, identifying and rewarding loyal Hansa Pilsener consumers and new users, typically black males 18-34 years in age, with tickets for themselves and two friends to attend the concert in their region.

Tradeway Promotions successfully recruited and trained promoters who formed "Flash Squads" and targeted traditional and non-traditional Hansa Pilsener outlets across South Africa. The "Flash Squads" were tasked with identifying both loyal and potential Hansa Pilsener consumers, engaging with them to increase brand awareness, gathering general information and selecting concert ticket winners.

In addition, the campaign was supported by an online social media facebook page. Promoters handed consumers cards providing details of how to interact directly with the brand via the Hansa Pilsener Legends in the Making Tour facebook page, to increase their chances of securing concert tickets. This provided an additional platform for customers to engage with the brand and more importantly for the brand to engage directly with customers and potential customers on an ongoing basis.

Hansa Pilsener was first introduced into the South African market in 1975 and is brewed with the unique "Kiss of the Saaz Hop", giving the beer a crisp and refreshing taste that has made the brand a favourite amongst South African beer drinkers.

The "Legends in the Making" campaign was based on the premise that SA Music legends including Liquid Deep, Hip Hop Pantsula, Teargas, JR Ntando, Tuks, Kwela Tebza and DJ Deelou who like Hansa Pilsener have a special ingredient that has led to their success.

The campaign outcomes proved very successful for Hansa Pilsener as promoters engaged with close on 20 000 consumers, issuing over 5 000 sets of tickets and recording around 15 000 Hansa Pilsener sales nationally over the three month activation time frame.

"The success of the Hansa Pilsener 'Legends in the Making' campaign can be measured on various levels," explains Michelle Francis, CEO of Tradeway Promotions. "We applied our expertise establishing a face for the brand through consumer engagement, and demonstrated our ability to manage the complexity of the activation on all levels, including supplying the client with ongoing measurement of results with respect to the number of Hansa Pilsener consumer interactions, concert tickets issued and product sales figures, which were the key deliverable of the campaign," says Michelle.

"My involvement with Tradeway Promotions has been a very rewarding and gratifying experience. They provided a seamless and professional service, ensuring that the objectives of the promotional campaign for the Hansa Pilsener Legends in the Making Tour were achieved beyond my expectations. The entire campaign has been a phenomenal success and I appreciate Tradeway Promotions support and commitment to the campaign from beginning to end," commented Guy Shand, Hansa Pilsener Brand Manager.