Home - Retroviral

INTRO

Retroviral has made more brands ‘go viral’, globally than any other agency in Africa. Strategy, Content Creation, Dissemination, and Reporting is how we execute our craft while supporting our partners’ business objectives. Virality for us is integrating eyeballs with sales.

INTRO

Retroviral has made more brands ‘go viral’, globally than any other agency in Africa. Strategy, Content Creation, Dissemination, and Reporting is how we execute our craft while supporting our partners’ business objectives. Virality for us is integrating eyeballs with sales.

what we do

create

We develop online communication strategies and partner with brands to create remarkable content. Social media content and community engagement is our bread and butter while guerilla-esque stunts, video, seeding, paid media and influencer marketing combine to put your brand on the tip of your target market’s tongue.

what we do

share

It’s critical that your customers are consciously exposed to your campaigns and messages. Word of mouth is the ideal tactic to spread this information, and websites / news sites, social media, blogs, and influencers are a few of the vehicles that we leverage to assist in the dissemination of your messages.

what we do

listen

It’s imperative to monitor what individuals and organisations are saying about your brand while keeping an eye on your competitors. We analyse public data and convert it into palatable market research to ensure we harness the key insights for the benefit of your brand; achieve smarter results, faster.

what we do

create

We develop online communication strategies and partner with brands to create remarkable content. Social media content and community engagement is our bread and butter while guerilla-esque stunts, video, seeding, paid media and influencer marketing combine to put your brand on the tip of your target market’s tongue

what we do

share

It’s critical that your customers are consciously exposed to your campaigns and messages. Word of mouth is the ideal tactic to spread this information, and websites / news sites, social media, blogs, and influencers are a few of the vehicles that we leverage to assist in the dissemination of your messages.

what we do

listen

It’s imperative to monitor what individuals and organisations are saying about your brand while keeping an eye on your competitors. We analyse public data and convert it into palatable market research to ensure we harness the key insights for the benefit of your brand; achieve smarter results, faster.

our work

Kreepy Krauly

#MyKreepyTeacher

#MyKreepyTeacher was Kreepy Krauly's most successful digital marketing campaign in the brand’s history, and its most ‘viral’ campaign. The campaign was a branded content, news hijacking tactic - supported by traditional and digital PR methods - that 702 called ‘an astonishing piece of creative! The timing is perfect. It shows enormous courage.’
The campaign is one of the most successful PR campaigns as it was collectively viewed by two billion people, globally, and made a direct impact on Kreepy Krauly sales, in the midst of a pandemic - a 20 per cent increase year on year.

1st for women

My Body (Stand Up)

Since 2005, 1st for Women’s contributed over R81m to fighting women abuse. 90,000 victims have been assisted by the brand. We were briefed to develop a campaign to enhance awareness around the brand’s commitment to the fight against GBV and created an industry first; a three minute, top 40 track - My Body (Stand Up) with more than 500 radio plays (25 hours) across 27 SA stations, with 12,300 unique streams. We generated R4.25m worth of coverage, reached more than 25m South Africans and achieved a 50 per cent increase (50,000+ unique visitors) in traffic (YOY) to 1st for Women’s website.

Gumtree

#PreLoved Love Songs

How do you inspire South Africans to list unwanted household items on Gumtree when they are preoccupied with a pandemic? You collaborate with one of South Africa’s favourite comedians, David Goliath, violinst Davina Gordon and musician Majozi to produce a digital EP of 6 rich, mixed media ‘Pre-loved’ Love Songs.
We set out to entertain audiences, educate them about Gumtree and encourage them to list their goods. The #PreLoved songs were the perfect anecdote to lockdown blues, combining fun and entertaining with the inspiration to list #PreLoved items.
During the 6-week campaign we earned more than 1.9 million views and a 20% increase in item listings (YOY) during the campaign – and we reminded South Africa that #PreLoved is best.

YOUR HOME
FAVOURITES JUST
HEALTHIER

We asked people to taste South African foods prepared oil free in the new Russell Hobbs Purifry Max. With 5.2 million impressions, 3,600 UCOOK collaboration box orders and all Yuppiechef units sold out in a month, it quickly became one of the top selling products in the cooking category for Russell Hobbs.

SURVIVOR

OUTWIT, OUTPLAY,
OUTDOOR

This is how we created the most successful sign up drive for Survivor SA contestants to date. A wild card entry with a classic Survivor twist.

TROLL LEVEL
EXPERT

This is the true story of a quick-witted Tweet that hijacked a chilli cheese fries conversation and our competitor’s entire SEO strategy for their ‘new’ product. One Tweet, One million people reached.

RUSSELL HOBBS

ALL DAY. EVERY DAY.

Appliances are visual whitenoise. They are ubiquitous, yet we couldn't exist without them. As South Africans, we take them for granted ... until loadshedding that is, when we can't boil water for our beloved Rooibos or even toast a piece of bread. How do we take ownership of such a cluttered category, in order to elevate the Russell Hobbs brand and to communicate the breadth of our offering?

ROCOMAMAS

RocoMamas speaks to an audience of nearly half a million people per day. Normal brands do loyalty programmes... Not Normal brands create cult movements. This is #Rocolove

SMASHING SOCIAL

ROCOMAMAS

The idea that leveraged the US Election and won us our relationship with South Africa’s most Instagrammed burger.
Vote with your thumbs. RocoMamas offered its customers three Limited Edition burger candidates to choose from. South Africans could make their mark - digitally - in the biggest election of the year by snapping their chosen Election Burger and posting it to Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #ElectionBurger, and tagging #TheDonald, #TheHillBill or #TheJoker.

ELECTION BURGER

#5GumExperience

When 5Gum South Africa brought Two Door Cinema Club to the country, we suggested a ‘brand before band’ communication approach to ensure that the brand received maximum benefit of being associated with the band. 5Gum was new to South African consumers and it needed a digital media campaign with maximum online word of mouth spread.

WRIGLEY

KREEPY KRAULY

WRANGLER

In 2013, we proactively pitched the use of online video content to the Kreepy Krauly brand, encouraging our client to enter the digital space for the first time. Brands new to the online world generally produce ‘safe’ content and run the risk of fading into the obscurity of online noise.
We leveraged a key insight about the humble Kreepy Krauly to emotionally connect with buyers and consumers alike

CASTLE LAGER

When tasked with the brief to encourage Castle Lager fans to download the BraaiNation App, we opted for a spoof video campaign of the ‘stereotypical Apple iPhone launch video’. Jason Goliath was our B.R.O (Braai Relationship Officer) hero, the video went viral, was viewed by 100,000 people and ultimately drove 30,000 downloads. Not bad for a project on a budget and a target of 10,000 downloads

BRAAIPHONE

DOUWE EGBERTS

When we are tired, we yawn. What if there was a vending machine that could use facial recognition software to deliver you a coffee, based on your yawn.
We didn’t build it but we seeded this idea, globally. The video received more than 450,000 views in less than one month while 10s of thousands of mentions were tracked on Twitter and Facebook.

BYE BYE RED EYE

Kreepy Krauly

#MyKreepyTeacher

#MyKreepyTeacher was Kreepy Krauly's most successful digital marketing campaign in the brand’s history, and its most ‘viral’ campaign. The campaign was a branded content, news hijacking tactic - supported by traditional and digital PR methods - that 702 called ‘an astonishing piece of creative!
The timing is perfect. It shows enormous courage.’
The campaign is one of the most successful PR campaigns as it was collectively viewed by two billion people, globally, and made a direct impact on Kreepy Krauly sales, in the midst of a pandemic - a 20 per cent increase year on year.

1st for Women

My Body (Stand Up)

Since 2005, 1st for Women’s contributed over R81m to fighting women abuse. 90,000 victims have been assisted by the brand. We were briefed to develop a campaign to enhance awareness around the brand’s commitment to the fight against GBV and created an industry first; a three minute, top 40 track - My Body (Stand Up) with more than 500 radio plays (25 hours) across 27 SA stations, with 12,300 unique streams. We generated R4.25m worth of coverage, reached more than 25m South Africans and achieved a 50 per cent increase (50,000+ unique visitors) in traffic (YOY) to 1st for Women’s website.

Gumtree

#PreLoved Love Songs

How do you inspire South Africans to list unwanted household items on Gumtree when they are preoccupied with a pandemic? You collaborate with one of South Africa’s favourite comedians, David Goliath, violinst Davina Gordon and musician Majozi to produce a digital EP of 6 rich, mixed media
‘Pre-loved’ Love Songs.
We set out to entertain audiences, educate them about Gumtree and encourage them to list their goods. The #PreLoved songs were the perfect anecdote to lockdown blues, combining fun and entertaining with the inspiration to list
#PreLoved items.
During the 6-week campaign we earned more than 1.9 million views and a 20% increase in item listings (YOY) during the campaign – and we reminded South Africa that #PreLoved is best.

Rocomamas

#EatingIsBelieving

Advertising lies! Is what you see really what you get?
Cheese in a sausage, crust in a crust. This isn't food, it's a farce. We should be furious!!!!!! We're doing it for the gram - hashtag #NoFilter. We bring the mastery back into fast food! Our favourite F-bomb is F-R-E-S-H - from farm to your FACE! RocoMamas, We’re Not Normal.

YOUR HOME
FAVOURITES JUST
HEALTHIER

We asked people to taste South African foods prepared oil free in the new Russell Hobbs Purifry Max. With 5.2 million impressions, 3,600 UCOOK collaboration box orders and all Yuppiechef units sold out in a month, it quickly became one of the top selling products in the cooking category for Russell Hobbs.

SURVIVOR

OUTWIT, OUTPLAY,
OUTDOOR

This is how we created the most successful sign up drive for Survivor SA contestants to date. A wild card entry with a classic Survivor twist.

TROLL LEVEL EXPERT

This is the true story of a quick-witted Tweet that hijacked a chilli cheese fries conversation and our competitor’s entire SEO strategy for their ‘new’ product. One Tweet, One million people reached.

RUSSELL HOBBS

ALL DAY. EVERY DAY.

Appliances are visual whitenoise. They are ubiquitous, yet we couldn't exist without them. As South Africans, we take them for granted ... until loadshedding that is, when we can't boil water for our beloved Rooibos or even toast a piece of bread. How do we take ownership of such a cluttered category, in order to elevate the Russell Hobbs brand and to communicate the breadth of our offering?

ROCOMAMAS
SMASHING SOCIAL

RocoMamas speaks to an audience of nearly half a million people per day. Normal brands do loyalty programmes... Not Normal brands create cult movements. This is #Rocolove

ROCOMAMAS
ELECTION BURGER

The idea that leveraged the US Election and won us our relationship with South Africa’s most Instagrammed burger.
Vote with your thumbs. RocoMamas offered its customers three Limited Edition burger candidates to choose from. South Africans could make their mark - digitally - in the biggest election of the year by snapping their chosen Election Burger and posting it to Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #ElectionBurger, and tagging #TheDonald, #TheHillBill or #TheJoker.

Wrigley

#5GumExperience

When 5Gum South Africa brought Two Door Cinema Club to the country, we suggested a ‘brand before band’ communication approach to ensure that the brand received maximum benefit of being associated with the band. 5Gum was new to South African consumers and it needed a digital media campaign with maximum online word of mouth spread.

KREEPY KRAULY

WRANGLER

In 2013, we proactively pitched the use of online video content to the Kreepy Krauly brand, encouraging our client to enter the digital space for the first time. Brands new to the online world generally produce ‘safe’ content and run the risk of fading into the obscurity of online noise.
We leveraged a key insight about the humble Kreepy Krauly to emotionally connect with buyers and consumers alike.

CASTLE LAGER
BRAAIPHONE

When tasked with the brief to encourage Castle Lager fans to download the BraaiNation App, we opted for a spoof video campaign of the ‘stereotypical Apple iPhone launch video’. Jason Goliath was our B.R.O (Braai Relationship Officer) hero, the video went viral, was viewed by 100,000 people and ultimately drove 30,000 downloads. Not bad for a project on a budget and a target of 10,000 downloads

DOUWE EGBERTS
BYE BYE RED EYE

When we are tired, we yawn. What if there was a vending machine that could use facial recognition software to deliver you a coffee, based on your yawn.
We didn’t build it but we seeded this idea, globally. The video received more than 450,000 views in less than one month while 10s of thousands of mentions were tracked on Twitter and Facebook.

Brands that trust our expertise.

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AWARDS

50

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AWARDS

50

CONTACT US

We have better-than-average coffee and an arcade machine filled with 100s of generic copies of some of your favourite childhood games (PuckMan, Road Fighter, Ass Kong)

RETROVIRAL
t: +27 11 326 5414
e: info@retroviral.co.za

Cube Workspace | 205 Rivonia Rd,
Morningside, Sandton, 2057, South Africa

CONTACT

We have better-than-average coffee and an arcade machine filled with 100s of generic copies of some of your favourite childhood games (PuckMan, Road Fighter, Ass Kong)

RETROVIRAL
t: +27 11 326 5414
e: info@retroviral.co.za

Cube Workspace | 205 Rivonia Rd,
Morningside, Sandton, 2057, South Africa

CURRENT ROLES

1. Community Manager >
2. Traffic / Operations Manager >
3. Conceptual Copywriter >

CAREERS

CAREERS

CURRENT ROLES

1. Community Manager >
2. Traffic / Operations Manager >
3. Conceptual Copywriter >