SAB throws marketing weight behind vaccine registrations – calls on corporate SA to join the cause

With South Africa’s vaccination rollout underway, the South African Breweries (SAB) has stepped in to help fill the gaps by utilising its established communications channels and diverting its marketing spend to help bolster vaccination registration efforts.

Zoleka Lisa from SAB says, “Through our partnership at Business for SA (B4SA), we have learned that vaccine hesitancy and slow registration on the EVDS website are key risks that could hamper vaccination rates. As one of South Africa’s biggest corporates, and with a sizable communications platform, we knew that we could make a difference in government’s drive towards population immunity.”

As a responsible corporate citizen with significant reach and resources, SAB has put the following plan in motion:

Marketing Initiatives to Drive Vaccine Education and Registration

During the month of June, SAB’s biggest brands, Castle Lager and Castle Lite invested half their media budget to produce and drive two campaigns that educate consumers about the importance of assisting people over the age of 60 to register for vaccination.

“The ads will flight on social media as well as on free to air television during June and will give people all the info they need to help others register for a vaccine”, adds Marketing Director from SAB, Vaughan Croeser

Having officially gone live on 5 June, Lisa says the adverts also highlighted the importance of vaccination as a means to beating the pandemic, part of which is assisting the elderly with online registration.

SAB would like to encourage all partners in its value chain to support these initiatives by assisting friends and family to register for the vaccine at https://vaccine.enroll.health.gov.za/#/

Calling on corporate SA to do more

Martin Kingston from B4SA believes that most large corporates in South Africa should, like SAB, participate by doing everything they can to contribute to South Africa’s drive to reach population immunity through the vaccination rollout programme. “We cannot lose any momentum now. Many vaccination sites are not being used to full capacity. If more corporates used their established communication platforms to drive vaccination registration, we can hit our ambitious national targets.”

Although SAB is playing its part in helping to drive the national vaccination rollout, Lisa says that corporate South Africa can do more. “We implore all our partners across our extended value chain to do whatever is in your power to help drive the vaccination registration process. We all have a platform. It doesn’t matter how small it is, together we can make a difference.”