Love her or hate her, the footage of Helen Zille snorkelling in a surprisingly large pothole deserved to go viral. As someone from Cape Town noted on social media in response to Zille’s campaign to become mayor of Johannesburg, “At this point, I want to register to vote in Jo’burg.”

Zille’s campaign then garnered praise from a leading radio personality after she rowed a boat through a flooded road in Soweto, turning what is a regular disaster for local residents into a humorous but sympathetic video.

One wonders which random body of water in Johannesburg, Zille will pop up at next with a videographer.

However, there is more to her mayoral campaign than water-based stunts and humour. Zille has clear messages that she consistently repeats: fix infrastructure and restore basic service delivery.  The city’s deteriorating infrastructure provides ample opportunities for attention-grabbing antics, but her focus remains on the core message, that Johannesburg urgently needs service delivery and repairs.

Whether she’s rowing a boat, diving into a pothole, or engaging with local communities, she stays on message. This straightforward, repetitive approach contrasts sharply with other government initiatives, which often lack clarity.

Whether you are in business, disinterested in politics, or vote for a rival of the DA, there are lessons to be learned from her campaign approach:

Have a clear and compelling message and repeat it over time.

The ANC did this well in 2014 with the campaign slogan “The ANC has a Good Story to Tell” It highlighted government service delivery and housing provision from when the ANC achieved power in 1994. The message was compelling and repeated over time in adverts, on billboards and in speeches. 

Being on message is simple, but also surprisingly complex.

Many in business or advocacy groups become bored with saying the same thing and jump to the next communications idea. Or they lose focus on communication due to the challenges of running a successful business or NGO operation. Repeating a message over time can feel monotonous and because it feels so repetitive, people often give up on a campaign before the message truly lands.

Only when you are tired of saying something, the message is being heard.

There are other political initiatives where communication has not been as successful as Zille’s mayoral campaign. Take Operation Vulindlela, for example—a government move to partner with the private sector to tackle crime and improve infrastructure. It appears to be a great initiative, but its messaging is inconsistent and fails to give the public a sense of its effectiveness and it doesn’t often highlight its wins. What it is achieving needs to be communicated in volume over time.

The YES Jobs for Youth Programme in South Africa aims to combat youth unemployment by creating year-long entry level job opportunities and providing skills development through partnerships with businesses and government. This is inspiring and young people do find internships in large listed companies, but very little is communicated — leaving something successful unheard of.   The inspiring wins need to be repeated in volume over time

Simple, clear communication sounds straightforward when you see it, but few manage it. None of us need to snorkel in a pothole, but we can still learn from both the ANCs 2014 and Helen Zille’s communication strategy and have a good story to tell.

– Katharine Child
Account Manager