Weetbix ‘Banana’

Weetbix ‘Cocoa’

For the first time this year, The Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity added a humour subcategory which received 798 entries. The festival’s website cites ‘The Happiness Report’ from Oracle Fusion Cloud Customer Experience (CX) and Gretchen Rubin saying ‘If a brand uses humour 80% of people are more likely to buy from the brand again, 72% of people are more likely to choose the brand over competition and 63% of people will spend more with the brand.’ So, if you’re not already working with Lazola Gola, 100% you need to start.

Weetbix is the third campaign Lazola has worked on for M&C Saatchi Abel Cape Town, Executive Creative Director Jake Bester says ‘Performance direction aside, I’ve been asking the teams to get Laz to treat because he’s brought amazing solves to our scripts in terms of very smart, succinct storytelling. In other words, he can make it work in a 30.’

It’s no wonder Lazola has risen as a top comedy director, his diverse industry background has equipped him with a Swiss Army Knife of skills and experiences. Having spent years in front of the camera as an actor and on stage as a stand-up comedian, Lazola knows performance inside out. As a writer for TV he’s no stranger to awards and has a SAFTA and International Emmy nominations, a Pendoring Gold, and six Comic Choice Award nominations. Add to that his background as a copywriter in top advertising agencies (Draft FCB, Ogilvy Joburg, Duke and Hellocomputer), and you’ve got a director who understands not only what makes a scene funny but also what makes a brand message stick.

Now at the age of 36 Lazola has cemented his career as a comedy director at Bioscope and in his almost tenth year behind the camera his most recent work is a real testament to his talent. About his journey as a filmmaker Lazola says, ‘I’ve learnt so much from the other Bioscope directors, we all work in a very collaborative way. Being surrounded by directors Fausto (Becatti), Hylton (Tannenbaum), Zipho (Dlangamandla) and Rio (Allen) I feel I have really matured as a director.’

Below are some of our favourite spots from Lazola’s reel, including his recent Savanna commercial which was awarded a 2nd by Creative Circle for Best of the Month and a Craft Mention in IDIDTHAT’s Craft Awards by guest judge and one of South Africa’s most awarded creatives, Steph van Niekerk, ECD at TBWA Hunt Lascaris, commenting, ‘Well done, Laz, you made me cringe! He perfectly captures the painful awkwardness of butchering a joke. The timing’s all wrong, the punchline is mangled, the protagonist is the only one laughing. You got it all wrong, which is so right in this case.’

Savanna ‘Comics do it better’

SuperSportBet ‘Fans Can Play’

Mr D ‘Dipuo’