Six countries, ten cities, 17 days, and 54 awards to their name – Carling Black Label was on a fact-finding mission to investigate who else had as many accolades as them. Ogilvy South Africa had one burning question, ‘Who on earth could solve this massive, production-heavy project?’ With Executive Producers Mmameyi Mphahlele, Melina McDonald, and Lorraine Smit at the helm, Darling Fling had the skillset and solutions to bring this ambitious globe-trotting campaign to life.

Launched less than a year ago as an added value offering to Darling Films, Darling Fling showcases their exceptional ability to deliver high-end solutions way outside of traditional advertising for Carling.

Mike Barnwell, creative freelancer for Ogilvy Cape Town says, ‘Ideating, creating, and delivering multiple pieces of content on the fly across six countries in 17 days would normally just be crazy talk. But not for the folks at Fling. That’s why they were at the top of our list when we needed someone to handle our latest campaign for Carling Black Label. This talented team manages the unpredictability of fast-turnaround production with the grace of a cat landing on its feet. And not only are they the best in the biz, but they’re an incredibly nice bunch to work with too. Who says you can’t have it all?’

Fling assembled a small, highly skilled team, including top producer Nicky Cox and independent director Dani Hynes, to accompany content creator Sipho Muchindu on a global mission, creating content on the move. And what a mission it was – exploring beer houses, pubs, and breweries across Ireland, England, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, and the Czech Republic. Yes, with their production expertise driving the campaign, Fling was able to Tetris the budget which enabled them to shoot in more places than what was even originally briefed in! The campaign called for a ‘content-creator’ feel however it still needed premium production values, something the Fling team certainly know how to pull off.  This campaign quickly became the top trending hashtag on X (formerly Twitter) for nearly the entire 17-day journey.

‘Fling is a solutions-based production company, as opposed to a Director-led one. We have an incredible problem-solving skillset. We bring decades of advertising insights to each project. Agencies and clients come to Fling when they don’t know how, who, or where to pull it off.. Whether it’s an activation, in-store installation, TV commercial or online content, we put together the best team and director for your job,’ says Darling Fling EP and Co-Founder Mmameyi Mphahlele.

Darling Fling tailors teams for each project, coordinating their suppliers and ensuring a holistic look and feel of the entire campaign they take on. For Carling, they needed a director who could write on the fly and had a strong agency creative background, so they brought in Dani Hynes. From sister company Darling Films, director Alexa Wilson was brought on to direct the 30-second commercial spot. This flexibility to hire the best-suited talent for the job allows Fling to provide the solution for any project. 

‘If you need a team that can pull off the impossible, come to us. Sure, you might have to carry your own sandbag every now and again, but you’ll never regret having a fling, and this one is no strings attached,’ adds Mmameyi.

Feel like a fling, Darling Fling.