Comedy chaos, community drama, and a very big billboard in a very small yard. Flying Fish’s latest spot has all the ingredients of a “Surprisingly Good” mockumentary. Brought to life by Joe Public and directed by Jono Hall from Gentlemen Films, the hilariously escalating ad puts performance and tone front and centre.

What do you get when Mongezi – just an average kasi guy – gets a Flying Fish billboard in his actual backyard? Well, for a start: confused gogos, incensed community leaders, rule-bending taxi drivers, and one very smug mother.

This mockumentary-style spot for Flying Fish, directed by Jono Hall, leans into the brand’s “Surprisingly Good” tagline by asking: how much is too much recognition for drinking a beer? Brought to life by Joe Public, the film answers that question with a full-blown community spiral – dialling up the humour by capturing the escalating chaos of a neighbourhood that simply cannot cope.

Oh yes, and some gossipy goldfish.

Tshepo Tumahole, Creative Director at Joe Public says, “Jono was the perfect fit for the level of humour and performance we were aiming to achieve with this piece of work. We knew we had to partner with someone who would not only bring our vision to life but elevate it and Jono did exactly that.”

BTS Flying Fish

While the premise may have seemed simple on paper, Jono worked tirelessly to build a world that felt embedded, never ‘addy’ – because ultimately the challenge was to bring a more grounded quality to the brand through the ‘mockumentary’ technique, but still keeping things feeling slightly off-kilter. Blending unshowy realism with the familiar absurdist tone that Flying Fish is known for. From the start, he approached the film not as a fixed script but as a playground – casting performers with sharp instincts for the potential of the character and the scene, then creating the conditions for them to improvise and go wherever they wanted with it.

Locations were chosen for their raw personality, and every department was encouraged to think like writers – to spot story beats, gags, and textures that could add depth or surprise. 

“My job was basically to set the tone: wry, but authentic – absurd but utterly recognisable, and then stay out of the way,” says Jono. “Also, I have this silly tradition of giving out chocolate medals to the crew for any idea that gets included into the shotlist. I ran out of them by the end of the tech recce.” The result is a spot that’s tightly crafted, totally loose, and proudly, unmistakably South African.

For a surprising brand, this is a surprising celebration of a billboard where there used to be begonias and of one man who just wanted to enjoy his beer in peace.

Wanna (s)talk some more? Gentlemen Films on IDIDTHAT and company website.