IDIDTHAT and Heineken Beverages presents I SAID THAT, the Q&A series featuring South Africa’s top creative talent.

Zanele Kabane is building a career on turning human truths into ideas people genuinely care about. From ‘Track Your Racks’ for Standard Bank, one of South Africa’s most talked-about Cannes hopefuls this year, to writing work that audiences still quote years later for Nando’s, the M&C Saatchi Abel Associate Creative Director believes the best ads starts with something real.

In this conversation, Zanele shares what she looks for in directors, why trust between agencies and marketers changes everything, the ads she wishes she’d written, her complicated relationship with AI, and the unexpected hobby that’s teaching her a surprising amount about creativity. Don’t miss her shout-out to some of her favourite creatives doing work in our industry right now.

Q: There’s always that one piece of work you look at and think, “Damn, I wish I did that.” Which South African campaign is it for you, and why?

Zanele: Remember that Halls ‘Kimmie Kool’ ad? It’s just the perfect combination of dead-pan humour and pure entertainment. JUST HILARIOUS! It’s an ad that I couldn’t stop quoting even years after it was made, it always just stuck with me. I love ads that are funny and memorable. Ads that are timeless. Also, I like to laugh and I like to make people laugh, so it’s the kind of ad I wish I made. 

Special mention: The Halls ‘Foot Foot Nonsense’ UFO ad. Another HILARIOUS timeless classic!

Q: ‘Track Your Racks’ for Standard Bank found a way to get young people thinking about money through Spotify. What was the insight that unlocked that idea, and how did it all come to life?

Zanele: The insight was quite simple: Young people like me (I’m still young right?) don’t really care about banking. We don’t check our bank statements so we’re not really in tune with our finances. But something we do check every day, is our playlist. 

So we figured, well there are a million songs about money – having money, wanting money, not having money – then boom, it hit us. What if we could make a playlist that played songs based on where you were at financially? Young people would definitely engage with that. 

And that’s how Track your Racks was born. We collaborated with Spotify and the rest was history.
It took a brave client, a relentless team of creatives and almost 3 years to make it. And we couldn’t be prouder.

Standard Bank ‘Track your Racks’

Q: What does your ideal relationship between creative and marketer look like?

Zanele: It looks like a healthy relationship. And like any healthy relationship, it takes trust. Bucket loads of trust. When marketers trust creatives, beyond their own fears and doubts and ‘omg what if we get cancelled’, you get to make the most magical and meaningful work. Trust is everything. 

Q: What does an average work day at M + C look like for you?

Zanele: So I wake up every morning wondering whether I made the right career choice. Lol. Once the existential crisis passes because I remember that I get paid to do this, it’s all systems go! From around 9am it’s briefings, reviews, brainstorms, more reviews, meetings, more brainstorms, reviews that become brainstorms, putting decks together, ‘Can everyone see my screen?’, ‘Can we put this in a one-pager?’, more reviews and I’m chugging coffee in between it all. It’s chaos. It’s bliss.

Q: When choosing a director what are you looking for?

Zanele: Every script needs something different. Some need a heavy hitter who will probably change your script and will cost a fortune, but it will be so worth it. Others need someone who’s good at comedy. Or performance. Or someone who knows how to just make things look absolutely beautiful. So, it depends on the script. I think it’s important for directors to have their THING so that we immediately think of them when the relevant script comes along. 

Q: Do you believe certain ideas ‘belong’ to certain directors and what makes you ‘take a chance’ on a director?

Zanele: Absolutely not. Often the director you think will give the best treatment isn’t the director that ends up giving the best treatment. It’s often the one you least expect who absolutely blows you away. And I think that’s where the magic lies. That’s why I’m always a fan of including a wild card and taking a chance on the unexpected director because they’ll end up doing the unexpected, in the most beautiful way.

Q: What does a healthy director-agency-marketer relationship look like to you?

Zanele: It’s like a high school group project. There’s the creative, type B person who has the ideas, the organised person who makes sure everything is included, and the artsy person who’ll make the best Natural Science Project poster you’ve ever seen. Everyone contributes but we also know everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. So it’s important to stay in your lane and never overstep. If we all have the same clear vision and come to the party, beautiful things can, will and do happen.

Q: What do you wish more directors would understand about creative agencies?

Zanele: I wish more directors knew that, that script we’re presenting to you has gone through about a million and five iterations. We have been on a JOURNEY. So please meet us halfway? Another thing I wish they knew is that we love an extra, interesting touch to the treatment. I remember a director once created a unique playlist that captured the mood of our story, it was so great, and definitely made the treatment stand out. Something else I wish directors knew is that they have the ability to make us fall in love with our ideas again. By the time we get to treatments, we’re quite jaded, until a director reminds us why we loved it in the first place. I guess that isn’t a wish, really, it’s a more of a thank you. So, thank you.

Q: And then, what do you wish more marketers would understand about creative agencies?

Zanele: I wish they knew how much we truly care about their brand. And that we’d never do anything that didn’t serve it. So they should trust us, we’re on the same team. Let us cook!

Q: What excites you most about the south African ad industry at the moment?

Zanele: There’s so much to love but the one thing that makes me so so excited, is seeing young women move up the ranks. It just gives me so much hope for the future of this industry I so desperately love.

Q: Is there something that you obsess over that makes a huge difference to the final work?

Zanele: I obsess over the idea. Staying true and pure to the idea means everything to me. It seems obvious but trust and believe, you can easily start losing track and going on a tangent. So, something I obsess over is whether we’re still staying true to the idea. And it makes all the difference.

Q: What separates a good copy-writing line from a line people remember years later? And what’s an example of a line that still makes you think damn, I wish I wrote that.

Zanele: A good copywriting line is able distil information into something simple and relatable, and hopefully even catchy. A memorable copywriting line is something so deeply human, genuinely conversational and doesn’t try too hard to sound clever and has the perfect amount of wit, that it punches you right in the gut and stays with you forever. One line that I’ve always been envious of was a line they used a few years ago, for the Nando’s chips with caramelised onions and cheese. The line was ‘It slaps different.’ Genius. (Do you get it? Because it’s basically slap chips and it ‘hits different’ and it slaps? Ok never mind, you get it.)

Q: You’ve grown from copywriter to Associate Creative Director. What shifted in your thinking when you stopped focusing only on your own ideas and started helping shape the work of others?

Zanele: The first shift was more of an ego death. Suddenly it wasn’t always about me and my ideas and seeing my name in lights anymore. It was about helping someone else finally see theirs. 

It stops being about amplifying your own voice but rather, helping someone else find theirs. I’m still a baby in this CD world and I know I have a lot I still need to learn, but there’s something so fulfilling about being able to help another creative reveal the diamond that started off looking like a piece of coal. In fact, I’ve learnt more about creativity from guiding another creative than I have by being guided by another creative. It’s a game changer.

Q: What’s a piece of work that you’re still super proud of and what was it that made that work stand out?

Zanele: I wrote the script for the Nando’s ad where that audacious white man pretended to be part of a Black family, just so he could enjoy a piece of the Nando’s full chicken. I’m so proud of this one because firstly, I got to write in some jokes which is my favourite kind of writing. Also, it was one of those ads that people started to mimic and riff off and could say word for word. It didn’t win any major awards but it sure as hell won the hearts of so many South Africans. It has over a million views on TikTok and sometimes when I’m down and out, I find it and read the comments and I remember how much joy we can give people just by making ads, and I fall in love with advertising all over again.

Q: AI…what’s your go-to AI app and how are you using it?

Zanele: I’m a writer, so probably ChatGPT. She’s my best friend and my sworn enemy. I love her because she can help with things like mailers and more options for post copy and even help me with thought starters when I’ve hit a wall. I hate her because too many juniors aren’t able to find their voice, because they feel their copy needs to be perfect all the time, so they end up depending on ChatGPT. And that makes me very sad and scared. I’m also genuinely not a fan of the way AI thinks because it’s very unoriginal and quite predictable, but I’m also glad, because that’s what we’re here for! It’s a proper love/hate relationship.

Q: If you could speak to your junior creative self, what would you say?

Zanele: I’d tell her that first of all, yes, you have no idea what you’re doing, but don’t worry, most people don’t either. I’d tell her that she shouldn’t be so afraid to fail. I’d tell her that those late nights and sacrifices will pay off one day but that she doesn’t have to miss so many special moments because of them. I’d tell her not to rush so much and to stop chasing the next big title or shiny award. But rather to enjoy the ride and keep being teachable and HAVE FUN and always be a sponge and to never let imposter syndrome get the best of her. I’d tell her I’m proud of her and that she won’t believe the amazing opportunities and experiences that lie in front of her. I’d also tell her that I’m sorry for being so hard on her. And I’d give her a big hug and remind her that she is enough, even when she doesn’t feel like it.

Q: Shoutout – who in this industry is doing work you admire right now?

Zanele: Right now, I’m kind of obsessed with:

• Sohyeon Bang for that Heineken ‘Hehehe’ and Spotify print. 
• Paul Ward and the team at Accenture for the ‘WireCar Grand Prix’
• Sibu Nhlangwini and Neema Nouse for ‘Show Ghana Love’
• Saf Sindhi for everything that comes out of Bananas
• Freckle Agency. Nobody is having as much fun as them.
• Suhana Gordhan, Roanna Williams, Nkgabiseng Motau Masango, Fran Lukin, Lorraine Smit and Melina McDonald, not just for the creative work they bring to life, but also for the work they do to give women in the industry a platform through Open Chair.

Q: What are you binging or obsessed with right now – TV, movie, music, podcast, or personal hobby?

Zanele: Like every other South African, I recently binged and gasped through the entire season of The Polygamist. I’m also currently OBSESSED with ’30 Rock’, ‘Bob’s Burgers’ and rewatching ‘That’s So Raven’. I also started Afro-Latin dancing as a hobby and had my first performance a few weeks ago which was life-changing.