First up is Hansel McDonald, played by Owen Wilson, with a ridicu-lous monotone delivering him is edgy, a rebel, a maverick, or the messiah.
The villainous Mugatu, sitting and watching from the gathered viewers and shakers in this world of Zool-ander, leans towards all, undoing the femme fatale Katinka, and whis-pers: “That Hansel is so hot right now.”
Most recently, I found myself utter something similar, ringing a colleague in the office and proclaiming: “Them Springboks are so hot right now.”
And I don’t mean that regarding their on-field prowess, which has undoubtedly been impressive since 2018, and especially in the last two years, but rather when looking at the brand itself.
It has undoubtedly become a juggernaut, with other organisations and companies clamouring to partner with SA Rugby just to get a patch of green fabric on the Bok jersey.
This past week, FNB extended their sponsorship with the Boks, becoming their headline sponsor.
Pick n Pay followed a day later — their logo set to appear on the back of all national shirts, from the men’s to the women’s and senior national team kits.
Earlier this year, Coca-Cola also jumped on the Bok train, as did Mon-ster Energy.
And that is not forgetting the other major partners and sponsors like Toyota, MTN, DStv, Capitec, Land Rover, FlySafair and others, who continue to link their marketing strategies to the Boks.
So why such a keen endeavour for these companies and a lucrative bit of business for SA Rugby?
If reports are to be believed, the SA Rugby sponsorship portfolio has almost doubled in a year from around R420 million to R800m.
FNB’s renewed interest in the organisation is understood to be worth R150m a year, a good baseline to judge all other sponsorships on, regardless, mostly, if these companies will argue that their association with the Boks is based on national pride and nation-building, all that from their involvement with the world champions they can contribute to that process.
It’s a perfectly respectable reason to want to be associated with such a powerful brand that continues to transform into a true reflection of the country.
The Boks are indeed enjoying unprecedented levels of popularity and support, drawing two highly would-be sponsors — and why wouldn’t anyone want to be linked to that success by association?
The case of Pick n Pay is perhaps the clearest indication of how the Bok brand is perceived.
Last year, reports indicated that the retail giant was in serious financial strife, with a R3.2 billion net loss.
By recently listing their subsid-iary, Boxer, organisation manage-d to generate around R8bn in an effort to restructure and refinance its operation.
Many will argue that under such a cl...
The villainous Mugatu, sitting and watching from the gathered viewers and shakers in this world of Zool-ander, leans towards all, undoing the femme fatale Katinka, and whis-pers: “That Hansel is so hot right now.”
Most recently, I found myself utter something similar, ringing a colleague in the office and proclaiming: “Them Springboks are so hot right now.”
And I don’t mean that regarding their on-field prowess, which has undoubtedly been impressive since 2018, and especially in the last two years, but rather when looking at the brand itself.
It has undoubtedly become a juggernaut, with other organisations and companies clamouring to partner with SA Rugby just to get a patch of green fabric on the Bok jersey.
This past week, FNB extended their sponsorship with the Boks, becoming their headline sponsor.
Pick n Pay followed a day later — their logo set to appear on the back of all national shirts, from the men’s to the women’s and senior national team kits.
Earlier this year, Coca-Cola also jumped on the Bok train, as did Mon-ster Energy.
And that is not forgetting the other major partners and sponsors like Toyota, MTN, DStv, Capitec, Land Rover, FlySafair and others, who continue to link their marketing strategies to the Boks.
So why such a keen endeavour for these companies and a lucrative bit of business for SA Rugby?
If reports are to be believed, the SA Rugby sponsorship portfolio has almost doubled in a year from around R420 million to R800m.
FNB’s renewed interest in the organisation is understood to be worth R150m a year, a good baseline to judge all other sponsorships on, regardless, mostly, if these companies will argue that their association with the Boks is based on national pride and nation-building, all that from their involvement with the world champions they can contribute to that process.
It’s a perfectly respectable reason to want to be associated with such a powerful brand that continues to transform into a true reflection of the country.
The Boks are indeed enjoying unprecedented levels of popularity and support, drawing two highly would-be sponsors — and why wouldn’t anyone want to be linked to that success by association?
The case of Pick n Pay is perhaps the clearest indication of how the Bok brand is perceived.
Last year, reports indicated that the retail giant was in serious financial strife, with a R3.2 billion net loss.
By recently listing their subsid-iary, Boxer, organisation manage-d to generate around R8bn in an effort to restructure and refinance its operation.
Many will argue that under such a cl...
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The Mercury (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 28, 2025