KP Studios – The duo behind Nedbank Namibia’s ‘Young Professionals’ campaign

STAFF REPORTER

WINDHOEK

Content creation has not only become a lifestyle for individuals who want to make their content accessible to a large audience, but because of the popularity of a number social media platforms, content creation has become a means for many young people to generate an income.
Sites such as Instagram have become some of the most successful tools for creatives to display and market their creative portfolios.
Nedbank Namibia recently used young Namibian social media content creators to work on the bank’s private banking ‘Young Professionals’ advertising campaign.
The campaign, targeted at young people who have just entered the job market, is not only most suited to run on social media platforms because they are most accessible to the youth, but the Nedbank marketing team knew that the campaign was only going to meet its true intent if it was created by young Namibian content creators. And so KP Studios was selected to conceptualise and direct the project.
Nedbank Namibia’s marketing manager for digital and brand, Veruschka de la Harpe, said the selection of a young team to work on the campaign was intentional. “Having a 90% all Namibian creative team was part and parcel of the vision and objective of the campaign. As a bank whose ethos is to take money seriously as well as to see money differently, this campaign had to communicate just that to the targeted market.”

Dynamic duo
KP Studios is a Namibian creative collective made up of Ericke Tjiueza and Kevin Perestrelo. They describe themselves as aesthetic storytellers who create with the intent of incorporating representation, especially for minority African identities and cultures. Their areas of expertise include photography, videography and overall creative concept development.
The two have come to work well together, each bringing their own unique expertise to the business. Tjiueza is the conceptualiser and storyteller, and also takes on the role of director, photographer, stylist and creative director. Perestrelo, on the other hand, is a photographer and film-maker/auteur. He is able to compose the story and incorporate his unique visual aesthetic to enhance the concept. With no formal training, Perestrelo has gained a lot of his experience from working closely with a number of renowned Namibian creatives who have taught him some tricks of the trade.
“All my past experiences in the creative industry have carved out the type of artist I am,” he said. In his short career, he has already collaborated with a number of major industry players including the Namibian Presidency, the European Union and USAID, just to mention a few.

No limits
The running concept for the Nedbank Namibia ‘Young Professionals’ campaign celebrates multifaceted young individuals. The idea is meant to afford audiences a different perspective from the overarching societal opinion that once entering the job market, one can only pursue one career in their lifetime.
“Many Namibians have grown up in social and professional environments which remind them of their limitations. This is an antiquated notion because as a generation full of potential and multidimensional identities, there is a need to provide visibility and foster representation while reinforcing the brand values of the bank,” Tjiueza said.
The campaign’s visuals feature Namibian sisters, La-Toya ‘Lioness’ and Gina ‘Jeanz’ Mwoombola, and expands on their multi-layered careers, and how they are able to easily transition between them.
La-Toya is a medical doctor by profession, but is also a popular award-winning rapper, while her sister, Gina, is a music producer, DJ and renowned creative director. The campaign visuals show the sisters in their element, and illustrates how easily they are able to move between them. The campaign also captures some uniquely Namibian visuals which showcase Namibia’s most picturesque land- and cityscapes.

Invaluable experience
To date, Nedbank Namibia’s ‘Young Professionals’ campaign is KP Studio’s biggest project. The duo said they appreciated being trusted with the opportunity of working on a project of this magnitude. “The experience we gained from working on this project is invaluable,” Perestrelo said.
As the creative directors of the project, they were also tasked with putting together an incredible team of local creatives to work on the project, which included social media content planner Nicole Carew; set designer Sonja Fraser-Malherbe; stylist Penehafo Vaeta; assistant stylist Varaa Hambira; location scout Willem very; script writer Anne Hambuda; production assistant Nicodemus Amweele; principal gaffer Roland James; assistant best boy Charles Zambwe; radio producer Johan Jooste; voice over artist Tanya Daringo; and of course the talent – the Mwoombola sisters.
Taking from this experience the team advised other young Namibian creatives to not shy away from their dreams.
“Even when your knees shake and your voice stutters, show up,” Perestrelo said. “We want to do great work for our local creative industry and we’re excited about more corporate marketing teams embracing our new but relevant and insightful marketing approach,” Tjiueza added.
The campaign was launched on 6 August via a live event on Facebook. It is premised on the five pillars of Nedbank’s client value proposition, which aims to provide young professionals with convenient banking, expert advice on saving, managing their finances, financing their dreams to ensure their growth as well as adding value to their lives through benefits that matter to them and their families.