Sanlam One Rand Family placed second in the Integrated category for May-July 2015 at Creative Circle Ad of the Month.

Directed by Arcade’s Rob Smith for King James, One Rand Family is a five-part documentary series about a South African family living beyond their means, who get their salaries paid in one rand coins for one month to give themselves and South Africa a new perspective on spending and saving. The brand films screened on e.tv and have generated over 400 000 views on YouTube so far.

One Rand Family is a sequel to the massively successful One Rand Man, which Rob also directed. Among other accolades, One Rand Man picked up the African Leadership Grand Prix at The African Cristal Festival, Creative Circle Ad of the Year; five Golds at The Midas Awards; two Golds at The Loerie Awards; a Bronze at Cannes Lions; and the only Golds for for Branded Content and Integrated Multi-Platform Campaign at The Bookmarks.

“Creatively, One Rand Family was very different to One Rand Man, mainly because of the family dynamic,” says producer Will Nicholson. “Where we had to coax One Rand Man’s thoughts out of him through interviews, with the family we were able to let most of the insights and entertainment come out of their interactions with one another.”

There was also a significant shift in terms of scenery and demographics, from an Afrikaans bachelor in Cape Town to a Zulu family in Johannesburg. “One of our highlights was the complete surprise of traveling to Durban with the family as they were summoned to a lobola gathering,” says Will. “This not only made for interesting cultural insight, but also for great entertainment in seeing the family navigate their way through toll gates and petrol stations all the way down the N3 using nothing but their one rand coins!”

Arcade delivered 20 minutes of content every week for over a month, meeting deadlines for e.tv and YouTube while also working closely with King James to keep the brand films aligned with the broader integrated campaign.

“We’d like to thank King James and Sanlam for trusting us again with the sequel to their award-winning idea,” says Will. “At the Loerie Awards, Sanlam was the most awarded brand while King James was the top-ranked South African agency. This wasn’t a surprise to us because they’re terrific to work with. They gave us a lot of versatility and creative leeway, which allowed us to move quickly, working closely with the King James team to come up with ideas and follow the family’s story where it took us, as opposed to scripting it. We feel this approach, based on solid trust and communication, is the key reason One Rand Family came out as well as it did.”

View more of Rob’s work here.