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Category
Custom Content
Annual ID
OS25_RA025M
Background
Foreign nationals from neighbouring African countries make up 21% of South Africa’s blue collar workforce, having left their home countries in search of a better life.
But many only speak their native language, resulting in complex communication barriers on worksites where teamwork, safety and clear understanding are a necessity.
Making 2.9 million minority language speaking labourers almost unhireable, just because of the language they speak.
AfriSam, South Africa's largest construction materials supplier recognises that 62% of the construction sectors market share opportunity sits within small-to-medium sized
projects, where on-site labourers and managers make the decisions of which construction materials supplier to choose.
In an aim to build brand affinity within this audience and stay committed to their UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), AfriSam sought an initiative that would improve on equal work opportunities and environments within the blue collar labour sector, utilising its services presence on labour sites across the country and continue to grow their on-the-ground awareness and audience engagement through their 20 year old brand purpose of 'Creating Concrete Possibilities'.
But many only speak their native language, resulting in complex communication barriers on worksites where teamwork, safety and clear understanding are a necessity.
Making 2.9 million minority language speaking labourers almost unhireable, just because of the language they speak.
AfriSam, South Africa's largest construction materials supplier recognises that 62% of the construction sectors market share opportunity sits within small-to-medium sized
projects, where on-site labourers and managers make the decisions of which construction materials supplier to choose.
In an aim to build brand affinity within this audience and stay committed to their UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), AfriSam sought an initiative that would improve on equal work opportunities and environments within the blue collar labour sector, utilising its services presence on labour sites across the country and continue to grow their on-the-ground awareness and audience engagement through their 20 year old brand purpose of 'Creating Concrete Possibilities'.
Creative Idea
The Vluit Project (fl-ate) is an experiential new way for labourers to communicate on worksites by overcoming language barriers using the human whistle.
The ‘Vluit’ is a social behaviour originating within black South African communities that uses the human whistle to create unique sounds as informal exclamations.
By utilising this existing behaviour, we identified key work tasks and co-created unique 'Vluits' with labourers – each whistle sounding like their assigned action.
This new way of communicating formed a sound based language learning programme taught to labourers on official 'Vluit' supported worksites, and through other supporting audio-based mediums too.
Creating a new linguistics system on worksites in place of spoken word, overcoming language barriers, through the simple use of universally understandable sounds.
The ‘Vluit’ is a social behaviour originating within black South African communities that uses the human whistle to create unique sounds as informal exclamations.
By utilising this existing behaviour, we identified key work tasks and co-created unique 'Vluits' with labourers – each whistle sounding like their assigned action.
This new way of communicating formed a sound based language learning programme taught to labourers on official 'Vluit' supported worksites, and through other supporting audio-based mediums too.
Creating a new linguistics system on worksites in place of spoken word, overcoming language barriers, through the simple use of universally understandable sounds.
Insights & Strategy
An in depth 2022 Reuters study of the South African employment landscape shows that foreign national labourers make up 21% of South Africas blue collar workforce.
But many only speak their native language, presenting complex communication barriers where teamwork, safety and clear understanding are a necessity.
Making 2.9 million minority language speaking labourers almost unhireable, just because of the language they speak.
In an aid to create equal work opportunities on labour sites and answer our brief of improving work place equality for foreign national blue collar labourers, we focused on two (2) strategic intentions:
Cultural Adoption (foreign and local):
Our creative solve needed strategic consideration with regards to being easily adoptable by foreign national labourers as well as the willingness to be adopted by locals too. To achieve this we looked at the challenge of communication barriers on worksites between local and foreign labourers rather as an opportunity to share local customs and ways of working. Being a culturally diverse country, South African's pride themselves on the spirit of "Ubuntu", a deeply engrained philosophy that emphasises cultural sharing and interconnectedness. If a solution could hold the characteristics of cultural-customs sharing instead of complete language change, we knew uptake would be more successful and that local labourers could become a channel to distribute our solution too.
This, eventually leading to the creative discovery of a new and more formalised use of the cultural phenomenon of the 'Vluit'.
Scalability:
Due to the on-the-ground nature of the challenge, extensive programmes would not hold the required reach. The strength of utilising the 'Vluit' is the basis that it simply uses sounds to emulate a message or action. Easy to teach and learn.
But many only speak their native language, presenting complex communication barriers where teamwork, safety and clear understanding are a necessity.
Making 2.9 million minority language speaking labourers almost unhireable, just because of the language they speak.
In an aid to create equal work opportunities on labour sites and answer our brief of improving work place equality for foreign national blue collar labourers, we focused on two (2) strategic intentions:
Cultural Adoption (foreign and local):
Our creative solve needed strategic consideration with regards to being easily adoptable by foreign national labourers as well as the willingness to be adopted by locals too. To achieve this we looked at the challenge of communication barriers on worksites between local and foreign labourers rather as an opportunity to share local customs and ways of working. Being a culturally diverse country, South African's pride themselves on the spirit of "Ubuntu", a deeply engrained philosophy that emphasises cultural sharing and interconnectedness. If a solution could hold the characteristics of cultural-customs sharing instead of complete language change, we knew uptake would be more successful and that local labourers could become a channel to distribute our solution too.
This, eventually leading to the creative discovery of a new and more formalised use of the cultural phenomenon of the 'Vluit'.
Scalability:
Due to the on-the-ground nature of the challenge, extensive programmes would not hold the required reach. The strength of utilising the 'Vluit' is the basis that it simply uses sounds to emulate a message or action. Easy to teach and learn.
Execution
The utilisation of the 'Vluit' as our solution is the key part of our execution. Creating a new and more formalised use for this existing social behaviour, allowed for not just local labourer adoption but a unique way to integrate foreign national labourers into the South African community too.
We mapped out daily labour tasks and messages and co-created unique 'Vluits' with local labourers, each sounding like their assigned action.
Focusing on the 3 standardised pillars of construction sites in South Africa: Safety, Communication and Efficiency.
We created official onsite 'Vluit' training that directly upskills and officially certifies labourers for future work opportunities on over 42 official 'Vluit' supported sites using our audio tutorial library, where labourers can access our 'Vluits' offsite too. AfriSam also apportion their traditional community radio ad media to 'lesson spots' for further initiative awareness and learning, whilst our AfriSam 'Vluit' register creates a database of contact details of certified labourers, accessible to our clients for project and work availability opportunities.
This unique use of audio allows us to change the way labourers communicate and engage onsite, with functional audio attributes like ease-of-learning, volume and identifiability. Making the 'Vluit' an effective solution to overcome language barriers on often noisy and expansive worksites, whilst bringing to life AfriSam's purpose of 'Creating Concrete Possibilities' in a real-world experiential way.
We mapped out daily labour tasks and messages and co-created unique 'Vluits' with local labourers, each sounding like their assigned action.
Focusing on the 3 standardised pillars of construction sites in South Africa: Safety, Communication and Efficiency.
We created official onsite 'Vluit' training that directly upskills and officially certifies labourers for future work opportunities on over 42 official 'Vluit' supported sites using our audio tutorial library, where labourers can access our 'Vluits' offsite too. AfriSam also apportion their traditional community radio ad media to 'lesson spots' for further initiative awareness and learning, whilst our AfriSam 'Vluit' register creates a database of contact details of certified labourers, accessible to our clients for project and work availability opportunities.
This unique use of audio allows us to change the way labourers communicate and engage onsite, with functional audio attributes like ease-of-learning, volume and identifiability. Making the 'Vluit' an effective solution to overcome language barriers on often noisy and expansive worksites, whilst bringing to life AfriSam's purpose of 'Creating Concrete Possibilities' in a real-world experiential way.
Results
– 17% growth in brand affinity.
– Reaching over 120 000 labourers
– Available on over 42 worksites
– Over 11 000 audio downloads
– Reaching over 120 000 labourers
– Available on over 42 worksites
– Over 11 000 audio downloads
2025 Awards
Total Points: 3
Merit
Credits
Agency
Promise / Johannesburg
Design Firm
The Kinetic / Johannesburg
Music / Sound Production Company
Hey Papa Legend / Johannesburg
Animator
Stephen Galloway
Art Director
Che Newman
Siyabonga Jiyana
Sukesh Moodaley
Chief Creative Officer
Marc Watson
Chief Marketing Officer
Ebeth Van Den Berg
Executive Creative Director
Nic Kostouros
Sound Designer
Myles McDonald
Strategist
Nonkululeko Mabena
Writer
Obakeng Rapoo
Executive Producer
Gillian Pearce
Jano Booysen
Animation Director
Estian Fourie
Business Unit Director
Rozanne du Toit
Creative Group Head
Musa Nhlapo
Planner
Teylin Pillay
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