Carling Black Label
Varsity Cup 2025: the app, the content and the results.
Service 09 · Content and products
Design, content and social
We make scroll-stopping content with creators, designers and videographers, for screens, social and mobile campaigns.
What you get
Content calendarIllustration
- The big idea
- The shoot
- The creators
- Paid social
Video, creators and paid social for screens, phones and feeds.
Engage the right audience with the right message, at the right moment. The same content runs on the venue screen, the guest's phone and your social channels.
How it works
The plan we wrote for the Carling Black Label Varsity Cup app shows the steps.
From the big idea to the numbers
-
01The big idea
A short film that launches the campaign, set in a pub after a win.
-
02The shoot
Video and photos for social, screens and the app.
-
03The creators
Influencers chosen for brand fit, engagement and audience.
-
04Paid social
Carousels, short videos and stories, aimed at the right audience.
-
05The numbers
Impressions, reach, engagement and click-through, with unique codes for sales.
Content formats
One message, cut for every screen.
Every piece follows the same four beats, then gets cut to fit the feed, the search page, the venue screen and the phone.
The message framework, as written for the Carling Black Label Varsity Cup app
Hook
“Be the first to discover exclusive Varsity Cup beer deals!”
Pain point
“Missing out on the best beer deals? Not anymore.”
Solution
“Download the Carling Black Label app and unlock rewards.”
Call to action
“Get started now. Click to download!”
Formats we make
- Carousel ads
- Short-form video
- Stories and Reels
- TikTok scripts
- 15-second YouTube ads
- Google Search and Display ads
- Posters and venue-screen art
- Sign-up and game pages
- Email and CRM messages
Creator work
Creators picked on data, not on follower count.
We choose creators for their fit with your brand and their audience, then measure what their content did.
How we choose
- Their lifestyle and values fit your brand.
- Above-average engagement, typically 2 to 5%.
- Their audience: where they live, age and gender.
- Their audience’s interests match yours.
- The right creators for each region.
What we measure
- Impressions: how often the content was shown.
- Reach: how many people saw it.
- Engagement: comments, likes and shares.
- Clicks, through trackable links and hashtags.
- Sales, through unique discount codes.
We also handle the admin: briefs, rates, payments and reporting.
-
Filmed on the night. -
Content made by guests.
Product design
From moodboard to bottle.
We design packaging and labels too. For a premium spirit made for South Africa, we paired a foiled dragon with an African shweshwe pattern, in a colour for each flavour.
-
1 Moodboard Glass, colour and pattern. -
2 Artwork The foiled dragon and its pattern. -
3 Render The finished bottle, rendered. A concept.
Paid media
Paid social and search, run like a growth engine.
Campaigns on Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Google Ads, rooted in strategy, guided by data and driven by continuous optimisation, with reporting you can read.
We start with the problem, not the budget. Many agencies open by asking for a monthly budget. We ask what problem we are solving, because advertising only amplifies what is already there: with a weak strategy, more spend simply speeds up failure; with a clear one, paid media becomes an engine for predictable growth.
Right people
We find and reach the people already searching for what you offer, with audience strategies that reach, engage and nurture them.
Right message
Messages that speak to where they are in their journey and give them a reason to act.
Right time
We show up when they are most open, curious and ready to engage.
How we run paid media
Discovery and onboarding
Your business, products, audience, competitors and current marketing, then a technical audit: tracking, pixels and tags, the events that matter and landing pages that support the goal.
Campaign strategy
Objectives, audiences, budget split, platforms, creative and messaging, and the KPIs we agree before anything goes live.
Set-up and launch
Campaign structure, audiences, budgets and ads, with conversion tracking checked and every campaign tested before it starts.
Measure against your goals
Each campaign is judged on the KPIs for its job, from reach and clicks to leads, sales and return on ad spend.
Optimise every week
Audiences, budgets, creative, copy, placements and bids are refined, winners are scaled and weak ads paused, every change based on the data.
Report in plain language
A weekly summary of highlights, trends and actions, and a monthly report with results, audience and creative performance, budget, learnings and recommendations.
What we measure, by campaign type
Awareness
Reach, impressions, frequency, video views and engagement.
Traffic
Website sessions, click-through rate, cost per click and landing-page views.
Lead generation
Leads, cost per lead, conversion rate and lead quality.
Sales
Purchases, revenue, cost per acquisition, return on ad spend and average order value.
Why we plan for at least nine months
The steps above do not stop at launch. After the first set-up we keep monitoring, optimising and reporting, and the work moves through three phases over the nine months, because each one builds on what the one before it taught us.
- Months 1 to 3
Learn
Strategy goes live, audiences and creative are tested, and benchmarks are set.
- Months 4 to 6
Improve
Sharper audiences, lower acquisition costs, better traffic and leads, and more conversions.
- Months 7 to 9
Scale
Mature campaigns scale on the data, for a stronger return and growth that lasts.
What is included
Google Ads management
Campaign management, keyword research, audience targeting, budget optimisation, ad copy optimisation, a conversion tracking review and monthly reporting.
Meta Ads management
Campaign set-up, audience creation, campaign optimisation, budget management, ad copy optimisation, creative testing with your approved assets and monthly reporting.
Fees
| Service | What it covers | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| Google Ads set-up | Account set-up, campaign structure, conversion tracking, audience research and launch. | R3,000 once-off |
| Google Ads management | Ongoing management, optimisation, monitoring and monthly reporting. The fee follows your monthly ad spend. | R4,500 a month (R3,000 to R10,000 spend) R6,000 (R10,001 to R20,000) R10,000 (R20,001 to R50,000) R12,500 (R50,001 to R100,000) |
| Meta Ads management | Set-up, audiences, management, optimisation and reporting, using your approved creative. | R4,500 a month |
| Newsletter design | Layout of a branded email newsletter with your brand assets. | R850 a newsletter |
| Newsletter writing | Copywriting and content for the newsletter. | R1,500 a newsletter |
| Customer journey and CRM | Setting up the CRM journey, the communication flow and its touchpoints, and managing it. | R1,750 a month |
| All retainer services together | Planning, testing, creation, implementation and management of every monthly service, including content for a monthly newsletter. | R9,500 a month (a 22.5% saving) |
Good to know. All fees exclude VAT. Hello Brand (Pty) Ltd is VAT registered, so VAT is added on every invoice. Ad spend is billed directly by Google or Meta and is not part of the fees. Meta campaigns run on creative you supply and approve. Google Ads budgets above R100,000 a month are quoted on request. Weekly reporting is available at a slightly higher rate.
Where we have done it
Each project says how far it got: results, results to follow, a concept or work in progress.
-
-
Flying Fish
Screen and phone content for the Tiger's Milk venues.
-
Beefeater: In My Ends
A creator-led idea built around local neighbourhoods.
-
Corona
An online campaign for the brand's centenary.
Works with
-
Campaign Builder
Where the content goes live on the phone.
-
Media and venue screens
Where it plays in venues.
-
For brands
What Hello Brand does for a brand team.
Start with a story.
Tell us who you want to reach and where they scroll. We will come back with an idea and a plan.