Show Them

Superbalist highlights your key winter must-haves in a brand new ad spot created by exciting South African creatives Lebogang Rasethaba and Zandi Tisani. Showcasing the best fashion online, there's a narrative that challenges some of our own long held beliefs, and then uses them as an opportunity to show the world who we really are.

Lebogang Rasethaba is the South African-born writer, director and filmmaker, who spent five years completing his Master's in Film Studies in Beijing and is responsible for feature-length documentaries Prisoner 47674: The Untold Legacy of Andrew Mlangeni; The People versus The Rainbow Nation; The People versus Patriarchy; and Future Sounds of Mzansi. Lebo's advertising work has won him a Creative Circle Ad of the Year and last year his music video for Sons of Kemet was screened at TED Global. Working with Superbalist Lebo wanted to treat fashion with respect, approaching the new ad like he would the abovementioned documentary projects. 

"When this thing first came in, we were like, 'here's an opportunity to do fashion in South Africa in a way in which no-one has been able to', because of how corporate all the other fashion outlets are. We wanted to do something really interesting, and possibly open up people's eyes to the potential of fashion."

Taking the viewer on a journey through a variety of scenarios that would be familiar to South Africans, these scenes have undertones that speak to our position in the global cultural atmosphere. Whether it's the media's portrayal or the audience's own assumptions, each scene has a set-up that reminds us that Africa's time is now. That the world is watching us. 

This celebration of unique and eclectic representation facilitated by fashion is perhaps best displayed in the scene shot in a hair salon, where the women having their hair done watch a breaking news spot featuring a famous American actress who has changed her hair to a distinctly African style.

The dialogue "They're watching us" may only be three words long, but speaks volumes, and captures the zeitgeist perfectly. 

The other half of the dynamic directing duo, Zandi Tisani, works as a film director, photographer and stylist, was hailed by CityPress as "SA film's next big thing" and has the city of Joburg as a constant motif in her work, as seen in Highlands, Style Diary: Yeoville and Superbalist's latest television commercial. 

"For me, regardless of the work, with every piece I want to do something better than I did the last time. I'm way too young to start plateauing. I think it's about being creatively brave and creatively resilient – being able to accept people not accepting all of your ideas, and then being able to learn from that and make something even better."

With a planned rollout that will see Superbalist collaborating with Zandi and Lebo on several more TVCs throughout the year, watch this space to see how we intend to show them.