In an unfortunate incident, South African singer Ard Matthews forgot the words to his own national anthem during this week's announcement of the country's Rugby World Cup Squad. To understand why this is such a big deal, you should know that when it comes to rugby, South Africans are among the world's leaders in zealotry and are the defending champions of the Rugby World Cup. The nation has come down ‘ard on Ard, but one positive twist has been the quick-thinking ad team at Nando's [1], a Johannesberg-based chicken restaurant with locations in 30 countries. The chain rapidly turned around a print ad that reads, “Ard, we have two words for you . . . but we forgot them.” It then goes on to urge the national team, called the Springboks, to victory. The ad has been mentioned in every story I’ve seen about the Ard incident—giving Nando's mondo press. Brands that have the flexibility to leverage current events quickly and effectively will always have an edge over those who can’t respond without decades of consideration and testing. Too bad it’s such a rare thing. Photo via Gallo Images, ad via @albert_pixelpro [2].
