Marketing is the redline in the sand that determines whether your brand is reaching people in time vs not, rather than a commentary on product quality . It’s a testament of your belief in your product offering by making it available to the right people. The right products in essence are solutions to existing circumstances . Hence we’re taking a deep dive into what are some of the lessons learnt from different marketing campaigns and the products that entail these campaigns.
Relevance
There have been many marketing campaigns throughout the years that have exemplified an acute grasp on product relevance . Some of the more prominent campaigns finding urgency due to clear social circumstances or a companies resolute decision to step into a different domain.
Within the modern socio economic, socio-political and ecosystemic standing different campaigns will address larger and smaller demographics based jointly on general standings, market shifts due to visceral alignment and concious inclination .
We could stop the article there …but there’s more ,we’ll be doing a case study of one such brand as it has relevance to present circumstances factoring in you’re perspective relative to circumstance.
None other than Nestlé’s Cremora add :
“it’s not inside its on top “
The “It’s Not Inside, It’s On Top” campaign by Cremora is arguably one of the most culturally embedded advertising campaigns in South African history.
What made the campaign exceptional was not merely the slogan itself, but the way it entered everyday language and social behavior.
The line:
“It’s not inside, it’s on top”
became: a household phrase,
a comedic reference,
and a generational cultural marker.
The original advert debuted in 1985 and became so recognizable that the phrase evolved beyond advertising into South African conversational culture.
Why The Campaign Worked So Well
Household Realism
Unlike aspirational luxury advertising, Cremora focused on ordinary domestic life:
a husband searching the fridge,
household frustration,
relatable family interaction,
and humor rooted in everyday behavior.
That made the advert psychologically accessible across:
race,
class,
and language groups.
Consumers saw themselves inside the scenario.
Socio-Economic Relevance
Middle-Class Household Culture
During the late apartheid and early post-apartheid years, South African households heavily valued:
practicality,
shared family consumption,
pantry economics,
and affordable comfort products.
Cremora positioned itself as:
a household staple,
an everyday necessity,
and an emotionally familiar product.
That mattered because economic uncertainty often strengthens attachment to comfort brands.
The Psychology Behind “On Top”
The slogan subtly reinforced product positioning:
milk products belong in the fridge,
premium creamers are associated with freshness,
but Cremora was so “rich” consumers assumed it should also be refrigerated.
The twist:
“It’s not inside, it’s on top” became memorable because it created surprise through contradiction.
That is classic cognitive advertising theory:
expectation,
interruption,
payoff,
memory retention.
Why It Became Culturally Immortal
Very few ads become part of national vocabulary.
Cremora achieved this because the slogan became reusable in ordinary life.
South Africans started saying:
“It’s on top” for:
misplaced objects,
jokes,
sarcasm,
and family humor.
That transition from advertising into public speech is one of the strongest indicators of deep brand penetration.
Even decades later, South Africans on Reddit still quote the slogan almost word-for-word and describe it as one of the country’s greatest adverts.
The Deeper Marketing Lesson
The Cremora campaign demonstrates that the strongest advertising often comes from:
simple scripting,
emotional familiarity,
repeatable language,
and cultural relatability.
Not high production budgets.
The campaign succeeded because it understood:
households first,
culture second,
product third.
That sequence is why the slogan survived generations.
Lesson Learned
One of the key lessons learned from assessing these types of projects is centric around the responsibility associated with messaging and campaign delivery , some campaigns only hold relevance for a short segment others are timeless but neither will be achieved without a team that’s integrated with more than just the data analytics but with the people behind the data.
