About Words From Power
Strategy driven copy
Words from Power is an entity by Mandla Phakathi. I specialise in developing copy-driven creative strategies that resonate with South African audiences. My approach ensures your brand's message is not only heard but also felt, creating deeper connections with customers that yield long-lasting returns.
Agency & Brand Partners
Flash Group: 2024 - Present
Summary
Custodian of copy for Flash. Leading conceptual thinking to make the brand relevant across social media. Using social media to educate traders about how our machine helps them sell more while making their customers aware of the abundance they get at Flash shops.
Think fast. Think Flash.
When launching the latest Flash device we sought to solve one of traders' main issues - speed - by giving them our fastest device yet. We created an entertaining campaign that sought to show how fast our machine is using relatable scenarios that talk about speed in a way that's uniquely South African.
Checkers Sixty60: 2023 - 2024
Summary
Brought in to be the brand custodian of all copy. Elevated the brand's social media presence by creating culturally in-tune content that grew their social media following and engagement exponentially.
Bring it home
The 'Bring it home' campaign galvanised retail and sports in support of the Springbok's quest to retain the 2023 World Cup. Just like the Boks, our campaign brought home some trophies.
King James Group: 2021 - 2023
Summary
Created social first campaign concepts as part of the Social Team. Building and rolling out relatable content strategies that brought brand personas to life by making our brands show up on social media as if they were just one of the friends you follow.
Social concepts
Worked on content for TymeBank, Engen and Sanlam. Creating award-winning content across all three brands - including Bookmarks and a Silver Loerie.
99 Cents: 2018 - 2021
Summary
Spent the majority of my time at 99 Cents working on the Shoprite brand where I learned the ins and outs of the retail industry while conceptualising and rolling out 360° campaigns.
360° campaign concepts
Turned cultural insights into relatable campaigns that were rolled out across television, radio, print and social media for key brand occassions like Christmas, Easter, Black Friday etc.
Awards my words have won
Social Media campaigns & content
Tactical
Relatable always on
I'm always seeking out interesting ways share branded messaging. In my time at Checkers Sixty60 we built our social community from under 10K on Instagram to over 30K in less than a year. By creating content that bridged the gap between our audience's experiences and their use of our delivery service - as depicted in this visual.
Relatable always on
Relatable always on
While I was at King James we were tasked with bringing Engen to life on socials and we started by tapping into everyday conversations around their key product - petrol. Creating a platform for discussions the audience was already having with the much loved Petroleum brand at the center of it - in a way that hadn't been done before.
Digital campaigns
The Gauteng Film Commission approached us looking for a way to advertise Gauteng as the filmmaking destination of choice.
We conceptualised the 'Discover Gauteng' campaign - highlighting the filmmaking treasure that lies in the city of Gold.
Sharing nuggets to inspire the youth to enter the filmmaking space through 'As'hlangane khoneni'. Taking film workshops to townships across the country. Bringing all these campaign elements into one space with the annual Discover Gauteng Summit where the young filmmakers get to learn from their experienced idols.
Trendy
Scriptwriting
The beauty of conceptual content is that it can live on any platform. That's what excited me when we took on the task of setting up TymeBank's TikTok account. We proactively produced TikToks to get the client to buy into setting up the account and hit a million views within the first week.
Educational
Scriptwriting
Scriptwriting
How do you tell your community that you recycle their bags? By telling them it's what every other customer's doing through a current social media trend. That's how we got more Checkers Sixty60 customers to give their bags to our drivers to get them recycled
Scriptwriting
Scriptwriting
Scriptwriting
The Flash Group offers many products and services to merchants and their customers - but most only know about airtime, data & electricity. We created the "MOOORE than you expected" campaign to educate them about the vastness of Flash's offering in a uniquely South African way.
Brands my words have touched
Get in touch
Need words?
Send me a message and I'll share mine with you!
