The Street Store Winter Campaign That Moved South Africa
This year's Street Store Winter Campaign, 'Clothes for Closure', delivered in more ways than one. Reframing donation as personal closure with the tagline: "Letting it go looks good on you", the campaign reached 30-million people, generating 1.4-million in media value, with 100% positive sentiment, says Georgia Lazarus, Marketing Intern at The UP&UP Group.
Founded in Cape Town in 2014 at M+C Saatchi Abel, part of The Up&Up Group, The Street Store is the world's first rent-free, premises-free, free pop-up clothing store for those in need.
The Winter campaign featured personified garments on posters with the lines "He ghosted you. His sweater didn't" and the Wardrobe Diaries radio series as well as Stitch & Tell digital series amplified the idea across broadcast and social media platforms.
Kicking off in March 2026, the campaign culminated on Saturday, 23 May in pop-up stores around the country, which M+C Saatchi Abel hosted in Cape Town and Johannesburg with longstanding partners, The Haven Night Shelter and The Salvation Army, respectively. While hundreds of people in need shopped with dignity at these two stores, thousands more were welcomed across the nine Street Stores hosted across the country.
Creative director, Julie Thorogood says, "We realised people weren't keeping their clothes, they were keeping excuses. The ex's hoodie. The jeans for a summer body that never arrived. The blazer for a career they're never going back to. By using humour instead of guilt, we helped people let go of the stories hiding in their wardrobes, and in doing so, gave those clothes a second life with someone who needed them more."
Marketing Director, Deborah Whitlock shared, "The campaign succeeded in capturing the attention of not just the public but corporate donors as well. In the end we received over 100 boxes of clothing which was phenomenal for our JHB and CT sites."
Kwezi Fuku, from the Eastern Cape, had been on the streets for seven months. This was his first Street Store experience. He knew exactly what he needed: a warm jacket, a good pair of jeans, and a "lekker pair of tekkies".
In light of the Cape Town winter, warm jackets were in short supply. Volunteers were moved to donate their own clothing. As Kwezi scanned the piles, Street Store patron, Mike Abel, noticed the limited selection, and handed his jacket to Kwezi, embodying the spirit of The Street Store.
"At The Street Store, everything is measured," says Whitlock. The number of people we clothe, the amount of distributed items, kilograms of clothing diverted from landfills — so we continuously learn, improve and evolve. That is why we also track the media and its reach effectiveness as much as possible."
Across March to May 2026, 54 total media placements delivered R1 478 844 in AVE and accrued a reach of over 30.9-million. KFM's, EB Inglis, reached 1.1-million listeners per clip across eight broadcasts; SABC News took the story nationally profiling the Bloemfontein Street Store; a Fast Company SA feature reached 5.7-million unique browsers.
Out of home advertising was valued at over R1.7-million, radio above R400 000 and print at R70 000. The pro-bono media strength of this campaign was over R2.2-million.
When the DNA of the organisation is about wasting nothing, and appreciating everything, it builds in a discipline around impact, both in lives and in effectiveness of thinking and working.
When Kwezi left The Haven Shelter Street Store that day, he carried more than just a warm jacket. Like hundreds of others who passed through The Street Store, he walked away with something equally important — a renewed sense of dignity and the hope for a better tomorrow.
More Articles
Advertising used to be a people and ideas business with computers attached. Now it's a business that runs entirely on digital infrastructure, and the ideas sit on top of it.
This year, Cannes felt different.
Maybe it was because, for the first time, I got to go up on stage and do a talk rather than simply sit in the audience and soak it all up. It was pretty nerve-racking, but also a massive honour, and a great opportunity to bring a still-underrepresented African perspective to Cannes.
The 2026 Fifa World Cup is fresh in our memories. Spain are world champions again and Bafana Bafana progressed to the knock-out rounds. In one of the standout moments, Norway knocked soccer royalty Brazil out of the tournament with a stunning 2-1 victory, courtesy of their Viking-like talisman striker.
The Street Store's recent collaboration with culture brand NarowBi at their flagship Party + Market event marked the launch of a new chapter of Clothes for Closure, with a new series of activations merging fashion, community, and sustainable giving lined up.
Every June, the advertising world orients itself around the resort city Cannes in France. The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is the industry’s most visible benchmark: tens of thousands of entries from nearly a hundred countries, a week of juries, stages and side conversations on the Croisette, and awards that still function as a shared language for what counts as excellent work in the world of advertising.
The Up&Up Group’s attention agency Connect came out tops at the Mark Awards 2026, scooping three major accolades, including the sought-after Gold award for Medium Agency of the Year.
.png)
There is a practical reason advertising agencies are using more AI. Clients want work to be done faster while budgets are under pressure. The volume keeps growing, and agencies are being asked to do more with less. Automation is an obvious response to trying to find efficiencies.
The Up&Up Group is opening applications for its 2027 LevelUp Graduate Programme, a 12-month, full-time programme created to give emerging talent meaningful, hands-on experience across the advertising, marketing and communications industry.
Marvin Kgasoane, Chief Client Officer at Connect, discusses how hybrid planners are shaping the future.
Back from Cannes Lions 2026, Jacques Burger offers his view on the experience after appearing on stage to unpack how Africans do creativity.
Jason Harrison, COO of The Up&Up Group, joins TechCentral’s TCS+ to discuss the hidden costs of enterprise AI adoption, from governance and integration to legal risk, cloud spend and environmental impact. He argues that businesses should move beyond hype-driven investment and adopt a practical test-and-learn approach to building AI systems that are useful, responsible and scalable.
Connect, part of The Up&Up Group, has secured the exclusive African rights to AttentionAI, Amplified’s new predictive attention product. The partnership gives African brands and agencies access to AI-powered attention data that can predict how audiences are likely to engage with creative before campaigns go live.
Connect COO Scott Reinders will join Dr Karen Nelson-Field, Google’s Carl Wåreus and host Alex Brownsell on the WARC Podcast at Cannes Lions to discuss how attention is becoming a strategic planning input for marketers. The conversation will explore how attention-led planning can strengthen memory, brand authority and future visibility in AI-driven discovery environments.
For decades, marketing was seen as the primary driver of business growth and influence. That made sense in a world where brands could define themselves through campaigns and buy attention at scale through a limited number of channels.
The Up&Up Group is excited and honoured to be represented on the official agenda at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
In the pursuit of certainty, we’ve engineered out emotion — and with it, a significant part of effectiveness.
We’ve taken an approach to AI by not losing focus of what makes The Up&Up Group successful, but by finding real, tangible ways this new tech can complement what we do.
.jpg)
Take a moment to imagine this scenario: A prominent South African CEO starts each day the same way, by dropping her children off at school and then stopping to grab a coffee on her way to the office. She chooses to have her coffee the same way every morning: No sugar, almond milk, says Kathryn McKay, Chief Creative Officer at Black & White, part of The Up&Up Group.
We’re spending more than ever to win attention - and getting less in return. Mike Abel argues that the real crisis in modern media isn’t reach, data, or technology, but a growing disconnect from the humans on the other side of the impression. In this talk, he challenges the obsession with volume and optimisation, exposes why attention without resonance is a waste, and makes the case for creativity as the last true differentiator. Drawing on lived leadership experience and real-world work, Mike calls for a shift from renting short term attention to earning connection - with the courage to say something worth hearing.
Africa's gaming market reached the $1 billion mark in 2024. This positive reception has allowed more streamers and gamers on the continent to continue to create and develop in this emerging industry.
.png)
Content marketing agency 2Stories has been named Best Medium-Sized Agency of the Year at the 2025 International Content Marketing Awards (ICMAs) in London, earning international recognition in its first year entering the global awards programme.
Robin Scher, content director at Razor PR on the incentives shaping today’s platforms and how they are quietly rewriting the rules of trust
As we look forward to a new year filled with opportunity, we look back at the marketing and media industry highlights for the year that was, and our guests discuss industry expectations for 2026.
The strongest defence against AI or any other tech, has never been production or process. It’s relationships.
From credit upgrades to stable governance, early signs of lasting recovery show South Africa finally moving in the right direction.
As Black Friday nears, digital spaces are bracing for a surge of deals and promos. But amid the frenzy, most of this content risks becoming digital waste — clutter that drains budgets, attention, and brand value without creating real impact.
Leaders who invest in original thinking today will gain more of tomorrow’s markets
Women's influence in marketing cannot go unnoticed as more and more women take up leadership positions in the marketing and advertising industry. In addition, women are the majority decision makers and influencers when it comes to household purchases. We explore the depth of this influence.
An increasingly challenging and competitive business environment demands a fresh B2B marketing perspective.
The campaign, created with M+C Saatchi Abel, aims to inspire South Africans to intentionally find time for moments of togetherness that matter
Life Healthcare, one of South Africa's private hospital groups, has appointed 2Stories to lead their integrated, patient-first communications strategy. The scope of work spans content-led initiatives, community building, stakeholder engagement, internal communications and proactive media relations across the Life Healthcare Group.
.jpeg)
Picture the scene: It is late in the evening on 11 March 2000. Food in abundance and a buzz in the living room boils to a crescendo as Vuyani Bungu is about to face off against the extreme “Prince” Naseem Hamed in London. It’s hushed tones as the South African enters the ring, followed by cheering and shadow boxing, urging the local hero to make the country proud.
Agencies should accept chaos as normal, and should design strategies to deal with it and make them stronger and resilient.
The Up&Up Group has announced the launch of its 2026 LevelUp Grad Programme.
.png)
85% of digital marketing spend is wasted, according to world-renowned media scientist Dr Karen Nelson-Field.
This report reveals exactly what has, and hasn’t, changed in the lives of consumers since the pandemic.
.webp)
Let’s embrace the ethos of sharing and collaboration
South Africans need to dig deep, plant wisely and nurture carefully
PR is no longer just about professional PR, it is about a deeply embedded and strategic communications function that both promotes and protects brands and reputations - exactly what Razor PR set out to do when it opened its doors in 2020.
Brands would do well to fundamentally reconstruct their engagement strategies from ‘demographic targeting’ to understanding and engaging with passion communities
Levergy has achieved the distinction for the second consecutive year after winning the Adaptability Award in 2021
There’s never been a better time to invest in SA
The Up&Up Group has acquired a strategic stake in content marketing agency 2Stories.
