TOYOTA South Africa and its long-standing ad agency partner, FCB Jo’burg, organised to create a beaded billboard.
The billboard helped Woza Moya thank Corolla owners for the role they played in making the Toyota brand a success.
In Zulu culture, love letters are traditionally crafted out of beadwork by women. Each is a work of art and totally unique. This truly South African declaration of love seemed like a fitting way to celebrate South Africa’s most loved car.
Probably one of the world’s largest beaded creations, the Corolla billboard was unveiled on 17 September on the M1 De Villiers Graaff Highway, after Crown Interchange but before Booysens Interchange.
The beaded Heritage Day billboard comes down on 16 October.
In Africa, beads have served as jewellery, pieces of art, haute couture and royal regalia as far back as 12 000 years ago.
The beaded billboard measures 12m by 9m, weighs over 1 ton and is made up of over 138 000 individual beads sewn together by 350 women at Woza Moya.
Woza Moya is the economic empowerment project of the Hillcrest Aids Centre Trust in KwaZulu-Natal, the province where Toyota SA has manufactured the Corolla since 1972.
In addition to the billboard, the crafters also beaded 7500 individual love letters for new Corolla buyers and Toyota staff.
Glenn Crompton, vice-president of marketing at Toyota SA, said: “Our partnership with Woza Moya has been amazing.”
