As honours students in Marketing Management at UP in 2015, Mieke Bruins and Stephan du Plessis have been working on an integrated marketing communication strategy for the Gautrain Management Agency throughout the year. They share their experience of the brand and the high standards it adheres to, as well as the great and exciting challenge they recently faced:

“As soon as we were invited to the ‘Gautrain’s Amazing Transport Race’ on 13 October 2015 we absolutely had to accept. We could not contain our excitement as we both knew that, with the Gautrain orchestrating this day, it would be nothing short of spectacular. 

We jumped on the 07:30 Gautrain from Hatfield Station, heading for the Gautrain offices in Midrand; our competitive spirits were brewing and our strategising had already begun. 

Arriving at the offices, we were impressed at how well organised everything was. Nevil Nobin, from Gautrain greeted us immediately, and we were sent to a table to ‘brand-up’ with Gautrain caps, t-shirts and string bags. We were also given some refreshments to keep us going throughout the day, blissfully unaware of just how much that chocolate bar would be needed for some extra ‘go’ as the day went on. 

Watching the Gautrain staff buzzing as they chatted about highlights from previous year’s races, our thoughts that this was going to be an ‘amazing’ race were reaffirmed. 

We were briefed by Gautrain personnel and it was made clear that we were only allowed to use public transport in the race: the Gautrain, Gautrain buses, minibus taxis, Areyeng and Rea Viya buses. We were each given a loaded Gold Card for the Gautrain and Gautrain buses and R50 for any additional transportation. Our team – just one team out of 35 teams each team consisting of two members – was labelled 7C, and so the race began. 

The first clue sent us racing off at a stellar pace to catch the Gautrain to Pretoria – we had to make our way to Rockefeller restaurant. We managed to board the Gautrain just as it was about to leave the Midrand Station, leaving some teams stranded behind on the platform. For us and six other teams, making this train meant a 20 minute head start as the rest of the contestants had no other option than to wait for the next train to depart.

Catching our breath on the train, we planned our route from Pretoria Station to Rockerfellas restaurant.  As the train doors opened, we burst out running, with only one goal in mind: reaching the restaurant and getting the next clue. 

Clue in hand, we raced back to the Pretoria Station, reading it as we ran. The next clue would be waiting for us at Aurelia restaurant at Emperors Palace. We travelled from Pretoria Station to Marlboro Station, switching trains to take us to Rhodesfield Station, and finally a Gautrain bus to Emperors Palace. We had significant time to plan our next move while travelling. There were about six teams travelling with us at this point, and we knew our only advantage would be knowing where to go when we arrived at our destination. While travelling, we made some calls to Emperors Palace and found out that the restaurant was in the Peermont D'oreale Grande and in fact not in the main casino section of Emperors Palace. As soon as the bus stopped, other teams sprinted into Emperors Palace and we raced off in the opposite direction towards the hotel. We were the first team to arrive, so in addition to our next clue, we each received a prize and were strapped with camera equipment.

The next clue directed us to a hotel with a “grey striped façade” and we were given a tip-off that it was in Emperors Palace. Another team joined us to work together to solve this clue. Frantic and growing distressed, we spent about an hour rushing between the hotels at Emperors Palace, still not finding the next clue. Eventually we decided to give up looking for the hotel at Emperors Palace and turned to Google, which we probably should have done sooner instead of following a “tip-off”, as we discovered a hotel matching the description in Rosebank. We were slightly disappointed by the realisation that we had given up our incredible lead, but fortunately our competitive natures would not let us give up. Full of enthusiasm, we started to race back to Rhodesfield Station.

The ±5km back to the station seemed insignificant when compared to the 40 minute bus wait, so off we went down the road, feeling weighed down by the cameras that were still strapped to us. Luckily a minibus taxi was passing by, which we managed to flag down. The taxi driver was happy to take us to the Rhodesfield Station for a mere R7 each. We jumped on the Gautrain heading for Rosebank Station and were quite relieved to realise that we had caught up with some other teams.

From the Holiday Inn in Rosebank, we headed off to Bally Oaks Office Park in Bryanston, where we had to answer some questions at Experian before we were given our next clue, which sent us off to the Balalaika Hotel in Sandton. We chatted with the ten-or-so other participants that were travelling with us and since we were not in the lead, the atmosphere was a lot less tense. However, even though we knew we would not win, our competitive natures did not subside, and were fuelled by the challenge of, if not being first out of everyone, at least we could still be first to find the next clue out of the teams that were still travelling with us. This made for some fun competition between these teams.   

As we raced back to the Sandton Station from the Balalaika Hotel, we knew we were heading back to Midrand, and this was our final stretch, the last push to the end. Once at the Gautrain Midrand offices, we forwent the elevator and tried to make up some time by hurdling up the stairs. As we entered the debriefing room, we were greeted by a loud cheer from all the teams that had arrived before us. 

Even though we did not win the overall prize, we still felt like winners. We gave it our all throughout the entire day and felt privileged to be part of this great initiative and experience the electric camaraderie between the Gautrain employees. The Gautrain staff planned the day impeccably, they had thought of every little detail. We can say in absolute terms that this day was nothing short of incredible and ended our year’s journey with the Gautrain on the highest possible note.”

Click here for the gallery.

View the short video of the two Marketing Management students at various points throughout the day.