You Make Joburg Great

When I first heard about You Make Joburg Great (YMJG) on Facebook, it struck me as an interesting and interactive concept. We took a moment to chat to Dean who is know as the brains behind it.

What inspired YMJG?

Several reasons really. While Cape Town and other international cities have several obvious assets that make them desirable destinations, Joburg falls a bit short. If you asked Joburg residents why they lived in Joburg or what made it great, the answers would be varied. Capetonians will tell anyone how beautiful their city is, New York owns the famous I ♥ NY but Joburgers don’t own anything to be proud of. We wanted to change that as while we couldn’t put our finger on it, we knew Joburg had to have something special, it’s the reason we all choose to live here. We searched for the reason and found the answer to be incredibly simple but amazing, the people.

When did you guys start?

We thought of the idea of You Make Joburg Great about 8 months ago but it took a bit of time to work out how to communicate it. We involved our entire agency (PenQuin International) and got cracking. The one thing we realized is – this needs to be communicated from one person to another. So we created cardboard signs, T-Shirts, email footers, banners, stickers, stamps and even changed our voicemails to say You Make Joburg Great and we took the iniative to every event we could think of in Joburg. The first was Joburg Day on 5th October where we took photos of members of the crowd holding the YMJG signs and were able to introduce the initiative to celebrities like Jeremy Mansfield who have since been hugely supportive. We also started the facebook group at that point where we posted all the photos we took from Joburg Day and all other events.

Where else is the community besides Facebook?

As the initiative is social in nature, social media is an obvious avenue for us. We are now have a facebook group with over 5000 members, a fan page with about 1300 fans, we have a stream on twitter under #ymjg, we have a blog and if you search for “You make Joburg Great” on youtube, we have a video of everything we have done so far. We also have a very strong community of people on the ground that have assisted at events and have given out 5000 T-Shirts to residents around Joburg.

What are you planning to do once you have built the community?

The communities need to own it. We didn’t do this for us, it’s for Joburg. We started the ball rolling for something that residents can own. Hopefully they do just that!

How can others get involved in this cause, as there are many other people whom I think want to support such a cause?

We encourage anyone who lives in, or just loves, Joburg to become an ambassador for YMJG. They can contact me on deano@penquin.co.za and come pick up t-shirts, stickers and signs and use them at events or around town. Alternatively, spread the love. Send the video to friends and colleagues or join the facebook fan page. Tell a few people they make Joburg Great!

Are you planning to venture out to other cities or collaborate with people elsewhere around the country to spread the idea?

To be honest, not really. Joburg is our home and it is the city we love. If we can change the international view of Joburg, the whole country will benefit.

In one sentence, what have you realized is the common thread that makes South Africans great since the launch of your cause?

We tend to overuse the word vibrant but that’s exactly what we are together with passionate, friendly and awesome!
You can find the ‘You Make Joburg Great’ facebook group here and also follow them on Twitter.