We love it when brands throw shade at one another, and with a new competitor having entered the local mobile market, we knew it was only a matter of time until someone went after Rain Mobile.

That someone is Cell C, with their new advert, When it doesn’t rain, we pour.

When Rain entered the market, they promised big things. Due in large part to a massive public response, they have since had to walk things back a little.

Details via MyBroadband:

Rain recently announced it will suspend the sale of its fixed-LTE products through partner ISPs, due to capacity constraints on its network…

“To ensure a continued great experience for all our customers, we have decided to suspend new sales of the fixed-wireless offering for the present time,” Rain CEO Willem Roos told MyBroadband.

Soon afterwards, Cell C launched its new Data Democracy fixed-LTE packages…and the company is now poking fun at Rain’s “patchy coverage” and its decision to suspend services.

I don’t want to sully your judgment before you take a look for yourself, so here is Cell C’s effort:

Right, now we just come out and say it – what an awful effort.

The concept works, with the weatherman and the ‘rain coverage’, but the execution is sorely lacking. The YouTube video’s top-ranked comments agree:

Same thing for the top comment on the MyBroadband story:

Cell C, if you’re going to try and throw shade, you’ll need to do better than this.

Oh, and if you want an example of how to make the kind of advert that South Africans will get behind, take a cue from Chicken Licken.

[source:mybroadband]