by Thinus Ferreira
National Geographic (DStv 181) held a programming upfront for content over the next few months, as well as a documentary film screening for Endurance, on Wednesday in Johannesburg.
The content preview and Endurance screening was done in the form of a brand immersion event. Guests had to get seven stamps on a card from visiting various booths and completing tasks and activities.
The Carte Blanche presenter Masa Kekana who had visited Antarctica was the MC, with Tracy-Ann van Rooyen, senior manager of programming and scheduling at The Walt Disney Company Africa, who took attendees through the National Geographic programming highlights between now and March 2025.
Attendees watched Endurance, a documentary film about the discovery in 2022 of the Endurance - the ship of Sir Ernest Shackelton that sank in Antarctica in 1915 and what happened to the crew.
In keeping with this theme the National Geographic venue was set up with the help of a cooler temperature, plush white couches and fog from a smoke machine to create the ambience of a white Antarctic landscape.
The Endurance directors Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin; marine archaeologist and director of exploration, Mensun Bound, as well as executive producer Dan Snow recorded a special video message.
