How Humor is Transforming Estate Planning in South Africa
Many financial services firms speak at their clients. In contrast, Capital Legacy opted to bring smiles, thereby transforming an entire industry.
Since 2012, Capital Legacy has committed to encouraging more South Africans to create valid wills. They accomplish this not by scolding or instilling fear, but by embracing an approach nearly unheard of in finance: true entertainment.
The outcome? A topic that was rarely discussed is now one that South Africans are genuinely engaging with.
Transforming an industry steeped in discomfort
The wills and estate planning sector has long depended on one emotion to drive action: fear. Somber consultants. Gloomy visuals. Uninspired, indistinct, and largely ignored.
Like many, South Africans would prefer to chat about the weather, weekends, sports, or AI’s future rather than sit down to draft their wills.
Discussing death is uncomfortable. So, the industry kept shouting into the void, leaving most South Africans without wills.
Capital Legacy chose to challenge this norm, favoring humor over dread.
Marketing that resonates
The 2025 Capital Legacy Awkward Positions campaign was anything but typical financial services advertising.
It resembled something you’d share with a friend. By embracing quirky yet relatable scenarios that reflect life’s unpredictability, it sparked conversations—not through fear, but through laughter.
This year, the Awkward Positions idea evolves into Awkward Last Words: those casual phrases uttered just before chaos ensues.
“It’ll be fine.”
“What does this button do?”
“Electricians are too pricey; I’ll handle it myself.”
We all know someone who says such things. We laugh, until we realize these narratives sometimes conclude not with humor, but with sorrow.
The transition from amusement to the realization that ‘I really should get my will in order’ is where Capital Legacy has established its brand voice.
The impact underpinning the mission
This initiative goes beyond clever marketing; it’s about genuine results.
Capital Legacy recently examined over 1,700 deceased estates managed within a year: 61% of estates with minor children were single-parent estates; 45% contained property.
These represent real families who could have faced genuine turmoil—administrative delays, uncertainty in appointing guardians for children, unnecessary expenses, emotional distress—if valid wills hadn’t been established.
Ultimately, every Capital Legacy campaign aims to ease the burden for those left behind in cases like these.
Expanding the industry, not just the brand
What distinguishes Capital Legacy’s approach from conventional marketing strategies is not solely competing for market share, but actively growing the wills category in South Africa, making the idea of having a will more mainstream, accessible, and honestly less uncomfortable to discuss.
When more South Africans possess wills, everyone benefits.
Families are safeguarded, estates are efficiently settled, and the industry evolves and matures.
Not merely standing out in a saturated market but expanding the market itself.
That’s the essence of disruption.
The most awkward legacy to leave
There are no last words that can safeguard your family; only a will can do that.
The most awkward situation you can impose on your loved ones isn’t an embarrassing tale, but passing away without a will.
Capital Legacy is dedicated to ensuring that fewer South African families learn this lesson the hard way.
And they achieve this by first making you smile.
Grant Fietze is the head of group marketing at Capital Legacy.