Louise Marsland (@Louise_Marsland)’s weekly pick of recent product, packaging and design launches:
- Peppadew’s saucy new products
- Stimorol’s Berry mystery music affair
- Red Pixel’s 3D windows for malls, and
- Joe Public’s coolest campaign activation to date!
Peppadew picks a pickled pasta
Finally, the Peppadew brand has branched out and launched a range of pasta sauces in addition to the pickled peppers that have made it famous globally. The brand has led the pickle category in South Africa for several years after Peppadew International bottled and marketed the piquanté peppers, as well as a relish and a splash-on sauce, under the Peppadew brand name.
According to Peppadew brand manager, Laurian Ovens, research drove the recent brand extensions. “Added to these insights was the fact that our existing Peppadew products would sit very easily with a pasta sauce range, making it a logical progression for the Peppadew brand. We’re not messing with the history of the great pasta sauce.”
Peppadew products are described as containing no artificial colourants or preservatives. The pasta sauce range has a shelf life of a year and comes in: Piquanté Pepper and Garlic; Piquanté Pepper and Olive; Green Pepper and Garlic; Tomato and Basil; and Tomato and Jalapeno Chilli.
Stimorol has a secret
Stimorol has launched a limited-edition new chewing variant to promote a special experience for its brand fans. The Berry Party Chewing Gum is all about bringing a music experience to Stimorol fans.
The on-pack promotion is offering South Africans an opportunity to be part of the ‘See What Unfolds Music Experience’, which will feature as-yet unnamed South African music acts and a surprise international artist on the same stage.
The secret artists will only be revealed closer to the time AND, adding to the magical mystery music event, fans can only get tickets by SMSing the last four digits of the barcode on the Berry Party pack to win prizes and double tickets to the hush-hush music experience.
This cool campaign will be supported by in-store promotions, radio and TV ads, plus social media (follow the conversation on Mxit, Facebook and Twitter). The new flavour and brand activation was also sent to media this week, accompanied by a cute little ‘mirror ball’ — I’m such a sucker for branded desk crap!
Malls cover up
Primedia Lifestyle Group’s creative studio, Red Pixel, has created 3D vinyl window displays for malls to use as an impactful visual communication tool. The three-dimensional artwork illustrates a complete shop in a space that would traditionally be empty, thereby completing the entire visual picture of what the mall would look like.
Explains Red Pixel creative director, Stuart Hill: “They can be used to communicate coming tenants while the store is undergoing its shop-fitting, or purely to enhance the shopping environment. The empty space can also be used as an additional advertising space to generate revenue for the mall. “One thing is for sure — they have far more visual appeal than the usual window paper that is typically used to advertise vacant stores,” he quips.
The coolest campaign
Joe Public just launched the coolest brand activation ever — literally!
The Nedbank supersize ice bed, set up at Melrose Arch in Johannesburg last week, launched the 2014 Nedbank Winter Campaign to encourage the donation of blankets to the less fortunate. The ice bed drew a few celebs who were made to ‘chill out’ on the bed until their followers tweeted the hashtag #WinterWarmer.
Nedbank has invested R3.2 million into the campaign in the last five years, which means 16 500 blankets have been donated to about 36 000 people to date. Johannesburg Child Welfare and Ithlokomeleng Old Age Home received blankets during the event last week.
“The ice bed sculpture is a two-ton creative opportunity to raise awareness and talkability about those who don’t have the privilege of keeping warm in winter. With the sculpture representing a physical exaggeration of a ‘cold bed’, we really pushed to bring the campaign idea to life this year,” says Adam Weber, executive creative director, Joe Public.
Anyone can contribute R20 towards the blanket drive by SMSing the word ‘winter’ to 40017, or donating a minimum of R100 to Nedbank Savings Account: 2001120915, using ‘Winter’ as the reference.
Shelf Life by Louise Marsland is a weekly column on MarkLives. Tweet new product, packaging and design launches to @louise_marsland or email her at louise.marsland at gmail.com. Want to sponsor Shelf Life? Contact us here.
Louise has written about the FMCG, media, marketing and advertising industry for 19 of her more-than-25-year career as a former editor of magazines AdVantage, Marketing Mix and Progressive Retailing, as well as websites Bizcommunity.com and FMCGFiles. Until its cancellation, she edited the weekly Wednesday Media & Marketing Page for The New Age newspaper. She is currently the publishing editor of industry trendwatching portal, TRENDAFRiCA, for consumer insight, research and trends in Africa.
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