Louise Marsland (@Louise_Marsland)’s weekly pick of recent product, packaging and design launches:
- A safe and green new probiotic-based range in household cleaners;
- Mxit cashes in at the till; and
- Kiehl’s gets in on the action.
New eco-friendly household range
Here’s an exciting new launch in South Africa — a new probiotic range of cleaning products from Probio that is all-natural and biodegradable (and apparently safe to drink, too, should you ever want to!)
The South African developer and producer of probiotic-based chemical alternatives has added three new products, combining probiotic technology with natural herbal extracts, to its household range: Floor Clean; Kitchen Clean; and Bathroom Clean.
It is claimed that these products are extremely effective and environmentally friendly, containing no hazardous ingredients and causing absolutely no harm to humans, animals or plants. The spray-and-wipe products are also meant to be easy and convenient to use.
Probio’s special, natural formula makes its products semi-translucent and colourless, so that neither staining nor tinting should occur while you clean. The natural herbal-extract fragrances are also said to have their own health benefits and therapeutic qualities, “filling your home with soothing scents like lemon, rose and citrus”.
Well, I’m sold!
Apt Ackermans
Mxit is increasingly becoming a major brand player in the retail market, with major retailers embarking on campaigns with SA’s independent mobile social network.
Ackermans has used Mxit to drive consumers to its brand app, which resulted in 178 594 consumers interacting with it. The target market was expectant parents in the LSM 6-8 categories.
The Baby Info messaging, carrying the “sponsored by Ackermans banner”, drove users from within Baby Info to the retailer’s brand app, where users could engage with the Ackermans content.
The campaign demonstrates how Mxit content sponsorship allows advertisers to associate brands with well-established Mxit apps and content and, when used in conjunction with Mxit advertising platforms, facilitates direct-response marketing in high-traffic properties.
Comments Andrew Kramer, Mxit VP sales: “The Ackermans Baby Info sponsorship campaign was extremely well-received, clearly resonating with the targeted Mxit userbase. The sponsorship banner generated significant traffic to the Ackermans app, with the key to effectiveness being that our users specifically choose to engage with the brand placed in their Mxit space, based on relevance.”
Extreme Kiehl’s
US skincare brand, Kiehl’s — which operates from stores within Edgars in SA — has appointed two SA women in extreme sport as its brand ambassadors.
While it is a global skin care brand, the brand is also well-known for embracing passion for life and interests in adventure sports through the Morse founding family, which had owned the brand since the 1800s until it was sold to L’Oreal in 2000.
The new brand partnership with Clare Vale, SA’s “First Lady of Racing”, and young motocross racer, Nokuthula Radebe, is meant to enable Kiehl’s to reach the youth market and encourage them to fulfil their full potential.
The intention is for Vale and Radebe to spend time with young girls and boys and their families through various CSI projects in which the brand is active, interacting on issues around gender stereotyping and how to encourage each other to reach her or his full potential, no matter how far removed from tradition it may be.
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. She currently edits the weekly Wednesday Media & Marketing Page for The New Age newspaper and is the publishing editor of industry trendwatching portal, TRENDAFRiCA, for consumer insight, research and trends in Africa.
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