Louise Marsland (@Louise_Marsland)’s weekly pick of recent product, packaging and design launches:
- Willowton spreads its brand footprint
- new vintages from Glenelly
- cheers from Drostdy Hof this winter, and
- new commuter ad options in Cape Town.
Spreading the marge market
Willowton, best known for its Sunfoil sunflower cooking oil, has launched another brand into the spreads category with its Sunfoil brick margarine.
Sunfoil cooking oil is a 40-year-old South African brand from Willowton, which also produces Nuvolite, Sunshine D and D’lite spreads. The Willowton Group is described as having become South Africa’s largest sunflower seed crusher and a leading FMCG competitor.
The new Sunfoil margarine is touted as ideal for baking, frying, spreading, melting and use in sauces. It is packaged in the red and gold of the Sunfoil brand and comes in 500g and 1kg bricks. It includes vitamins A, D and E.
According to Shoaib Moosa, Willowton Group director of sales and marketing, the rollout of the new product began in March 2014 and would continue with in-store promotions, giveaways and 30g sample sachets.
Glenelly releases 2013 whites
Glenelly, the Stellenbosch wine estate with a French flavour, has released the latest vintages of its two different styles of Chardonnay: Glenelly Grand Vin Chardonnay 2013 and Glenelly Glass Collection Chardonnay 2013.
Glenelly Grand Vin Chardonnay 2013 is described as “an elegant yet opulent wooded Chardonnay made in a complex mineral style with lots of lemon zest for freshness” with a “bright crisp colour”; and Glenelly Glass Collection Chardonnay 2013 as “unoaked and lively and packaged with screwcap closure to preserve the fresh citrus notes” and with a slight green hue. There are also hints of toasted almond and vanilla and perky citrus in the Grand Vin Chardonnay!
Wine brand descriptors are always so evocative and, according to Glenelly winemaker, Luke O’Cuinneagain, “The 2013 harvest at Glenelly produced wines of distinction, with great balance and complex aromatics.”
The Glenelly Grand Vin Chardonnay 2013 retails nationally for approximately R140 and the Glenelly Glass Collection Chardonnay 2013 retails nationally for around R65.
Atlantis bus route open for business
In addition to the current MyCiTi media offering, which includes commuter shelters and bus advertising on all routes that make up the Bus Rapid Transport network in Cape Town, Provantage Media Group can now offer advertising on MyCiTi buses travelling along the new Atlantis Route.
The new addition also means that Provantage Media Group can now offer advertisers various branding platforms along the route including bus backs, interior panels, exterior panels and commuter shelters.
“Buses and commuter shelters are hardworking advertising platforms in that they expose brands to consumers for many hours each day. Furthermore, because they are exposed to the same consumers each day, the platforms stimulate high brand recall and positive brand resonance,” says Skhumbuzo Nkosi, director at Provantage Media Group.
Winter warmers
The Drostdy-Hof commercial relishes the rain, the snow and even ice, because of their impact on the mountain streams in the Winelands. Once the weather warms, the crystal clear water feeds the vineyards.
To make the point, locals living close to De Oude Drostdy, home of Drostdy Hof wines in Tulbagh, are shown battling to push a car out of the snow, struggling to dig through the layer of ice covering the soil, and finding their clothes frozen stiff on the washing line.
Local personalities from the area were used in the commercial, which was shot in Tulbagh.
The cold also tells another story, explains global marketing manager for the brand, Deidre Samson: “The winter cold encourages the vines and the fruit trees to go into proper dormancy, conserving their energy before they go into their next cycle of growth. It’s also good for flavour development in the ripening fruits.”
The commercial was shot by Bester Burke Slingers, which closes shop end-July.
Shelf Life is a weekly column by Louise Marsland 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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