Louise Marsland (@Louise_Marsland)’s weekly pick of recent product, packaging, design and food launches:
- 330-year-old Boschendal brand refreshes
- Nando’s goes uptown, and
- Momentum’s foray into fashion.
Vintage Boschendal brand repositions
The Boschendal farm estate, established in 1685, has also renovated its 200-year-old farm cottages for guests; opened a conference centre, the Olive Press; and refurbished its restaurant, The Werf, which will reopen in time for the Easter weekend. All this is in line with a return to its heritage roots… “slow living”.
The brand is being repositioned as “wholesome, accessible” with a history and heritage that will also appeal to a younger South African consumer — the sought-after millennials.
“For over 300 years, our winemakers and cellar masters have passed on their secrets to creating great wine, from generation to generation. This new positioning aims to capture that sense of history, but for today’s generation of wine drinkers… [the new generation] that we don’t think many brands speak to right now.
“Millennials like to experiment; they like brands that tie in with their lifestyle; it is more about the values of the brand. The wine category can be intimidating, so we are trying to show them a brand that is true to its origins, is really accessible and has a history.”
TinFish Advertising creative director, Shaun McCormack, adds that the campaign is meant to articulate the value of things with age with a quality and style. “[It] seeks to blow the dust off a venerable South African brand and generate a reappraisal of Boschendal by the new generation of wine drinkers. The fit with their fascination with all things vintage, and everything that that represents, is perfect. Nostalgic, yes. A time when things were made by art, not by marketing.
“But, ultimately, it’s fundamentally an issue of quality. Quality of design, quality of materials, quality of craft and quality of spirit are as relevant now as they always were. The best measure of greatness is time.”
The new TVC and print campaign are supported by in-store elements, trade presenters and digital extensions.
Take a seat with Nando’s
The space, which is colourful, quirky and textured, means to use comfort as the driver to help convert traditional takeaway customers into restaurant patrons.
“Blackheath is Nando’s first experiment with dissolving takeaway into sit-down and our challenge was to spread Nando’s renowned spirit of generosity while creating a new experience for consumers,” says Callie van der Merwe, Design Partnership CEO.
“We love that Nando’s as a brand is willing to tinker and play around with traditional wisdom; we love that it is happy to challenge traditional thinking; and we are thrilled that they have entrusted us to partner with them to bring their new vision to life.”
One of the drivers for the design of the store includes growing the site as a trial model to roll it out into other centres, also with the aim to increase the share of wallet and returns for the store.
According to Yatish Narsi, Design Partnership’s creative lead, the agency completely has reimagined the take-away experience and blurred the lines between the takeaway and sit-down areas: “We started with the exterior and ‘Nandoed’ the entire façade, rather than simply placing a standard sign, so immediately consumers are aware that this is a Nando’s.”
The design has been further modified to suit the new desired operational requirements, with a host introduced to greet customers and direct them to either takeaway or seated service. A new ‘to go’ bar concept has been introduced, serving complimentary spiced nuts in comfort rather than having customers wait in a queue.
Integral to the design is the patterning and weaving in local furniture and treatments to ensure a strong Nando’s flavour throughout — from chilli plants above the counter to the coloured timber floors, ombre chairs, loose bunks and special new tables (with special built-in handbag hooks).
Be Seen or be dead
In an effort to combat road deaths in South Africa, of which a significant number are pedestrians each year, short-term insurer Momentum initiated a new campaign, ‘Be Seen on the safe side’, at the recent high-profile SA Fashion Week, in order to provide reflective clothing to selected schools and solar lighting in needy communities.
The campaign aims to “measurably and sustainably impact the safety of South Africans in the places they live, work and shop by making them more visible,” says Momentum CEO, Brand Pretorius.
Momentum has partnered with fashion entrepreneur, Craig Jacobs, to bring “to light” the idea of being seen and safe through the reflective apparel, which is fashionable, too. The reflective gear will be available from September in store, but Momentum will be donating the ‘Be Seen’ clothing range to learners of selected schools in communities that should benefit from being more visible when commuting by foot.
The brand has also initiated a social nomination campaign whereby people can highlight notably unsafe locations in need of “being seen to alleviate unnecessary tragedies”. This will include the provision of solar lighting for communities with minimal public lighting and the like.
A recent global road safety report by the International Transport Forum shows SA to be the worst out of 36 countries when it comes to road fatalities. According to Arrive Alive, 35-40% of road deaths in South Africa are pedestrians.
This same report also estimates that the economic impact of these road crashes equates to a strain on the national economy of hundreds of billions of rands. “In the insurance sector, these road deaths and car accidents become a drain, and it is up to us and all South Africans to bring these numbers down,” says Pretorius.
Head of marketing at Momentum, Marius Lock, adds that, to really make a difference, Momentum has to try to change behaviour and this campaign is hopefully the start of something that will lead to a safer South Africa.
Shelf Life is a weekly column by Louise Marsland. 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 over 20 years as a former editor of magazines AdVantage, Marketing Mix and Progressive Retailing, as well as websites Bizcommunity.com and FMCGFiles. She also 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; a regular industry columnist and speaker; a consultant on content strategy; and contributing editor to Fast Company South Africa magazine, which has just launched in South Africa.
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