Louise Marsland (@Louise_Marsland)’s weekly pick of recent product, packaging, design and food launches:
- Robertson Winery adds to its family
- P.S. Friends forever
- Engen 1-Card makes inroads, and
- SchoolMedia calls on brands to support sports initiative in schools
Meet the new Fat Bastards
The Merlot is described as ruby-coloured with a ripe berry flavour, inviting a palate of “blackberries, plums and black cherries with soft, rounded tannins”. The wine was aged in small oak barrels for 16 months.
The Fat Bastard Pinot Noir Rosé is cold-pressed to extract the salmon colour. The aromas are described as “ripe sweet strawberry and watermelon, wrapped in a floral overtone… ending on a zippy note!”
If you’ve ever wondered who Fat Bastard wines are named after, it’s actually the wine itself. It comes after a big discovery (in winemaking circles) that leaving the wines on the lees for longer than usual, allowing it to develop more fully and completely, creates a full-bodied wine — “a fat bastard of a wine”.
The newly launched Merlot retails at R95 — R100 and the Pinot Noir Rosé is R75 — R80 in store. The total range produced from Robertson Winery includes a Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinotage, Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, in addition to the new releases.
P.S. Keith Rose has a new ad
“This commercial follows on from the previous, successful ad in the ‘There’s a story behind every P.S.’ series,” says Tracy-Lynn King, Ogilvy creative group head and the copywriter.
Georja Bunger, the art director and also a creative group head at Ogilvy, adds, “While the previous ad was a love story, this commercial focuses on two best friends. We wanted to do something that was brave for a chocolate brand, but also felt very sincere and captured what Cadbury P.S. is all about; which is real, human connections.”
The “There is a story behind every P.S.” commercial with the “Unwrap The Story” competition (total prizes of R50 000) runs until 31 March 2015. Viewers are invited to unpack the reason for the girls’ fallout. For more, go to www.facebook.com/CadburyPS or www.pscadbury.co.za
Engen card rolls out
The branded Engen 1-Card, offering cashless fuel payments across Africa for commercial customers has been expanded to further territories, including Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Mauritius, Mozambique, Reunion, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The 1-Card was developed for peace of mind and control for fleet managers, and has been rolled out on the continent over the past four years.
Administered by Engen, the 1-Card costs a fraction of bank-issued petrol cards and has no transactional fees or monthly administration charges to customers. The system can be tailored to the individual needs of each fleet — whether a pre or post-paid account is preferred. Fleet managers have improved control over fleet expenses as they can now determine when and where each 1-Card can be used, as well as how much can be spent on the card. In addition, fleet operating businesses are able to receive a monthly itemised report with an overview of fuel expenditure.
The system uses an advanced technology platform which is able to accommodate offline functioning. The chip technology on the 1-Card ensures that all of the information needed at point of sale is stored on the card, necessary in areas where connectivity is unstable at times. This information is relayed to Engen’s servers at least once a day.
Brand sports support needed
SchoolMedia is calling upon brands to invest in sports at schools in poorer communities to encourage healthier living in poorer urban communities, which are most at risk of chronic non-communicable diseases, such as stroke, smoking related cancers, lung disease, nutrition-based diseases.
Education is a huge issue, with a shortage of information, equipment and facilities at many schools — and this is where brands can make a difference.
Khethi Ngwenya, owner and managing director of SchoolMedia (the in-school media placement and advertising company), is working in partnership with the National Association of School Governing Bodies and has access to a network of over 9 000 schools nationwide. Ngwenya aims to expose the youth to a more healthy and active lifestyle.
“We believe that children need to positively contribute to our future economy. Children are vulnerable at an early age and become exposed to drugs. Additionally, living a balanced lifestyle is not top of their priorities and SchoolMedia feels this needs to be tackled by spreading positive messages,” Ngwenya explains.
The SchoolMedia team has noticed that schools which provide and cater for sports activities generally have healthier learners. They also obtain higher pass rates and lower levels of misbehaviour. Research quoted states that childhood health is reaching critical levels in South Africa, with one in five children either overweight or obese due to poor diet and lack of exercise. In 2015, 21.8% of school children did not pass matric.
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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