Cheryl Hunter (shelflife at marklives.com)’s weekly pick of recent product, packaging, design and food launches:
- Ordinary Skincare making extraordinary strides
- Better connections for Incredible Connection, and
- “Hollywood in my Huis” hits the big screen
Not so Ordinary Skincare
Locally developed Ordinary Skincare, just one year old, has won the Marie Claire Prix D’Excellence Beauty Awards, coming in the top three for South African Skincare products. Not only that, the Sunday Times Lifestyle magazine Beauty ranked it #3 in the country for skincare products, and it has just scooped another award for packaging innovation.
Ordinary Skincare is the suppliers of the Plainordinary and Extraordinary skincare ranges and their brand offering is ‘honest skincare products’.
Packaging is the users’ first interaction with the product, so it is important to get it right. Hygiene, ease of use, safety, and material that is eco-friendly and environmentally acceptable are non-negotiable requirements.
Ordinary Skincare put considerable energy into identifying what a good container and dispenser needed to provide, and one thing that struck it was how much product was wasted in conventional containers: “We searched high and low until we found a new range of packaging with sustainability credentials as well as meeting our other requirements, including the need to deliver all the product to customers,” says Dr Claire Jamieson, a well-known South African doctor who pioneered the Well Woman Care programme in South Africa and is the founder of Ordinary Skincare.
It was Jamieson’s research for “Woman’s Hour” addressing a broad range of health issues and her more recent involvement in aesthetic medicine, that gave her new insight into what women need to care for their skin — and this is what her products aim to provide.
The result? Recyclable plastic airless dispensers for emulsions. Made from polyolefin, a plastic on the ECOCERT material list, it offers waste-free dispensing of product with no risk of contamination —a very clean and safe method of using cosmetics.
This airless device has been awarded the DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation — the sector’s longest-running, global, independently assessed awards connected with innovation and collaboration across the value chain. Kudos to Jason Forbes and his team at Graphic Ballroom in Cape Town!
Comments Dr Jamieson, “We believe in offering products that work, are safe, and that marry the finest that nature offers with the best of modern science. Our products are made to pharmaceutical industry standards in new facilities in Cape Town and we use ethically sourced ingredients carefully chosen for their efficacy. We aim to help you simply choose and we won’t confuse.”
Giving shoppers an ‘Incredible Connection’
Technology specialist retailer, Incredible Connection, has launched a new e-commerce website based upon lessons learned over the last three years, which has seen this aspect of its business grow tenfold.
The new website offers some unique differentiators, including Click&Collect, which allows customers to purchase products via the online site, but collect from any of the 70+ stores nation-wide. For those who want products delivered, the Live Order Tracking feature allows them to track and manage delivery.
Customers may create their own product and accessory bundles and, if that creates confusion, they can always have a live chat with a “Techxpert” — tech support and advice experts who are available online to guide shoppers through the options.
Says Incredible Connection CEO, Stefan Marnewick, “We have always been focused on making technology easy and accessible for our consumers, not only through the widest range of technology brands, in-store and call-centre expertise, but also through our after-sales support, backed up by our national footprint of over 70 stores.
“We take our brand promise one step further now by launching our new e-commerce engine which will be able to compete with the best e-commerce players in the market.”
According to an Internet Economic Impact Study conducted by Arthur Goldstuck’s World Wide Worx for Google South Africa, key drivers that would encourage South African online shoppers to shop online more often are lower product costs (88% of online shoppers say this would make them more likely to shop online), faster delivery (selected by 85% of online shoppers), flexible delivery options (selected by 82% online shoppers) and safer ways to pay (selected by 75% online shoppers).
Homegrown Hollywood
Award-winning local film, Hollywood in my Huis, a coming-of-age romantic comedy set against the backdrop of a 2004 matric dance in South Africa, will be released to audiences nationwide on 26 June 2015.
Inspiration for the film came from writer/director Corne Van Rooyen’s own childhood experiences in Silverton, Pretoria, as well as aspects of his own family and friendships. “I might not look much like Jana, but this is actually a very personal story,” he says. The film was mostly shot on location in Vasco and Brackenfell High School. Certain scenes were also filmed at Fisantekraal, Observatory and Cape Town surrounds.
The story focuses on an ordinary teenage girl — Jana van Tonder (Christia Visser) — who lives in an impoverished railway neighbourhood with her dysfunctional parents (Nicola Hanekom and Louw Venter).
When she witnesses Charlize Theron’s iconic Oscar win, Jana is inspired to transform her upcoming matric dance into her very own Hollywood Red Carpet moment. Just as Jana is mustering the courage to ask her secret crush Brandon (Vilje Maritz) to the dance, her best friend and boy-next-door, Frikkie, (Edwin van der Walt) reveals his true feelings for her.
The film boasts three kykNET Silwerskermfees awards for Critics’ Choice award; Audience Choice award for Best Film and Audience Choice award for Leading Lady, which was awarded to Visser.
For more: www.hollywoodinmyhuis.co.za | Facebook | Twitter: @HIMHFilm
Shelf Life is MarkLives.com’s weekly column covering new product, packaging, design and food launches. Notify us of yours at shelflife at marklives dot com. Want to sponsor Shelf Life? Contact us here.
Cheryl Hunter (@cherylhunter) has written for the South African media, marketing and advertising industries for more than 15 years. A former editor of M&M in Independent Newspapers and contributor to Bizcommunity, AdFocus, AdReview and the Ad Annual, she has also produced for various television networks and currently consults on communication strategy and media liaison.
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