Cheryl Hunter (shelflife at marklives.com)’s weekly pick of all things new — product, packaging, design, insight, food, décor and more!
- Eat.art innovates for living food
- Hill’s launches #petobesityweek
- Tropika gets a smooth makeover [watch TVCs]
The art of eating
Constant innovation is the key to success according to eat.art’s Shelley Barnard, who says the Kalk Bay Foods company sources new products year-round and creates complete new ranges annually.
“We are dedicated to marrying our expertise in design and packaging with international food trends, so our products are hand-packed into exquisite, yet accessible packaging, offering more than meets the eye.
“We also specialise in the concept, creation and production of exceptional fine-food gifting and grocery products, creating a completely new range of gifts and groceries every year to accommodate current food trends.”
The company is operated by a team of talented foodies, spearheaded by Barnard: “Our combined skills and interests ensure that our offerings chart local and international food trends, embracing progressive flavours and challenging contemporary design — we are committed to carving our niche in the fine-food industry, being sought-after for our uncompromising packaging, culinary and commercial knowledge that caters for all tastes and budgets.”
Kalk Bay Foods began sourcing, packaging and exporting fine food gifting products in 2003 and, by 2009, had begun collaborating with creatives at Cape Town-based design agency, Give & Give. They Give created the branding for the company’s offering of on-trend food gifting solutions, and eat.art was born: “Living Food” is the idea that continues to support each new addition to the eat.art ranges.
Explains Barnard, “Sourcing the finest local and imported artisanal foodie products and putting them together artfully in beautiful packaging requires constant innovation, so we innovate all year round, changing our ranges to meet special occasions and food, packaging and design trends and to suit customer pockets and profiles.”
The products are hand-packed by a team of skilled local women and are sold in high-end retailers both locally and abroad, including Williams Sonoma of the US, Globus of Switzerland, and Woolworths in South Africa.
kbfoods.com • Twitter • Facebook
How does your pet measure up?
Hill’s Pet Nutrition has cleverly hijacked National Obesity Week (15–19 October) with a #PetObesityWeek campaign, aiming to tackle obesity — the biggest health problem affecting SA pets — by offering free weight assessments during the month and a Facebook app to help owners find participating practices in their area.
Dr Guy Fyvie, veterinary advisor for Hill’s Pet Nutrition, says many owners believe a ‘little extra padding’ is not serious, but overweight pets have shorter lives; are at higher risk of diseases such as arthritis, urinary conditions, skin conditions, heart disease and cancer; and 
research has demonstrated that fat pets are less happy: “We control what our pets eat so, in almost all cases, pet obesity is human condition. The truth is we’ve forgotten what a healthy, lean pet looks like.”
SA vets have teamed up to assist and pet owners can find participating practices on www.petobesityweek.co.za and call to book a free weight check.
www.hillspet.com • Facebook • Twitter
A smooother tagline for Tropika
Tropika has unveiled a new tagline and produced several pieces of communication on the back of new market research. Shelf Life asked Miantha Padayachee, Clover’s brand group manager, about the new campaign.
“In looking at consumption trends around Tropika, we found that Tropika is almost always consumed with meals, so meal pairing seemed like a natural fit, which we are leveraging via three nationwide fast food partners — Chesanyama, Roman’s Pizza and King Pie,” explains Padayachee.
Tropika’s previous tagline was ‘Da Smooothest Taste under da Sun’ and was always promoted for its ‘smooothness’. Padayachee says the strategy going forward is to own it: “Our new tagline of ‘Nothing Smooother’ truly encapsulates the essence of the brand as there really is nothing smooother than Tropika.”
Working alongside ad agency Joe Public, the brand has updated on-pack labels to highlight the tactical campaign around its partnership with Chesanyama, Roman’s Pizza and King Pie, creating a pairing that takes “smooth meal occasions and turns them into the smooothest meal occasions on earth”.
The TVCs and radio promotion are supported by creative content on social media in the form of Twitter Vines, featuring the likes of Tumi Masemola, Roxy Burger, Mpho ‘Popps’, Amon Mokoena and Amanda du Pont.
“Vines haven’t been embraced to their full potential in the SA market as yet, so we see this as an opportunity to bring fans some of the freshest content that the market has yet to witness. A Vine is a snapshot of something funny or entertaining and does not allow for long-winded story telling. It’s through this that we find the magic in the production as each Vine feels real and unrehearsed.”
The content ranges from directly relating to the tactical meal campaign, right through to random footage. The use of celebs is expected to springboard these mini videos onto the screens of SA consumers.
www.tropika.co.za • Twitter • Facebook
Shelf Life is MarkLives.com’s weekly column covering all things new. 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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