Cheryl Hunter (shelflife at marklives.com)’s weekly pick of all things new — product, packaging, design, insight, food, décor and more!
- Rekorderlig Cider makes an impression locally
- A new look for Tastic Rice
- Sir Fruit gets a superhero cape
SA savours Swedish cider
Premium Swedish cider brand Rekorderlig, launched into South Africa last spring, has seen significant market uptake locally, piggybacking upon both the craft beer and foodie trends. Ross Young, country director for Africa at Rekorderlig, provides Shelf Life with insight into the brand’s history and positioning.
Born in Sweden, Rekorderlig was a labour of love for Swedish couple Anders and Helén, and their friend Håkan, 17 years ago. Today, it is a global brand sold in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, SA, USA, Hong Kong and Singapore. A semi-sweet cider, it is made from spring water and 100% European apples or pears — neither syrup nor concentrate is used.
According to Young, the fourth generation Åbro brewery has been creating award-winning beer since 1856, and it is the love and attention to ingredients that has resulted in consumers across the world falling in love with the cider. “In the same way the whisky category is spoilt with many styles of whisky — blends, malts, Irish, American and Canadian — so the cider category too has many strings to its harp. The cider category has room for all flavours and styles as it creates the newest journey of passion and discovery for a consumer,” he says.
Why the iconic 500ml?
Rekorderlig was first served in a 500ml bottle due to Swedish recycling restrictions. Young says this has not only created the fastest-growing section of the cider category, but also created a new consumer demand; Rekorderlig consumers expect 500ml bottles in the same way a Guinness consumer expects a tulip pint glass: “Rekorderlig Cider is the perfect juxtaposition of progression and tradition, of dependability and innovation.”
“Cider is one of the fastest-growing drink sectors globally and is poised for great growth, especially if you look at massive all-year demand for it in US, UK and Australian markets. While there may be a greater push to market ciders during warmer seasons, a cider shouldn’t be classed as season-unsuitable.
“The idea that ciders are summer-only drinks may also be amplified by its distribution, which makes up a big part of brand positioning. Fixed campaigns that only focus on elements such as beach parties or cocktail lounges can be limiting, as they box the cider into the summer category.”
Young believes placement is significant and should be timeless and flexible, to ensure that the brand is directed towards the selected target, “in our case, young, affluent, energetic and stylish consumers, who are on the lookout for new flavours and tastes and seek out premium drinks — regardless of season.”
He says South Africans are always looking for places with a great vibe and they enjoy going out, no matter what the weather conditions. “This is noticeable,” he says, “if we look at all the weekend markets, food and music festivals and pop-up markets, which are hugely popular and form part of this new culture. Rekorderlig has taken on the task of de-seasonalising ciders, in SA and globally, where this drink can be enjoyed in front of the fireplace with friends or at the pool on a hot summer’s day.
“The cider category continues to grow its market share in SA, where it sold more than 8000 cases in the last 10 months. Driven by the movement towards the appreciation of the ‘craft’ drinks sector, cider brands must demonstrate the versatility that they can offer, whether through new flavour introductions or brand alignment.”
Rekorderlig is available in SA in three flavours: Strawberry-Lime, Pear and Wild Berries. The cider comes in a 500ml bottle, has a 4.5% alcohol content and retails for approximately R48.
www.rekorderlig.com • Twitter • Facebook • Instagram
Berge Farrell Design unites the Tastic family
In an effort to keep up with trends and bring innovative and up-to-date products to the table, SA rice brand Tastic has decided it’s time for a packaging design refresh and upgrade, entrusting the project to Berge Farrell Design.
According to Paul Farrell, creative director of Berge Farrell Design, the creative team was briefed to explore designs consistent in approach, one that was masterbrand-driven and befitting of a contemporary monolithic brand: “The logo lock-up was relooked and designed with a strong symmetrical shape as the root/pillar, creating a consistent hierarchy with an ownable space for the sensorial food photography.
“This allowed for Tastic’s iconic ‘Perfect. Every Time.’ promise to live prominently within the lock-up with hierarchical importance, and the gold seal/stamp icon delivers credibility and a sense of authenticity, elevating Tastic’s status and engendering consumer trust and loyalty.”
The introduction of the Tastic “House of Rice” idea is intended to talk to the brand’s heritage and status in SA: “The different sub-brands all have a consistently applied brand architecture for ease of on-pack navigation and the new, grounded structure creates a platform for seamless future range applications or innovation products.”
Farrell says the bold, varied colour palettes and gradients have been retained for consumer recognition and recall, with background textures, patterns and source of origin visuals kept simple and clean, pushing the food photography (which is the key differentiator) to the fore.
www.bergefarrell.com • Twitter • Facebook
Soweto superheroes launch Sir Fruit
To celebrate the launch of Sweet C, Sir Fruit’s latest limited-edition mandarin juice, the company joined forces with the Soweto superheroes at the Diepsloot Worker Co-operative to help support children with special needs.
A collaboration between creatives and community led to the formation of the I Love Diepsloot Worker Co-operative three years ago. The co-op started creating an innovative product range of up-cycled corporate gifts and fair-trade promotional clothing. For the launch of Sweet C, it combined its superpowers with Sir Fruit to create a mini cape for each 500ml bottle of Sweet C.
For the launch, each bottle wore a mini red superhero cape, immediately raising R25 000 which goes towards the Jacobs Well Village NPC that looks after orphans and vulnerable children.
Jacobs Well’s latest projects include a dining room and a multimedia library on the premises of Jacobs Well Village. Ongoing training of care workers and further education of early childhood development teachers are always high on the priority list. Its vision is to develop a village that cares for 400 orphans and vulnerable children.
Comments Sir Fruit’s marketing manager, Roanne Goldsmith, “The team at I Love Diepsloot are just phenomenal. They are modern-day superheroes and we are honored to work with them on this campaign. Sweet C is a bit of a super hero itself in the fruit world, so what better way than to celebrate and contribute to real-life superheroes [who] are making a difference in our communities?” •
www.sirfruit.co.za • www.ilovediepsloot.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.
— MarkLives’ round-up of top ad and media industry news and opinion in your mailbox every Monday and Thursday. Sign up here!