Cheryl Hunter (shelflife at marklives.com)’s weekly pick of all things new — product, packaging, design, insight, food, décor and more!
- Tribalfish hones Poison City Brewing brand
- SA’s NetDécor at 100% Design London
- BIC turns 60
Poison in the city
Durban-born brewery, Poison City Brewing, is aiming to distinguish itself from the growing list of craft-beer manufacturers through a gritty, non-conformist feel and a focus upon promoting its hometown as it launches in Johannesburg.
The realisation of Graeme Bird and Andre Schubert’s craft-beer dream follows the duo’s passion for great beer and their determination to establish a business that lets them showcase the city they love and in which they live. According to Bird, he’d been looking for an opportunity for self-expression outside the confines of his job and when Schubert was able to free himself from the day-to-day responsibility of his restaurants, they began a journey that would lead to Poison City Brewing.
Says Bird, “Not only do we want to make great craft beer but establish something that embodies freedom of expression and progressive thinking. Our dream is to use Poison City Brewing as a catalyst to support and promote Durban’s creative people — to show the world what an amazing place Durban is and how lucky we are to live there.”
A beer-tasting trip to California proved to be a life changing experience where they realised the incredible taste and quality of craft beers currently being produced. 2014 and many test batches later, (with some helpful guidance from a Czech master brewer), their first beer was born: The Bird lager.
A partnership with Tribalfish branding and communications agency has resulted in clean yet edgy packaging, and a brand strategy that speaks to their consumer about individuality and freedom. For the Jozi launch, the beer joined up with global marker and illustrator brand, Posca, a brand that shares Poison’s ethos of creativity and freedom and is popular with surfers, skateboarders, musicians, artists and creative.
“Poison’s goal is to develop a range of craft beers that achieve world-class standards and, to do this, we will work with craft beer brew masters from around the world to develop and hone our own brewing knowledge, skills and capability.”
They have also launched an English Pale Ale, The Punk Rocker, and have a Weiss, an IPA and a dark lager on the cards in the near future. Poison City will be available in Gauteng from September 2016
poison.city • Facebook • Twitter
posca.com/uk • Facebook
tribalfish.net • Facebook • Twitter
NetDécor on global stage
South Africa’s premier online décor store, NetDécor, will be exhibiting in London at 100% Design, showcasing a selection of exclusive local products and flying the flag for SA designers.
100% Design is the largest and longest-running design trade event for industry professionals and is considered the cornerstone of the London Design Festival, attracting over 27 000 visitors.
NetDécor, thanks to assistance from the Department of Trade and Industry, will be rubbing shoulders with an elite list of architects, designers, retailers and developers. Founded in 2011, the website delivers home décor accessories direct to doorsteps locally and to the US, Germany and Sweden.
The web portal was designed for a broad audience, from first-time homeowners to interior designers, decorators and trade professionals, but always with a focus upon making home-decorating as easy as possible by creating accessibility to quality craftsmanship and offering secure distribution.
Miranda Reeder, NetDécor’s owner, says: “Our growth over the years has put us in a position where we can start broadening our horizons, and an international exhibition like this will undoubtedly give us the experience and exposure needed to take NetDécor to the next level.”
netdecor.co.za • Facebook • Twitter
100percentdesign.co.uk • Facebook • Twitter
Sixty years of clicks
One of SA’s iconic brands, the BIC CLIC ballpoint pen, commemorates its 60th anniversary this year with a new gold and silver limited-edition CLIC pen.
The traditional ‘click-to-write’ pen is a staple part of everyone’s stationary collection, from students to office workers and everyone in between, with few unfamiliar with the clicking sound of a BIC in classrooms or meetings.
For every specially marked pen pack that is purchased, BIC is donating pens to underprivileged children, with five million pens already distributed to date.
za.bicworld.com • Facebook • Twitter
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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