Cheryl Hunter (shelflife at marklives.com)’s weekly pick of all things new — product, packaging, design, insight, food, décor and more!
- Net#work BBDO’s new story for Tusker beer
- The Foschini Group and WumDrop geolocate delivery
- New national beer day for South Africa
Tusker talks to togetherness
Higher-purpose marketing continues to be a strong brand strategy, with a new Kenyan ad for Tusker beer — created by South African agency Net#work BBDO — showing how this can result in great storytelling for the brand.
https://youtu.be/XKg6UGAURYI
Kenya comprises 42 official tribes with deep divisions running through communities. As the national brew, Tusker Lager took it as its higher purpose to inspire and encourage unity throughout Kenyan society, with 2017 elections in mind.
According to Net#work BBDO creative director, Tim Beckerling, initial research into finding real-life stories of ordinary Kenyans accomplishing extraordinary things with the help and support of one another let them to Kaki Gondi. Gondi operates a music production company called Flag 42 Studios, which offers free studio time to anyone who wants to record their music, regardless of background or tribe.
“We worked with Kaki to develop this idea, and we visited about half of the different communities. During our visits, which took place over about a two-week period, we sampled sounds from each community, including vocals, instruments and the sounds of their daily lives, with the help of three audio experts who were present with us for the whole shoot and intimately involved in the post-production process.”
https://youtu.be/Vw8HsgYPDfU
The team created a song based on a local ’70s hit, by Slim Ali, called “You Can Do It”: “Working with a young rising Kenyan rap star named Wangeshi, we brought a contemporary edge to the whole thing in collaboration with another South African music producer named Sibot.” The result is a new tag line for Tusker — “Here’s to the Us in every Tusker” — demonstrating that unity is present in the brand name itself, a good fit for the strategic aim of togetherness.
The films were shot by novice Dan Mace, who had never previously filmed a commercial.
networkbbdo.co.za • Facebook • Twitter
eabl.com
Smart delivery
Swift online delivery is set to grow in 2017 and The Foschini Group (TFG) is aiming to get ahead of the pack through the introduction of Deliver 2 Me: a convenient delivery solution that uses geolocation services to avoid the need for specific street delivery addresses.
The service was tested during December 2016 and will soon be available in major centres across SA, making TFG the first retailer locally to apply delivery technology in this manner.
In partnership with delivery service WumDrop, testing included delivering parcels to a tourist on Table Mountain, a surfer on Blouberg Beach, a hipster moving between Long Street and Mzoli’s (requiring a location change) and, finally, to a mom strolling along Sea Point Promenade.
Brent Curry, chief information officer at TFG, says, “This delivery solution is now live in Cape Town and we plan to expand the service to Johannesburg and Durban in the next couple of months. Deliver 2 Me uses a geolocation tracking system, similar to what the Uber app uses, allowing customers to pinpoint their exact location for delivery but without having to download an app onto their phone.”
The TFG eMall hosts 11 linked stores, meaning customers may cross shop all online brands and check out in one bag. Stores currently online are @home, Anatomy, Duesouth, Duesouth Escapes, Fabiani, Foschini For Beauty, hi, Markham, Relay Jeans, Sportscene, and Totalsports.
Celebrating beer
SA beer lovers are coming together to celebrate the beverage with the first South African National Beer Day on Saturday, 4 February 2017.
Says creator and beer writer, Lucy Corne, “It is about people coming together to enjoy a beer and celebrate the diversity of beer in SA. While there is an International Beer Day, which is celebrated to some extent in SA, this is a northern hemisphere initiative timed to fall within their summer. While beer drinking is a year-round pastime, nothing quite demands a cold beer like a hot, sunny South African day.”
There is no one large event; it’s up to brewers, bar owners, restaurateurs and distributors to decide what they will do to mark the event and introduce as many people as possible to new styles of beer.
Go to facebook.com/SANBeerDay for the events listed to date across the country.
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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