Cheryl Hunter (shelflife at marklives.com)’s weekly pick of all things new — product, packaging, design, insight, food, décor and more!
- Sanlam gets SA saving with King James and Laduma Ngxokolo
- New look and feel for OUTsurance with Lucky Beard
- Kulula launches Flying 102
Wear your wallet
Sanlam has joined forces with world-renowned designer Laduma Ngxokolo this National Savings Month to create a signature piece that combines fashion with function and shifts the brand’s focus from education to action — the Mna Nam.
https://youtu.be/yTpVDUmLUhM
Conceptualised with the King James Group, Mna Nam is a limited edition accessory, worn around the wrist, which has an embedded QR code that links to a savings wallet on the wearer’s mobile phone. Marking Ngxokolo’s first foray into the world of functional fashion, it integrates his traditionally-inspired aesthetic with smart technological capabilities — taking wearable tech to the financial sphere.
Says Yegs Ramiah, Sanlam Brand CEO, “The global trend is for wearable tech to solve real-world problems. In South Africa, this problem is the country’s poor savings culture. Mna Nam helps people prepare for a healthy financial future by making saving fashionable. The purpose-led accessory offers a one-of-a-kind campaign to shift the realm of fashion into a space for responsible saving as opposed to excessive spending.”
For Matt Ross, King James Group ECD, Mna Nam is an example of African ingenuity: “In Africa, we have our own set of challenges and we’re known for reengineering technological tools to solve them. Wearable tech is very expensive and out of the reach of most — but not if you innovate on an existing platform. “So we took a widely used virtual payment app, WeChat, and flipped its primary purpose of easy spending into easy saving. Then we coupled this with an object of real beauty to be worn on the wrist and created by the country’s most forward-thinking designer to make saving top of mind and aspirational.”
maxhosa.co.za • Facebook • Twitter
sanlam.co.za • Facebook • Twitter
kingjames.co.za • Facebook • Twitter • Ramify
Getting more OUT
OUTsurance has refreshed its brand, launching a new website and smartphone application alongside its new corporate identity. The short-term insurance company was established in February 1998.
The company’s name and strapline of “You always get something out”, remains unchanged, but it has completely redeveloped and introduced new functionality to its website and mobile application and revised its corporate identity with the assistance of Lucky Beard agency.
Says Willem Roos, group CEO, “We’ve built OUTsurance on three core principles. Firstly, we deal directly with our clients and so we can provide high-quality products with exceptional value for money. We then back this up with awesome service, particularly when clients need to claim from us. Thirdly, we foster a culture of innovation within the business to ensure we attract great people and continue to grow.”
The new OUTsurance mobile app offers several new functions. For instance, clients may lodge a claim on the app or complete a windscreen claim without having to interact with the call centre. A life insurance quote is said to take less than a minute. Clients may also cover a new item on their facility by taking a photo of the new item using their smartphones, as well as refer friends and family to earn cash rebates for doing so.
Included in the new functionality is SmartDrive — a new telematics programme that allows discounts of up to 25% off a person’s premium, depending on how well they drive. Help@OUT, the 24/7/365 emergency roadside and home assistance service, is also accessible to all registered app users.
Roos says an all-new financial-services product is also in development: “We’re in final testing of an all-new savings product that we believe will bring much-needed disruption and innovation to the savings and investment space. OUTvest has all the potential to shake up that market in in much the same way that OUTsurance shaped insurance. There are some exciting times ahead for our group.”
The new OUTsurance app is available in the Apple and the Play stores.
out.co.za • Facebook • Twitter
luckybeard.co.za • Facebook • Instagram
Kulula creates kool
Low-cost airline, kulula, operated by Comair Limited, has launched “Flying 102” — a new aircraft paint design encouraging plane spotters to #lookup.
According to Luane Lavery, brand communications manager at kulula.com, the aircraft makeover depicts the kulula tongue-in-cheek phrase guide that gives travellers the run-down about the various parts of the plane. Some of the phrases on this particular aircraft include the “No Red-Light District Here” and “Complimentary Darth-Vader Mouth Caps”.
She says: “We are very lucky to have got the opportunity to repaint and have some fun with our spare aircraft, which will now be better known as ‘Flying 102’. This aircraft is a limited edition and the second brainchild of kulula’s in-house design department, and will be the last of its kind as all our brand-new aircrafts come with a standard paint scheme straight off the assembly line. Its sibling, ‘Flying 101’, became a global hit and we are still amused by the number of responses that we have received since it took to the skies in 2010. We hope our fans will enjoy the new funky and truly South African aircraft paint design.”
kulula.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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