#OnShelf: African heritage & the Metaverse inspire brand extensions

by Louise Burgers. Puma launches a new virtual sporty space for fans in Roblox; and two new brands, Dagga Boy Rum and Score Umhlonyane take their inspiration from our local African heritage and flavours.

PUMA and the Land of Games

A new virtual place on Roblox for PUMA fans to connect and compete, has been launched by the brand in partnership with Wonder Works studio. Roblox is the biggest online gaming multiverse in the world, with millions of games and millions of young fans. PUMA and the Land of Games experience features Roblox newest Layered Clothing technology where players can customise their characters with hyperrealistic clothing that fits any avatar body type. As they explore the experience, fans will unlock new zones and additional PUMA sportswear pieces. The PUMA Land of Games offers the global Roblox community the opportunity to bring out their inner athlete through sports mini games and training activities like lifting weights and track running. This immersive experience gives an insight to what it is like to sign with the brand as an athlete. “We’re excited to bring an engaging and fun sports experience to the Roblox community “The new Layered Clothing technology allows players to express their creativity and style enabling our brand to create greater synergies between the physical and digital world,” said Adam Petrick, PUMA’s chief brand officer.

Dagga Boy Rum launch

New on shelf this month from Fusion Distillery is premium sipping rum, Dagga Boy (pronounced da-gah) – a triple-distilled oak-aged dark rum in 750ml bottles at 45% ABV. Manufactured in South Africa from a blend of organic molasses sourced from our very own African soil, the new rum brand has no additives, colours, preservatives or sweeteners. It is hand-made in craft-sized and collectable batches by master distillers with a 20-year heritage. The name “Dagga Boy” is taken from the famous African buffalo bachelor mud boys, whose loner lifestyle and freedom of living life on your own terms, inspired the brand. Elder buffalo males – dagga boys – are the most cantankerous and fierce of the herd, earning buffalos their deserved spot in the Big Five. Kevin Wright, co-founder of Dagga Boy, says: “We have worked extensively in developing, testing and refining a premium sipping rum recipe that is befitting of the name.​ Enjoyment of our African sipping rum is best experienced in conjunction with laughter filled conversations, be it whilst in the bush, at the club, around a braai or your regular table at the local watering hole.” Dagga Boy is also a benefactor to Down 2 The Wire – an organisation aimed at creating awareness around poaching and specifically the inhumane act of snaring. RRP is R499 at selected retailers and direct. View the TVC here.

Energy drink Score creates Score Umhlonyane

South African energy drink, Score, has introduced a new variant, which includes the local super-ingredient, umhlonyane. The new flavour introduces a unique home grown offering to the market – made by South Africans, for South Africans, using a unique and iconic South African ingredient. Artemisia afra, commonly known as African wormwood or umhlonyane in Nguni, has a long-standing history of healing properties, playing an important part in traditional medicine. The ingredient is grown in the remote village of eDakeni in Mandeni, north of Kwa-Zulu Natal, where the community has incorporated sustainable practices to increase the production of indigenous seedlings and medicinal plants. A newly developed community nursery project in the village is powered by Zuplex, a South African manufacturer of proven active extracts using African botanicals. Zuplex recently secured a partnership with Score, that allowed the brand to introduce the new variant using eDakeni’s crop of umhlonyane. Watch this homegrown story on YouTube.

CAMPAIGN: Championship Boerewors competition celebrates 30th year

Entries for the 30th edition of the annual Championship Boerewors competition will be open from 23 May until 17 June 2022. The competition, which launched in 1992, continues to unearth South Africa’s finest boerewors recipes; and over the past 30 years, Shoprite and Checkers have awarded aspiring chefs and accomplished home cooks the coveted accolade of Championship Boerewors Maker for the year. According to Janine van Aswegen, deputy GM: marketing at Shoprite and Checkers, the event is an annual highlight on the retailer’s calendar: “When we launched the competition 30 years ago, we had no idea how popular it would become and how impressive and innovative the various recipes would be. Three decades in – and after a record-breaking number of entries last year – we’re excited to see what the 2022 edition of the Championship Boerewors competition brings,” says Van Aswegen. Thousands enter the competition each year in the hopes of earning the title of South Africa’s best boerewors maker and see their products on supermarket shelves around the country. In celebration of its 30^th anniversary, the winner and runners up of the 2022 Championship Boerewors competition will also be awarded cash prizes for the first time:

• First prize: A new Toyota Fortuner and R50,000 in cash.
• Second prize: R30,000 in cash.
• Third prize: R20,000 in cash.

Main image credit: Supplied.

Louise Burgers is the Publisher and Editor and Co-Founder of RetailingAfrica.com. She has spent over 20 years writing about the FMCG retailing, marketing, media and advertising industry in South Africa and on the African continent. She has specialised in local and Africa consumer trends and is a passionate Afro-optimist who believes it is Africa’s time to rise again and that the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) will be a global gamechanger in the next decade.

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