#OnShelf: Greening the new Jozi Egg store

by Louise Burgers. Retail concept, We Are Egg, is taking Joburg by storm, and one of its latest concepts inside its new Rosebank space, is a fully functioning Greenhouse by Anea.

First functional greenhouse launches inside SA mall

In a first for South African indoor retail, Cape Town based, artisanal terrarium creator Anea has launched its products inside a custom, conservatory styled greenhouse, which is part of the We Are Egg concept store which opened up in Rosebank, Johannesburg a week ago. Anea creator Denny Mo said, “It’s been a dream in the making, taking nature into a retail space requires a lot of preparation, a greenhouse is necessary to maintain the landscape we keep on our terrariums.” Anea has a Cape Town presence, also at We Are Egg in Cavendish Square, Claremont. Said Mo: “We are obsessed with nature, so much we want to find a way to contain it. To do so we must first understand the micro-environment. Then we recreate it in our geometric glass. We want to share the beauty of a landscape and micro-environment with everyone. We don’t pot plants in pots, we house landscapes in geometric glass. It’s the key to what makes us different.”

Diageo launches new Gordon’s Gin flavours

Diageo is expanding its Gordons portfolio in South Africa just in time for summer, with the introduction of new Gordon’s Pink Berry flavour and Sunset Orange flavour. Morumo Maleka, head of innovation at Diageo, says that, “Locally, white spirit sales continue to grow because of factors such as enticing flavours that allow the adventurous gin lovers to cater to a range of tastes and recipes. Now with the arrival of these two new flavours, just in time for summer, you can impress your friends by serving Mzansi’s favourite gin with tonic, ice, and the appropriate wedges of fruit to suit your preferred summer flavour.” These 35% ABV gin spirit aperitifs are available for purchase from a range of local retailer partners including Checkers, Spar and Pick n Pay on the 30th September. The 750ml bottle goes for a recommended retail price of R179.99.

H&M’s new curvy fit denim styles

The new design aims to offer customers a comfortable fit that will hug their bodies and inspire them to celebrate their curves. The denim in the collection is made using more sustainably sourced materials like BCI cotton (BCI-Better Cotton Initiative), recycled cotton, and recycled polyester. The collection is available at all H & M South African stores. ”We are excited to add more styles to The Curvy Fit Denim range, following the success and demand when we first introduced this product to our South African customers. With the latest campaign, we want to continue to encourage our customers to own and flaunt their curves and their style the best way they can,“ says Caroline Nelson, H&M South Africa country manager.  The locally produced campaign features four South African content creators: Nadia Jaftha, KaYarms, Siyanda Bani, and Alex Beazley. The film was directed by filmmaker Riordan Allen from Bioscope Films; and photographed by fashion photographer Katinka Bester.

CAMPAIGN: Making music with Tru-Cape

South Africa’s apple and pear brand, Tru-Cape, is playing a new tune in its marketing activities to increase fresh fruit sales. Tru-Cape last year contracted the hip South African band, Sunset Sweatshop, to record their song, Takeaways from Nature, and released the song across all streaming platforms, sharing the associated music video extensively. Now they are striking a new note with one of the biggest music trends to hit Southern Africa – Amapiano. Amapiano  is the isiZulu and isiXhosa word for “the pianos”, and a style of House music that emerged in South Africa in 2012; but has found great favour recently with 920 million global streams, 4,2 billion TikTok views and is currently among global listeners, Africa’s largest music genre. Singer and songwriter Gideon Hanekom, better known by his stage name, Gian Groen, wrote the original song as Tru-Cape’s marketing director, Conrad Fick, explains: “That jingle grew into a song and Tru-Cape is thrilled to share that not only has Gian Groen updated the song for Tru-Cape; but Sunset Sweatshop, one of the hippest bands recorded it. In a competition with a prize purse of R40,000 cash to a single winner, DJs are invited to create their own Tru-Cape Amapiano remix to the pinned Tru-Cape sound on the @Tru-Cape TikTok account with Sunset Sweatshop; and share it to their social-media accounts with the hashtag #TruCapeAmapiano. The competition will run until October 14. The top 20 songs with the most likes on social-media platforms will move to the final phase where the public will vote for the winner. The song with the most votes via the Tru-Cape website will be the winner. Link to Tik-Tok song here.

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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