Montblanc’s pay-off line is based on Excellence.  Its launch of a special community project to honour the late Nelson Mandela last Thursday was anything but excellent, coming second in the worst organised events we attended in Cape Town this year (the other was the World Design Capital 2014 ‘Gala Dinner‘ Braai held at the end of February).

My invitation to attend initially came verbally from Elzilda Becker, MD of African Sky Communications, when we met at the Belmond Mount Nelson Hotel for the launch of the Diners Club Platter’s Wine Guide.  Her promise (at the same function) to fly me to Johannesburg for the launch of the Diners Club Rossouw’s Restaurants Guide disappeared into thin air, and never materialised.  She raved about the fabulous Montblanc event that was coming up, and wanted me to attend that function too.  Surprisingly the invitation arrived a few days later and I accepted.   Ms Becker became extremely annoyed with me about my feedback about the drama her company put me through to obtain a copy of the Rossouw’s Restaurant Guide, which was delivered three days after the launch (in Johannesburg!) with the most shocking inefficiency!  I never heard another word from African Sky Communications about the Montblanc event, but decided to go anyway, as I had sent my RSVP.

The function venue was The Reserve at the Taj, and we were specifically told to use the St George’s Mall entrance, and arrive at 19h00.  I walked inside, and a staff member looked at me as if I had lost it, as there was no Montblanc function in The Reserve, he said.  I was told that two men had also enquired about such a function a few minutes before I had. I knew I was still sane when Glamour SA editor Pnina Fenster arrived at The Reserve too, also looking for the event.  A Taj manager tried to find out where the function was, The Reserve staff guaranteeing us that the function was inside the hotel.  He found some ladies from the PR company standing at the entrance door to the Taj, telling us that the venue had changed, and that we would be driven to another venue, elsewhere in town.  We could not believe that the PR company had not placed one or two staff at The Reserve entrance to find all of us looking for the event venue. We were not given any further information.  Our driver did tell us that in driving the Montblanc party over the previous two days that arrangements changed constantly, so it was no surprise to him that the event was not held at The Reserve, another function taking place in the venue on the same evening.  We could only assume that the venue had been double-booked.

We were driven to the Inner City Auditorium on Waterkant Street, and the only person I recognised was Marieza van Zyl of African Sky Communications, who could not explain what had happened about the venue, other than to say that the client was not happy with The Reserve for its presentation, and therefore had changed the venue in the last minute.  In speaking to other guests, it became clear that none of the invited guests had been told about the change in venue, all of us finding this extremely odd.  Ms Becker was nowhere to be seen for the rest of the evening, and there appeared to be no ‘champion’ for the event.  I did meet Caroline Rupert, daughter of Johann Rupert, who is mainly based in London, although she has spent a lot of time in New York for the project we were about to hear more of.   I recognised her immediately, in looking so similar to her Merchants on Long sister Hannelie Rupert.   We spent another hour on the deck, on a perfect Cape Town evening, enjoying L’Ormarins MCC and canapés of prawns, salmon bites, and mushrooms.  At no stage did we know what we were in for or what the reason for the event was. At 21h00 we were led down two flights of stairs which were in complete darkness, to the Auditorium which was not airconditioned. I felt claustrophobic due to the heat in the venue, and still we did not know what was awaiting us.  We had seen a photograph of Mr Mandela near the staircase, but took no notice of it, not understanding the context of it to our attendance!

The Montblanc International CEO Jérôme Lambert spoke in a heavy French accent, and told us something about the Mandela Foundation and the Tribeca Film Institute in New York, of which Robert de Niro is a founding partner.  He said that what we were about to see was the future of storytelling, and would take education around the world.  He said that once people have been taught to read and write (for which one can use their Montblanc tools), one can make them storytellers. He said: ‘As a company rooted in the culture of writing, we are delighted to see the extraordinary words of one of modern history’s most inspiring figures interpreted in film.  We share Nelson Mandela’s belief in the importance of meaningful words, and education, His unique vision for democracy, peace, social equality and learning lives on through the power of his words, and we hope that through each of these films, others will continue to be inspired by his legacy’. The concept which we were about to experience was the international launch of ‘Power of Words’, for which about 20 journalists had been flown in from around the world, joined by local writers.  We still did not understand what was happening on the stage!

Mr Lambert was followed by Ms Rupert, who referred to films made with passion and enthusiasm, a two-year project she said. She said that the films were made in honour of Mr Mandela, ‘the father of my nation‘, and ‘the Patron Saint of South Africa‘, with the support of Montblanc.  It was not explained from the stage, but during the course of the evening by other guests that Johann Rupert owns Richemont, of which one of its gems is Montblanc.  Ms Rupert was in charge of co-ordinating the project, even though details were not clear to us yet. Vee Bravo, Director of Education of Tribeca Film Institute, thanked Cape Town for hosting them, and said that they had come full circle in being in South Africa, and in working with emergent filmmakers, and to translate Mr Mandela’s ideas, truth, and spirit in film.  Mr Mandela had attended the first Tribeca Film Festival, and hence the connection to the ‘Power of Words’ project.  We were told that the films we were yet to see had been made by filmmakers in Uganda, Kingston, and London, as well as in the USA.  Zippi Kimundu was one of the filmmakers, photographed with Ms Rupert.

We were shown five short films, each of them inspired by a quotation of Mr Mandela, but wacky in terms of their content.  It was hard to understand that the films each demonstrated the ‘Power of Words’, and how these films would be used for the project.  This was a question I asked throughout the rest of the evening, but I did not get a satisfactory answer.  At 21h30 the presentations had finished, and we were transported by shuttle to Tintswalo Lodge, at the other end of Cape Town, for dinner.  I was in a shuttle bus with Spanish-speaking journalists from Mexico and Spain, and they were shocked that we would be traveling for half an hour from the city centre to the start of Chapman’s Peak, especially as the international journalists had already enjoyed lunch there the day before!  Tintswalo must have a lovely view in the daytime, but none of it could be appreciated when we arrived at 22h00, after a hair-rising drive by a contracted driver, in what came across as bundu-bashing when we arrived on the property.  We heard from the Tintswalo staff that they were always going to host the dinner, but that we were meant to be there by 20h00, to enjoy sundowners and canapés at sunset.  The sundowners had been cancelled at short notice.  It also meant that the food preparation had to wait for two hours, until the eighty of us had arrived. Marieza still was the only representative of African Sky Communications, and could not explain anything about the short films and presentations we had seen, being more interested in sharing photographs  of cat/tiger creatures she would be house-sitting in the Karoo at a future point in time!  On asking, we were told that Ms Becker had stayed behind at the Taj hotel to write a media release, instead of being present at the dinner, with a room-full of local and international media!

The guests were spread over four tables, and I sat next to the Montblanc Manager of Online PR, Nadine Jung, based at the Montblanc head office in Hamburg.  She told us that there are 500 Montblanc boutiques around the world, and that the company was established in 1906 by three businessmen.  Nadine too could not explain the project, being based at Montblanc and not well-informed about the project.  She tried to get Mr Bravo to tell me more about the film project, which he did after he had finished his dessert.  The venue was not well-lit for food photography, but the pass was not too far from our table, so I could photograph from there.  Many guests were cold, but were given blankets to wrap around them.    L’Ormarins Brut Classique MCC NV was served when we arrived.

Our menu was Montblanc-branded, and handwritten in calligraphy (no doubt with a Montblanc pen), but we couldn’t read all the words in the little light in the venue.  The starter was a Zucchini and truffle (none to be tasted) soup topped with some hard partly-cooked petite pasta.  This was paired with Cape of Good Hope Altima Sauvignon Blanc 2013, as well as Cape of Good Hope Laing Semillon 2013, which was served with a second starter of ice cold previously-frozen Tempura prawns served with herb rosti, wild rocket, and a sweet soy reduction.

The main course was a sesame seared line fish (delicious gurnard), which was served with fennel arancini, sautéed baby spinach, wild mushrooms, lobster bisque, and a splash of lemon, cold by the time it arrived at the table. No fish knives were available.  Even though it did not match the dish, I accepted a taste of the excellent Anthonij Rupert Syrah 2008, which was not officially listed on the menu.  All the wines served came from Johann Rupert’s Franschhoek farms, which the international journalists had visited earlier that day.

The dessert was caramelised pear malva served with vanilla bean ice cream, citrus anglaise, and apricot leather.  I requested a cappuccino, but it took forever to come, and was anything but dry, so gave up waiting for it, it being midnight already, and another half an hour drive back to the city centre lying ahead.

I had been envied for the invitation to a Montblanc event, and was assured that we would leave the function with a Montblanc pen, key ring, or something to represent the brand. One never expects a gift at events, but PR companies do try to outdo each other in winning favour from writers. Big was our surprise when the book entitled ‘Nelson Mandela by Himself‘ was thrust into our hands as we left to catch the shuttle bus back.  The book is ‘the authorised book of quotations’  by Mr Mandela in 243 pages.   We were driven back with a busload of Asian journalists, who all slept on the journey back, the driver driving much slower than the driver who took us to Tintswalo.  The driver took us to the Mount Nelson, and I told him that we were all parked or staying at the Taj, but he persevered, saying that one of our passengers was staying at The Nellie.  She was seated in the middle seat right at the back, which meant that half the busload would have to get up to let her out.  It turned out that she is an employee of De Kat TV, a company which also belongs to the African Sky Communications CEO Ms Becker, having put her drop-off requirement before that of the rest of us needing to be at the Taj!  At 0h30 we did not find this amusing at all, a final blow of poor organisation by the PR company, an evening characterised by non-communication with guests.  Despite having our cellphone details, we were not informed about any of the arrangements, and changes thereof, during the course of the evening.

With two disasters of events handled by African Sky Communications it is clear that the Johannesburg-based PR company is unable to organise events of its clients in the Cape (the Diners Club Winemaker of the Year event held at La Residence on Saturday evening was an exception, but I did hear of a journalist who was invited to the Winemakers Brunch on Sunday morning and not to the dinner on Saturday evening.  When she realised that she was the only journalist amongst a group of light-weight bloggers, she walked out!).   One wonders how Diners Club and Montblanc can allow their international brands to receive such poor and unprofessional media interaction from African Sky Communications!  It took another 24 hours for the PR company to send us the media release about the previous evening’s function!

To tie in with the legacy of Mr Mandela, the international guests were taken to Robben Island the following day.  The media release shared that Mr Mandela’s favourite ‘Presidential Pen’ was a Montblanc! 

Disclosure: We received a copy of the book ‘Nelson Mandela by Himself‘.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com  Tel (021) 433-2100, Twitter:@WhaleCottage Facebook:  click here