Tag Archives: ABSA

WhaleTales Tourism, Food, and Wine news headlines: 12/13 July

WhaleTalesTourism, Food, and Wine news headlines

*   Sales of alcoholic beverages in the UK have decreased by 6% in the last week of the five-week World Cup period compared to the same period a year ago, as interest in the soccer event has decreased in the last week of the tournament, despite reaching close to £ 1 billion in sales.  Sales in the first three weeks of the tournament showed an increase, however.  Champagne and sparkling wine showed the strongest growth in the past month.  Cider sales decreased by 11% compared to a year ago. England’s early World Cup exit and better weather in July 2013 have been the cause of the beverage sales decrease.

*   A Wine Intelligence study finds that UK wine drinkers almost equally accept cork and screw cap closures, at 40% each;  Australians prefer screw cap wines (55%) to cork (38%); and in the USA cork is strongly preferred (64%) compared to screw caps (21%).  The choice of closure is dictated by image and practicality, more than ‘scientific’ reasons of helping the wine to breathe, stifling ageing, or preventing spoilage.

*   A new MasterCard Multi-currency Cash Passport has been launched, and is available at ABSA and American Express Continue reading →

2013: looking back on a tough year, with some highlights!

2013Today ends one of the less nice years, and the number 13 in it should have been a warning of  how bad it could become.  While it has many negative associations, it also was  a year of highlights, from our perspective.

For me personally the year was overshadowed by the passing of my father, and while I was lucky to have him in my life for such a long time, reaching the ripe old age of 97, it still was a shock when he went in April.  He brought our family to South Africa, and specifically to the Cape, for which I will be eternally grateful.   He helped shape my interest in the business world, and took a keen interest in my Market Research, Public Relations, and hospitality careers.   Added to this was the further loss of our beloved Madiba, who passed away on 5 December, a shock when it happened, despite one knowing that it was just a matter of time.    It felt like a double whammy loss year.  Heaven has gained two truly great gentlemen.

2013 has had some positive aspects: we celebrated the fifth anniversary of our Blog, well established and with more than 30000 unique readers per month.  We thank our loyal readers and commenters, as well as the Public Relations companies which feed us with up to date information and invite us to launches, particularly in the wine industry.  We particularly commend Waterford Communications for its professionalism in dealing with us as friends as well as writers, never taking any coverage for granted, always being willing to assist with more information, having a knack for choosing excellent weather days for client functions, and saying ‘thank you‘ for coverage received, a rare treat! The PR company leads an industry plagued by poor writers, who bombard one with media releases (often being irrelevant), repeating information already written about, and demanding proof of coverage granted to the client brand! Continue reading →

Mourning Madiba: Sunday Times laughs all the way to the bank!

Nando's Madiba adIt should have been a surprise that the Sunday Times last weekend contained 10 full page and 16 smaller advertisements in honour of the late Nelson Mandela, given his passing on Thursday evening, and the deadlines of newspapers to ensure their distribution in the early hours of Sunday morning.  It was interesting to evaluate corporate South Africa’s response, in their advertisements, to the passing of our country’s greatest leader, most quoting the wisdom of Madiba in their tributes to him.

Given the two days in which ad agencies had to book their clients’ advertisements, it is clear that they could not have created them in such a short time period, given lead times to conceptualise the ad, obtain client approval, and to produce the material.  It is clear that the major corporates had their farewell ads to Madiba prepared and mothballed for the announcement of his passing.

The most touching and most genuine advertisement, in our opinion, is the one by Nando’s, demonstrating the power of consistency in advertisement layout and typeface, recognisable to any South African without its logo or branding.  The most disgusting of all Mandela AVBOB Whale Cotatge Portfoliothe ads is that by funeral organisers AVBOB, depicting Madiba in daisies, and shouting its pay-off line ‘We’re here for you’!

Pick ‘n Pay’s advertising disappointed, with three full page advertisements in last Sunday’s edition, the one on page 12 in the main body being a crass ‘Price Cuts’ one, amidst the remaining ads all being tributes to Madiba.  Pick ‘n Pay and the media department of its ad agency could have done a better job in planning the placements, requesting its tribute ad in this slot, and its special offer ad in other sections of the paper.  Cynically one could think that the retailer purposely capitalised on the above Continue reading →

New MyCiTi Bus Camps Bay route: whale of a good value, not running smoothly yet!

My CiTi Bus Camps Bay Whale Cottage PortfolioThe MyCiTi Bus finally started operating on Saturday, about eighteen months behind schedule!  Given that we want to inform our Whale Cottage Camps Bay guests about the service, my colleague and I went for a test drive of the Camps Bay – Civic Centre – V&A Waterfront Silo route yesterday.

The first step was to obtain our MyCiTi Bus cards, which one needs to load credit on to, for swiping when stepping on the bus.  It was announced that one could obtain a free card (a saving of R25) from the Camps Bay Library, where an official from the City of Cape Town sold us R30-loaded cards, the only cards one can purchase at the library this week.  These can only be bought for cash, and only one per person can be obtained, ID details being taken.  The City representative was uncertain about the other places at which one can load more credit onto the card, saying that Kauai was to be a point to do so, but that its system was off-line yesterday.  He thought Pick ‘n Pay Camps Bay would be another point, but he wasn’t sure.  There does not appear to be any place to purchase cards once the City’s generous offer of free cards ends on Saturday. One would then have to go the Queen’s Beach station, or to the Civic Centre to buy cards there. Each card comes with a pin, which one can change at a station, and is required to load more credit.   There was only one newspaper advertorial on the table, and no leaflets, saying he was waiting for more. When I asked for more information for the guest house, he gave me a pile of the newspaper copies from under the table!

We took the bus from the Whale Rock bus stop opposite Pick ‘n Pay MyCiTi Bus Whale Rock stop Whale Cottage PortfolioCamps Bay just after 14h00, and we were delighted to see the name choice.  The bus travelled alongside Victoria Road, up Argyle Road , into Geneva Drive, onto Camps Bay Drive, down Kloofnek Road (this seems to be a very dangerous stop, as we observed a tourist family getting on the bus, which had been to Table Mountain and must have crossed the very busy road without a pedestrian crossing to get the bus stop), connecting into Kloof Street (very long Continue reading →