Cluck your tongue at foreign flavours and treat your palette to local cuisine this Freedom Day and then treat your body with love by using SA inspired products from moisturiser and deodorant to beer and wine. And lastly, be proud of the campaigns and portals that have become iconic in putting SA on the world map.
Here are a few long-standing global SA brands to boast about:
EAT
– In 1939, Ouma Greyvenstein baked some rusks in response to the Great Depression’s effect on her local community in the Eastern Cape. Today, Ouma Rusks are regularly dunked in teas and coffees at home and abroad. The Greyvenstein family went on to found Simba Snacks and turn local and foreign fingers orange with their Nik Naks.
– Nandos, born in the south of Johannesburg in 1987, now serves its unique brand of spicy chicken (and ads) to people in 26 countries on five continents.
– In the 18th century the discovery of rooibos or ‘red bush’ sent tidal waves of tea as far afield as the Orient and Orange County and continues to do so.
– Golden Spur used to be a family theme-restaurant for Capetonians in 1967 but has since escalated into 237 domestic and 28 international Spur Steak Ranches and since 1989, added Panarotti’s Pizza and Pasta to their global tribe.
– Another old lady, Mrs HS Ball, used her family’s chutney recipe to turn a small home business into one of South Africa’s most loved condiments which is now improving meals in the UK, Germany, Australia and New Zealand.
.- Did you know that biltong and boerewors is appreciated in Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the UK and the US? Just wait until we get a hold of their local wildlife.
LOVE
– Oil of Olay, now known as Olay, was mixed up by a Durban chemist in his home in 1949. He tested his ‘beauty fluid’ on his wife and her friends and based on their feedback, hit the market. Today, Olay is one of the world’s most recognisable brands.
– Remember Ego? That’s what it was initially launched as thirty six years ago in South Africa but is now called AXE and it’s the world’s most lucrative brand of male grooming products. It’s the Ego effect or AXE effect or whatever.
– Our very own SABMiller supplies 50 percent of China’s beer and comes packed with local champions Appletiser, award winning Castle Lager and others.
– In an effort to join the tipsy elephants after watching them tuck into the fermented fruits of the marula tree, South Africans created Amarula cream liqueur.
– What did the first white men in South Africa decide to do after they built a nice castle for themselves? Make wine of course. And they’ve been doing it since 1659 making ours the oldest wine industry outside of Europe and the Mediterranean. Too many brands and too many awards to mention by name!
PROMOTE
– Cape Town is a flourishing as one of the biggest commercial and stills production destinations in the world. Everyone from Clint Eastwood to advertising agencies and big brands trust Cape Town with their vision.
– The Proudly South African campaign initiated by government, encourages consumers to buy homegrown products. Anything with the distinctive logo means you’re advocating South Africa.
– The My South Africa advertising campaign, widely seen on CNN international, won gold in the first annual Internationalist Awards for Innovative Digital Marketing Solutions in 2009. It’s your South Africa so upload your pictures and experiences of South Africa to build an online billboard that everyone passing by on the information superhighway will see.
– If you need any more help to help promote South Africa, visit www.sapromo.com, positively South African or www.southafrica.info which has info for tourists, investors and citizens, it has been slapping it’s slogan on all things Ananzi, ‘Alive With Possibility’.
So fly the flag high this Freedom Day and remember, we can be the best ambassadors of all, the people of South Africa. Share these proud facts with friends. Together we can make South Africa shine!
Bigging up SA
> Invite your foreign friends to a braai replete with Simba chips, Castle Lagers and your Goldfish album.
> Organise a SA movie night, invite friends around to see titles such as Tsotsi, District 9, Jerusalema, The Gods Must Be Crazy and soon on DVD, the inspired Invictus.
> Hang that colourful flag in the window!
> Buy a second hand book by a South African writer (JM Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer etc) and leave it on a train or public bench.
> If you’re making tea, make it rooibos.
> If you’re going to a dinner party, take Cape wine and let the room know where those gorgeous grapes are from.
> Take a South African snack (biltong works well) into the office this Freedom Day and invite everyone to sample some real food.