Cherryflava

Sunday Times / Markinor Top SA brands – questionable

Posted on 28. Aug, 2006 by Cassandra.

So Sunday morning, we rise at the crack of dawn, scamper in eager anticipation down to the corner news agent to get a copy of this year’s Sunday Times / Markinor Top Brands supplement.

We sprint back home to indulge in a morning scone, a steaming hot cup of Lavazza and all the brand survey results – only to find no supplement and a tiny editorial indicating that the thing will only be published NEXT WEEK.

Reason?

The annual Top Brands Survey, due to be published in The Sunday Times
this weekend as a 40-page showcase tabloid insert, was withdrawn on
Friday, 25 August 2006, after Vodacom took legal action against MTN
over the parodying of the Vodacom slogan in an MTN ad in the main body
of the tabloid. MTN will now reportedly be footing the bill for the
reprint of the special supplement – to the tune of R2.5 million. [via]

Thanks MTN for ruining our Sunday – you owe us R9.50.

Fortunately, there’s always news online….

[...]

Zanzibar rejects Mercury brand

Posted on 28. Aug, 2006 by Cassandra.

Apart from being an awesome place to go on a relaxing spice island holiday – Zanzibar is also the birthplace of Queen frontman, Freddy Mercury.

Now – to us, this little gem of information is a tourist marketer’s wet dream.
The great Freddy Mercury, arguably one of the best musicians ever to walk the face of the planet, born on a tiny East African island. Like Jim Morrison’s grave in Paris – this has got rock tour safari tour package printed all over it.

Instead – Zanzibari Muslims are wanting to ban a 60th birthday
party for the late Zanzibar-born rock star Freddie Mercury, complaining
the flamboyant singer’s lifestyle offended Islam.

"Associating Mercury with Zanzibar degrades our
island as a place of Islam," UAMSHO chief Abdallah Said Ali wrote,
adding that the singer was known to have been gay, died of Aids and had
lived a wild life many Muslims would condemn.

Its just astounding to us how opportunities are wasted on a continent crying to dig itself out of an economic hole. Here’s an opportunity to bridge cultural boundaries and step way out of the remark-ability box, but narrow-mindedness just has to swap the vodka for Oros.

Zanzibar oppose Mercury bash – Sunday Times
Zanzibar trippin – Cherryflava pics

Bikini trimmer power

Posted on 25. Aug, 2006 by Cassandra.

See now this is just showing off.

Surely all woman are going to understand what the Philips Bikini Trimmer is used for – but no, the agency has to be clever and graphically illustrate what the bikini trimmer can do to a giant outdoor bush.

Geez – we’d be a little nervous bringing that buzzing chopper near us if this is what it does to a plant. [via]

[From DDB London]

Wine for woman

Posted on 25. Aug, 2006 by Cassandra.

In the 80’s, Kim cigarettes were all the rage.
They were slim, had stylish packaging, were made of ’satin’ paper and marketed as ‘woman’s cigarettes’.

We’re not too sure what happened to poor ol’ Kim. She probably got tossed out of the brand mix along with Cindy Lauper and pink leggings.

Now a Dutch wine producer thinks that woman are enjoying way too many Bacardi Breezers and Litchi Brutal Fruits – and feel intimidated by big flavourful Merlots and Cabernets.
To turn the ladies onto wine – the company has launched Sophie & Sophie.

It’s a rosé
wine sold in small bottles. Actually, it’s not quite wine, but a wine
‘refresher’ made from wine (51%), dealcoholized wine (31%), and grape
must (18%). Must is the juice of freshly pressed grapes, before it’s
fermented into wine. [via]

The wine is sold in these sexy little bottles containing just enough ‘wine’ for two glasses.

Nice packaging, good idea, but maybe a little too contrived for our market. See: Natural Wines

Related: Wine made for pizza – Cherryflava

Cherryflava Media launches new blog: Jetstreaker

Posted on 24. Aug, 2006 by Cassandra.

BREAKING NEWS: As part of our strategy to limit South Africa’s rampant economic growth by killing off its productivity levels – Cherryflava Media would like to introduce you to our newest blog baby.

Jetstreaker.com is a South African celebrity gossip magazine for the jetset elite.
Obsessed with fame and fortune, the new blog is produced by a whole new editorial team and design wise, takes on an entirely fresh approach with easy navigation and post emailing plug-ins.

The site tracks both local and international celeb news – so if you like to be kept informed about the latest on Paris Hilton’s new video, Chelsy Davy’s new royal crisis, Richard Branson’s new company or have something to say about the new Survivor SA contestants – subscribe to the RSS feed and care for the young one.

Go give her some love and a welcome to the family: Jetstreaker.com

SA blogger gets a book deal because of blog

Posted on 24. Aug, 2006 by Cassandra.

Its not just big, A-list American and European bloggers that are attracting the attention of book publishers.

Great news is that local Cape Town blogger, Tertia Albertyn who blogs the very popular So Close, has just been published because of her site.

Tertia’s blog and book are a personal account of her own struggle with infertility. And subsequent triumph with the birth of her twins in January 2005.

Internationally – anonymous postcard blog, Postsecret and London callgirl blogger Belle de Jour have hit the big time with their printed versions.
So hopefully the So Close book will not only be a financial success, but also pioneer similar ventures and promote the exposing power of independent publishing in South Africa.

As a bonus to you, the Cherryflava reader – we’re playing Oprah today and have a couple of copies of the book to give away.
Its not going to be everyone’s brand of cigarette, but If you’d like to get a free copy – please email us [cherryflava {at} gmail {dot} com] a one paragraph motivation.
The first two good entries get a free book – go now.

Who knows – maybe someday DSTV will approach the SA blog community to put together some real content on our own dedicated TV channel. Wouldn’t that be cool?

UPDATE: Ok, we have our free book winners – well done Dave and Craig. We look forward to the reviews.

MTV gets with the bloggers to promote the VMAs

Posted on 24. Aug, 2006 by Cassandra.

MTV’s Video Music Awards are set to be announced at the end of this month.

To stir up a ‘Snakes on a Plane’ kind of hype about the ceremony, the TV channel have hooked up with Google maps and have invited top NYC bloggers to contribute their favourite places, bars and stores to their very interactive and informative blog.

Obviously the MTV management have heard about this Internet threat thing and have decided if you can’t beat them with video – you might as well join them in their own sick blog game. [thanks Alex]

See:

MTV gets the NYC bloggers in for the VMAs – PSFK
VMAs website – MTV

Firefox crop circle crazy

Posted on 23. Aug, 2006 by Cassandra.

A bunch of crazy, stoned geeks have pledged their allegiance to there favourite web browser by creating a massiv Firefox logo crop circle.

After all of this, they then went and shelled out good money to hire a helicopter to take photographs of the thing. Silly.

A team of 12 people did it in 24 hours and it’s 220 feet in diameter. [via]

That’s tribal brand love right there. Weird….but its still love.

More – here.

Baby + breast = outrage – Part 2

Posted on 23. Aug, 2006 by Cassandra.

This boobvertising trend thing, we predicted at the beginning of August, is really taking off.

Here’s another example of ad; featuring baby with giant breast, which it has to be said – looks very similar to the last boobvertising execution, which caused people to be put to death in America.

In our opinion, its rather a clique to use this type of creative for a milk brand, which has to be European otherwise the practice would have been hauled before congress.

We’re curious however – would South African newspapers and magazines run this ad? Offensive or remarkable?

Previously: Baby + breast = outrage – Cherryflava
Via – The FWA

New business ideas: Contact

Posted on 23. Aug, 2006 by Cassandra.

Two new telecoms related business ideas out of South Africa for you to check out:

1. Skaap (meaning ‘Sheep’ in local tongue) is a VOIP telephone service, which is cool if you like to phone your granny in Aussie all the time…while not near a computer.

How it works is that you buy ‘airtime’ through the website,
stipulate which telephone number you will be calling from (can be a cell phone
or a land line) and then once signed up, they will give you a local 086
telephone number to call from your cell or land line. You dial that local
number, you will hear a dialling tone and then you enter your overseas number
followed by a hash. The Skaap software
thingy then switches the call to the VOIP part. [Thanks Tertia]

So – you make an international call to a local number on a normal telephone. Nice sheep.

2. Seth Rotherham (from 2oceansvibe)  brought our attention to a new online service he’s involved with which, believe it or not, is the first of its kind in SA.

Big Time Air Time – allows you to purchase cellphone airtime, online, via your credit card….in three easy steps
Something similar (www.lazycat.co.za) was tried a couple of years back, but the site was cumbersome and the payment options restrictive.

With the state and expense involved with using any form of telecoms in South Africa,  these two new business ideas should be a drop in the ocean when it come to local business opportunties that undercut the bulky corporate monopolies.