Cheryl Hunter (shelflife at marklives.com)’s weekly pick of all things new — product, packaging, design, insight, food, décor and more!

• SA Tourism extends Sho’t Left campaign
• Drifter brewery turns beer drinkers into owners
• Moir’s launches the mug cake

Your South Africa

“This is your country”, a brand new TVC from South African Tourism and FCB Joburg to inspire South Africans to travel their own country as part of the #Shotleft initiative that promotes a culture of local holiday travel, has been brought to life in a colossal production by Ola! Films.

The brief from FCB Joburg was to produce a TVC that would entice young black people to travel SA, and to travel in the way they would like to: enjoying activities with their friends and feeling totally comfortable in places where they wouldn’t ordinarily feel comfortable. For young, self-taught film-maker and photographer — and now Ola! Films director — Justice Mukheli, this was a break-through opportunity.

Mukheli was one of the founders of the highly successful photography collective, I See A Different You, focused on conveying distinctly South African and African stories through a local lens while working in advertising. This experience stood him in good stead for the SAT campaign.

“The opportunity, to create an advert that gives confidence to our people to travel this country their own way, spoke to me on so many levels. The most-beautiful and -special thing about making this commercial was that our experience of making it ended up reflecting exactly the message of the ad.”

With three producers, Mukheli and established director Mfundo Mkhize to assist with capturing additional footage, Ola! Films director Olivia Leitch says Ola! was able to shoot in five of the nine provinces over 10 excruciatingly long days, coupled with vast distances and lengthy hours spent on the road. Starting out at the Union Buildings in Pretoria via Ponte City in Johannesburg, Tsitsikamma in the Western Cape, Bloukrans in the Eastern Cape and many more and finally ending in Krugersdrop, the team filmed quad-biking, ziplining, bungee jumping, cave-diving, sandboarding, game-driving and skydiving to demonstrate the wealth of tourism activities on offer locally.

Says FCB creative team Khanyi Mpumlwana and Vusi Khoza, “For us, the most-important thing was working with a director who understood the subtexts and nuances related to the people we were talking to, and bringing them to life in a fresh and engaging way. Justice and the Ola team have a collaborative spirit that enabled us to capture everyone’s vision, from the client down to agency team. It was a joy to work with them.”

shotleft.co.za • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram
fcb.co.za • Facebook • Twitter • Ramify • Instagram
olafilms.tv • Facebook • Vimeo
justicemukheli.com • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram

Drifting with the crowd

Following a global trend for craft beer brands, the Drifter Brewing Company is using equity crowdfunding via Uprise.Africa to accelerate expansion by raising R3m in investment.

The company describes receiving an overwhelming response from local investors, surpassing 50% of its target within the first week of launching the campaign. Says Nicholas Bush, Drifter director, “The successful start to the Drifter campaign is a major breakthrough for SA’s funding ecosystem. Because of the extensive support of the Drifter campaign, it can be said that the potential to fuel growth within the SA craft beer industry is huge.”

Globally, equity crowdfunding campaigns run by breweries have been met with widespread success, with big names such as Brew Dog, Hop Stuff and Bellfield Breweries raising millions in investment to fuel growth and brewery expansion. Drifter has this year embarked on a journey to accelerate expansion and push its brew into global markets, using equity crowdfunding because it enables it to give loyal customers an opportunity to be a part of the company’s journey by owning the product they love.

Uprise.Africa is reportedly currently the only equity crowdfunding platform in SA and businesses are put through an extensive legal and financial due diligence process before going up on the platform.

Drifter shares are available at R1000 per share, with the campaign having 45 days left to reach its funding goal.

drifterbrewing.co.za • Facebook • Twitter • Instagram
uprise.africa • Facebook • Twitter

Moir’s in a cup

Given the trend towards bite-size snacking, the team at Moir’s is helping to shake up the baking category with a mug cake.

Mug cakes are easy, single-serve, baked-dessert treats that may be eaten on the go and prepared almost anywhere — all you need is a mug and a microwave. Each box consists of four individual portion cakes, which take two min to mix, cook and serve, and are eaten straight out of the mug with creative toppings or inclusions such as marshmallow or chocolate chips an optional extra.

The cakes are available in three flavours — rich chocolate, crème caramel and buttery vanilla — and retail for R29.99

moirs.co.za • Facebook • Twitter

Shelf Life is MarkLives.com’s weekly column covering all things new. Notify us of yours at shelflife at marklives dot com. Want to sponsor Shelf Life? Contact us here.

Cheryl Hunter (@cherylhunter) has written for the South African media, marketing and advertising industries for more than 15 years. A former editor of M&M in Independent Newspapers and contributor to Bizcommunity, AdFocus, AdReview and the Ad Annual, she has also produced for various television networks and currently consults on communication strategy and media liaison.

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