Events

As part of the regular industry gatherings organised by PR-Net, one of the last meetings in 2010, hosted by Societi Bistro, introduced us to the bona fide accidental PR guru, Paul Raphaely of NoMu Foods fame. Also present at the event were pesto, hot chocolate shots and the best dips in the land.

Paul discussed how he and his wife and business partner Tracy Foulkes – the demure  cook behind the business – built the international brand from scratch. I personally think the products are PR tools themselves because they’re just delicious and irresistible. It’s simple, seemingly meaningless statements like the one I just made, that have been instrumental to NoMu’s PR success.

Get the cool kids talking and you’re halfway there. Paul emphasised the power of social networks and local bloggers in forging a dialogue, interaction, and even a community around the product. More importantly, NoMu does this with integrity. Give bloggers a valid reason to write about your product instead of just shamelessly shoving the product in their readers’ faces. I think that once any brand’s integrity is intact there really is little room for failure.

The other thing that appeals to me is the fact that the brand is personal. You can read recipes written by Tracy herself, view pictures of their lives, and interact with Paul on a range of platforms. While the company has expanded to 24 employees and 38 countries, they haven’t neglected that all-important personal touch. I’m sure many of their loyal customers will agree with me that that is one of the brand’s main selling points. I did mention the yummy products, right?

The most poignant point Paul conveyed was “If you’re not breaking through the clutter you’re adding to it”, which is a mantra local and global brands should embrace. Doing this calls for innovation, creativity, and breaking boundaries. I was indeed inspired by this idea and I hope you will be too, because Paul also emphasised the fact that South Africa is alive with possibility. Go ahead and break through that clutter.

This is a guest post by Jehan Latief.

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A notable feature of my recent social events seems to be the common theme of geeks and wine. Could this be 2009′s cheese and wine?

Last night was no exception when Delheim wine was served up at the bi-monthly GeekDinner. A delicious Merlot 2006 (and I am not typically a Merlot fan) as well as Sauvignon Blanc/Chenin blend. I am a bit of a glutton for red wine at the moment, so I stupidly forgot to taste the wine – will have to remedy that soon.

The list of geek-friendly South African wine seems to be growing: Stormhoek, of course: Perdeberg (not sure why they don’t sponsor GeekDinners any more but hooray for Delheim), Moreson has turned up now and again, and now Delheim.

Nice.

In my opinion Geek dinners are the black horse of the current Cape Town social media circuit. Always incredibly fun – and funny, you have to witness the slideshow karaoke at least once – and with the widest variety of topics at a dinner/networking event I have come across.

Last night was no exception, with Mandy Watson taking impromptu to a new level and testing out her new presentation pointer, slide mover thing in front of a live audience. It’s called an Apacer Wireless Presenter. You can see why she is queen of the tech reviews with her astute observations and questions about the technology’s capabilities.

Next up was Wessel Venter talking about Aspergers syndrome. Discussing it later, Kerry-Anne and I agreed that we live in amazing times where increasingly there is no normal.

Wessel was followed by poster child for “Saffers taking the world by storm with a pocket full of VC money”, Vinnie Lingham. Vinnie, head of Synthasite … I mean Yola, held a lively question and answer session about his move to Silicon Valley and observations on what’s up in SA. I am not sure he is totally convinced that Silicon Valley beats Silicon Cape Town hands down though.

And of course the ever-present Springleap team provided the geek schwag for the evening.

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