by Sihlangu Tshuma

I am one of those unfortunate men who sometimes run out of ways to please the woman of the house. Yet in a way I consider myself fortunate as it only takes a bottle of Vimto to please her. The purple mix is a hit, not just in my household.  Vimto’s performance in the beverages market can only be described as phenomenal.  The Merseyside-based soft drink is currently experiencing rave popularity internationally. After a century of production, Vimto is now consumed twice more overseas than in the UK. Its centennial existence was celebrated with the posting of a 39% rise in pre-tax profit for the first half of the year, driven by strong trading over the period.

The question then is how has the Vimto brand managed to stack up against the beverage giants like Coca-cola. The secret is being different. We have always known that it pays being unique, but the Vimto story hammers the point more emphatically than any other. Brendan Hynes, Nichols chief executive says  Vimto does not compete head on with brands such as Coca-Cola, as they do not have a dilute fruit drink. “We compete by being different.” Simples!

The product has also benefited from the unthinkable, that is finding itself among the dates and other foods that the Muslims consume during Ramadan. Vimto is most popular in the Middle East for fasting Muslims looking for a quick and refreshing energy boost when at sunset.

The lesson I take away from the Vimto is the importance of being different.  There is clearly not much to be gained by trying to pump carbon-dioxide when Coca-cola are already doing it so well. Vimto invaded the sleepy concentrate drinks sector and  emerged as the strongest brand among the others. How this product branded as a children’s delight managed to find its way into the hearts of the adults is a topic for future discussion.

In the past week, my attention was drawn to reports on defective product design. Some of these were initially touted to have the potential to permanently alter how we go about doing the things we do. Even more importantly, these products were from companies of international acclaim such as Blackberry. By the end of the week, I had come to a conclusion that bad products could after all be good for the overall business. What am I trying to say?

Let’s consider for example, the Blackberry case. I have in my possession a Blackberry Storm and I do not have to read the reviews about what other users say. I just happen to know from firsthand experience that it is one mobile phone project gone badly. The announcement that Research In Motion has just developed its latest innovation the BlackBerry Torch, which is envisaged to stand toe to toe with the iphone, further enhances my assertion. Although I did not expect a bare bones confession from Blackberry, I consider the latest project as a recompense for the Storm fiasco. The Blackberry Storm project in my hands right now is just one complete failure, yet the advent of the Torch has awakened my love for the Blackberry. I am eagerly waiting to see how the new version will atone for the Storm. In a way I can see how my disappointment with the Storm has leveraged my excitement for the new model. This is in a way that no advertising campaign could have achieved.

Apple may seem invincible to bad design, yet I am afraid they are not immune. The i-phone 4 antenna woes are beginning to die down. What seemed to be a mess has left apple with a substantial publicity mileage which none of their crisp campaigns could achieve. I know that very well because it was able to capture the attention of the most technophobic like my wife.

I know full well that Public Relations is not a precise science. The ramifications of product recalls are too ghastly to be contemplated, yet my anecdotal experience points to unprecedented gains at the back of such mishaps. Consider the amount of free product placement in the news of Toyota recall for accelerator problems. My anecdotal take in all this is that Toyota will have the last laugh.

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