Discovery Health, an absolutely iconic South African business and a world leader in proactive health insurance, has announced that it will be adding Checkers and Checkers Sixty60 to its Vitality HealthyFood benefits, there joining Woolworths and Woolies Dash. But not, sadly, Pick n Pay, which has parted ways with the programme for reasons not given. Benefits include 25% back on all marked HealthyFood purchases at participating retailers, and up to 12,000 Vitality points annually. The Checkers Simple Truth range offers health-conscious punters everything from nutritious, all-natural, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and plant-based ready-made meals and snacks to eco-friendly cleaning products, cutlery, and crockery. Related, you will recall that in a further effort to take a bite out of the Woolies market, Checkers recently launched ‘Foodie!’, a range which includes a host of pre-made and packaged foods.

Comment: A significant feather in the cap of Checkers, whose ambitions vis-à-vis the Woolies customer are well-documented.

A peek under the bonnet of PR, a lot of which is frankly fluff about the good deeds that businesses are doing and not much else. This week, SPAR shows how it should be done with a piece that enumerates in detail the ways that shoppers can beat inflation – using delivery services and rewards programmes, switching to house brands, buying fresh, minimising waste, that sort of thing – offering practical tips while subtly promoting products, brands or services that SPAR actually provides. Nice one. Moving on, Clicks has added a sixth baby store to its now quite geographically distributed haul, this one at the Zambezi Junction Shopping Centre in Montana Park, Pretoria. Through its Baby Store brand, Clicks has also launched a loyalty programme, Baby Club, offering 4% back on all those pricy essentials that go with being a new parent.

Comment: A slow build-up for Clicks on the Baby front. But it’s a growing category, and they will no doubt scale when they need to.

Frequenters of social media may in the last few weeks have perhaps noticed advertising for something called Nibble, which it turns out is an AI-powered chatbot that enables shoppers to haggle for lower prices online. Shoppers can reach a deal within 45 seconds, the company said, and roughly one-fifth go on to purchase that item. This is a refreshing, even empowering, alternative to the ubiquitous discounts that some retailers are using to get rid of a post-pandemic overstock of certain no-longer-in-demand items on their shelves. Others are using the bot to convert browsers into buyers or to get punters to add more items to their basket through better pricing that doesn’t absolutely flatten margin. Retailers are able to set parameters for Nibble, allowing it some wiggle room in the negotiation, and the ability to offer perks like free shipping to clinch a deal.

Comment: A use of AI that doesn’t result in actual humans being put out of work, but rather expands the business model. Excellent.

Big news re. iconic brands from PepsiCo this week, which has agreed to sell its Savoury Food Ingredients business to the local Lallemand Inc affiliate Rymco, trading as Anchor Yeast, subject to Competition Commission approval. Savoury who? you ask. Oh, just the unit responsible for bringing Marmite and Bovril to market, that’s all. It also makes savoury food ingredients like brewer’s yeast extract and hydrolysed vegetable protein-based flavourings. What’s in it for Lallemand? “We are committed to making biotechnology one of the answers to the challenges the world faces with respect to nutrition, health and the environment,” says CEO and obvious Frenchman Antoine Chagnon. “Lallemand has significant experience in producing yeast, yeast derivatives and yeast-based food ingredients.” The brands in question will thankfully still form part of the product offering.

Comment: As the world gets hotter and hungrier, innovations in foods like yeasts will become increasingly critical to keeping us all fed.

The Gilded Ponytail for Marketing Genius of the Year goes to whoever suggested that Rhodes Food launch their new range of tinned meals as a Veggie Bowl range, which recently won Product of the Year in the Heat and Eat: Ready-to-eat meals category. Seriously good idea. Coming soon: Lucky Star’s new Fish Bowl. Ok, not really, but we think it could work. Moving on, capitalising on the cool and righteous popularity of all things Kasi, NikNaks has launched a new Cheesy Kota flavour. “While other snacks might try to imitate, NikNaks stands apart with our genuine commitment to authentically representing townships all around Mzansi,” says marketing manager Diyaana Allie in a brutal throwdown. Finally, a victory for reality in advertising for P&G at the advertising regulatory board, which has ruled that the depiction of actual menstrual blood in an ad for Always XXL is both reasonable and justifiable. In their defence of the ad in question, P&G highlighted the importance of normalising menstrual health and educating the public about the natural and healthy aspects of menstruation.

Comment: A big week for marketing and advertising. Let’s keep it coming.

The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is a major instrument of American soft power on this great continent we call home. For African economies like ours, it’s an even bigger deal: the legislation allows South Africa duty-free access to the US market for exports that reached over R55bn in 2022 alone, mainly in motor vehicles, fruit, and wine. The future of the Act is currently under discussion: AGOA expires in 14 months, and a delegation is currently in Washington DC to ask for an early extension of the law by at least 16 years. And with certain recent developments – notably our Government’s chumminess with China and Russia, and opposition to the Israeli occupation of Gaza, and the distraction of US by its increasingly dramatic election – the deal is far from done. “South Africa, like all the other countries, will be evaluated based on the criteria, and then we’ll have a decision, but it’s too early now to predict what the outcome will be for any country, and not just for South Africa,” says Assistant US trade representative for Africa, Connie Hamilton.

Comment: A big chunk of our change for our economy. Let’s hope the parties will hammer something out.