Protest over soft drink heard loud and clear

24 December 2011 - 01:06 By ADELE SHEVEL
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Frankie's flavours and retro-style packaging
Frankie's flavours and retro-style packaging

WOOLWORTHS faced a reputation crisis this week in the middle of its most crucial trading period of the year. The up-market retailer, which positions itself as a trusted brand, was the main target of social media users attacking it for allegedly copying drinks from Frankie's Olde Soft Drink Company.

Mike Schmidt, owner and founder of Frankie's, has taken the issue to the Advertising Standards Authority because it will be the most cost-effective way to take on the retailer.

The products in question were brought to the attention of Schmidt by a customer who had bought root beer from Woolworths, believing she had bought a Frankie's product.

In June Schmidt tried unsuccessfully to convince Woolworths to sell his products.

Schmidt said he had never claimed ownership of "retro", but there were several things Woolworths had "copied", including the Frankie's strapline and names of products such as cinnamon cola, cloudy lemonade and fiery ginger beer.

He said the Woolworths product line created confusion.

Woolworths hit back and said it had not infringed any intellectual property rights or trademark. It cited other companies worldwide that used similar names.

But Woolworths' slow response in dealing with the issue enraged many consumers and social media users.

Zyda Rylands, managing director of Woolworths Foods, defended the company's lack of an immediate response. "This is the busiest time of the year for us. I've been travelling across stores and wanted to get all the facts first."

She said Woolworths had been developing a "nostalgic and retro" range since 2003 and that it was a growing trend internationally.

"It's not a concept anyone can claim. I'm absolutely clear we did not clone any concept. The only thing we should have done better is told Mike upfront we are a private-label business and only use national brands."

She said Woolworths supported many small businesses as suppliers for the retailer. "We know we couldn't copy people's products and be successful for 80 years."

While Woolworths was grappling with the damage to its reputation, Schmidt said Frankie's distributors were panicking that they might not have enough of the brand in stock.

Sales of Frankie's are due to hit three million units this year, from 35000 units three years ago. The business employs 12 people.

Brand expert Jeremy Sampson described the reaction on Twitter as "almost a lynch mob mentality that's feeding off itself". "It's a classic David-versus-Goliath situation."

He said one thing Woolworths had got horribly wrong was taking so long to respond. When eventually it did respond, the spokesperson was very guarded, he said. "It's understandable she was shackled, but Woolworths has lost the moral high ground and was not convincing."

Mike Said, developer of the site Woolworse.co.za and founder of brandstrategy.co.za, said the biggest lessons from the bungle were that the rules of public relations had changed. "You need to act immediately. Big companies need to be aware that we [bloggers] put a lot of emotion into a story, so companies need to put out [a statement] as quickly as possible."

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