It wasn't easy trying to persuade loyal consumers that they had to kick these brand names into touch. In fact, ten years afterwards, in the Sunday Times Top Brands Survey, enough consumers were voting for Volkskas Bank as their top brand that it made it into the top ten banking brands.
Now we have Eskom. Not the most popular brand in South Africa right now but one that is trying as hard as possible to stop consumers from using its product. Of course, it sounds silly but it isn't really. With successive government leaders having ignored the looming crisis, Eskom was suddenly faced with not nearly enough infrastructure to supply the country with its electricity needs.
So, apart from having to start building power stations as quickly as possible - an excruciatingly slow process - it had to find other ways of reducing the load. It gave away free long-life light bulbs and subsidised solar heaters. But it still wasn't enough.
Its latest idea was born out of an idea by Eskom's resident brand strategist, Kheepe Moremi, Groovin Nchabeleng from Blueprint and TheMediaShop. It involved creating a joint venture between Eskom and the SABC to raise awareness among South Africans on the importance of saving electricity.
It was called 'Power Bulletins' and Moremi claims that Eskom has measured a massive electricity consumption saving of up 250 megawatts, which is equivalent to powering a city the size of Bloemfontein.
Launched in May this year, it has reached 5,5 million viewers daily and has informed consumers about the state of electricity with regards to supply and demand, as well as educate them on how to save power.
Just another great example of how to stop consumers from buying your product.
Moremi is an astute marketer whom I have known for years and I am sure he won't mind one bit if I brand him as South Africa's most unsuccessful product salesman ever.
