Before you make a sale, you have to make a friend

Seven years ago the brand did not feature in the survey at all and was described as a "surprise entrant" when it pushed its way into the reckoning in 1997. Every year thereafter it has gone further and further toward entrenching itself in the minds of consumers as a store that is both liked and trusted. The culmination of this is the achievement of 2004 as it took 1st place as South Africa's favourite clothing retail outlet.

For The Jupiter Drawing Room, the advertising agency that handles the Jet account it has been a most rewarding experience. "I think that things like this go a long way to restoring faith in advertising," says Alistair Duff, the Business Unit Director at The Jupiter Drawing Room. "It's brilliant to watch sales grow incrementally for the store but it gives the Agency a great sense of pride to watch the brand grow in conjunction with this".

There is no doubt that the product has truly delivered and that the average consumer now sees Jet as a very good value destination with quality merchandise, but more importantly all reports would seem to suggest that possibly the store has become more than that. Many of Jet's customers now seem to describe it as a friend.