KDTComms

Three products from Laud’s selection of independent beauty, chosen for the South African summer Laud Beauty introduces The Laud Canon: Summer Edit, a restrained selection of three enduring products chosen by founder Jeri Mookana for the particular demands of a South African summer. Three products. Three purposes. Nothing unnecessary. About Laud and the Laud Canon Laud Beauty exists to make exceptional beauty easier to find. The platform discovers independent brands from around the world and brings a tightly considered selection to South Africa, choosing each one for the things that matter most: formulation, performance and ethos. Its philosophy is simple: Aesthetician Curated. Consciously Chosen. Beautifully Proven. At the heart of that philosophy is the Laud Canon, a permanent collection of products that have moved beyond the novelty of a new launch and proved their worth on real skin, in real routines. They are the formulas Laud returns to, recommends repeatedly, and believes deserve a lasting place on the shelf. Each seasonal Edit then draws from that Canon, bringing a small selection forward for the moment. “The Canon is our answer to too much choice,” says Jeri Mookana, Founder of Laud Beauty. “Beauty has become incredibly noisy. Our customers don’t need fifty more launches competing for their attention. They want someone they trust to say: these are exceptional, these work, and this is why they are worth knowing. Nothing earns a place in the Canon by accident.” Why these three, and why now South African summer has its own set of beauty rules. Sun, heat, salt water, chlorine and long days outdoors can quickly change what skin and hair need. Heavy textures start to feel unnecessary, complicated routines fall away, and the products that remain have to work harder. That thinking shaped Laud’s Summer Edit. Rather than building another long seasonal list, Laud selected just three heroes: one for hair, one for skin and one for colour. …

As consumers turn towards buying less, but better, Laud Beauty founder Jeri Mookana sees the future of beauty in the codes of architecture and design, where craftsmanship is defined by restraint, intention and quiet discernment. Walk into any beauty hall and the message will be the same - volume. Another serum, another drop, another limited edition released before the last one has been finished. For the better part of two decades, the industry has competed on abundance, speed and the relentless pursuit of what comes next. Jeri Mookana, founder of Laud Beauty, South Africa’s curator of independent beauty from around the world, believes that era is closing. “Beauty doesn’t need more noise. It needs an edit,” says Mookana. “The women I meet are not short of options. They are short of time, short of trust, and short of someone who will tell them honestly what is worth keeping.” Mookana has spent almost two decades building brands for some of South Africa’s best-known retail and beauty businesses, from Checkers to Clicks and The Body Shop, before moving into senior roles spanning e-commerce, digital strategy and consumer growth. “Beauty is at its most powerful when it feels considered, honest and deeply personal,” says Mookana. “After years of building brands for others, I wanted to create the kind of destination I had always hoped to find - one with a clear point of view, a sense of discovery, and the confidence to choose well rather than offer everything to everyone.” The customer has already stepped off the treadmill Mookana believes the next era of beauty will be shaped by a more discerning consumer, one who is less impressed by constant novelty and more interested in provenance, performance, longevity, and the intelligence behind what they buy. It’s a shift already reflected in global consumer forecasting, with recent research pointing to a growing appetite for intentional consumption. Consumers are increasingly seeking to buy less but better, …

Under Group CEO Etienne Pieterse, the 34-year-old restaurant brand is extending its business through GO outlets and retail distribution, responding to changing consumer needs while retaining its Italian-inspired food identity. Col’Cacchio is consciously expanding the way in which consumers can buy their food through dedicated takeaway outlets and supermarket shelves, alongside the sit-down restaurants that established the brand. The group’s current GO network spans nine locations, with eight in South Africa and one in Mauritius. The format launched in Westlake, Cape Town, in April 2025 and has since expanded to locations including the Old Biscuit Mill, an Engen convenience site in Kimberley and Tribeca Mall in Mauritius. Alongside GO, Col’Cacchio’s heat-and-eat pizza range is available through selected SPAR, Checkers and Nibbly Bits stores, taking the brand into home meals that do not require a restaurant visit or delivery order. Together, these formats broaden the business beyond restaurant tables at a time when competition for convenient meals increasingly crosses the boundaries between hospitality and food retail. “Being around for more than 30 years is something we are incredibly proud of, but longevity alone does not guarantee relevance,” says Etienne Pieterse, Group CEO of Col’Cacchio. “You have to understand how your customer is changing and be willing to adapt around that. The important part is knowing what can evolve and what should remain at the heart of the brand.” A growing market with more competitors According to Trade Intelligence’s Ready-to-Eat Food Report 2026/27, as reported by Business Day on 30 September, South Africa’s quick-service restaurant market was valued at R45.5 billion in 2025, up 11.4% from the previous year. It was the largest and fastest-growing segment of the country’s out-of-home food market. The research also highlights competition from supermarket delis, forecourts and smaller food businesses. Consumers …

Established FMCG brands have decades of consumer memories to draw on. For younger brands, the challenge is building the familiarity, trust and emotional connections that could become their greatest commercial assets. There are certain brands South Africans don't simply recognise, they remember them. It might be the biscuit that was always in a grandmother's cupboard, the tin that appeared at family gatherings or the cooldrink poured at childhood birthday parties. Even decades later, the packaging remains instantly recognisable, whether or not the product is still part of the weekly shopping basket. For established FMCG brands, these associations represent something competitors cannot easily replicate. They are the result of years, sometimes generations, spent occupying a place in consumers' everyday lives. Yet as brands turn to retro packaging and familiar advertising to reconnect with audiences, it raises an interesting question. How does a younger brand begin building the emotional connections that established competitors already enjoy? “Nostalgia is interesting because people don't experience food and drink brands in isolation,” says Anthony Silber, Head of Marketing at PURA Beverage Co South Africa. “They experience them around tables, at celebrations, in lunchboxes, on holidays and through family traditions. Over time, the memory of the brand becomes connected to the memory of the occasion.” You can't manufacture memory Research suggests nostalgia can influence how consumers connect with brands and make purchasing decisions. A systematic review published in the Journal of Marketing Communications, examining 139 Scopus-indexed papers, explored nostalgia's relationship with consumer behaviour, identity and brand promotion. Food and drink have a particularly interesting role in this relationship. Taste, smell, packaging and shared occasions can become associated with particular people and periods in consumers' lives. However, longevity does …