Delta, Dairibord fight over advertising

An advertising war has erupted between two of the country's leading beverage manufacturers, Delta Beverages and Dairibord Holdings.

Delta Beverages recently erected a billboard along Rekai Tangwena Road next to Dairibord Holdings' factory, advertising Super Sip, a ready to drink dairy beverage which was introduced onto the local market late last year to rival other existing dairy fruit flavoured beverages by Dairibord.

The move by Delta Beverages to advertise competing beverage products in the vicinity of Dairibord Holdings' premises has not gone down well with the milk producer which manufactures Cascade, a competing nutritious dairy fruit mix.

"Obviously this is mischief," Dairibord Holdings' spokesperson Emeldah Shoko said. "Our loyal and valued consumers know that Dairibord Holdings products like Cascade, Nutriplus and Yoghurt are genuine quality dairy based offerings that contribute towards the sustenance of good health and should not be confused with imitations on the market."

"Dairibord Holdings has a heritage of providing nutritious foods and beverages to the nation and the region which spans over half a century."

However, Delta Beverages spokesperson Alex Makamure defended the beverages manufacturer's move, saying there was no unfair practice as their advert was placed on a publicly available space.

"Advertising sites come up at different times as the space is limited," Makamure said.

"We lodged a request for sites and the supplier had this particular one available. There is nothing unfair in advertising a product on publicly available spaces."

"We have signed a long-term contract with the supplier for this site and we will be rotating our brands as our brand campaigns evolve."

This is not the first time that competitors have engaged in aggressive marketing campaigns as local cigarette manufacturer Savannah Tobacco erected its billboard advertising its products just at the doorstep of its competitor British American Tobacco Zimbabwe (BAT) along Simon Mazorodze road in Harare.