adminDELTA Beverages recently rewarded traders who recorded the highest growth in terms of Castle Lager sales with a trip to Spain to watch Barcelona Football Club live against Getafe at Nou Camp on 3 May. The 14 recipients were drawn from all over the country and had a chance of a lifetime watching the Spanish football giants in action.
The delegation was led by Delta Beverages general manager (Lagers) Munyaradzi Nyandoroh and Patricia Murambinda, the company’s marketing manager.
It was not the first time that the best selling Castle Lager outlets in Zimbabwe have been rewarded with a trip to Spain as last year another group was sent to the European country to watch the Catalan giants live in action.
The trips are benefits to the Zimbabwean market of a three-year deal signed between owners of the Castle Lager brand, SABMiller and Barcelona which makes Castle Lager the official beer for Barcelona in Africa.
The agreement sealed in Barcelona last year positioned Castle Lager as the official beer brand for any activity undertaken by Barcelona across the African continent except in certain countries where Milk Stout will be the official beverage for Barcelona.
Sunday Leisure tracked down the two Bulawayo women who were afforded the lifetime opportunity to travel to Spain. The two interestingly share the first name, Thandiwe.
Thandiwe Mangezi is from Manor Hotel while Thandiwe Mtobi represented Cresta Churchill.
Mangezi is the general manager at Manor Hotel, which is a family business and the outlet was rewarded for having a growth in terms of Castle Lager volumes pushed from last year to this year with the cut off date being 31 March.
The 28-year-old Mangezi was full of praises for Delta Beverages for organising the trip.
Mangezi, who is not an avid soccer fan and has not even sat foot at any of the local stadia, is now a proud owner of a Barcelona replica shirt given to her and the rest of the Zimbabwean delegation.
She said she had, hitherto, heard about Barcelona and now the club has found itself another fan in her.
She confessed that she did not have any favourite team in Europe before the Spain visit.
She still has vivid memories of the match in which Barcelona were held to a 2-2 draw by Getafe where the latter scored an equalising goal in injury time to break the hearts of the home fans.
“I am really grateful to Delta Beverages, they organised everything for us before the trip. I am not a big soccer fan but at least I knew about Barcelona and had heard a lot of good things about Spain. I was obviously supporting Barcelona on the day.
“I remember Messi (Lionel) scored first for Barcelona and then the other team equalised to make it 2-2 in the last minute. Will stick with Barcelona, I just wish they had won that match,’’ said Mangezi.
On the Barcelona city itself which they managed to explore in their three and a half days stay, Mangezi said the place was so clean and old.
A day before the match, Mangezi and the other visitors from Zimbabwe toured the stadium where they were given the club’s replica shirts and also got a chance to purchase a few items from the club shop.
Mangezi said the trip helped her with some ideas of what she could implement at Manor Hotel. She said it was motivating that by merely pushing more Castle Lager volume quantities, one can get such an opportunity to see the world.
“I hope to make it again next year. To Delta Beverages I say well done, thank you for organising such a wonderful trip it will be remembered forever,’’ Mangezi said.
Mtobi was the food and beverages manager at Cresta Churchill in Bulawayo where she worked for 14 years before she was transferred recently to Cresta Jameson in Harare, in the same capacity.
Mtobi has fond memories of the voyage to Spain and was still amazed by the size of the Nou Camp compared to the Zimbabwean stadia. Nou Camp can accommodate 99 354 which makes it the biggest stadium in Europe in terms of capacity.
“It was the first time in my adult life to go to a football stadium; it was my first proper experience. The size of the stadium was what caught my attention compared to ours.
“The crowds, with the people dressed in their team colours were amazing with many buses coming from different destinations. I think they are doing so well as a nation because their stadium is a tourist attraction on its own,’’ Mtobi said.
A Liverpool fan, Mtobi on that day had no choice but to switch allegiance to the Gerardo Martino coached Barcelona.
She described how they became some sort of tourist attraction as they were seated in the VIP area of the stadium with their Castle Lager bags and so many people in the stadium kept wondering who they were.
“I remember when the score was 2-1 and then the other team scored last minute, the Barcelona fans were so sad to draw,’’ she said.
For Mtobi it was her first time travelling overseas and said she would love to return to Spain next year on the same arrangement.
Besides the two lucky Bulawayo women, the others were from Gweru, Kwekwe, Mutoko, Ruwa and Harare.
Another benefit of the Castle Lager and FC Barcelona agreement to the Zimbabwe market according to Murambinda is a planned visit to Zimbabwe by Barcelona coaches in July to conduct a coaching clinic for all the 16 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League coaches and their technical staff.
Murambinda also revealed that they were working on modalities to send the 2014 Castle Lager soccer star of the year and best Under-20 player to Spain to receive mentorship from the Barcelona coaches next year.
The partnership between Castle Lager and FC Barcelona is already bearing lots of fruits for the Zimbabwe constituency with even more seemingly in store.
Online Reporter