James Nichols says his great-grandfather, John Noel Nichols, would have been a proud man had he lived to see his beloved Vimto cordial storm into the 21st century as the drink of Ramadan.
Nichols Senior, known to everyone as Noel, invented Vimto in his Manchester herbalism shop 100 years ago, though no one seems to know the precise date. By the time he died in 1966, he had seen Vimto's parent company, Nichols plc, survive two world wars and social revolutions which had seemed certain to consign this delightfully old-fashioned drink, famous for its fruity, herbal and spicy qualities, to history.
But instead of being crushed by drinks of mass appeal, such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi, Vimto has become increasingly popular around the world. Sold in 65 countries, it is a force on the east and west coasts of Africa and as much a part of the fabric of life as rain and football in the north-west of England. However, its core market, worth an estimated £60 million (Dh400m) a year out of worldwide sales of £200m, is the Middle East.
In the run-up to, and during, Ramadan, especially in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, many millions of bottles and cans of Vimto are bought. This is the strongest, sweetest version of Vimto sold anywhere in the world; the company suggests it should be diluted substantially but says many in the region like to drink it with far less water than is recommended.
"It is an institution in the Middle East," says James Nichols, who works in the company's division that deals with the UK market. "It has been part of life there for 80 years."
Much in the world has changed, says Mr Nichols, 28, since his great-grandfather experimented in his little shop in Manchester city centre with the grapes, raspberries, blackberries, herbs and spices that became the recipe for Vimto. But that recipe, known only to a handful of people and kept in a safe at an undisclosed location in the north-west of England, remains the same.
"No one can copy us," he says. "The recipe is what makes our drink unique. There is no other drink like it. It is not like your usual soft drinks."
Other manufacturers have tried to break Vimto's hold on the Ramadan market in the region. Coca-Cola, for example, has offered cans festooned with a moon and crescent as a mark of respect for Islam's holy month. But this has not even slightly dented sales; Vimto remains the must-have drink for many millions of Muslims before and after they fast.
Another Vimto executive, Simon Hunt-Brown, 48, who, after many years spent working around the world, specialises in Africa for Nichols, says: "We have been in the Middle East for so long we are almost seen as a local drink, as part of life there. We are now associated in people's minds with Ramadan. It is the drink you have before you begin your fast. It is the one you have when you break fast. It is the drink you offer guests."
Vimto is, he says, what the industry calls "an occasion drink": "Carbonated soft drinks, the usual fizzy drinks, are what are known as 'refreshment' drinks. You pick them up on the move. They taste nice and do the job. But Vimto is for an occasion. It is special."
Vimto has prospered, he says, because it is essentially a "fabulous drink" that revives, stimulates and is fun. But clever marketing, targeting countries likely to be receptive to a drink that is too sweet and fruity for most North American and European palates, has also been vital.
"We know that people in Africa like it strong and sweet," says Mr Hunt-Brown. "In the Middle East they like it even sweeter. It is just local taste. So the diet versions, which don't have any added sugar, aren't popular in these countries."
Vimto is big on the west and east coasts of Africa. "Take Guinea," says Mr Hunt-Brown. "It is seen as a blood tonic. It is seen as a magical potion. It is a treat, for a special occasion. If you are looking for a data peg to explain this you won't find one.
"You can't say, for example, that Bantu people like Vimto because they like raspberries or are attracted to the red colour of the drink. It is not so. Why do people in Africa prefer our carbonated version to the cordial? Why do people in the Middle East like the cordial more? There's no easy explanation."
The Vimto story serves as a refreshing reminder that global giants do not always crush the small players.
John Noel Nichols was the son of a cotton yarn agent and governess. In 1908 he started a herbalist business in Manchester and invented a drink which, he thought, would boost energy and generally improve "vigour". Adopting a word synonymous with energy and, at that time, in common use, he called it Vim Tonic.
It was soon popular in the city, where people drank it diluted with hot or cold water. This was the era of temperance in the UK, with alcohol considered dangerous to the soul as well as the body, and Vim Tonic was a welcome alternative.
By the early 1920s the name had evolved into the punchier Vimto and the drink was firmly established as a brand. With 21st-century-style marketing aplomb, Mr Nichols published The Vimto Book of Knowledge. By the 1930s, Vimto had implanted itself in the consciousness of the people of north-western England - it was never popular in the south - as "a great problem solver".
The master stroke, however, was expansion to the old British Empire. In the early 1920s, Vimto concentrate - the secret formula that made the drink what it was - arrived in India, where local firms turned it into the cordial that British troops stationed in the country knew and loved.
From India the drink made its way to the Middle East, courtesy of Indians who worked in Saudi Arabia. A company called Abdulla Aujan and Brothers became the bottlers and distributors for the cordial in the region - and remains so today.
Expansion continued after the Second World War. According to the company, it was an accident that the cordial was so strong and sweet in the Middle East. It was just cheaper, it says, to ship double-strength cordial long distances. Luckily, it says, this "fuller flavour and sweetness" suited Middle Eastern palates.
In the past quarter of a century Vimto has swept into Africa - Tanzania, Cameroon, Sudan, Kenya, Guinea and Mozambique - and today the company is planning to distribute in China, beginning in Beijing and Shanghai.
Brendan Hyles, the Nichols chief executive, told one newspaper recently: "We have got everything in place in China and are going to give it a shot. We are ready to move."
Over the decades, the company has developed carbonated, still and diet versions of its drink and added variations, such as an orange-heavy Vimto. There is even a range of Vimto-flavoured confectionery, including Tongue Ticklers, Chewy Bon-Bons and Fizzy Centred Lollipops.
In the UK, the company stopped manufacturing the actual cordial five years ago and farms out the task to independent bottlers. All it makes now at its base near Manchester is the concentrate that is the core of Vimto. This is shipped around the world, where local producers turn it into a sellable drink.
The company says it plans and markets but, above all, it sells an image.
"We are about family values, healthy living, clean fun," says Mr Hunt-Brown. Nichols has no time for the cutting edge advertising of the soft-drinks giants; instead it cultivates an image as homely and decent. It is, says Mr Hunt-Brown, deliberately "quirky".
Today, the drink's advertising presents a vanished England, a country where policemen cycle around villages and chastise naughty children for stealing apples. It is the imagined landscape of the 1950s, populated by law-abiding people with simple and harmless pleasures.
Nichols projects itself in jolly reds and purples and its catchphrase invites shoppers to "Shlurple the purple" - a reference to the colour of Vimto. There is also an element of yesteryear's children's comics; the company evokes a distant past typified by Richmal Crompton's Just William books, in which schoolboys may have played pranks on masters but never meant any real harm.
One of its television advertisements features a jaunty song and a boy wearing an absurdly large swimming costume; it is so old-fashioned, say advertising analysts, that it is "genius retro".
Certainly, it is hard to imagine any of the giants of the soft-drinks industry choosing a song with words like these as the core of an advertising campaign:
"Here's a story with a warning
Billy grabbed his Vimto early one morning
Met his mates in the pool
He'd packed his Dad's pants now - what a fool!
He's got his Dad's pants in the middle of his roll
Dad's pants in the middle of his roll
Dad's pants in the middle of his roll
And he's going swimming!
The answer to the problem everyone knows
Was to shlurple the purple so the moral goes
Didn't have a worry and he didn't have a care
Cos when you drink Vimto it don't matter what you wear!"
True, it is not sophisticated, but it seems to work - part of a recipe for success that appeals to millions of people around the world, regardless of race, culture or background.
In fact, the only thing likely to divide two Vimto fans is the tricky question of dilution.
"I drink it all the time," says Mr Hunt-Brown. "But I always argue with my wife about how much to dilute it by. I am a 50/50 man. But my wife likes it weak. Too weak for my taste."
@Email:sfreeman@thenational.ae
SPECS
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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SPEC%20SHEET
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CREW
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Everton%20Fixtures
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A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
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Profile of Whizkey
Date founded: 04 November 2017
Founders: Abdulaziz AlBlooshi and Harsh Hirani
Based: Dubai, UAE
Number of employees: 10
Sector: AI, software
Cashflow: Dh2.5 Million
Funding stage: Series A
The biog
Name: Dhabia Khalifa AlQubaisi
Age: 23
How she spends spare time: Playing with cats at the clinic and feeding them
Inspiration: My father. He’s a hard working man who has been through a lot to provide us with everything we need
Favourite book: Attitude, emotions and the psychology of cats by Dr Nicholes Dodman
Favourit film: 101 Dalmatians - it remind me of my childhood and began my love of dogs
Word of advice: By being patient, good things will come and by staying positive you’ll have the will to continue to love what you're doing
Sweet%20Tooth
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Crazy Rich Asians
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeon, Gemma Chan
Four stars
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Teaching your child to save
Pre-school (three - five years)
You can’t yet talk about investing or borrowing, but introduce a “classic” money bank and start putting gifts and allowances away. When the child wants a specific toy, have them save for it and help them track their progress.
Early childhood (six - eight years)
Replace the money bank with three jars labelled ‘saving’, ‘spending’ and ‘sharing’. Have the child divide their allowance into the three jars each week and explain their choices in splitting their pocket money. A guide could be 25 per cent saving, 50 per cent spending, 25 per cent for charity and gift-giving.
Middle childhood (nine - 11 years)
Open a bank savings account and help your child establish a budget and set a savings goal. Introduce the notion of ‘paying yourself first’ by putting away savings as soon as your allowance is paid.
Young teens (12 - 14 years)
Change your child’s allowance from weekly to monthly and help them pinpoint long-range goals such as a trip, so they can start longer-term saving and find new ways to increase their saving.
Teenage (15 - 18 years)
Discuss mutual expectations about university costs and identify what they can help fund and set goals. Don’t pay for everything, so they can experience the pride of contributing.
Young adulthood (19 - 22 years)
Discuss post-graduation plans and future life goals, quantify expenses such as first apartment, work wardrobe, holidays and help them continue to save towards these goals.
* JP Morgan Private Bank
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
How to get there
Emirates (www.emirates.com) flies directly to Hanoi, Vietnam, with fares starting from around Dh2,725 return, while Etihad (www.etihad.com) fares cost about Dh2,213 return with a stop. Chuong is 25 kilometres south of Hanoi.
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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We Weren’t Supposed to Survive But We Did
We weren’t supposed to survive but we did.
We weren’t supposed to remember but we did.
We weren’t supposed to write but we did.
We weren’t supposed to fight but we did.
We weren’t supposed to organise but we did.
We weren’t supposed to rap but we did.
We weren’t supposed to find allies but we did.
We weren’t supposed to grow communities but we did.
We weren’t supposed to return but WE ARE.
Amira Sakalla
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
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He's a god
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
