Two Oceans Wines, which is sold in more than 80 countries, has teamed up with a Cape Town traveller, who is visiting 75 cities in 25 countries in the course of this year. The student, who has taken off a year from his advertising and marketing studies to travel the world in 12 months, is Liam Kelly, who beat 4 000 contestants to take the title of 2012 World Explorer, sponsored by STA Travel South Africa.
He is the first South African ever to win in the annual event that is enabling him to visit every continent, stopping in major cities and nature spots, both well-known and obscure. Liam is providing regular updates on his travels, offering fast-paced, quirkily written and novel insights on the natural phenomena, interesting events, people and great places to eat that he encounters, on www.whatsupliam.com, www.whatsupcapetown.com and www.worldexplorer.co.za. He can also be followed on Twitter, @liamwhatsup.
Wearing his trademark flip flops, he is also posting pictures of his feet in a range of places along the way with visitors to the site asked to guess his whereabouts to stand a chance of winning a series of prizes. Global marketing manager for Two Oceans, Jackie Olivier said the worldwide visibility of the brand was a natural fit with Liam’s travels. “Coast to coast, Two Oceans exemplifies the typical, laid-back South African warmth and hospitality for which our country is so well- known.”
The brand has become renowned for offering excellent quality at value prices and frequently earns positive reviews from highbrow commentators and medals on international wine competitions. It is sold in a diversity of shops and restaurants from beach-side bistros to five- star hotel chains in India and the Four Seasons hospitality group in the US. In South Africathe brand is nationally available from the major retail chains and in selected restaurants and style bars.
According to the organisers of the World Explorer competition, Liam, whose prize is worth R220 000, was chosen on the basis of four competition steps: a motivational letter and CV with a sample blog post; a personal interview; the promotional video he produced once he had reached the top ten shortlist and then finally, a public voting process.
