FIFA World Cup : Vuvuzela the Noisey Trumpet of the World Cup Very Profitable
The long noisy trumpet of the South African World Cup is so popular that factories cannot keep with demand. The trumpet or 'Vuvuzela' as it is called, is blown at every football match and during this World Cup, it has become the sound of South Africa. It has also generated massive controversy along the way but it seems to be so popular that demand is far outstripping supply.
Factories in China where more than 90% of the plastic trumpets are made say that their production lines have gone into super speed. Factories in China claim that it was not any South African company or South African fans that pushed for these Vuvuzelas to be blown at every game but it was manufacturers in China. The Ninghai Jiying factory in the Chinese city of Ningbo is a major producer of these long trumpets.
The owner says that the factory had actually made these Vuvuzelas initially in 2001 and had tried to sell them but demand was not that high. They tried to get them into the 2006 World Cup in Germany but they failed. It was only when they tried again this year in South Africa that they found a huge market for the noise makers. For some reason the South Africans took instantly to the noisy Vuvuzela trumpets and they can be heard in the stadiums, on the streets and now in other sports as well.
Reports show that enormous amounts of Vuvuzelas have been sold by Chinese factories to South Africa, as well as around the world. They are even selling like mad in China, with many Chinese e-commerce websites not being able to meet demand. The Jiying Plastic Product Company in China claims to have sold over a million units of Vuvuzelas in the first quarter of this year alone. The sales were mostly to South Africa but demand is intense in China as well.
Yet a third factory in China, the interestingly named Guangda Toy Factory, has also sold more than a million units of the trumpets and something like 20,000 units are produced every single day. China has been able to dominate the production and sales of Vuvuzelas because they are able to produce them extremely economically and sell them just as cheaply. With Chinese factories dominating the entire world's production of plastic goods, it would make sense that they would be producing almost all of the Vuvuzelas seen at the World Cup and around the world.
It seems the first Vuvuzelas were produced and innovated in their current form by a South African man named Neil Van Schalkwyk in 2001. He holds the intellectual property of the name Vuvuzela and has now come up with a new way to sell more of his trumpets. He is including a pair of earplugs with every Vuvuzela bought. Therefore, that way people can plug their ears and blow the trumpet to their hearts' content without actually having to listen to it.
There seems to be a bit of confusion as to whether Neil Van Schalkwyk started selling Vuvuzelas in 2001 or was it the Ninghai Jiying factory in China. What may have happened is that this South African inventor got the idea for the noisy trumpets and then contacted the Chinese factory to produce them for him. Together they both tried to sell them to the world and failed, only to find a huge market waiting for them 9 years later in South Africa.
It seems that factories in China are seeing demand for Vuvuzelas arriving from America, as well where people have been seen with the noise makers at baseball games. If the trend of these trumpets catches on and people start taking them to baseball games and then American football games as well, The Chinese manufacturers will have stumbled onto a gold mine, an ear splitting gold mine, but a gold mine for them nonetheless.
It is interesting to think that something as loud and as annoying as Vuvuzelas can become the sound of a World Cup. These noisy trumpets got the perfect marketing push because they generated a little bit of controversy and that made more people want to go out and get them. By being very annoying, very loud and very colourful the Vuvuzelas have managed to become a part of the magic that is the World Cup. Let's see if the trumpets can do the same for some other sport, baseball fans behold and don’t forget to bring your earplugs.
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