WISYNCO is aiming to export its energy drink, Boom, to Africa.

The company has shelved its plans to export its bottled water, WATA, to the continent because it would be too expensive to export. It turns out, selling Boom there is a better option.

“Boom can be exported because it has value, while WATA would be very costly,” said William Mahfood, managing director of Wisynco Group.

The export of Boom currently makes up seven per cent of the energy drink’s total sales, but sales are growing, said Mahfood.

It is still early days but a liking for Jamaica’s culture and products in

several African countries makes the venture worthwhile.

“The Jamaican culture is widely accepted there, so we think it’s ideal to capitalise on that,” he said. Wisynco is currently looking at the various options

in Africa.

It will further establish a footprint in the Caribbean, before it moves on to selling to the diaspora markets — US, UK

and Canada.

Boom is sold in seven Caribbean countries, with Trinidad and Tobago being the most recent market.

The company, which also distributes the Red Bull Energy Drink, recently launched the Boom Shaka Boooom game for its current and potential Boom customers, but recently suspended it due to an outage on Apple’s Developers Platform — preventing Apple users from playing the game.

Indeed, when the game is up and running, it will add to the marketing

tools that will actively recruit an additional target audience — middle-

class professionals.

“We have without a doubt saturated the market of entertainers and skilled workers so we are looking to recruit new customers,” said Kimberly Lawson, brand manager, Boom Energy Drink.

And since its introduction to the market three years ago, Lawson figures that Boom has half of the market share.

Moreover, it’s the least expensive energy drink and is manufactured by an experienced company with a good reputation.

Though only available for two days for Android users, Boom Shaka Booom had just about 186 players prior to pulling the game.

And when the application becomes available for both Android and Apple users, Boom hopes to get at least 2,000 players, said Lawson.

Boom Shakka Boooom is being touted as a unique marketing and promotional campaign to score more customers and ultimately improve sales, using gamification — game thinking and game mechanics — through a mobile application that is free for download.

“It’s different, and we aren’t demanding that you spend anything in order to win,” she said.