A chance visit to a Coles store that happened to range one of the world’s most popular battery brands Energizer, has led to a major business opportunity across multiple Countries for a Sydney-based distributor.

What Tempo executive Gary Brown saw, alongside the display of batteries from Energizer, a US Company who are among the most recognised and trusted brands in the world, was a “dogs’ breakfast of house brand power cables, power boards and surge protectors”.

This gave him the idea, to approach Energizer to see if he could get the rights to use the Energizer branding on a whole new range of new Energizer-branded power extension cables, appliance surge protectors, AV surge series protectors, strip power boards, switched series power boards, as well as USB surge protectors and cables.

The rest is history, with Tempo awarded the rights across multiple Countries, including the UK and Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, Nordic Countries, France, Spain, Germany, Austria, the Middle East and several South East Asian Countries.

Energizer employs more than 5,500 employees and turns over $4.6 billion a year. The brand sits alongside Coca-Cola in multiple Countries, with a brand-recall as high as 98 per cent in some regions of the world.

One observer says, “This is a classic case of a powerful global brand name being extended into categories that are not only complementary to the Energizer name but deliver for retailers a logical extension of their electrical offering.”

ChannelNews understands that several major retailers spanning supermarkets, CE, hardware and electrical product supply are set to range the new Energizer-branded products.

Currently, Tempo is rolling out their range of Energizer products to global markets, with several more Energizer “power” related products set to be released in the future, including new Smart Power management products.

According to Cameron Greg, General Manager at Tempo, “Power is one of the big growth categories. The humble power point has not changed since the 1940s, but what you plug into it has, and this is what has to be protected today in particular appliances, TVs, and computers, which can easily be wiped out during a storm.”

Gregg, who lost thousands of dollars’ worth of appliance product during a recent Melbourne storm, says consumers need to read the fine print of their insurance contracts, as a $24 surge protector could save them, as some insurers see storms as an ‘act of god’ and do not pay out, or pay out the replaceable value of a product.

He also tips that power management is set to become a major issue in Australia, with Tempo set to roll out a series of Energizer-branded power management and information products this year.


As for instore merchandising and packaging, all design and branding work is done by Energizer in the US.

This allows the brand messaging to stay consistent, claims Tempo management.