Media Moves… TheMediaOnline’s weekly round up. Habari Media expands mobile reach with 2go partnership. New editor for Rapport. Dani Hynes joins Egg Films. Conversation LAB scores with Mr Price Sport. DHL signs retainer agreement with APO. NMMU selects Z-CARD® for the ninth year running. Vuma 103fm And United Stations partner In strategic alliance. All the moves in media.
This week’s BIG move
Habari Media expands mobile reach with 2go partnership
Habari Media has added 2go, the mobile social networking platform operating across the continent, to its mobile stable. This partnership allows Habari’s customers to reach millions of young, active, highly engaged users in Africa.
2go is a mobile social network focused on Africa, where users chat and share photos with friends and family for free; meet new people and play games in chat rooms. Its success is predicated on its support for more than 800 feature phones, which are still the primary mobile device in Africa.
2go has more than 10 million active users in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, of which nine million are in Nigeria and 1.5 million in South Africa. Six billion messages are sent via 2go every month, and a new version of the software released at the end of 2012 was downloaded one million times in the first month.
Advertisers can reach this desirable base via two advertising routes with 2go and Habari Media. Full-screen clickable Splash Ads on 2go are seeing click through rates of up to 15% and engagement rates of up to 30%. Users can click out directly to a brands mobi site from the Splash Ad.
“The Splash Ad is premium as it engages the user with a full-screen advert while the user is logging in to the 2go app. Engagement levels are high as there are a limited number of premium ads on offer and do not pollute the screen with small banner ads that are seen as an imposition by the user,” says 2go’s Marc Herson.
Alternatively advertisers can engage via a Text Ad that is sent directly to the user within the 2go app. The message is given premium position at the top of the friends’ list. This is ideal for broadcast, promos, customer feedback and surveys.
Both the Splash Screen and the Text Ad can be targeted by age, gender and location.
“No brand can afford to ignore the feature phone market in Africa,” says Wayne Bischoff, managing director of Habari Media. “2go has shown phenomenal growth and engagement and offers marketers the best way of reaching the majority non-smartphone users in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Who’s moved where
New editor for Rapport
Waldimar Pelser will be taking the helm of Rapport after current editor, Bokkie Gerber, retires on 1 June. Pelser, currently a senior deputy editor at the weekly, will take over in June, according to Esmare Weideman, CEO of Media 24.
Pelser has also been news editor of the Afrikaans daily Beeld, and was the founding editor of the news magazine, NuusNou/NewsNow, which was shut down last year.
Dani Hynes joins Egg Films
Long-time creative turned commercials director, Dani Hynes is the newest addition to the Egg Films family.
Four years ago Hynes decided to leave behind her glamorous ad agency days and turn her attention to using a camera rather than a pen to get the message across. A decision she has never regretted – not even when the bottled water ran out during an Olympic-length, eight-hour pre-prod involving cheese and ways to grate it.
Hynes has worked on brands like Nando’s, Geely, Nokia, Yellow Pages, Revlon, Game and Vodacom, establishing a versatile reel showcasing an obsessive eye for detail.
“The Egg brand is synonymous with all that is exciting and intriguing about commercial filmmaking in South Africa right now,” says Hynes “It’s incredible that I get to be part of that. Even more incredible is that they still said yes to me coming on board after they heard a high-pitched, dolphin-type giggle noise coming from my face when asked if I was excited. It’s uncharacteristic but there’s no denying it happened.”
Who’s won what
Conversation LAB scores with Mr Price Sport
Fledgling creative agency Conversation LAB continues its impressive run of new business wins, by picking up digital work for nationally prized Mr Price Sport.
Conversation LAB has been appointed to develop a range of cross-platform digital applications that underline Mr Price Sport’s strategic focus and push into this space. Mr Price Sport has embraced digital for some time now and achieved much success.
“Working with the Mr Price Group is the aspiration of any creative agency and we are no different. The Mr Price Sport team is doing some great work in digital already and we are motivated by the opportunity to raise the bar even further. We are well placed in Durban to build a strong and effective relationship with their marketing team,” says Kevin Power, MD.
The first project kicks off with a nationally run ‘Player of the Month’ campaign in association with South African School Sports to unearth the sporting heroes of tomorrow. An application will be developed for mobile and Facebook, and will be plugged into multiple websites for maximum reach.
The Player of the Month application will launch in March and be promoted through the line.
DHL signs retainer agreement with APO
The African Press Organisation (APO) has announced the signature of a retainer agreement as exclusive supplier for press release wire distribution in Africa with DHL Express. APO will be responsible for the distribution of all press releases issued by DHL Express in Africa.
DHL’s press releases will be distributed via Africa Wire®, the service for press release wire distribution and monitoring in Africa, reaching over 25,000 media contacts, bloggers, social networks, and redistributing content to over 50 African websites.
“Signing this contract with DHL is a recognition of the quality and efficiency of the services offered by APO. We are proud and very pleased to count such a prestigious client as DHL as part of our clients portfolio,” says APO executive director, Eloïne Barry.
NMMU selects Z-CARD® for the ninth year running
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) has selected a Z-CARD® for nine consecutive years as one of its preferred methods of marketing the university’s undergraduate course offerings and other general information to Grade 12 and prospective students.
The Z-CARD® provides learners with the relevant information that they need about the courses on offer at the university in 2014, thus encouraging them to select the university as their first choice tertiary education institution.
Who’s making moves
Vuma 103fm And United Stations partner In strategic alliance
New commercial isiZulu radio station, Vuma 103 FM, based in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, has announced that it has concluded an agreement with specialist radio sales house, United Stations, in a strategic alliance to drive its national and agency advertising business.
The inspirational, family and lifestyle-focused station launched in late November 2012, has a large broadcast footprint extending across Greater Durban, Pietermaritzburg and the North and South Coast and according to chief operating officer Nolan Vernon, has begun to make a significant impact on the market.
“Vuma has an exceptional advantage as it was borne out of KNI, a community radio station which had a massive listener base of hundreds of thousands developed over ten years, which has moved over to our station.” says Vernon. “Since going on air, we were, and continue to be, encouraged by the number of interactions and by the positive responses received in the social media sphere, which gives us a good indication of the growing audience.”
Morrisjones and 76 MotherRussia In Merger
Multi award-winning ad agency Morrisjones has announced that it has merged with independent agency 76 MotherRussia. The new agency will be known as Mojo MotherRussia.
The 76 MotherRussia team secured a 60% share in highly-reputed agency Morrisjones to form the new agency. 76 MotherRussia bring with them a portfolio of clients including Selati Sugar, the Government Employees Pension Fund, Pernord Ricard, SABC and Rand Refinery. Morrisjones’ own client repertoire comprises Debonnairs Pizza, Avios, Mugg & Bean and Nestle, to name a few.
The merger follows the departure of Angel Jones from Morrisjones. Jones has left the company to pursue the commercialisation and Africa-wide growth of Homecoming Revolution, a skills repatriation organisation that she started in 2003 but that has thus far operated under the auspices of Morrisjones.
The merger with 76 MotherRussia will allow the new agency to offer a range of disciplines including: 360º marketing, creative, strategy, brand engagement, social media management, activations, eventing and digital marketing.
Burson-Marsteller celebrates 60th anniversary
Burson-Marsteller, a leading global communications firm, and the majority shareholder in Arcay Burson-Marsteller, which operates in South Africa and across 50+ countries in Africa, has announced it will commemorate the 60th anniversary of its founding in 1953 with a series of celebration activities over the course of the next year, underscoring the firm’s values and commitments to its clients and the wider world.
The firm’s founding chairman Harold Burson, worldwide chair and CEO Donald A. Baer and other leaders of the firm from offices around its global network rang opening bell at the NASDAQ MarketSite located in New York City’s Times Square. NASDAQ is the exchange on which Burson-Marsteller’s corporate parent WPP’s shares are traded.
As part of its 60th anniversary initiative, the firm is launching the Burson-Marsteller Giving-Back Service Project, a worldwide community service commitment among its 2,300 employees in 110 countries. Burson-Marsteller employees will participate in service projects in each of the local communities in which it operates around the world. To support these locally-driven community service engagements, the firm will donate employee time worth $1.60 million to make the Burson-Marsteller Giving-Back Service Projects a major worldwide commitment.
Broadcast sponsor guarantees Formula 1 fans access to 2013 action
Tiger Wheel & Tyre has announced that it will continue its long association with Formula 1 motor racing, via its broadcast sponsorship of the 2013 F1 season on DSTV’s SuperSport channels.
“It’s no secret that Tiger Wheel & Tyre is a huge fan of Formula 1 racing and it is once again our great pleasure to play a role in bringing the F1 racing action to South African viewers, via this sponsorship. Our company was founded by a Formula 1 race driver, so you might say that F1 is in our very DNA,” says Joe du Plooy, Tiger Wheel & Tyre marketing executive.
Local F1 fans will get more value from the retail wheel and tyre company’s involvement than the sponsorship alone. Tiger Wheel & Tyre’s website, www.twt.to, will also feature an “F1 ticker” giving the countdown to each future race, as well as post-race announcements of the winners.
The 2013 F1 season kicks off in Melbourne, Australia on 17 March and will have fans glued to their TVs until the 19th and final race of the season on 24 November in São Paulo, Brazil. All the high stakes, high drama and high-performance action will be brought to viewers by DSTV and broadcast sponsor Tiger Wheel & Tyre.
Delta Projects brings online advertising success to Norway
Leading digital advertising developer Delta Projects brings their successful solution for online advertising campaign management (DSP/DMP) to the Norwegian market and recruits Peter Karlsson, the former Sales Director at ADA Digital Advertising, as the country manager for Norway.
Delta Projects, a Sweden-based solution provider for efficient online advertising for the European market, has opened an office in Oslo, Norway and recruitment of Peter Karlsson, the former sales director at ADA Digital as the country manager of Norway. He started work at Delta Projects on 1 March. Delta Projects is currently active in four European markets: Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands. The aim is to have five headcounts at the Oslo office within the next year, working with local media collaborations and customer support.
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