Briefly…MTV & MTN partner to empower African youth: Sanlam starts something; InMobi launches first global mobile payments solution combined with an ad network; Creative Effectiveness category has effective entrants at Lions; Environmental Affairs selects a Z-card to educate consumers; Time to book for 2011 APEX Awards Gala Event; 2011 AMASA Fundraiser Golf Day – Mad as a Hatter; Miller Dark Horse campaign gallops into action in nightclubs; Cleaning up her community with Breakfast Xpress and LeadSA
MTV & MTN partner to empower African youth
MTV Networks Africa and MTN have joined forces in a groundbreaking pan-African multimedia campaign designed to inspire African youth by connecting them with some of the world’s most influential personalities. Young people the world over are gradually taking interest in national and global affairs, and are increasingly becoming vocal on issues that affect them and the world they live in.
The pan-African broadcaster and Africa’s leading mobile operator are partnering to produce MTV Base Meets…with MTN, an eight-part youth empowerment initiative and TV series that creates a dialogue between young people and the political, business and cultural leaders who shape the world today. The intimate documentary series will allow Africa’s young minds to put probing questions to influential, inspirational and sometimes controversial individuals. Among the eminent people who will feature in the series are: Liberian President Madame Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (Africa’s first and only elected female head of state), Mr Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda and South African politician Mr Julius Malema (President of the ANC Youth League) and many African leaders or influencers who exercise a significant impact on the continent.
The gripping series will keep television viewers – young and old – on the edge of their seats. A diverse panel of young people representing different youth interests will be assembled from across the African continent. Young, but well-informed, the panelists are articulate, engaging, provocative and opinionated on a range of complex subjects – be it HIV/AIDS, global warming, education, poverty, corruption or entrepreneurship. They are fearless and have attitude. Their no-holds-barred approach will make for exciting television viewing as they fire BIG questions to the influential people whose actions and opinions have a direct impact on their lives.
African youth will be encouraged to nominate influencers and submit their proposed questions for the programme via a dedicated MTV base Meets…with MTN website or via their mobile handset. To register go to www.mtvmeets.com <https://www.mtvmeets.com> or https://mtvmeets.mobi
Follow the campaign on Twitter at #MTVMeets@MTVbaseAfrica.
SANLAM launches Start Something Day
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan recently said that South Africans aren’t saving enough. And Sanlam – a leading financial services provider – agrees, citing statistics from its recent Employee Benefits Benchmark Survey* that indicated 38,3% of active members said they are lagging behind to meet their future financial goals. To help overcome this worrying trend, it has earmarked 2 September, 2011 as ‘National Start Something Day’ to inspire everyday people to take up a new hobby, learn a new language or even set-up a business venture. Its aim is to cultivate a community of go-getters that plan ahead and make dreams realities instead of waiting for things to happen – an attitude that more often that not ends with too little, too late: be it skills, opportunities or savings.
Leading up to National Start Something Day on 2 September, South Africans are invited to pledge their individual ‘start’ on Facebook and motivate others to share their inspiring commitments such as starting a youth development programme (Ndileka Nombula Ndishq); opening a computer training centre (Mbali Mphuthi) or recycling (Isaac Seretse).
To follow the campaign and see who pledges to start what by 2 September, or to participate in National Start Something Day, visit https://www.facebook.com/startsomethingday.
InMobi launches first global mobile payments solution combined with an ad network
InMobi, the world’s largest independent mobile ad network, has announced the launch of InMobi SmartPay™, a performance based global mobile payments solution. InMobi SmartPay™ will enable app developers, game companies, and content providers in the US $200bn mobile content and virtual goods space to expand their business and monetise their users quickly and easily into new markets by providing a one-time, no-cost, single point of integration across multiple countries.
The new solution already offers reach to over one billion consumers in seven countries, including the US, UK, Germany, India, Indonesia, South Africa, and Malaysia, with huge growth plans to expand to over three billion consumers in 30 countries by the end of the year. The launch of InMobi SmartPay™ is the first global offering of its kind in the mobile advertising market. It combines InMobi’s massive global ad network of nearly 32 billion ads monthly in 200 countries with a mobile payments solution, enhancing its core competitive advantage for clients by integrating actual purchasing behavior into its real-time ad-serving feedback loop. Tracking from ad to conversion is a major leap forward for developers and digital goods providers globally.
Creative Effectiveness category has effective entrants at Lions
This year Cannes Lions the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity’s newest category launches with 142 entries from 33 countries. The Creative Effectiveness Lions that honours creativity that has shown a measurable and proven impact on a client’s business; and creativity that affects consumer behaviour, brand equity, sales, and where identifiable, profit.
“We are delighted with the response to this new category as the number of entries has greatly surpassed what we were anticipating. These are complex entries to submit and judging will be tough, but no doubt those worthy of a Lion will be much admired and will set the bar for future years,” said Terry Savage, Chairman of Cannes Lions.
All 142 entries submitted, which were either shortlisted or Lion winners in 2010 and therefore have already been established as being creatively world-class, have been reviewed by PricewaterhouseCoopers. They will now be judged by a 20-stong jury line up of both senior agency professionals and clients from around the world, chaired by Jean-Marie Dru, Chairman of TBWA Worldwide. The winners will be announced in Cannes on Saturday 25 June 2011 alongside the Film, Film Craft, Titanium and Integrated Lions winners.
Environmental Affairs selects a Z-card to educate consumers
The Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning has put the compact Z-Card to use again, this time to generate awareness and educate community members. This time its message is all about green living. The Department has selected a six-panel, handy slim-sized Z-CARD® to get its message across to communities, youth groups, civil society and corporate industries that they must change their lifestyle and behaviour with respect to resource efficiency.
The campaign, called Green Lifestyle, enables the Department to focus on its core objectives of sustainable environmental management and integrated development planning, climate change response, integrated land management, environmental planning, biodiversity management, coastal management, provincial and regional planning, strategies and policies, pollution and waste management and law enforcement.
Time to book for 2011 APEX Awards Gala Event
The much-anticipated gala event of the South African advertising profession is just around the corner. The industry’s effectiveness awards, the APEX awards is set to blow up Randburg on June 2, 2011 at St. Stithians College. Seats at the auspicious white tie event are limited and tickets are selling fast.
Over and above acknowledging and awarding work that works – communications campaigns that have excelled during the most trying economic times – the event is used as a platform to grow the talented youth of South Africa. Proceeds raised from the APEX awards are used to fund much needed bursaries for deserving students of the AAA School of Advertising which is where the industry shops for talent. This year sees a substantial increase in bursary funds generated, offering more students a future in advertising.
Internationally acclaimed Tony Wright of Lowe Worldwide will deliver the keynote address. Wright has worked his way to the top of leading global agencies such as Ogilvy & Mather and has paved the way for contemporary agencies that reject traditionalist methods. Key partners and sponsors, Oracle Airtime Sales & MNET have expressed their passion for effectiveness in the advertising and communications sector through their substantial sponsorship of APEX 2011.
For more information about the APEX awards or to book tickets to the 2011 gala event, visit the APEX section of the ACA website: https://www.acasa.co.za/apex.aspx
2011 AMASA Fundraiser Golf Day – Mad as a Hatter
It’s that time of the year again to haul out the golf clubs and play a round with industry peers to raise funds for the AMASA Learnership Programme (ALP). If you haven’t yet, book your fourball now, create your Mad Hatters outfit and tee up for a good cause.
The ALP is a jointly funded initiative between AMASA and partner industry agencies, aimed at attracting bright young talent into the field of media. The ALP offers successful candidates an internship at leading media agencies and extends a bursary for them to attend the AAA media course, the AMASA Media Planning Workshop as well as monthly remuneration and a unique opportunity for long term employment in media. To date, support from the industry has enabled AMASA to recruit three talented young people into media, with all interns having been offered full-time employment at their host agencies. With industry support, this year AMASA plans to recruit a further six candidates.
Show your support and make sure your brand is seen by key decision makers by confirming your sponsorship and participation now. Fourballs cost R2 100 each, hole sponsorships are R5 000 each and sponsorship positions are available for half way house, dinner, drinks and the putting green. For more information and bookings, please contact Samu Makhathini – samum@nab.co.za or 082 202 5262.
Miller Dark Horse campaign gallops into action in nightclubs
Expecting the unexpected has become synonymous with Miller Genuine Draft, which has – over the years – tailor-made each of its campaigns to deliver nothing less than some instant magic and amazing moments. The recently unveiled Miller Dark Horse campaign is no different. Developed to amplify the popular Miller Dark Horse Marquee at the Vodacom Durban July (2 July 2011), the multi-platform, two-month long campaign has kicked off with a series of nightclub activations in Johannesburg, Pretoria Cape Town and Durban, together with the launch of a special edition six-pack available in bottle stores nationwide.
As part of the Miller Dark Horse campaign, select exclusive nightclubs have been fitted with interactive touch screens offering consumers the opportunity to literally pick and name their own virtual dark horses. Racing their stallions against the game’s favourites to win, virtual race winners stand to win instant prizes as well as entered into a nightly draw to win two flights to and rock star accommodation in Durban, and two VIP tickets to the Miller Dark Horse Marquee powered by 5FM at one of the most celebrated events on the South African horse racing calendar: the Vodacom Durban July.
All entrants, however, will be automatically entered into a draw for an experiential prize that – at this stage – can only be described as ‘something unexpected’.
-Like www.facebook.com/MillerSouthAfrica https://www.facebook.com/MillerSouthAfrica>
Follow https://twitter.com/mgd_sa <https://twitter.com/mgd_sa>
Cleaning up her community with Breakfast Xpress and LeadSA
Breakfast Xpress, 94.7 Highveld Stereo’s breakfast team, met Penny Horwitz and spent an afternoon with paint brush in hand to help restore the beauty of her neighbourhood. Inspired to make a difference and Lead SA, Penny spends her days cleaning up her neighbourhood by painting over graffiti tags and removing illegal advertising. “People aren’t aware of the implication of these different signs,” said Penny. “Some graffiti is used to communicate with drug users and often they are used to highlight areas for break-ins.”
Equipped with her sponsored paint, paint brush and grime remover, Penny travels through Douglasdale and surrounding suburbs in Johannesburg spotting areas for clean up. Having heard of her project, the Breakfast Xpress team was inspired to help out and encouraged others to make a difference in any way possible. “This is a fantastic example of how to Lead SA. Penny has taken responsibility for her community and she is doing what she can to improve the neighbourhood,” said host of Breakfast Xpress, Darren Simpson. “It’s such a simple idea but it has a huge impact.”
To find out more about Lead SA visit www.leadsa.co.za
