Media moves…The latest news on media moves and appointments. Who is going where, when, how and why they’re moving on. Who’s won, who’s lost.
RAB appoints General Manager
In line with cementing its position as South Africa’s radio advertising authority, the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) has appointed Gilda De Araujo as its new General Manager. De Araujo is no stranger to the South African radio landscape, having garnered more than 15 years of experience in Radio Sales Management and advertising sales, most notably within media owners; Primedia Broadcasting, United Stations, the SABC and as head of radio specialist agency, RadioHeads.
While she does concede that the current strategy has made great inroads into delivering effectively on the RAB’s objectives, she is refreshingly honest about the task at hand; “The RAB’s role is to better engage with our key clients, these being advertisers and marketers, Media and Creative agencies. It therefore, makes obvious sense to continue to build on the success of established flagship projects such as RadioWorks and RadioGauge whilst developing new tools that will best serve our clients’ needs.”
Mira’s new GM places the focus firmly on customer service
In line with its drive to improve both client relationships and the overall mobile consumer experience, Mira Networks has appointed Deon Odendaal to the newly created position of General Manager. A mobile aggregator and Wireless Application Service Provider (WASP), Mira Networks is a strong believer in the principle that the customer always comes first, hence its decision to create this brand new key position within the organisation.
Odendaal brings six years of experience in the mobile industry to the table, and a zest for customer service as well as an eye for ensuring that consumers get what they ask for. Previously a senior key accounts manager at Mira, his role as GM will include the crucial responsibility of overseeing Mira’s growth in South Africa, Africa and other parts of the world.
Riverbed Agency appoints activation head
Sandton based Marketing Communications Company, The Riverbed Agency (TRA) has announced the appointment of Natasha Amiah as the head of the Activation & Events Business Unit. Ramiah has been designing, planning and delivering on events in the events management domain for the past fifteen years. Her appointment adds a wealth of global & local expertise to the company’s offering.
Ramiah has worked and managed high level projects with a number of large national and international organisations including, among others, the World Bank, Transport Research Laboratory in the UK, South African National Roads Agency, IBM, Centre for High Performance Computing in Cape Town, CSIR and a vast number of their partner organisations and a majority of the Ministerial departments across the country.
Thulani Sibeko joins Nedbank as group executive
The Nedbank Group has appointed Thulani Sibeko as Group Executive: Marketing, Communications and Corporate Affairs.Sibeko holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from California State University and a Graduate Certificate in Business Studies from Harvard University. His role at Nedbank includes overseeing corporate branding, group public affairs, sponsorships, transformation, internal and external communications, market and customer insights and the Nedbank Foundation, the group’s corporate social investment arm.
Prior to joining Nedbank, Thulani was head of marketing at Hollard Insurance. Previously he was in charge of brand management at Vodacom where he managed the group’s brand strategy in South Africa and ensuring consistent application of its corporate identity and art direction in South Africa, Mozambique, Lesotho, the DRC and Tanzania.
New faces at Grey advertising
David Edworthy has been appointed Senior Copywriter in the Johannesburg office of Grey South Africa. Edworthy has spent time as a copywriter at Young & Rubicam Hedley Byrne before moving on to TBWA Hunt Lascaris & Tequila. Sradha Vadher is the newly appointed Trainee Art Director in the Johannesburg office of Grey South Africa. He is an honours graduate in Information Design from Pretoria University and worked as a junior creative at Hello World Agency in Johannesburg.
Dummet goes digital
Dummett & Co., a rapidly expanding boutique-sized full-service PR agency with clients in the premium tiers of the FMCG, health and fitness, tourism and marketing sectors, has added a digital PR component to its services mix with the appointment of George van der Riet as Digital PR Account Executive. Van der Riet undertook scriptwriting and social media handling for Zapiro’s online satirical show, ZANews, following his graduation from AFDA Cape Town with a BA in Motion Picture Medium majoring in Writing and Directing.
Assisted by Van der Riet, agency head Craig Dummett will formulate and sculpt digital PR strategy for key clients such as Brandhouse (Deluxe & Reserve), Vital Health Foods, More Hotels (Lion Sands Private Game Reserve, More Quarters, Tinga Private Game Reserve, Cape Cadogan) and Caturra Coffee Company, with Van der Riet and select colleagues of the eight-member team implementing the tactical component on a daily basis.
Lucky number 13 – Ackermans A-Plus Club magazine to stay with New Media Publishing
After a closed tender process Ackermans has announced that the contract to produce the A-Plus Club content marketing will remain with New Media Publishing. After a 13-year partnership, the team at New Media will take the Ackermans’ brand beyond the magazine into the stores themselves, online, via social media, on mobile and through new and more modern events.
The brief called for fresh thinking and innovative new ways of doing things, which would reward A-Plus club members and assist with driving Ackermans’ key business imperatives. New Media will be beefing up their team on the Ackermans’ account and will be introducing significant changes to the magazine to ensure that it remains one of the most desirable benefits for A-Plus Club members. In keeping with their positioning as the country’s leading content marketers, they will also be introducing new ways to engage customers through multiple channels and from varied audiences.
