Briefly…Building a brand around people; ABSA still the coolest bank; Capricorn FM enters into new venture and sponsorship deal with the ABF; Book now for ABF President’s Cup; Vodacom commits four year ad spend with TLC; Social Media secrets for brands’ pockets; Shopper’s Friend Adpaper – A Bargain Buy for smaller advertising budgets; PenQuin International executes Samsung’s LFD Conference with a difference; JWT Johannesburg an integral part in international award winning team
Building a brand around people
Africa’s largest automated clearing-house (ACH), BankservAfrica, which established a completely new brand identity last year, is now using its employees to build the brand internally so as to “carry the name of the company to greater heights”.
Creating fans of your company is not always the easiest of thing to do. Employees must feel that that they are not only there to do a job and earn a salary, but that they have an emotional connection to the company. Encouraging employees to get involved in corporate social investment (CSI) projects creates that emotional connection, and ultimately strengthens the connection between the company and its employees.
Twelve of its employees have committed themselves to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and raise funds for the Randeor School and the Coronation Training Centre through a “metre for more” sponsorship campaign to ultimately make things simpler for these schools to educate the youth.
“We are climbing Kilimanjaro, not only for the schools, but because we also want to make a difference in Africa by promoting our payment offering for Africa, and what better symbol of this promise is there than for our employees and our brand to reach the top of Kilimanjaro and the top of Africa!” said Michael Rubenstein, head of marketing.
Interested parties can go to www.bankservafrica.com <https://www.bankservafrica.com> to pledge their support for the employees and the CSI projects.
ABSA still the coolest bank
It was a case of “six of the best” when Absa was named the “Coolest bank” in the Sunday Times Generation Next 2011 Survey for the sixth consecutive year. The bank was voted the coolest bank by more than 7 000 youths polled in the annual survey conducted across six provinces. “Our brand power is built on the key focus areas of continued product innovation, iconic advertising, impact-driven sponsorships, robust community events, investment in people and a clear focus on the brand and what it stands for. We believe this is a cumulative effect of everything we have done and continue to do in the youth environment and beyond,” said Happy Ntshingila, Absa’s chief marketing and communication officer.
The results of the survey provide definitive – and at times – surprising insight into how young South Africans perceive consumer and corporate brands. Essentially, it provides an indication of what the leaders of tomorrow are thinking about and responding to today.In another development, Absa was last week rated as the third most valuable African brand in the BrandFinance Global Nation Brands league awards in the Corporate Brand Category. Now in their fourth year, these awards cover a global sample of 138 nations’ brands, including 36 African nations.
Capricorn FM enters into new venture, sponsorship deal with the ABF
The ABF Vital Support Fund and Capricorn FM are proud to announce a R50 000 airtime sponsorship deal. “We are thrilled to be able to provide the ABF Vital Support Fund with this sponsorship deal. It is the first time we have entered into a sponsorship agreement with them and are sure that the money collected will help out where it is really needed,” said Lerato Molete, marketing manager of Capricorn FM
“It is wonderful to have Capricorn FM on board,” says Sharlene Vallance, Vice President of the ABF. “Their contribution will ensure that winter in some households, which have been in dire circumstances, will lift ever so slightly. Winter always puts extra strain on finances and this can result in shortfalls where there is simply no money to keep the cold out. A contribution of this nature ensures a steady cash flow for the ABF Vital Support Fund and allows us to provide a slight measure of relief for our validation cases.”
This sponsorship will see CapricornFM participating in the ABF Presidents Cup Golf Day at Houghton golf course on the 29th June as well as in the ABF Crazy Golf Day later this year. The ABF is well known for its golf days, and always strives to ensure maximum exposure for sponsors.
Book now for ABF President’s Cup
The ABF President’s Cup golf day is set for the June 29, 2011 at the Houghton Golf Club, on the new Jack Nicklaus designed golf course. Four balls can be booked at a cost of R2 800-00, which includes green fees and dinner.
According to its website, the Houghton Golf Club is one of South Africa’s premier golfing venues. The course has a proud history as a championship facility, having hosted no fewer than eight SA Opens, the first of which took place in 1951. The course has also been the chosen venue for the prestigious Alfred Dunhill Championship.
The newly designed course is not brutally long. In order to defend the course from the longer hitters, strategically positioned bunkers have been used extensively to catch the wayward drive, thus making club selection essential. The new greens have been contoured with rolling undulations and subtle slopes to protect the integrity of the course.
The parkland layout is dotted with ponds and dams, an abundance of flowering shrubs also provide great variety and colour. Situated adjacent to the greenbelt of The Wilds the site is a perfect extension to Johannesburg’s natural fauna and flora and is a proclaimed bird sanctuary.
For more information, contact sharlene@abf.co.za or 083 452 6191.
Vodacom commits four year ad spend with TLC
Vodacom has renewed its advertising venture with TLC, Unlimited’s targeted Indoor advertising specialist, to speak directly to its consumers inside 300 Jet and Jet Mart stores across the country, specifically promoting its prepaid offering.
“Vodacom has renewed the deal for four years due to the exclusivity offered by the TLC media network. Vodacom will govern the holding for the duration of the partnership, changing its creative for various specials, every six weeks. The key to this campaign is that it drives the consumer to the Jet Stores’ till to buy the product,” said TLC’s Brett Tucker.
The campaign will dominate the A3 change room frame holding in the Jet Stores and incorporate a call-to-action through a specific Jet package phone special, with consumers being able to purchase the deal in store.
Social Media secrets for brands’ pockets
PocketMedia® Solutions has teamed up with digital communication consultants, Melissa Attree and Mike Sharman, to produce a social media secrets for brands Z-CARD® that was distributed at Markex. Attree and Sharman provide a breakdown of some thoughts and suggestions about the internet in the Z-CARD®, including how to communicate effectively with your target market and using social media, blogger relations and basic email marketing tactics.
“If you remove all the tech and jargon and ‘stuff’ embracing online concepts and thinking, it’s relatively easy to make a good first impression, and, let’s face it, when it comes to communicating through the web, that’s all we have,” said Sharman.
“That’s why we have made a short list of some best practice observations we’ve made that will hopefully enhance marketers’ online communication efforts,” added Attree.
The card contains a few QR Codes, enabling marketers and advertisers to understand the synergy between technology, social media and PocketMedia®.
Sharman and Attree will also hosted social media workshops where they handed out the credit-card sized piece of communication.
PenQuin executes Samsung’s LFD Conference with a difference
Playing golf from 400m above the green accessible only by helicopter, eating dinner at a Mpedi village, perfecting your golf swing – virtually, that’s how PenQuin International executed Samsung’s Extreme LFD Conference at Legends Golf and Safari Resort.
Conceptualised, produced and managed by advertising, marketing and media agency PenQuin International, the Samsung Large Format Display (LFD) Conference at Legends Golf and Safari Resort was held in May. Themed Samsung Extreme LFD the event lived up to its themed promise as 55 guests were introduced to the latest Samsung technology that utilized an interactive platform where sight, touch and sound were combined to create impactful and positive product interactions with the Samsung brand.
Instead of listening to countless presentations on each of the product specifications, guests were divided into smaller groups and taken through a series of rooms, each interactively and entertainingly demonstrating a product. Don Gammon, South African golfing legend, joined the conference, apparently from Hawaii.
Says PenQuin’s Group Executive for Business Development, Greg Kockott, “Being able to create memories is the key to entrenching a brand with the consumer, and by offering unique experiences like this one, guests will certainly remember the association with Samsung.”
JWT Johannesburg an integral part in international award winning team
A South African marketing campaign took top honours in the first international awards dedicated to the air-rail market with JWT Johannesburg playing an integral part in this award winning campaign. At the Global AirRail Awards held in Latvia, the inaugural marketing campaign developed by JWT Johannesburg for the Gautrain was chosen as the first overall winner in its category by an international panel of judges.
“We at JWT are immensely proud that our campaign developed for the launch of Gautrain has been given international recognition. This is certainly further confirmation that South African marketing can compete with the best in the world. Congratulations to the Gautrain team,” said MD of JWT Johannesburg, Judy van Dam.
Other finalists were the marketing campaigns behind the City Airport Terminal in Vienna, the Express Rail Link in Malaysia and the Aeroexpress in Moscow. The aim of this marketing campaign was to announce the launch of the Gautrain and to educate and inform consumers on the logistics of the new transport system.
Shopper’s Friend Adpaper – A Bargain Buy for smaller advertising budgets
Bargain Buys, a division of Ricochet Publishing in Port Elizabeth that publishes a number of magazines in addition to Bargain Buys, has increased sales in Gauteng by 500% after selecting Shopper’s Friend as primary advertising medium. Telephone enquiries increased by 900%, and hits on the Bargain Buys website by 460%. Bargain Buy’s value proposition is to offer its customers exceptional deals – with a minimum of 33% off over-the-counter prices on accommodation, holidays, activities, gift vouchers, honeymoons and much more.
Jacques Coetzee, General Manager of Shopper’s Friend says the primary purpose of the Shopper’s Friend Adpaper is to directly drive sales for clients. “We are therefore obviously delighted with the results that Bargain Buys achieved through our Adpaper. It really is the perfect medium for businesses of any size to drive results in the Gauteng area.”
Coetzee said the Shopper’s Friend Adpaper is designed to offer Advertisers utmost flexibility at very competitive rates. “Where else can advertisers’ reach 1.5 million lower income households or 1.3 million higher income households for as low as R4 000 per advertisement? In addition, advertisers can insert advertising leaflets into any of 163 pockets based on demographic and geographic parameters and grouped according to income and shopping patterns. Our focus is simply to deliver results.”
