Briefly… Getaway secures Fedhasa CEO as keynote speaker; InMobi and NDTV Convergence Ltd. Partner; C.S.A. expands its horizons; Africa Media Sales launches Mpumalanga superstation; MasterCard gets its Rugby World Cup 2011 schedule with a Z-CARD®
Getaway secures Fedhasa CEO as keynote speaker
Brett Dungan, CEO of the Federated Hospitality Association of Southern Africa (Fedhasa), will be the keynote speaker at next week’s Getaway Travel & Tourism Conference. He will address the crucial issue of low occupancy levels and provide critical insights and strategies for preventing more businesses from shutting their doors.
There is a significant discrepancy between official tourism figures and the reality experienced by the hospitality industry, where low occupancy rates threaten many businesses, and it’s time for a reality check in the accommodations sector, says Dungan.
The two-day Getaway Travel & Tourism Conference will explore the single most pressing issue faced by the tourism industry today: how to increase real tourism to South Africa and, arguably more important, how to fill empty beds.
Among the other speakers offering their perspectives are Simon Gear, Environmental Specialist, Kijani Green Energy; Mariëtte du Toit-Helmbold, CEO, Cape Town Tourism; William Price, SA Tourism’s e-Marketing Global Manager; and Branko Brkic, editor of The Daily Maverick.
The Getaway Travel & Conference takes places at the Coca-Cola dome, Northgate, on 31 August and 1 September. Full details and booking information are available at https://conference.getaway.co.za.
InMobi and NDTV Convergence Ltd. partner
InMobi, the world’s largest independent mobile ad network and NDTV, India’s most watched and most respected media house, today announced an exclusive partnership for bringing mobile ads to consumers on NDTV’s mobile applications.
This partnership will make it easier for advertisers to reach premium mobile consumers on NDTV’s applications. Under the terms of the partnership, InMobi will have exclusive rights to monetise NDTV’s mobile applications for Apple iOS and Google Android devices in India and international markets. Advertisers that want to advertise on NDTV’s mobile application on these platforms will now engage with InMobi.
NDTV has been at the forefront of the converged content play. Its market-leading applications help users consume premium content using the application ecosystem. The NDTV application for the iPad recently won the gold award at the Asian Digital Media Awards for best tablet news product, while the NDTV iPhone app was number one at launch in India and the US.
“Mobile is a critical part of NDTV’s growth strategy. We were the first movers in the media app space in India and continue to build on the leadership position with continuous innovation in this space,” said Vikram Chandra, Group CEO, NDTV. “InMobi’s rich media technology and mobile ad platform will help us monetize NDTV’s premium content on mobile devices. InMobi was an easy choice for us as it delivers scale and reach to publishers that remain unrivalled in the Indian market.”
InMobi recently announced the acquisition of US-based Sprout, the leading platform for creating HTML5 rich media mobile advertising. The agreement with NDTV builds on the Sprout acquisition to further leverage the process of creating and distributing rich media mobile ads for brands and agencies in India.
C.S.A. expands its horizons
Following on recent rapid growth, communications, events and artists agency, Celebrity Services Africa (C.S.A.), has taken up residence in new offices in Cape Quarter, Cape Town while simultaneously opening offices in Los Angeles.
In concurrence with the local re-location, C.S.A. has taken on an even greater move by officially opening up offices in Los Angeles, U.S.A., expanding its reach into the heart of global communication. This positions C.S.A. as the only South African communications agency dealing with local as well as trans-atlantic clients simultaneously.
“Communication Services America (C.S.A.) will serve as an expansion and platform to take South African projects to the US continent. We aim to expand our horizons and engage with projects which will provide for cross-cultural opportunities between the two countries,” said managing director Marc Le Chat.
The company’s Artist Agency division recently brought out US entertainment celebrity-mogul Kimora Lee Simmons and her actor husband, Djimon Honsou for the Mandela Legacy Canvas Event, held in Cape Town recently.
Africa Media Sales launches Mpumalanga superstation
Media sales company Africa Media Sales (AMS) has launched Mpumalanga Superstation, a radio advertising concept that affords advertisers the opportunity to market their product within the Mpumalanga province on both commercial and local community stations.
The eight commercial and community stations incorporated within Mpumalanga Superstation have a combined listenership of 558 000 and currently include:
- MPower FM
- Barberton Community Radio
- Radio Bushbuckridge
- Radio Laeveld
- Kanaymazane Community Radio (K Radio)
- Radio Secunda
- Kriel Info Radio
The combined listenership of Mpumalanga Superstation has been listed on Telmar as a single purchase with the aim of making it a more viable and attractive prospect for potential advertisers wishing to target the Mpumalanga market than the previously dispersed single station offering.
Explaining the reasoning behind the new station, AMS Director Paul Wilkins says, “Historically, radio planning for national advertiser’s has been carried out on a national format, using national rating levels and target markets without much emphasis on regional or provincial sales. By grouping these Mpumalanga stations together, AMS has managed to have research released for the all the stations and thus create one big Superstation to compete with the regularly selected stations.”
The national sales for Mpumalanga Superstation will be administered by Africa Media Sales who will also manage the equitable distribution of proceeds to the individual stations incorporated into the Superstation agreement.
In order to accurately monitor the effectiveness of Mpumalanga Superstation, SAARF has combined the listenership of all eight participating stations to allow full statistics for the station to be tracked as with any other radio station.
MasterCard gets its Rugby World Cup 2011 schedule with a Z-CARD®
As worldwide partner of the Rugby World Cup 2011, MasterCard brought the prestigious Webb Ellis Cup to fans across South Africa on a tour of rugby clubs, schools and shopping malls, ahead of the Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand next month.
MasterCard’s aim was to offer South African Rugby fans the chance to see the trophy and have their photo taken alongside it with South African Rugby greats who carefully guarded it along the trip.
Bob Skinstad, Os du Randt, Breyton Paulse and Jacques Fourie took turns appearing at venues in Sandton, Pretoria, Soweto, Johannesburg and Cape Town to accompany the trophy, sign autographs, have their pictures taken with avid fans and make sure that fans experienced the excitement of the build up to Rugby World Cup 2011.
The Trophy Tour formed part of MasterCard’s ‘Witnessing History’ campaign that offers MasterCard cardholders the opportunity to win travel prizes to the Rugby World Cup 2011. fThe nationwide tour kicked off on 23 June at the Jabulani Technical High School in Soweto.
PocketMedia® Solutions was contracted to produce a credit card-sized Z-CARD® for MasterCard to generate awareness around the Rugby World Cup, provide a match schedule, and communicate details about its competition to win tickets to the tournament.
The Z-CARD® details which countries are in which pool for the 2011 Rugby World Cup and when the games will be played. It also contains details about the quarter finals, semi-finals, bronze final and grand final games. Bobby Skinstad, a major focus of the Z-CARD®, is pictured on the front cover to promote the competition which will enable the lucky winner to join him on a trip to the Rugby World Cup.
