Briefly… Avusa Media recruitment awards open for business; Goverments worldwide operate with Joomla!; Avusa launches new lifestyle supplements; Jacaranda 94.2 partners with Pendoring; TLC delivers 20% increase in sales for MNI NeuroVance; PenQuin International continues blood drive
Avusa Media recruitment awards open for business
Avusa Media recognises the need to identify and celebrate leaders within the recruitment and HR industries – those who help drive transformation and bolster the growth of organisations across the length and breadth of South Africa.
Heeding this call, nominations for the second 2011 Avusa Media Annual Recruitment Awards (AMARAs) have opened and will run until October 7.
“Encouraging those in recruitment, business and advertising to nominate worthy candidates in each category promotes not only a positive awareness of the profession but also positively develops the recruitment and HR professions,” says Natalie Stephan, head of trade marketing and CRM at Avusa Media.
Nominations should be submitted online in what is a quick and simple process. Visit www.amara2011.co.za <https://www.amara2011.co.za> for both public and private sector recruitment professionals and agencies.
For private sector nominations, the categories are:
· HR Director of the Year
· Recruitment Officer of the Year
· Most Creative Recruitment Advertisement of the Year
In the public sector, the categories are:
· HR Director of the Year
· HR Officer of the Year
· Most Creative Recruitment Advertisement of the Year
Categories that fall under both sectors are:
· Recruitment Advertising Agency of the Year
· Recruitment Solutions Agency of the Year
Goverments worldwide operate websites with Joomla!
As many as 2 821 (and counting) government websites worldwide are using Joomla! With a claimed 2.7% of the Web running on Joomla! Software, the open source content management system has become a major force in Web development. And it’s no different in South Africa. Nineteen South African government websites use the technology.
The figure rises to 74 across the Southern African region, with the continent as a whole boasting 281 Joomla! websites. At 759 government sites, Italy has by far the most government sites using Joomla!.
“Joomla! has built up a dedicated following across the world and in South Africa because it is so effective and easy to use,” says Walter Penfold, managing director of Prefix Technologies, whose pMailer product was a sponsor of the recent Joomla! Day held in Cape Town last week.
“More than 90 people attended the event, which gives some idea of the strength of this community locally, and the growing role Joomla! is playing in Web development in South Africa.”
This was the biggest event of its kind hosted in South Africa to date and it attracted delegates from all over the country and from many industry sectors, including government and education. It was a great opportunity for participants to catch up on the latest developments in coding standards and other key issues, like how Joomla! Is developing in line with advances in Web technology.
Note to editors: Website statistics from www.joomlagov.info <https://www.joomlagov.info> .
Avusa launches new lifestyle supplements
Sunday Times will now boast four beautiful lifestyle supplements as Home Weekly, Food Weekly and Travel Weekly launch on this Sunday, joining the popular Lifestyle section. The three new supplements, which provide readers with a superior magazine feel in a newspaper environment, will showcase indulgent yet accessible ways to transform dining and living experiences.
Home takes its cue from international decor trends and will bring South African content to readers on a weekly basis and, apart from its Sunday Times circulation, will also be inserted into Sunday World. Similarly, Food Weekly will bring a new depth to culinary pursuits, highlighting the gastronomic experience and creating new opportunities for readers to experiment with food. Spearheaded by longstanding Sunday Times food editor, Hilary Biller, the supplement will go beyond simply discovering new recipes, and will explore the seasonal and regional influences of SA.
The two new supplements join the existing Lifestyle section and a revamped version of Sunday Times Travel and Food, now known as Travel Weekly, that has undergone a facelift.
Jacaranda 94.2 partners with Pendoring
Jacaranda 94.2 has committed to sponsoring the Pendoring Awards in a bid to boost Afrikaans language advertising on the stations. The sponsorship is shared with its sales house Radmark.
“The station has also proven its capacity to attract Afrikaans audiences away from English radio and print, by super serving them in their home language. Hence Jacaranda’s decision to support the Pendoring Advertising Awards as a silver sponsor this year to promote innovative and impactful Afrikaans advertising. The combination of Jacaranda and Pendoring is a hand in glove fit,” says marketing manager, Jenny Griesel
“Through our Pendoring sponsorship, we want to show our commitment to advertisers to be able to deliver Afrikaans audiences to them. Moreover, due to our focus, strategic partnerships, marketing initiatives and programming, we are well placed to hold this market for many years to come,” she says.
Pendoring GM Franette Klerck says the support of South Africa’s biggest independent radio station as a silver sponsor is a feather to Pendoring’s cap. “In numerous ways, including Afrikaans advertising, Jacaranda 94.2 clearly shows that it deeply cares for its Afrikaans listeners, thus eliciting an ardent and loyal Afrikaans following. By respecting the wishes of Afrikaans consumers and communicating with them in their mother tongue, marketers should likewise benefit richly,” stresses Klerck.
With more than two million listeners, broadcasting in four provinces (Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North West and Limpopo), a number of multimedia content platforms, Jacaranda 94.2 has over the past 25 years not only firmly entrenched itself as a commercial station deeply rooted in its community, but also as a beloved brand to listeners.
TLC delivers 20% increase in sales for MNI NeuroVance
It was a no-brainer for the Medical Nutritional Institute (MNI) when deciding where it wanted to promote its latest brain booster and anti-stress remedy, NeuroVance. The first port of call was TLC’s targeted lifestyle communication platforms, powered by Unlimited, across LSM A malls and cinemas countrywide.
Mariaan du Plessis from MNI explains, “I am very happy with the TLC medium as each time we flight communication with them, we see a spike in sales of up to 20%. These campaigns are run in isolation on the TLC holding, without any above-the-line advertising support. This makes it is easy for us to attribute sales increases to TLC’s platform.”
Brett Tucker, joint MD at TLC adds, “We know the medium works and these results confirm our confidence in the efficacy of the space. By combining advertising with a call-to-action mechanism, in an environment with an innately high dwell time, the platform has proven to elicit a positive, engaging response from consumers. What’s exciting for us is that we have again quantified results that advertised products experience an increase in sales each time they’re promoted through TLC.”
Over the past two years MNI has run 10 successful campaigns utilising this particular platform, with each campaign lasting two months. The MNI was founded in 2002 by a doctor and a pharmacist who shared a similar objective, namely to bridge the gap between conventional and natural medication.
PenQuin International continues blood drive
PenQuin International is calling on employees, clients and neighbours to donate blood on the September 8 2011. This will be the agency’s third blood drive for 2011, and its third consecutive year assisting the SANBS.
Although blood stock levels are currently at 5.1 days according to the South African National Blood Service’s (SANBS) website, there is never enough. The call goes out to every able blood donor to assist in raising this level. One unit of blood can save up to three people’s lives.
PenQuin International’s next blood drive will be on the 8th September 8 at PenQuin International’s offices situated at 16 Skeen Boulevard in Bedfordview. SANBS will be in attendance between 09h30 and 15h30.
For further details, please contact Leigh Hailstone on 011 879 1900 or email her at leighh@penquin.co.za.
