Media Moves…TheMediaOnline’s weekly round up on who’s moved where and which companies have scored what accounts. All the moves in media.
South Africa on new Virgin Group Chief Marketing Officer’s radar
Virgin Group has announced the appointment of Ian Rowden as its new global chief marketing officer (CMO). This is the first senior hire by incoming Co-Ceo’s David Baxby and Josh Bayliss and places the brand and this role at the heart of the Group’s strategy. Rowden has a mandate to drive Virgin brand’s international expansion, including in South Africa, and to enhance and expand the global brand team.
Fiona Ross, Virgin Group head of brand, South Africa says, “Ian’s appointment will positively impact how Virgin operates here and we are keen to increase the brand’s growing local footprint…With Ian onboard, we look forward to both strengthening and growing the Virgin brand in South Africa.”
Virgin first came to South Africa in 1996 when it launched Virgin Atlantic. Today it operates six core companies – Virgin Active, Virgin Mobile, Virgin Money, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Life Care and Virgin Limited Edition. Virgin Unite, the non profit foundation of the Virgin Group, has presence here, with one of the key initiatives being The Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship.
Sir Richard Branson commented: “I am excited by the opportunities we have to extend the Virgin brand around the world including South Africa. Ian is going to play a major role in helping us drive that expansion.”
New stars at rooi rose
rooi rose is proud to announce the promotion and appointment of two bright young stars to its editorial team. “We welcome back Suzanne Kotze as rooi rose’s new beauty editor. Previous Beauty Editor, Elaine Nixon-Campbell was one of the beauty doyens in the magazine industry and was a pillar of the brand for 21 years. She retired at the end of August and is looking forward to a new chapter in her life. Suzanne was Elaine’s assistant before she moved to Huisgenoot as Beauty Editor and we are very excited to have her back in the rooi rose family,” says editor Martie Pansegrouw.
“We are also excited by the promotion of Anelle Mostert as our new production manager. Anelle started working at rooi rose as an intern, straight after graduating at Wits as a design student, and was then appointed as production assistant. Neville Bateman, our previous production manager, was promoted to head up Caxton’s new centralised repro department. Anelle showed great potential from the start and was the natural choice for this very responsible position.”
New editorial team drives Automobil
The appointment of a new editor and deputy editor has brought fresh expertise to Automobil, the Retail Motor Industry (RMI) publication. Mike Monk takes the helm after serving as contributing editor and Tristan Wiggill has joined the team as deputy editor.
Monk has a long history as a motoring journalist and was associate editor of CAR magazine for almost two decades. He has long had an interest in the retail aspect of the industry and is excited at the platform Automobil offers for helping business and further promoting the causes under the RMI umbrella.
Wiggill, a skilled photographer and journalist, was previously deputy editor of Autolive, an online business-to-business automotive publication, and prior to that was a journalist with Autodealer. He brings his digital and print experience in the B2B environment to the brand.
Automobil became the third title in the RamsayMedia Custom Publishing stable when the RMI awarded the media house the publishing contract earlier this year. The July issue was the first under RamsayMedia’s banner.
CAR appoints new technical editor
CAR magazine has announced the appointment of Nicol Louw as technical editor. He replaces Jake Venter, who retires after 16 years.
CAR editor Hannes Oosthuizen said the brand was fortunate to have someone of Louw’s calibre on the team. “The technical editor fulfils a vital role at CAR and this is a very important appointment. Jake has left very big shoes to fill, but I’m very excited to have Nicol on board – he comes with the right experience and has been extremely highly rated by his previous employers. His appointment will undoubtedly reinforce our position as a motoring magazine with a strong technical backbone. Added to that, he’s a real car nut!”
Louw joins CAR from South African electric-vehicle start-up, Optimal Energy, where he was the senior vehicle integration engineer working on the Joule, SA’s first electric vehicle. He also gained valuable experience at Ford in Britain, where he received an Engineering Excellence award.
Louw completed his M.Sc in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Stellenbosch in 2004, receiving an award for technical innovation, and obtained his UK Chartered Engineering Status in 2009.
Whisky Magazine welcomes Heather Haydn
Whisky, which launched in February this year, is pleased to announce an addition to its sales team. “We are delighted that Heather Haydn has joined us and believe that she’ll add value, as a media broker, to our magazine,” said Shayne Dowling, publisher of Whisky.
Haydn brings with her 22 years of sales experience, of which 10 years has been dedicated to media sales for top-end consumer titles, the likes of Golf Digest, Psychologies, Fairlady, Cosmopolitan and Shape amongst others. She currently represents a number of select titles, all of which are lifestyle publications.
“I enjoy the fact that Whisky magazine targets the high end consumer and feel that I can contribute positively to the ad sales with my current client portfolio,” says Haydn.
Whisky is distributed via the top 100 flagship stores of Tops at Spar as well as leading hotels, premium bars and other niche venues.
brandhouse appoints new lead agency
Brandhouse Beverages (Pty) Ltd has completed a comprehensive pitch process of the Heineken advertising portfolio, and has announced that M&C Saatchi Abel has been appointed the below-the-line agency of choice. M&C Saatchi Abel will be a key partner in contributing to the continued growth and success of the Heineken brand in South Africa.
In line with brandhouse’s procurement policy, a short-list of aligned and non-aligned agencies was invited to participate in the Heineken review exercise, which was facilitated by John Little of The Observatory.
They were:
a) M&C Saatchi Abel
b) Fox P2
c) Publicis
d) Sixty Layers of Cake
Commenting on the outcome of the appointment, brandhouse marketing director Gavin Krenski says: “It is very exciting to see the wealth of creative talent wishing to work on the Heineken account and it was a difficult choice but we believe we have made the right choice.”
Capacity Relations wins the Castle Lite Summer Campaign 2011/12
Lets face it there could be nothing more refreshing than thinking about something “extra cold” over summer in South Africa, and PR agency Capacity Relations has been brought on board to bring some refreshing ideas to the table to make sure Castle Lite and “extra cold” are top of mind over the hot festive season.
This September Capacity will embark on creating a “cool” PR approach that will bring to life the dynamic ideas driven by the remarkable Castle Lite brand team. “For us working with the team at Castle Lite is a dream come true. They are vibrant, innovative and uber-cool with their approach to their brand. We aim to really assist them in creating the big impact they have planned,” says Sarit Tomlinson, MD of Capacity Relations.
The Castle Lite campaign marks the final highlight for a very successful year for the agency, after having won a Gold Prism award in March for Consumer Public Relations for an existing product for Duracell for the World’s Largest Chocolate Bunny, winning the Cuddlers nappies account and a global Jameson campaign.
Domino, the social media specialists, land four new clients
Domino, the Habari Group’s digital and social media division, has recently been tasked with developing and managing the social media presence of the following leading clients; Sanlam Reality, Damelin, bobble, and Natures Source.
“Domino has won significant new accounts in the first half of the year and it looks set to continue for the latter half,” says Teri Fyn, client service director, Habari Group.
‘The growth in billings is partly down to the success of cross pollination between the various divisions within the Habari Group, but also down to the quality of Domino’s work, which is evident for all to see.”
