Briefly… Bookmarks entry deadline extended until October 21; One Digital Media takes client empowerment to new level; Profmed interacts with young professionals using social media; Clorets breathes fresh breath through Billads; Cuddlers Nappies wins the Nappy Category in TGI ICON Brand Awards
Bookmarks entry deadline extended until October 21
The Bookmarks committee has announced that they will be extending the awards entry deadline by one week. Entries will now close on Friday 21st October.
“We have responded to industry demand and extended the entry deadline by a week,” said Nikki Cockcroft, Bookmarks chairperson and DMMA chair. “We are encouraging companies, brands and individuals to get their entries in next week as our judging process will not allow for a second extension,” she added.
Entries can be submitted via the website at www.thebookmarks.co.za.
The Awards will be held at Pigalle in Cape Town on November 10 2011, with workshops taking place on November 8 and 9 in Johannesburg and Cape Town respectively. Tickets for both the awards evening and the workshops can be booked via the Bookmarks website.
Various sponsorship opportunities are still available for this year’s event, contact Steph Powell on 072 197 1843 or spowell@dmma.co.za.
One Digital Media takes client empowerment to new level
One Digital Media, the largest provider of digital in-store screens in South Africa, launched its new website last week. The redesigned website has improved navigation and easy and intuitive access to the company’s various innovative digital solutions.
It has also taken client service to a whole new level. The online Client Login Portal (called CLIP) offers existing clients a wide range of services in a secure Internet environment, enabling them to take online control over their own network of digital screens.
When logging in, clients will land on their personal digital network page, where they have access to several functions, depending on the service contract they have with One Digital Media. With the Playlist Viewer, clients can view what content is playing at any particular screen and store at any time of the day in their network or among those screens that feature their adverts. In addition, with the Content Scheduling Tool, they can now schedule their own media files to any individual screen or set of screens, allowing for easy and quick content changes.
“With the Client Login Portal, we allow our clients to make more intelligent marketing decisions as they can now drive real-time marketing in-store, allowing them to truly reap the benefits of this digital medium and maximise the return on their advertising spend”, says Lilian Plomp, marketing strategist at One Digital Media.
Profmed interacts with young professionals using social media
A website upgrade and an active and interactive presence on Facebook and LinkedIn has Profmed, the medical scheme for graduate professionals, talking to young, internet-savvy professionals.
Profmed is a restricted medical scheme open to professionals with a four-year degree or to those in their fourth year of study for a degree that qualifies them to provide a professional service. The medical scheme recognises the importance of interacting with young people in a space in which they are comfortable.
“We understand that students and young professionals are potentially our future members, and know that it’s important to interact with them in the language that they speak and in a forum that they are familiar with,” says Graham Anderson, the principal officer of Profmed. “With this in mind, we have established a Facebook presence to interact with them, give them information and hear their views in return.”
The Profmed Facebook page can be found at www.facebook.com/profmed, and contains information on topical medical issues as well as matters affecting the medical scheme industry or healthcare sector as a whole. The page already has an extensive network of users who comment and interact on the relevant issues that are posted there.
Clorets breathes fresh breath through Billads
Clorets’ new Cherry Menthol chewing gum achieved a 73% brand recall rate during its consumer engaging Billads sampling campaign, which was organised in restaurants and bistros by Nine Mile Media targeting a potential 1 450 000 consumers over a two month period.
“Sampling is especially relevant to Clorets’ placement. Billads enabled consumers to engage with the Clorets New Cherry Menthol flavour by being able to see the creative and then immediately taste its freshness after their drink or meal,” says Awie Erasmus, account director at Ogilvy Cape Town, the agency responsible for the design of the campaign.
“Billads enabled us to complete the after meal experience. Consumers could eat, drink and have a great time and Clorets would take care of their breath,” says Lerina Bierman, Carat South Africa’s head of strategy, Cape Town, the media agency responsible for booking the campaign.
Research conducted by Interact RDT during the campaign saw 115 respondents questioned on-site at 10 restaurant sites around Johannesburg and 45 of them called two weeks later to follow up.
As a result of the campaign, 58% would consider buying Clorets’ Cherry Menthol chewing gum and 40% had bought it within two weeks.
Catch the World Cup action at Eastgate’s Rugby Festival
The Ekurhuleni-based Eastgate shopping centre recently came up with an innovative marketing solution to capture the interest of its loyal consumers during the 2011 Rugby World Cup – its own rugby festival.
The Eastgate Rugby Festival, that runs until October 23 is geared to provide shoppers with a variety of events, shopping experiences and live screenings of the semi finals and the final world cup game.
To get this message across to consumers, Eastgate produced a credit card-sized Z-CARD® which contains a schedule of events that the centre has planned during its Rugby Festival, as well as a Rugby World Cup 2011 match schedule detailing the dates, times and venues of all of the games.
“The Eastgate shopping centre is screening the games live in our Piazza, where consumers can enjoy a drink or meal at one of our restaurants whilst watching the game,” says Melissa Sibindi, Brand Marketing Manager Eastgate Shopping Centre, Liberty Properties.
The festival programme contains all kinds of exciting events including having your photograph taken with real life-sized cuts outs of the Bokke, and a meet and greet autograph signing with the Blue Bulls, their official dancers and mascots.
“We wanted to give something back to the loyal consumers who frequently shop at our centre, and this was the ideal solution,” adds Sibindi.
The Z-CARD®s are being handed out at the information kiosks inside the Eastgate shopping centre. For more information, visit www.eastgateshops.com.
Cuddlers Nappies wins the Nappy Category in TGI ICON Brand Awards
Brands form a very large part of our everyday lives, and being recognised as a leader within your category and field as part of South Africa’s most used and loved brands, is a great achievement. This is something which Cuddlers Nappies has enjoyed being ranked number 1 in Nappy Category in the 2nd Annual TGI ICON Brand Awards and Survey.
The largest survey of its kind in South Africa, the TGI ICON Brand Survey conducted 15 000 interviews to ultimately discover the top brands in 41 categories.
“We are truly honoured by the South African public recognising us as their favourite nappy brand,” comments Bryan Ndlovu, Senior Brand Manager for Cuddlers Nappies. “It’s a category heavily driven by communication and pricing. Consumers continuously buy into a brand promise, and it is great to see that they are recognising that we are delivering this to them. Our aim has always been about bringing the Cuddlers brand closer to consumers, and it appears that the South African public are recognizing our consumer centric approach. We look forward to continuing to deliver on our promises to our consumers and remaining as a leader within the nappy category.”
