Briefly… Colouring South Africa beautiful with Dulux; Local app development courses pick up speed; Continental Outdoor plants African Olive trees in Namibia for Arbor Day; Finweek digs deeper into bank charges; Spectramed cares for top celebs; AGM of the ACA announced, and nominations sought
Colouring South Africa beautiful
Re-positioning Dulux as ‘The World’s No.1 paint company’ and utilising the international ‘Let’s Colour’ theme within the South African landscape was a challenge Volcano Advertising couldn’t resist.
“Dulux is a global brand under the AkzoNobel umbrella – the largest paint manufacturer in the world and sees itself selling ‘tins of inspiration’ rather than the very industrial descriptor for its category – paint. This fact led the Volcano creative team to develop a South African version of the epic Let’s Colour global project currently rolling out across five different countries including South Africa,” says Paul Jackson, managing director.
The campaign, which includes a series of TV commercials, was also adapted for out-of-home execution as well as print and in-store. “We knew from the word go that the campaign had to be uniquely South African, and adding life as well as revitalising Johannesburg’s bustling city centre, was at the heart of our project,” says Francois Boshoff, advertising creative director. “This project holds the potential to change lives and inspire communities as colour is a vital part of our lives, it stimulates new ideas, rejuvenates cities, energises its people and captures the imagination of the world.”
Local app development courses pick up speed
South Africa’s app development industry is currently receiving a major boost from a series of immedia training courses aimed at aspiring beginner and advanced developers. Evidence of the hunger for quality app dev training in the country is that the first course – held in partnership with mLab at its brand new Pretoria facility – was sold out. In light of this excellent response, the next round of training courses will take place at immedia’s head office in Umhlanga, Durban. The iOS Advanced Course will run from November 10 – 12.
immedia CEO Anice Hassim says this exciting new programme is all about upskilling local developers so that they’re empowered to become part of Africa’s app dev revolution. “The reality is that all you actually need to operate a post-PC aligned business is a brain, a laptop and someone to teach you and you can create an app dev competency.”
Presented by renowned Swiss-based mobile developer, consultant and experienced trainer, Adrian Kosmaczewski from Akosma Software (https://akosma.com) the advanced training course drew a raft of positive feedback. Underpinning each series of training courses, is a monthly community evening aimed at spreading post-PC intelligence and awareness around the province.
The next community evening will take place on Thursday 10th November 10. To find out more tel: (031) 566-8000 or e-mail nazareen@immedia.co.za
Continental Outdoor plants African Olive trees in Namibia for Arbor Day
Continental Outdoor Media (Namibia) donated 20 Olea Africana (African Olive) trees to support the City of Windhoek’s efforts to plant 2 500 trees for National Arbor Day on October 14. 2011. This amounted to almost 10 times as many trees than planted in the previous year. Eleanor Grassow and Martha Mahnke from Continental Outdoor represented the company at the official Arbor Day event in Cimbebasia.
City of Windhoek councillor, Boas Ekandjo, spoke on behalf of the City of Windhoek mayor, Elaine Trepper, at the Cimbebasia celebrations, mentioning that the occasion captures the imagination of people who recognise the need for raising awareness of the value of trees. “Trees are the source of building material, food, medicine, science and beauty,” he said.
Namibia first celebrated Arbor Day in 1991. The national Arbor Day usually takes place every second Friday in October. A national tree chosen as the Tree of the Year is planted, and tree planting is promoted countrywide.
Finweek digs deeper into bank charges
South Africa’s revenue hungry banks have continued to pile on bank charges as they try to make up for lost interest revenue. This is one of the key findings from the 2011 Finweek Bank Charges Report, which was released on Friday. Now entering its seventh year, this annual research that delves into the charges that banks levy on their customers has played an important role in the discussion around charges, which are regarded as amongst the highest in the world.
“Bank charges are obviously an emotive issue in South Africa and a combination of the global financial crisis and the decreasing demand for lending has meant that banks are going to be looking for alternative ways – including fees and penalties – to boost their revenue line,” says Finweek editor Marc Ashton.
Key findings of the 2011 study include:
• Standard Bank remains the most expensive in terms of both package and Pay as You Use (PAYU) options.
• FNB is cheapest, but has the highest penalty fees.
• It costs twice as much now to bank with Absa and Standard than it did seven years ago.
• Banks continue to push even greater numbers of clients to the default of buying package options.
• On average banks are driving up the annual costs of package options in double digits.
• Penalty fees are becoming an increasingly important revenue source, especially on cheaper package options.
• Call centre and branch staff remain broadly incapable of accurately interpreting official literature.
Spectramed cares for top celebs
Medical scheme Spectramed is launching abrand awareness and recognition campaign that will involve radio celebrity activations at cinemas, radio advertising and cinema advertising – all running concurrently to deliver its message.
“From an advertising point of view, the Scheme has been quiet during 2011 and we wanted to break the silence with a campaign that will break through the clutter and will talk to our target market in a fun way. This campaign is fresh and original and Spectramed believes it will effectively reach our desired market,” says head of marketing and communication, Chrizelda de Vos.
Celebrities – including 5 FM’s Grant & Anele, KFM’s Elana Afrika, 94.7’s Mark Pilgrim, Jacaranda’s Martin Bester, and East Coast Radio’s Peter G – will, for the designated weekends, be ‘sick in bed’ and lying in the forecourts of the relevant cinemas. The use of cinema, combined with experiential activation, allows Spectramed to reach a wide audience in a face-to-face, yet cost-effective manner.
AGM of the ACA announced, and nominations sought
The Association for Communication and Advertising has announced that its 64th Annual General Meeting will be held at 3pm on November 22. 2011. Election of the 2012 Board of Directors will take place at the AGM. Members are encouraged to attend the AGM or send proxies with their respective votes. Board member nominations must be sent to the ACA by no later than 15 November 15.
“In keeping with tradition, the ACA AGM will be held at a historic venue. This year, we will be visiting the infamous Rand Club in Johannesburg that was founded in October 1887. It’s colourful and often-dramatic history is closely linked with the development of the world’s greatest goldfield and with the emergence of modern South Africa. We are looking forward to visiting what was once an exclusive men’s club,” says Odette van der Haar, CEO of the ACA.
For more information about the AGM or the nomination of Board Members process, please contact the ACA on (011) 781 2772 or send an email to info@aaaltd.co.za.
