Media Moves…Greg Stewart leaving The Citizen. Change of leadership at The SpaceStation. Debbi Dale joins Red Cherry. Moves at Wag the Dog and Stone Soup PR. Clinton Nortje back at Greatstock. Agency Wise works client service programmes. JNPR for Hobart Grove Centre. O’MAGE to take Standard Bank experience to UK.ComutaNet has plans. All the moves in media.
Who’s moved where
This week’s BIG move…Greg Stewart packs it in
The Citizens’ successful publisher, Greg Stewart, is packing in his career in newspapers, and his life in Johannesburg.
“Yes, after 23 years in the media it is definitely time out for me. I am moving to Port Elizabeth where I will be starting my own business,” he told TheMediaOnline.
“I have had a fantastic journey along the way, but have to say that it is a different world today and I truly can’t wait to get out of the big smoke that is known as Jozi. Every time I land at OR Tambo and see what we breathe daily I feel ill,” he says.
Stewart says he will miss many people in Johannesburg with whom he worked, by that he was making “a lifestyle choice for the whole family”.
Wag the Dog and Stone Soup PR makes some moves
John Badenhorst has been appointed as the new managing director of Stone Soup PR after 12 years abroad. He has worked for the past 30 years in senior positions in the communications industry, in South Africa, London and the Middle East with five years in Saudi Arabia, and a year each in Dubai and Kuwait, where he worked with international agencies, including Weber Shandwick, successfully opening the company’s office in Riyadh.
For nine years as head of PR for M-net, he advanced the station’s profile in South Africa, and all over the African continent, with strategic PR programmes such as the M-Net All Africa Film Awards and the M-Net Book Prize.
Sophie Abendanon has been appointed as the research and events manager at Stone Soup PR. Abendanon e has a degree in film and psychology and has a lot of PR training. Her creative flair adds much to Stone Soup.
Bongani Zulu has been appointed the national sales manager for The Media magazine. He worked at DStv Media Sales and Primedia
Change of leadership for The SpaceStation
Mike Luscombe, the CEO of The SpaceStation, has decided to stretch his legs with a move to Johannesburg and a position at Microsoft. Gustav Goosen, The SpaceStation’s current sales and operations director, will fill the role as acting CEO until the succession process is formalised.
“Mike has been an excellent leader for The SpaceStation and a great colleague to us all. We wish him all the further success he deserves. He’s shaped our business into South Africa’s top performing digital media sales team and leaves big shoes to fill, literally! As Mike acknowledged, we’re a cohesive team and we’ll ensure The SpaceStation‘s continued success,” says Goosen.
Luscombe says that after 13 years at various Naspers companies, the last six of which were have spent at 24.com and The SpaceStation, ”I have decided to pursue an opportunity outside of the Group. I will be relocating to Johannesburg where I have accepted a role at Microsoft. These decisions are never easy, but I am confident that I am leaving The SpaceStation as a cohesive and well structured business, with a sound management structure and some of the most driven and committed people I have worked with.”
He adds that he is especially proud of how The SpaceStation team has developed and of their triple MOST Award achievement. “I will be holding thumbs for a fourth come September,” Luscombe.
New face at Red Cherry
Red Cherry Media has announced that Debbi Dale has chosen to join the team as business development manager, after running her own media sales coaching & mentoring business for 18 months. Dale will be working very closely with the Durban market as well as adding value to the entire Red Cherry Media Group.
Dale has three decades of executive experience in the media, media sales and marketing industries, which has included being a media manager/director at a number of media/advertising agencies, co-owner of an advertising agency, media strategy consultant, holding a media sales board appointment and being a corporate media executive at Unilever for ten years on their local, regional and global leadership teams.
“Debbi has worked with the Red Cherry Team for many years and to have her on board as a fully fledged Red Cherry is very exciting,” says director, Jenna Murray Smith. ”We are confident that Debbi’s experience will benefit our clients and our team greatly!”
Clinton Nortje returns to Greatstock to head editorial
Clinton Nortje recently re-joined Greatstock as their editorial manager, where his experience will boost the company’s strong growth in the editorial space.
Nortje first started at Greatstock in 2003 as an account executive, progressively working his way through many roles, including client liaison, sales management and new business development.
Outside of Greatstock, his experience includes a stint at CR Publishing and hosting various talk shows on the likes of Talk Radio 202 and Cape Talk. “We are very pleased to have Clinton back at Greatstock” comments Margi Sheard, managing director of Greatstock. “He has returned with substantial additional areas of expertise, and adds great value.”
Who’s won what
Hobart Grove Centre appoints JNPR
Jenni Newman Public Relations (JNPR) has been appointed to handle the full spectrum of communications and PR for the recently uplifted Hobart Grove Centre in Bryanston.
With most of the tenants being owner-managed, a large focus for JNPR is emphasising the community feel of this stylish centre and specifically the strong customer service, where the respective managers know their customers by name, and shoppers enjoy the ultimate neighbourhood shopping experience.
O’MAGE making moves with Standard Bank
The Corporate Investment Banking Division of Standard Bank have confirmed that the recent CIB SA Managers Conference held at Sun City, which was produced by experiential communications agency O’MAGE, is to be recreated and delivered for Standard Bank PLC in London, later this year.
Sean Mackenzie, key account manager at O’MAGE, said that the company is ecstatic at the confidence shown in O’MAGE by the client; not only in awarding the initial contract to them, but now in the proposed transfer of the event to the United Kingdom, and possibly further afield.
“We are no strangers to working for Standard Bank’s CIB Division, having created numerous communication experiences and events for them over the years. In line with the clients objectives, O’MAGE crafted, bespoke communication practices and methodologies with the latest technology which totally underpinned Standard Bank’s positioning as a forward-looking and forward-moving institution,” said Mackenzie.
Who’s making moves
Agency Wise gets client service back on track
Agency Wise is offering a tailor made skills programme to clients within the advertising and brand management arenas after successfully running a training programme to improve client service for SWIPE, the Retail Division of Draftfcb.
The programme was designed by Agency Wise to revisit all the fundamentals of client service and in so doing, remind staff about best practices. Incorporating both theoretical and practical elements, modules included agency operations and finance, principles of marketing, the art and tools of client service, breaking down budgets, TV, radio and print /DTP production among others.
Founding partners Julie Burdis and Joanne Lintott have collectively spent over 30 years in the Advertising industry. “We understand the day to day pressures of working in an Advertising Agency and that this often does not allow time for training. We are both passionate about training and want to better equip candidates and enhance their working relationships both internally and with the client.”
Growing commuter audience, advanced media offerings
South Africa’s public transport system is the heartbeat of most communities in this country with over 20 million people using taxis, buses and trains to commute to and from work on a daily basis. As such taxi ranks, bus and train stations are hubs of commuter activity.
With this in mind, ComutaNet continues to evolve its offering and the company has hinted at exciting developments throughout the rest of 2012 including Rank TV and Comuta Radio upgrades, the addition of new sites and more.
“Our Rank TV audience now consists of three million unduplicated weekly commuters with Comuta Radio providing direct access to 2.2 million unique weekly commuters nationally. This growth of over 300 000 commuters on a weekly basis has and will continue to drive our investment into new technology and new sites going forward.” Says Howard Plaatjes, CEO of ComutaNet.
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