Media Moves… TheMediaOnline’s weekly round up. Professor Rachel Jafta is new chair of Media 24 board. Heather O’Neill joins Urbanhouse Media. TBWA\ signals Africa growth plans with Cruikshanks appointment. Schoolmedia announces fresh young team – set to soar! Tribeca Public Relations promotes Birgit Fawkes to account director. Habari XL announces key new appointments and plans. Hannes Oosthuizen to join the GWM team. AMASA 2013/14 Committee announced. Association for Communication and Advertising Welcomes Six New Member Agencies. Mentoring from the cloudAll the moves in media.
Who’s moved where
Professor Rachel Jafta is new chair of Media 24 board
The board of Media24 announced the appointment of Professor Rachel Jafta as its new chair. She succeeds Professor Jakes Gerwel, who passed away in November last year.
Prof Jafta is a professor of Economics at Stellenbosch University and holds the degrees BEcon (Hons) from the University of the Western Cape. She also did a MEcon (University of Stellenbosch) and a PhD (Economics) at the universities of Bocconi in Milan, Italy and Stellenbosch. She joined Media24 as a director in 2007.
Ton Vosloo, chairperson of the Naspers board, said the appointment of Prof Jafta was a proud moment in the history of the group. “Rachel is the first woman, and the first black woman, to chair Media24 – a wonderful milestone. We hold her in high regard and believe she is the right person for the position. I wish her the very best with the challenges of this new role.”
CEO Esmare Weideman agrees. “Rachel’s energy and leadership is going to be very valuable in our transition from a pure print to an integrated media business. And in the transformation of our company,” she said.
Jafta said she was “honoured to follow in the footsteps of Prof Jakes Gerwel and excited to join the leadership team at a time when rapidly changing trends in technology, consumer preferences and the regulatory environment are challenging us to find new opportunities.”
Born in Sutherland in the Central Karoo, Japhta grew up in a family of six and attended high school in Wellington. She is proficient in English, Afrikaans and Italian. She has received a number of awards for research and teaching excellence, is widely published and involved in broader training and education initiatives.
Heather O’Neill joins Urbanhouse Media
UrbanHouse Media welcomes Heather O’Neill as a Public Relations Assistant to its growing PR team. O’Neill, a Psychology, English and Marketing graduate from Stellenbosch University joined UrbanHouse Media in February this year following rapid growth to its client stable.
UrbanHouse Media’s clients include international health guru and author Patrick Holford, mega supermarket brand Oxford Freshmarket, the cold and flu solution Hot Toddy and new online cellular solutions store Mondo. UrbanHouse Media also added new clients luxury Cape Town guest house Cape View Clifton and interior architect designer Jo Pieters Design Studio to its client base in April.
O’Neill, in her new role will assist with client and media liaison, event management, media and online research as well as social media administration.
TBWA\ signals Africa growth plans with Cruikshanks appointment
Continued focus on Africa-wide growth has been signalled by TBWA\ with the appointment of Graham Cruikshanks as the group’s new director of Africa Operations. The appointment is with immediate effect.
Cruikshanks will be based in Johannesburg. The TBWA\ Group’s Africa network covers 13 national markets outside South Africa and includes affiliates in high-growth economies in East and West Africa.
Derek Bouwer, group CEO of TBWA, said the appointment would further strengthen group management at a time when many brands and major corporates were looking to proven, well-resourced and geographically well-represented partners to assist in their penetration of Africa’s fast-growing consumer markets.
“We welcome Graham at an exciting time. His experience in the strategic development of consumer brands in Africa and Asia will be invaluable in view of the on-going growth of African consumer markets and the opportunity to reach out to increasingly youthful and urbanised populations,” he said.
Cruikshanks has a 19-year track record in the marketing, advertising and communication industry. While at Saatchi & Saatchi (Cape Town), he worked as an account director on the Diageo Africa business, before taking up the post of deputy managing director.
Schoolmedia announces fresh young team – set to soar!
This year has truly kicked off with a bang for 22-year-old Khethi Ngwenya, managing director of SchoolMedia, as he announces a host of new appointments at the company.
The newly appointed team includes: Welly Phoshoko, appointed as financial manager; Jared Stern as sales director; Wandile Mbanjwa as Social Development; Terence Themba Ngwenya as distribution manager; and Ryan Jarrett as marketing and creative Content
With the appointment of new staff at SchoolMedia, exciting times lay ahead as the team strives to provide professional, highly flexible products and services to agencies, media buyers, companies and government.
Tribeca Public Relations promotes Birgit Fawkes to account director
Tribeca Public Relations (Tribeca), an award winning, independent, full-service public relations agency, has promoted Birgit Fawkes to account director.
In her new position, Fawkes will be responsible for managing, mentoring and leading her team, developing and implementing client strategies, and working cohesively with other teams in cross-company and client activities.
She joined Tribeca in July 2008 and has since gained extensive experience in both multinational and local clients including MasterCard, eBucks, and the FNB Whisky Live Festival.
Habari XL announces key new appointments and plans
Habari XL, the specialist mobile media sales house, recently announced two new key appointments and a company re-structure in order to assist in sustaining the company’s growth trajectory.
‘With the on-going success of Habari XL’s first to market bulk airtime voucher media offering, which offers marketers branding of up to 30 million bulk vouchers per month through their partnership with Glocell, and the continued demand for our insights, solutions and mobile expertise, it was critical that the company expand with principal appointments and a company restructure,’’ says Mark Futcher, who has been promoted to managing director, Habari XL.
Rob Bell has taken up the role of sales director, and is joined by Lizelle Breedt as sales manager and Sue Glennie as marketing and operations executive..
Hannes Oosthuizen to join the GWM team
GWM South has announced the appointment of Hannes Oosthuizen as its Brand and Product Development Manager. Oosthuizen will join GWM from CAR magazine, the industry’s leading motoring publication, where he has served as Editor for the past two-and-a-half years and previously held positions of deputy and associate editor in a 12-year long, high-profile media career.
“I’ve monitored GWM’s local performance with great interest from its arrival on the scene in 2007,” said Oosthuizen, “and I believe it’s a brand with a great future. Being the editor of CAR magazine was a life-long ambition, and making this career change into the motor industry is not a decision I made lightly.”
Tony Pinfold, chairman of GWM South Africa, says that he is very excited about Hannes joining the GWM Family. “In his new position he will be tasked with managing and expanding GWM’s product portfolio and building the brand’s image in all respects”.
AMASA 2013/14 Committee announced
Lyn Jones, Chairperson of the AMASA Johannesburg committee has confirmed the following committee members for the 2013/14 financial year.
“This year for the first time we implemented an online voting system which was incredibly well received,” she says. “The following people were voted in unanimously and will be allocated their portfolios at our next committee meeting.”
· Gordon Muller, GSM Quadrant
· Trish Guilford, The MediaShop
· Wayne Bishop, MEC
· Angela Childs, Vizeum Jhb
· Richard Lord, The MediaShop
· Cherylann Smith, Global Mouse
· Quinton Scholes, ABN
· Dustine Tobler, MediaCom
· Michelle Randall, United Stations
· Paul Clarke, Whalley Brand Velocity
· Wayne Bischoff, Habari Media
As current Chairperson of AMASA Jhb, Lyn Jones automatically remains on the committee for a total period of at least three years.
Association for Communication and Advertising Welcomes Six New Member Agencies
The Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) proudly welcomes six new members:
× O’mage Ltd
× Ornico Group (Pty) Ltd t/a Launch Factory
× 360 Degrees Production House (Pty) Ltd
× TrinergyBrand Connectors (Pty) Ltd
× 8 Brand
× Rogue Brand Agency
“The business of advertising and communications is by nature highly competitive and it is this very competitiveness amongst agencies that sustains a vibrant and healthy profession. The co-operation and participation of agencies within a collective body ensures professional respect and recognition” said ACA CEO, Odette van der Haar.
Who’s making moves
Amplicon Public Relations, a part of the FoxP2 Group, has officially launched. Having been in operation as FoxPr since February 2012, the agency chose to launch only now with their standalone identity to ensure that they forge their own client base and personality alongside an agency as strong as FoxP2 is.
Fresh from a PRISM Award win for just such a campaign for The DNA Project, in which they conceptualised an activation with FoxP2 that would visually communicate the danger of disturbing crime scene evidence (see notes for more information), Amplicon is intent on delivering creative concepts to generate strong content to help drive brand messaging and consumer interest.
Headed up by industry veteran, Kate Thompson-Duwe, Amplicon is launching with a strong client base including Frank.net, KWV, Drive Dry, Leopard’s Leap, Roodeberg, FoxP2 and World Wide Creative.
“I am extremely excited in the future of this business, and the industry as a whole, says Thompson-Duwe. “PR and communications is in the most interesting place that it has been since I’ve worked in it, and I feel that those with a strong vision and understanding of the industry can literally forge their own way.”
Mentoring from the cloud
A new cloud-based language development and mentoring service has launched in South Africa. Many PR agencies and marketing departments issue poorly written, badly considered press releases and reports. To address this Full Stop Editing has introduced an online reactive and interpersonal mentoring programme.
Maureen Miller, who heads the programme, says it focuses on practical editorial development rather than theory-based learning. “Too many people in the corporate world who need to communicate cannot do so effectively because they are limited by a lack of strategic and tactical language skills. Our programme uses cloud-based tools to develop confident staff able to communicate clearly and concisely.
“We’re really excited to be able to provide a pressure-free portal for employees to present their work. Any grammar or syntax problems are immediately resolved and participants can feel free to discuss a project confidentially online with each other as well as with experienced writing mentors about their writing.”
Full Stop Editing has been in business for 10 years, providing editing, copy-editing and proofreading support to a variety of clients. Miller is experienced in business, medical and legal communication as well as magazine editing, and has contributed freelance material to online and print magazines.
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