Media Moves… TheMediaOnline’s weekly round up. NRS Media International opens Cape Town office. Aqua declares creative intent with Theo Ferreira. Staff promotion at marcusbrewster. Adidas SA head moves on to Central Europe. Shanghai wins Mercedes Benz South Africa After Sales. Habari XL makes key appointment. Fresh new look for Mercedes-Benz magazine. All the moves in media.
This week’s BIG move
NRS Media International opens Cape Town office
NRS Media International’s managing director Vicki McLean announced that the company is opening an office in Cape Town, South Africa. “This is a very exciting time for us. Our permanent presence on the continent is going to be of substantial benefit to not only our current client partners, but to the media industry at large all across Africa.”
McLean says for over 23 years NRS Media has delivered powerful and proven advertising sales solutions, leading-edge sales training and strategic plans that have successfully delivered over US$700M for their clients. Built around a partnership model, NRS Media combines extensive international media sales experience with proven and current wisdoms to up-skill their client’s sales teams and maximise the return on their advertising assets.
“NRS Media is all about delivering a higher quality experience for our partners and making sure that every media company in Africa can now benefit from our services, affordably and efficiently. Our desire is to reflect our client’s commitment to constant innovation, growth and higher standards of service in the advertising industry,” she said.
To ensure the evolution of current partnerships and the development of future relationships McLean has appointed Director of sales Ian Mizon to launch the new office and to drive the innovative advertiser acquisition and business development strategies planned for the region. Mizon has a media career spanning over 16 years. He has worked out of NRS Media’s European headquarters since early 2003 and celebrates his 10th anniversary with the company by accepting this leading role to open and manage the Cape Town office.
He has personally helped secure over £30 000 000 in increased revenue for his client partners and is best known within NRS Media for his passion, drive and enthusiasm. “My entire goal is to have our clients invite us back again, and again, and again. When this happens I know our partnerships are very successful. I’m excited to be leading the way in Africa”, he says.
Prior to the launch of the African office NRS Media has successfully partnered for many years with significant South African based media companies like Primedia radio stations Talk Radio 702, Cape Talk 567, 94.7 Highveld Stereo and 94.5 KFM. Other client partners who have shared in over R120 000 000 of increased advertising revenues as a result of engaging in NRS Media client acquisition programmes are Durban based Independent Newspapers Kwa-Zulu Natal and Port Elizabeth’s Algoa FM amongst others.
Who’s moved where
Aqua declares creative intent with Theo Ferreira
In a move that declares their intent to become the leading integrated creative agency on the continent, aqua has appointed multi-award winning creative director, Theo Ferreira, as the agency’s new executive creative director.
Ferreira’s appointment sees the agency secure experienced, award winning creative leadership and position the business for a move to a fully integrated, channel agnostic offering in line with the thinking of global agency powerhouses such as Droga5 and Crispen Porter + Bogusky.
“As an agency, we have deep strategic capability, world-class full-service digital skills and, augmented by the appointment of Theo in March, creative excellence. This provides our clients with the ultimate team for guiding them into this new age of marketing,” says Brent Shahim, CEO of aqua.
“aqua is on a journey that has long been a vision for me, making the idea the centre of our thinking, not the channel. Internationally, the move has been towards this approach, and agencies that have seen the capacity of digital and embraced it, have been leading the way,” Ferreira says.
“Most agencies lack the digital skill in-house and resort to attaching themselves in some way or another to a digital partner. aqua is different – it has been around for 15 years and has a staff compliment of seriously savvy digital people. So the business is well-established with a solid foundation, and is perfectly poised for this new approach.”
Staff promotion at marcusbrewster
Nicita October has been promoted to Account Executive at integrated PR firm marcusbrewster. This is her second promotion since commencing her PR internship in the firm’s Cape Town office in 2011.
Having graduated earlier this year from Cape Peninsula University of Technology with a Diploma in Public Relations Management, Nicita serves in the corporate practice area of marcusbrewster. Over the last 18 months, she has worked on business–to- business accounts such as CNBC Africa, SolaireDirect and the SA Institute of Tax Practitioners (SAIT) and assisted on ICT clients PayU and Entersekt.
October also worked on the Rezidor Hotel Group account team that won the 2012 PRISM Award in the Business-to-Business category.
Adidas SA head moves on to Central Europe
The managing director of adidas Group South Africa, Winand Krawinkel, is leaving the position after two years to take up the post of MD adidas Group Central Europe from 1 July 2013. A new MD adidas Group South Africa will be announced in the near future.
In his time in South Africa, Krawinkel has built on a highly successful 2010 FIFA World Cup for adidas and accelerated growth of both sales and market share for the brand. Krawinkel (49) says he is looking forward to this new challenge and, while he is “sad to be leaving behind such an exciting country and such an outstanding local team”, he is convinced that adidas is “in excellent shape in South Africa”.
Krawinkel’s predecessor as managing director adidas Group Central Europe, Jimmy Weigl, takes on the role of senior vice-president of Global Sports marketing & sport relations at adidas.
Habari XL makes key appointment
Habari XL, the specialist mobile media sales house, has recently announced a new key appointment. Sue Glennie has been appointed as the new Marketing and Operations Executive at Habari XL.
Who’s won what
Shanghai wins Mercedes Benz South Africa After Sales
The Old Shanghai Firecracker Factory has won the through-the-line advertising account for Mercedes South Africa (MBSA) After Sales in a three way creative pitch. The Old Shanghai MD, Sandra McDiarmid attributes the agency’s re-appointment to the fact that The Old Shanghai understands Mercedes-Benz After Sales’ business objectives and challenges, and has had a long and close relationship with the Mercedes-Benz Group, and produces great creative campaigns that range from small and quick turnaround, to large and multi-pronged.
“Mercedes-Benz After Sales chose us as their advertising partner because we are a local boutique agency offering top strategic and creative skills and we understand the intricacies of Mercedes-Benz After Sales’ business, both locally and globally,” she says. “The Old Shanghai has been partnering with various divisions of Mercedes-Benz SA for the last 12 years, and so we really know the business as a whole. Our various contracts allow us the opportunity to cross-pollinate and understand the business challenges of our clients from the inside.”
The Old Shanghai, which had to re-pitch for the business as per company compliance procurement rules, has been Mercedes-Benz After Sales’ full service agency for the last three years.
Who’s making moves
Fresh new look for Mercedes-Benz magazine
It’s a fresh new look, with a contemporary layout, expanded art and lifestyle content and Augmented Reality (AR) enhancements for Mercedes-Benz Magazine, recently reshaped by its long-time publisher, New Media Publishing, under the guidance of Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler AG.
The first revamped issue is a more relevant and up-to-date reflection of today’s Mercedes-Benz, which is a lifestyle choice, says Mercedes-Benz Magazine editor Dylan Culhane of New Media Publishing, and reflects the brand’s appeal to a new generation of consumers.
When it comes to motoring, Culhane says there’s a whole new and more dramatic spin. Traditional motoring stories have given way to lifestyle-oriented pieces like a feature on the new A-Class, which showcases Johannesburg property developer Adam Levy, gaming guru and MTV-Base producer Pippa Tshabalala and other forward-thinking young South Africans who symbolise the new generation of Mercedes-Benz.
“It’s wonderful to work with a client who shares the same values, and is willing to push boundaries with new ideas that will ultimately reward the consumer with a superior product,” says Culhane. “This new mix works brilliantly for Mercedes-Benz, a brand which has longstanding associations with fashion, design, music and technology.
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