Media Moves… TheMediaOnline’s weekly round up. Bruce Anderson joins Lowe Johannesburg. Kuben Pillay appointed to board of OUTsurance. Heart 104.9FM announces the departure of Brandon Leigh. Naspers announces CEO and chairman’s successors. Prosperian Capital teams up with marcusbrewster. Chappies activates TV engagement via Mxit. Airtel Africa appoints RAMP as mobile advertising partner. FNB unlocks the power of mobile – Budget Tracker launches on Mxit. Miladys experience great sales success with NAB’s Powernote. Romy Titus makes the sky her limit
Who’s moved where
Bruce Anderson joins Lowe Johannesburg
Bruce Anderson has joined the Johannesburg office of Lowe + Partners SA as executive creative director. He has 17 years’ experience with agencies such as TBWA Hunt Lascaris, Ogilvy and Mather Johannesburg, The Jupiter Drawing Room and more recently jointly heading up Net#work BBDO’s creative department. Anderson has worked with brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Nokia and Visa.
He will be responsible for collectively leading the agency by enhancing its capability through creative innovation and team led work. “In the short time that Bruce has been at Lowe + Partners SA, he has made his presence felt in such a positive way. He shares the same value system of the team here at Lowe and that is what we believe is going to take Lowe from strength to strength, “ says Adelle Wapinick , CEO of Lowe + Partners SA.
Kuben Pillay appointed to board of OUTsurance
The board of directors at OUTsurance have announce that Kuben Pillay has been appointed as a non-executive director on the OUTsurance board with immediate effect. This news follows the recent announcement of Pillay’s appointment as chairman of Primedia.
“OUTsurance is very pleased with the appointment of Kuben to our Board. Kuben’s extensive media expertise will add significant value to our business, particularly given that OUTsurance is such an active advertiser,” says Willem Roos, CEO of OUTsurance Holdings.
Pillay says he is delighted to have been approached by such an innovative business. “I am very excited to be involved with their dynamic team. I have long been an admirer of their success, not just in terms of their impact in changing the insurance landscape in South Africa, but also as a business who has been a positive force for societal good in our country.”
Heart 104.9FM announces the departure of Brandon Leigh
Cape Town’s Heart 104.9FM has announced the departure of Brandon Leigh. “Our weekend line-up plays an important role in the lives of our listeners. With a continued focus on providing a seven day superior listener experience, we have reviewed our Friday and Saturday offering. Brandon Leigh will be leaving the station and we are thankful for his contribution in making Heart 104.9FM Cape Town’ Beat,” the company said in a statement.
“We wish Brandon success with his future endeavours and thank him for his enthusiasm during the time he has spent with us” says Heart 104.9FM MD Gary Petersen.
The station will shortly be announcing an exciting and invigorating new show and DJ in that slot.
Naspers announces CEO and chairman’s successors
Naspers CEO, Koos Bekker, will be succeeded by Bob van Dijk, currently Naspers’s most senior ecommerce chief. Van Dijk (41) holds an MSc Econometrics from Erasmus University Rotterdam (cum laude), plus an MBA from Insead in France (Dean’s List). Among other experience, he headed up eBay Germany, that group’s biggest market outside the US, and was COO of Schibsted’s Classifieds.
“In view of our strong development focus on ecommerce, the board believes that Bob has the skills to lead us into the next phase of our growth,” said Ton Vosloo, Naspers chair. Van Dijk takes over on 1 April.
Bekker (61) will stand down from the Naspers board for a year, to allow Bob the space to settle in with both Naspers top management and the board. He intends to travel widely and research where the group’s next spurt of growth may come from, once ecommerce has reached maturity. He will also stay on the Tencent board. In April 2015, Ton Vosloo intends to step down as chair, when Bekker will succeed him.
Today Naspers’s market capitalisation is R500 billion (US$45 billion). It is the largest media group outside the US and China, larger than any in Europe.
In short
Retha Buys has been appointed as media operations archivist at M-Net.
Sandra Geldenhuys has been appointed as programme acceptance manager within the Group Content Services division at M-Net.
Who’s won what
Prosperian Capital teams up with marcusbrewster
marcusbrewster has been appointed as the agency of choice by financial services player Prosperian Capital to further PR and communication outreach in South Africa.
Prosperian Capital provides micro-lending, cellphone airtime services, health care and other lifestyle enhancing service products focused on empowering and unlocking value for the aspirational market in South Africa.
In order to build the Prosperian Capital brand within the industry, marcusbrewster will develop media and stakeholder activities along with a spread of managed communication services. The account will be led by account director and Johannesburg bureau head, Monica Braganca.
“We are excited about the collaboration with Prosperian Capital and look forward to diving in deeper into the financial services sector,” says Braganca.
Airtel Africa appoints RAMP as mobile advertising partner
Airtel Africa has appointed RAMP (Real African Media Partners) as its mobile advertising partner to serve mobile adverts to Airtel customers in 17 countries across Africa. André Beyers, Airtel Africa’s chief marketing officer, says Airtel currently has more than 68 million subscribers, generating over 80 billion ad impressions a year.
“The new mobile advertising proposition will open up mobile advertising to local, Pan-African and global brands and advertisers, giving them the opportunity to reach and engage consumers in several of the continent’s best performing economies,” he says.
Raymond Buckle, RAMP joint CEO, says RAMP is a newly formed joint venture of established African companies, which includes SilverstoneCIS, Integrat and Airvantage. RAMP, together with local partners in the 17 markets, offers Airtel the sales, operations and technology capability for a turnkey mobile media business.
Chappies activates TV engagement via Mxit
Identifying the link between its TV audience and the Mxit user base, iconic local chewing gum brand Chappies has partnered with the mobile social network for a strategic consumer engagement campaign.
Leveraging the power of mobile as an of extension of the Chappies Did You Know slot on SABC youth entertainment show Hectic Nine-9, the Chappies Mxit campaign attracted 112 688 new users to the Did You Know app in just three months, alongside TV engagement.
Andrew Kramer, VP of Sales, says, “The results of the Chappies campaign highlights how integrating mobile and TV strategies can be a highly effective marketing tactic. Building on the Chappies Did You Know legacy, Mxit offered Chappies an opportunity for the brand to engage directly with its target audience and effectively encouraged participation with the brand on the TV platform.”
FNB unlocks the power of mobile as Budget Tracker launches on Mxit
Identifying a gap in the market to inform and educate consumers about how and why to save, FNB has partnered with mobile social network Mxit to reach South African consumers on-the-go. The partnership launches the FNB Budget Tracker and Daily Money Management tips, the brand’s latest value add is aimed at evolving consumer’s personal finance savvy through making budget tracking and management simple, in real time.
The FNB Budget Tracker is a fun and easy tool to help consumers stay in control of their finances by suggesting set monthly budgets for various categories such as airtime, clothing, education, electricity, groceries and entertainment etc. Then all that’s left to do is to simply click on the budget categories and select the amount spent across each section for the day or week. The Budget Tracker calculates the average spend, how much money is left, as well as how many days until the end of the month – alleviating last minute, end of the month financial woes and surprises .
According to Mxit, FNB continues to grow its Mxit user base through creating relevant and innovative content alongside valuable app tools to ensure high engagement levels.
Who’s making moves
Platinum Seed Digital Marketing launches new division: Social Seed
Platinum Seed Digital Marketing, a leading company in the digital industry has launched a new division, Social Seed. This comes as a result of the company’s recent success in winning a number of new accounts, including: Hendrick’s Gin, Grant’s Blended Scotch Whisky, Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whisky, Glen Grant, Aperol Spritz, Rémy Martin and Cointreau.
Based in Cape Town, Platinum Seed Digital Marketing was founded early in 2009 with the goal to bridge the divide between digital and traditional marketing channels. Having already achieved long term success in the content marketing space for a number of prominent brands, the company has made the decision to formally create a division to focus key resources on content marketing services.
Specialising in online relationship management, content marketing, and social media services, Social Seed will continue to provide clients with the skills and resources required to differentiate their brand in
Miladys experience great sales success with NAB’s Powernote
Women’s fashion retailer Miladys trialled NAB’s newest advertising platform the Powernote to alert consumers to the opening of its new store in Secuda with more than pleasing results. Apart from an 11% increase on its sales target, the store had to open its doors early because of the incredible response elicited from the Powernote.
The Powernote, which essentially resembles a ‘post it’ type sticker, is an exciting innovation developed for marketers looking to be creative and highly impactful in the local newspaper environment. With its specially formulated glue the Powernote is placed directly on to the front page of any of Caxton’s high reaching local newspapers. It’s easily removable too, making the note interactive and very responsive.
Kirsty Hayman, NAB’s key accounts manager, says that Miladys advertised just once in The Ridge Times, Secunda’s local newspaper resulting in over 500 customer names and details to add to its database and a staggering 11% increase on the opening week’s sales target.
“The campaign called for customers to attend the store opening to stand a chance of winning a R5000 shopping spree and a free gift to the first 100 shoppers. The demand was so great that the new store was forced to open its doors at 07h30 that morning,” she says.
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