Media Moves… TheMediaOnline’s weekly round up. marcusbrewster appoints former journalist as senior account manager. Sekoetlane Phamodi to take over co-ordinator of SOS Coalition. Mfundo Ntsibande joins the SABC. Fuseware sign Engage Brandcraft . Dummett & Co experiencing phenomenal growth in 2014. Aqua4life joins forces with Brandvan and Red Carpet Concepts. Posterscope joins OHMSA. OHMSA brings activation companies on board. Salon Media launches digital platforms. Media consumption tool launches in Nigeria. Ready, Steady….Go for gold with Wimpy. South African market research at global cutting edge
Who’s moved where
marcusbrewster appoints former journalist as senior account manager
Former financial and IT journalist Richard McCormack has been appointed as Senior Account Manager in the Johannesburg office of marcusbrewster.
McCormack worked for ComputerWeek for over two years as an IT news journalist during which time the publication won Specialist Press Awards two years in a row. While at that paper he also contributed articles to Information Week (CMP), a local and global monthly magazine aimed at supplying financial directors with accessible insights into the latest IT trends.
McCormack then joined Business Report as a subeditor before going overseas where he worked in London covering the financial services beat. After his return to SA, McCormack joined PR company Fleishman Hillard to head up their IT unit. McCormack assumes account lead duties on the SAP and UBank accounts.
“Richard’s 17 years in journalism, PR consultancy, media training and freelance writing render him a valuable add to the marcusbrewster team” says Monica Braganca, head of the firm’s Johannesburg office
Sekoetlane Jacob Phamodi to take over co-ordinator of SOS Coalition
The SOS Coalition has announced that its co-ordinator, Carol Mohlala, has resigned due to ill health. She will return to Media Monitoring Africa.
“The finance and management committee has had discussions with the acting co-ordinator, Sekoetlane Phamodi. Sekoetlane has done a sterling job managing the Coalition over the last few months. Sekoetlane has confirmed that he is happy to step into the role of co-ordinator,” SOS member Kate Skinner said in an email.
“The finance and management committee has thus confirmed him in this position.”
The finance and management committee is looking at a number of measures to strengthen the staffing arrangements at the Coalition. We will be announcing these arrangements shortly.
Mfundo Ntsibande joins the SABC
Having been a marketing entrepreneur for the past four years, Mfundo Ntsibande has rejoined the SABC.
Ntsibande is a marketing professional with experience in branding and media. He is the founder of Slick Branding and Media, a boutique Ad agency, working with clients such as Vodacom, World Cup 2010,MetroFM Awards, and the SABC Dorp 2 Dorp campaign just to name a few.
He leaves behind the entrepreneurship world to rejoin his former company as head of marketing for radio station, Ligwalagwala FM.
“I’m excited about this new chapter and look forward to contribute in shaping marketing innovation in broadcasting,” Ntsibande says.
Who’s won what
Fuseware sign Engage Brandcraft
As Africa’s market leader in social media measurement, Fuseware provides clients with a precise understanding of their digital footprint, online market and competitive climate in social media. “Digital is an ever-increasing and essential component of any business offering,” says Mike Wronski, Fuseware’s managing director.
Fuseware began researching potential vendors to assist them to align its brand more closely with its business proposition, together with a follow-through across all mediums and brand collateral.
With the original tender comprising no fewer than 10 agencies around the country, Engage Brandcraft, a Cape Town-based branding agency focused on the origination and renovation of brands across logo creation, digital, packaging design and print, was awarded the final contract.
Dummett & Co experiencing phenomenal growth in 2014
Dummett & Co, an independent strategic PR agency, situated in the heart of Cape Town’s thriving CBD, is experiencing unprecedented growth during the first quarter of 2014.
In addition to Pearl Valley Golf & Country Estate, Cape Town Marathon and Big Blue, the company is proud of the recent addition to its portfolio of clients: Varsity Sports, part of SA rugby legend Francois Pienaar’s Advent Sport Entertainment & Media (Pty) Ltd (ASEM).
“Varsity Sports is high-impact, non-stop action,” says Craig Dummett, MD, of Dummett & Co. “And we are thrilled to be part of this inspiring initiative that seeks to provide a platform for the development of sport and sporting talent at university level, combined with the excitement factor traditionally found in US college sports.”
Aqua4life joins forces with Brandvan and Red Carpet Concepts
Aqua4Life, the official distributors of LifeStraw in RSA, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Transkei and Swaziland, has recently joined forces with BrandVan and Red Carpet Concepts, to oversee the implementation, distribution and awareness of the product’s humanitarian and retail availability.
LifeStraw is an international water filtration range of products from Verstergaard Frandsen, a Swiss-based company committed to improving the health of vulnerable people. Upon purchase of any LifeStraw product, Vestergaard contributes clean water for a child in Africa for the period of one year through their humanitarian Social Responsibility programme.
Brand and portfolio managers, BrandVan, will be executing the retail division of Aqua4Life, and Red Carpet Concepts will run the PR, social media, advertising and special events component, alongside BrandVan, to ensure swift, smooth and sustainable communications on behalf of Aqua4Life.
Posterscope joins OHMSA
Out of Home Media South Africa (OHMSA) has announced the membership of Posterscope South Africa as an associate member. The associate membership category makes provision for media agents, suppliers and marketers who wish to join the association
“With OHMSA’s re-focus to a more marketing orientated organisation it really bodes well for the industry having professionals such as Posterscope come on board” said Les Holley, CEO of the association.
Who’s making moves
OHMSA brings activation companies on board
At a recent meeting of the OHMSA executive committee the membership of two of the larger activation companies in South Africa namely Vibrant Direct and On The Dot was confirmed.
“With brand activations playing an ever increasing role in the out of home space it is encouraging that non-traditional out of home media owners see value in belonging to OHMSA” says Les Holley, CEO of the organisation
OHMSA is on a concerted drive to recruit new members across the full spectrum of out of home media and new initiatives will be announced shortly.
“The association has been through some trying times but with the re-focus of the organisation on core industry matters I believe that we will soon be able to make a meaningful contribution to our sector and to the broader marketing and advertising industry thus adding value to our members,” Holley says.
Salon Media launches digital platforms
Salon Media, a division of TLC Unlimited and a subsidiary of Primedia Unlimited, has announced the launch of their digital advertising platforms in hairstyling salons across South Africa. Ster Kinekor Entertainment is the first advertiser to come on board.
“Brands have previously been able to advertise in the salon environment with our various salon advertising packages, but we have now ramped that up to include digital screens,” says Salon Media’s Mary-Anne Lakin. “The digital screens offer advertisers an effective yet cost effective means of reaching a captive audience that often spend as much as three hours getting styled.”
“Ster Kinekor has been a huge supporter of Salon Media since the beginning so we’re thrilled to have them on board,” she says. “The majority of their sites are in close proximity to movie houses, so the advertising drives consumers from the salon to the cinema ticket sales counters.”
Media consumption tool launches in Nigeria
Pinpoint, a current and accurate media consumption and audience tracking tool for the African continent, went in Nigeria in March following its successful launch in Ghana.
Developed by research and strategy company, Dashboard Marketing Intelligence, and advertising and media expert, Dave Kelly, Pinpoint supports more effective media buying in Africa by tracking media consumption across countries where information is scarce or irregular. Advertisers need data to buy media placements effectively.
Data is drawn from a demographically representative sample across each city in the survey. Specialised field teams capture and upload interviews in real time using mobile and GPS technology.
Ready, steady….Go for gold with Wimpy
All the nail-biting action, the tension and the excitement are back again for this year’s Varsity Sports. And for the second year running, Wimpy is supporting the netball and athletic stars through the sponsorship of these sports events.
This sporting competition has become a South African tradition, allowing students to shine in this ultimate sports showcase. As a well-loved brand, with a strong South African heritage, Wimpy understand the significance of tradition, having been entrenched in South African culture for many decades.
“Celebrating special moments with friends and family is part of the Wimpy heritage,” says Charmaine Ellis, marketing executive at Wimpy. “Just think of all the wonderful memories associated with Wimpy on those long memorable family road trips.” For this reason, Wimpy knows the significance of a team working together as a single family unit. Moreover, Wimpy’s support of the varsity teams is further underpinned by the understanding that team work is the result of individual effort, focussed on a common goal of producing a winning outcome for the team as a whole. “
South African market research at global cutting edge
South African research and consumer insights company Pondering Panda is expanding its digital research offering to include online panels, complementing their market-leading mobile research products. The addition of online panels to mobile research – the top two emerging technologies according to the most recent GreenBook Research Industry Trends or ‘GRIT’ Report (Q4 2013) – is helping the company provide a fully-fledged digital research offering, in line with cutting-edge international trends.
Until now, Pondering Panda’s mobile research offering has been focused on younger South Africans. The addition of an online panel will provide a comprehensive view of the total South African market – across all demographic and LSM groups, as well as being nationally dispersed.
Shirley Wakefield, CEO of Pondering Panda, said, “We’ve had fantastic success with our mobile research offering, which has been purpose-built for research in emerging markets, and are building on that by working with the most technically advanced and longest-established consumer community operator in South Africa, Panel Services Africa, using their TellUsAboutIt panel. Adding an online panel allows us to offer a more complete digital research package and reach more people – which is great news for our clients. They will now get a full view of the South African market, with the same fast, cost-effective research that digital techniques allow us to provide. We will continue to expand our digital research offering, and expect more and more local research companies to follow suit – those who don’t will quickly be left behind.”
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