Media Moves… TheMediaOnline’s weekly round up. Amorphous New Media and Time Media Group part ways. Marketing Association of South Africa looking for personal assistant. JCDecaux ATA wins the advertising contract at the new Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport. Connection Telecom concludes first internship programme, hires back ‘graduates’. Careers24’s May recruitment trends report shows growth in engineering.
This week’s BIG move: Amorphous New Media and Time Media Group part ways
Creative digital agency Amorphous New Media has announced its move out of the Times Media Group (TMG) and a return to independent ownership. The company has been part of TMG since 2007 and while its time with TMG was fruitful, both partners saw the value of releasing Amorphous to pursue a wider range of creative ventures beyond the TMG paddock.
Amorphous will have a greater degree of creative independence to offer its clients and its nimbler operational context will allow for more personalised client interactions, greater flexibility, and increased innovation and personalisation of solutions for its clients. As an independent entity, the agency will also be able to take on other media clients that were previously restricted by its association with TMG, and will allow it to work on increasingly profitable business.
The move became effective on 31 March 2015 and all of Amorphous’ staff were retained by the agency. “We were pleased that there was no need for retrenchments and believe that this shows what a sturdy position the agency is in going forward,” said Amorphous CEO Grant Shippey.
Amorphous is a strong brand in the local digital advertising industry, with projects such as the Cell C website and mobi-site to its name, and its operational independence from TMG has not had any significant negative impact on its existing clients. Clients’ support has been positive and has reaffirmed the timing and value of the move.
With Amorphous’ experience on projects for international brands, including Pepsico and British Airways, Shippey and his team intend to maintain the company’s growth momentum by developing its digital publishing and native advertising offering.
Who’s moved where
Connection Telecom concludes first internship programme, hires back ‘graduates’
Connection Telecom has successfully concluded its first internship programme, resulting in the internal placement of two candidates. The company expresses pride in “a small but significant contribution”, having not only created a career for lesser skilled people, but also an environment in which staff could “pay forward” their skill with enthusiasm.
Mbali Gule and Makosha Molepo started the internship programme as first-level support staff at Connection Telecom’s Johannesburg office at the beginning of May 2015, having completed a 12-month National Certificate in IT Systems Support – an NQF Level 5 Qualification.
The programme is a tripartite collaboration between Connection Telecom (employer), MICT SETA (sector training authority) and EOH Training Solutions (training provider). It is part of Connection Telecom’s skills development effort in support of South Africa’s Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act. The company was recently again rated a Level 2 Contributor to the government’s BBBEE drive, says managing director Dave Meintjes.
What’s out there
Marketing Association of South Africa looking for personal assistant
MA(SA) is looking for a responsible personal assistant who is creative and thinks out of the box. The person should have great telephone and communication skills and be well-presented and well-spoken. They should be able to think on their feet, and be hands-on and pay attention to detail.
Reporting to the business office manager, duties will include in-house database management, taking care of events, invitation distribution. Being savvy technologically is a must, with knowledge of Microsoft packages, and three years experience vital. The person must be able to minutes at meetings. Own transport is vital
Email CVs to info@marketingsa.co.za
Who’s won what
JCDecaux ATA wins the advertising contract at the new Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Madinah
JCDecaux SA has announced that its subsidiary JCDecaux ATA (held 60% by JCDecaux, 40% by ATA) has won the advertising contract for the new Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport (PMIA) in the city of Madinah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This agreement has been reached with Tibah (consortium between TAV Airports, Saudi Oger and Al Rajhi) which operates the new Madinah airport. This exclusive 10-year contract includes all indoor and outdoor advertising solutions.
As part of this contract, JCDecaux ATA will install iconic structures on the Access Road, networks of pole mounted digital screens, premium static displays, offer passenger jet bridges and implement activation opportunities.
With the signing of this contract, JCDecaux ATA maintains its exclusivity over the airport territory within Saudi Arabia after having won the rights to the country’s 26 airports in 2010. The current airport in Madinah catered to 5.7 million passengers in 2014 (+22% vs. 2013) and is the fourth busiest airport nationwide, while the new PMIA will have a capacity of 8 million passengers.
Madinah is home to the second holiest site in Islam and was searching for state-of-the-art facility upgrades for its ever-growing number of pilgrims, especially during the Ramadan and Hajj periods. This project is indicative of the Kingdom’s ongoing efforts to modernize infrastructure and is the first major airport to be delivered as part of this process.
Who’s making moves
Careers24’s May recruitment trends report shows growth in engineering
Careers24 has released their latest recruitment trends report which shows an interesting change in recruitment in the field of engineering. While there was a slight decline in the demand for candidates (-1%) there was a 4% increase in candidate supply as well as a 5% increase in the applicants per job posting.
These stats interestingly contradict what the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) said last year with the launch of their initiative to ‘tackle the chronic shortage of engineering skills’.
Other significant trends were:
- 30% increase in job postings for the manufacturing, trade and mining sectors.
- 17% increase in construction job postings, which were met with a 25% reduction in applications per post.
- 26% increase in posts for Design and Arts.
- 31% increase in posts for Warehousing and Logistics.
Overall the trend has shifted from the stats released in February. In May the job postings grew by 6% while the available applicants and applicants per job declined by 9% and 14% respectively. In February we saw a 60% increase in demand from job seekers while the supply on Careers24 only grew by 6%.
The highest growth in demand for candidates came from the following sectors: admin, office and support; warehousing and logistics; manufacturing, trades and mining; and sales. The top sectors however, from a candidate supply point of view, were engineering; finance and accounting; IT, tech and telecoms; design and arts; and manufacturing, trades and mining.
The data is based on usage patterns of both recruiters sourcing candidates and candidates who apply for positions on the platform.
Note: TheMediaOnline has a job advertising service. The site is read by media professionals across South Africa. A job posting on the Media Online Costs R342 (incl VAT) and appears for 30 days. It appears both on the Media Online site and Memejobs.com.
