TheMediaOnline’s weekly look at who’s doing what in the media industry. Brandt Botes and OFyt unite to launch specialist design offering. Mediamark forges partnership with D6 School Communicator. Publicis Machine wins the sought-after 1st for Women Insurance account. Pentravel appoints Cultivate to showcase the health of the leisure travel industry. Student Village launches first annual Y!CON 2016.
This week’s BIG move: Brandt Botes and OFyt unite to launch specialist design offering
Brandt Botes and Old Friends Young Talent (OFyt) have joined forces to launch +B, a specialist agency that will add communication design, experience design, packaging design and brand identity design to OFyt’s client offering.
Following more than a decade of agency experience and four years of running his own successful business, Botes has earned international recognition and an armful of awards over the years. “As a graphic designer and illustrator, I’ve sought the opportunity to scale my business and found alignment in thinking and intention with OFyt,” Botes says.
Botes’ work process involves entrenching himself in the client’s business – understanding as much as possible about what they do as well as what they really need- thereby solving the problem at hand while considering the bigger picture. “OFyt’s ethos “Beautiful Problems. Indelible Truths” speaks to this and is what resonates with me most,” Botes said.
“I’ve worked with Brandt a lot over the years, and am incredibly excited to be able to take the partnership to the next level”, says OFyt Creative Director, Kelly Putter. “We believe that he’s the most skilled and talented designer in the country, and he brings a fresh new edge to our skill set and offering.” For OFyt, Botes is the full package- a design doyen, a great friend and an inspirational creative scientist.
Who’s won what
Mediamark forges partnership with D6 School Communicator
Integrated, multichannel media sales house, Mediamark, has added the D6 School Communicator to the list of digital media properties it represents as a sales agent. The D6 School Communicator is a high impact, high visibility communication platform used by a growing list of South African schools to inform and to interact with parents.
The School Communicator offers an opportunity to reach a key demographic – parents and caregivers with school-going children. It reaches 250 000 parents every day via the Web (desktop and .mobi) and SMS as well as mobile applications for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry.
The solution allows advertisers to reach a highly targeted audience in a channel that they trust deeply and engage with regularly. It offers a range of flexible targeting options, from schools nationwide to schools in a particular town or suburb.
“We are pleased to extend our digital advertising offering with a wonderful platform that enables brands to speak to parents and caregivers in a clutter-free environment,” says Talib Sadik, managing director of Mediamark. “It strengthens our portfolio as a converged marketing solutions company that helps clients drive maximum ROI from their budgets.”
Says Cindy Diamond, group sales director at Mediamark: “I’m a busy mother with three children at different schools, and the D6 School Communicator is a tool I depend on every day. Because the information is about my children, I vigilantly read these messages and am often drawn to the targeted advertising messages on the D6 platform.”
Publicis Machine wins the sought-after 1st for Women Insurance account
Publicis Machine has been officially as the advertising agency on the 1st for Women Insurance account. This announcement follows an intense three-stage pitch process.
“It is with great pride we announce this win, but with equal pride that we congratulate the team who won it,” said CEO Adrian Hewlett. “We took a big decision to let the team that would ultimately work on the business, pitch on the business. Logically a women’s insight on the brand was also key to winning, hence the female all-star team. The 1st for Women team were looking for the right strategic, creative and cultural fit for the brand, and placed strong emphasis on the team dynamic as they were looking not only for a once-off campaign, but a long term partnership.”
Amanda Denton, 1st for Women’s executive head of brand strategy, said 1st for Women had built a much loved reputation as a brand. “… we are looking forward to building further on this with Publicis Machine. The quality of work and the team synergy throughout the process give us great confidence that together we will further make a significant difference in the financial lives of South African women.
This is another significant win for the agency of adventurous minds, following shortly on from the win of prestigious Pernod Ricard brands, The Glenlivet and Martell Cognac.
Pentravel appoints Cultivate to showcase the health of the leisure travel industry
Leisure travel specialist, Pentravel, has appointed Cultivate to manage its corporate and brand communications. This comes after the pair successfully announced the travel company’s impressive financial performance and sustainability – against the background of an increasingly online world – in June earlier this year. This is the second time that Pentravel – in its 32 years of business – has appointed an external communications firm, previously relying on positive word-of-mouth and good service.
“Despite our longevity in the leisure travel industry against tough trading conditions, we’ve been relatively quiet about what we do. However, we’re committed to proving that a bricks and mortar travel consultancy holds immense value in an increasingly digital world, and this was the backbone to Cultivate’s initial brief which they managed excellently,” said Sean Hough, Pentravel CEO.
Since the 2009 recession Pentravel has recorded an impressive sales growth of 734%, a quarter of which comes from walk-ins to its 30 physical stores around the country.
“Sean and his team are very humble so announcing their good news is not something that they’ve been forthcoming with in the past. However, during an economic downturn that is impacting the sustainability of businesses across South Africa, it’s important to celebrate those that are performing, and to analyse and share why,” explains Rebecca Cronje, Director of Cultivate Communications.
Who’s making moves
Student Village launches first annual Y!CON 2016
The New Year will see the launch of Y!CON 2016, a new conference hosted to offer a unique marketing insight into South Africa’s youth, taking businesses into the world of the Afrillennial™ (African Millennial). The conference, hosted by Student Village, will plug into the minds of the coolest and most influential students in South Africa.
“With so many brands expressing a desire to get to know the youth market in SA, we’ve created an opportunity for them to see the world through students’ eyes. We’ve handpicked some of the most influential and outspoken students that really get the market, to give insights that one would simply not be able to extract from research,” said Marc Kornberger, director and co-founder of Student Village.
Y!CON 2016 will offer a combo of hard facts, research and students sharing their personal stories to let brands into the heart and minds of the youth market. Ronen Aires, CEO of Student Village, will also be presenting the research report on Afrillennials™ which focusses on successful integration and retention of graduates in the workplace, as well as unpacking how they fit within brands’ framework.
The speaker line-up includes the likes of International guest speaker Adebola Williams, founder of Red Media Africa; Mike Stopforth, CEO of Cerebra; Khuli Chana & Refiloe Ramogase, founders of Maftown Heights; and Richard Mulholland, founder of Missing Link.