Media Moves… TheMediaOnline’s weekly round up. incuBeta and DQ&A Media Group create R1.5 billion digital agency merger. iProspect appoints two heavy hitters. John Parr appointed as head of VideoSwarm. Grey Africa expands shopper division with two new appointments. Howard Willmott joins Atomic London as Head of Creative Innovation. Google’s Certified Publishing Partner programme to help publishers grow and flourish. AddSuite now a Google Certified Publishing Partner. HWB shines as global winner in Green PR campaign. Two new client wins for go4word. Grid launches iconic destination Brand Qatar. New Media Publishing and Yuppiechef team up for an SA first. Zig Zag and Verchaix Media to produce African business series for Bloomberg Television. Unlimited Events Group new website – plan an event at the click of a button.
This week’s BIG move: incuBeta and DQ&A Media Group create R1.5 billion digital agency merger
incuBeta Group and DQ&A Media Group have announced their merger, offering clients enhanced services and access to new markets. The merged company has over 400 full-time staff, with 13 offices worldwide, implementing DoubleClick ad-tech solutions and running digital marketing campaigns across 100 countries.
Both groups have large Cape Town offices, with incuBeta companies operational in the UK, Australia, Singapore, China and Kenya. DQ&A Media Group brands are active in the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and the USA.
“We have created one of the world’s largest, independent, international groups of digital agencies,” says Rick van Boekel, CEO of DQ&A Media Group. “From a geographical, services and products perspective, we are 100% complementary.”
The combined companies specialise in programmatic media, search and web analytics – delivering measurable results for top-tier clients.
incuBeta Group CEO, Alan Lipschitz, is equally positive about the opportunities the merger presents. “The evolving digital market requires companies that understand the technology, are data leaders, and who can give clients a performance-driven solution that results from an integrated approach to search, display and other digital services,” he says. “There is now increased depth of talent in our combined teams, with real world innovation and numerous thought leaders in our space.”
Who’s moved where
iProspect appoints two heavy hitters
iProspect South Africa has announced the arrival of two highly respected talents in Kerry Ho-Van Rensburg and Kerry Kerslake. Ho-Van Rensburg and Kerslake join iProspect South Africa as brand unit directors, based in Johannesburg and Cape Town respectively.
Ho-Van Rensburg arrives at iProspect South Africa with over nine years of experience in the client services sector, and a strong skillset which include marketing strategy, public relations, and communications. Prior to her appointment, Ho-Van Rensburg served as account director at Saatchi & Saatchi Synergize, and account director at Quirk.
Kerslake is another well-known star, joining iProspect South African with 13 years’ management experience in her arsenal, encompassing account management, digital marketing, digital strategy, SEO and business strategy. Prior to her appointment, Kerslake served as client services director at Base2 Agency, head of digital at Lighthouse Digital, and client service team leader at Alexander Mann Solutions in the United Kingdom.
John Parr appointed as head of VideoSwarm – video and broadcast division of Ole! Media Group
HoneyKome, a division of the Ole! Media Group (OMG), recently appointed John Parr as executive producer of its video and television production arm, VideoSwarm. Parr, a seasoned broadcaster, will share the knowledge gained from his experience in the conventional broadcast media space with the digital team at VideoSwarm and HoneyKome.
A producer, director and writer, Parr’s film credits include features and documentaries produced on 35mm and 16mm film. His broadcast television work spans the full gamut of drama, documentary, reality and actuality with extensive sports programming credits. Lately he has concentrated on reality programming producing major shows in SA, across the African continent and in the Gulf. His experience encompasses many hundreds of hours of reality, documentary and actuality for television including; Survivor, The African Soccer Show, Guinness Football Challenge and a youth focused 52 part documentary series entitled ‘Zonke Rules.’
Parr is a specialist when it comes to understanding what drives African audiences. He has worked in over 30 countries across the continent and therefore brings exceptional insight and depth to the HoneyKome and the Ole! Media Group.
“My interest lies in the explosive expansion of digital video and the interesting and diverse paths that it is taking us with Netflix and many other channels already changing the game,” says Parr.
Grey Africa expands shopper division with two new appointments
Grey Africa has strengthened its Shopper Marketing management team with two new appointments. Nicholas Hyslop has been appointed as head of Shopper Department and will be taking the lead in the division. He has joined the agency to further develop its growing portfolio of shopper marketing accounts. Hyslop brings over a decade’s worth of successful advertising and marketing experience and will be a valuable asset in driving and generating business growth for the division. He has worked across various FMCG multinationals, retail brands, banking, QSR’s, NGO’s as well as multinational medical brands.
Also joining Grey Africa as the business unit director for the Shopper Unit is Talita Myburg, who also brings over 10 years’ experience in the marketing and advertising field and will report into Hyslop.
Myburg has previous experience in a wide range of industries including Banking, Insurance, Telecommunications, IT, FMCG, Retail, Management Consulting, Automotive and Real Estate. She has also lead the execution of numerous campaigns ranging from nationwide promotions to major international brands.
Howard Willmott joins Atomic London as Head of Creative Innovation
Howard Willmott, formally group creative director of Adam and Eve DDB, has joined Atomic London in the newly created head of creative innovation role. He teams up with ECD Guy Bradbury to spearhead the London creative agency, alongside design director Pete Mould, who joined the agency in 2013.
Willmott, who started his career at Saatchi & Saatchi under Dave Droga, produced innovative campaigns for the British Army, Club 18-30 and the NSPCC, the latter for which he created the world’s most awarded ad in 2003 (four D&AD pencils, one gold Cannes Lion, two gold BTA Arrows, gold One Show, gold Creative Circle, gold Clio).
Who’s won what
AddSuite now a Google Certified Publishing Partner
During October this year, Google announced the launch of a new global programme to service independent and individual digital publishers. As a result, Google appointed a select number of professional service providers as Certified Publishing Partners (CPP) to better support publishers and handle enquiries.
Over 100 companies around the world were invited to apply to join the programme. Only a select few however, were able to demonstrate the required levels of knowledge and competency in Google products and platforms to achieve CPP status. At the end of this rigorous selection process, South African based AddSuite (part of the Ole! Media Group), was one of only five companies in EMEA and one of only 29 in the world, that made the grade.
AddSuite’s Greg Mason was in New York for the launch of the CPP programme and confirms that this announcement and fundamental shift in how Google will operate, changes the entire publishing landscape. It now means that publishers using any or all of Google’s publishing offerings – Google AdSense, DoubleClick AdExchange and DoubleClick for Publishers – have access to 29 trusted and certified partners globally.
“… the success of the programme will also come down to how well the individual publisher is prepared to adapt its approach and work with Google and their chosen CPP, as to how revenues and benefits will accrue” commented Tim Legg, CEO of AddSuite.
HWB shines as global winner in Green PR campaign
A best of practice Green PR award was won by HWB Communications at a meeting in Dubai of the Public Relations Global Network this week. The award was for HWB’s campaign promoting a portable solar power generator.
The Cape Town based agency launched the campaign behalf of their client the Community Chest. Ecoboxx is a product of the Sungrid Group that specialises in the development of portable solar power products.
“It is an honour to be acknowledged as one of the best in the world,” said HWB founder Evelyn John Holtzhausen. “Very high standards are set by the network and achieving this recognition shows that we are on par with some of the world’s top PR agencies”
“This is a strong and competitive awards competition showcasing communications work samples from around the globe,” said Ed Stevens, APR-M, president of PRGN and owner of Stevens Strategic Communications, the PRGN affiliate based in Cleveland, Ohio. “These international awards demonstrate the powerful work that our member agencies conduct throughout the world. We congratulate all of the winning agencies.”
Other winners were Cros (Russia) with 8 awards, and Evident PR (The Netherlands), The Fearey Group (Seattle, Wash. – USA) and Landis Communications (San Francisco, Calif. – USA) with each getting 3 awards in various categories.
The PRGN is one of the world’s largest international public relations networks. PRGN harnesses the resources of approx. 50 independent public relations firms and more than 900 communications professionals to connect international companies and organizations with individual and culturally diverse markets globally.
Two new client wins for go4word
Cape-based PR and social media agency, go4word, have added two new clients to its roster and are excited to announce their partnerships with Danone and the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition
Danone, leading supplier of fresh dairy products worldwide, has appointed go4word, for a three month PR campaign to manage the relaunch of its top brand, NutriDay, in South Africa.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition, the most prestigious photography event of its kind, also appointed Go4word to manage the PR and social media in South Africa for its 51st exhibition. The exhibition will launch in Cape Town on 1 December 2015 at the Chavonnes Battery Museum, Clocktower, V&A Waterfront and move to Johannesburg and Durban later in 2016.
Grid launches iconic destination Brand Qatar
Grid, a proudly South African brand agency and part of the TBWA network of agencies, enters the global corporate branding arena with the launch of the discerning Qatar brand.
Winning the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) account meant Grid had to compete against some of the top agencies in Dubai and France, giving them only two weeks, just over a year ago, to gain the confidence of QTA. They had to prove they had the strategic and creative capabilities while showcasing why they were the best agency for the job.
“The Qatar Tourism Authority only hires the best across the globe. So to be recognised in this way is a major achievement”, says Nathan Reddy, CEO of Grid.
For Reddy and his team getting the job done meant they had to completely immerse themselves in the country in order to fully understand and capture the “essence of Qatar” and translate that into a strong brand proposition that would resonate not only with the Qatari people, but was also in a meaningful way to the rest of the world.
Grid believed that the name Qatar is unique, apart from being the only country that starts with the letter Q, their intention was to create a brand that was timeless and classic. They collaborated with a local Qatari calligraphy artist, Ali Hassan, to create the brand wordmark, a combination of both modern Latin and traditional Arabic typography style, that has become the Qatar identity.
Who’s making moves
New Media Publishing and Yuppiechef team up for an SA first
New Media Publishing is thrilled to announce the arrival of TABLE, a brand-new quarterly food magazine created in partnership with award-winning online retailer Yuppiechef.
Launching a print magazine, the first in the South African online retail market, is a move that follows in the footsteps of international retailers such as Net-a-Porter and ASOS, as Yuppiechef goes even further to provide customers with a 360-degree offering.
Yuppiechef’s mission is to bring people together through cooking and sharing good food. So what better name for such a magazine than TABLE, the very meeting place where people connect over food. And with all the tools, tips, tricks and ingredients needed to prepare delicious meals readily available on the Yuppiechef.com website, the addition of an inspirational magazine that can be collected and consulted is a perfect fit for the brand.
“We’re very excited about the launch of TABLE,” says Yuppiechef managing director Evan Torrance. “Although there are other food and home magazines on the market, there are few that offer the scope and reach that TABLE will to the entire Yuppiechef customer base each quarter. The magazine captures the best of our offering from a product perspective, and pairs it with the best of our new content, trend watching and news from the industry, which we think our customers will find really useful and interesting. The partnership with New Media Publishing has been seamless, and we’re very proud of our launch issue and excited about future issues to come.”
Zig Zag and Verchaix Media to produce African business series for Bloomberg Television
Leading UK independent television production company Zig Zag Productions and London-based content specialists Verchaix Media have announced a partnership to produce a new 12-part factual series, with logistic and production support from Urban Brew Studios, which will air from May 2016 on Bloomberg Television in EMEA.
‘Opportunity Africa’ is a series of half-hour programmes, closely following a wide range of African businesses giving audiences an insight into the untapped business opportunities on the continent and the challenges involved in attracting capital and building a successful business. Additional insights are sought throughout the series from investors, central bank governors, ministers and established African business leaders.
Zig Zag’s South African production partner Urban Brew Studios is supplying on-the-continent production and logistical support. The executive producers of ‘Opportunity Africa’ are Danny Fenton, Zig Zag Productions and Simon Miller and Richard Harrison, Verchaix Media.
Markus Davies, head of content for Urban Brew Studios, said, “This is an incredible opportunity to showcase Urban Brews production capabilities. We are looking forward to partnering with Zig Zag and Verchaix Media on this innovative project.”
Unlimited Events Group new website – plan an event at the click of a button
Unlimited Events Group has launched a new website. Showcasing key information and functionality for event managers, conference organisers and consumers, the new website highlights several features that Unlimited Events Group has become renowned, for including event décor hire, event furniture hire, entertainment, photography, balloons, eats & treats and kids parties.
Through the new live site, Unlimited Events Group also presents its online catalogue, designed to highlight services and projects while offering improved navigation for potential clients to enquire online about services and stock to co-ordinate their dream event. Features on the site include the ‘Similar Services’ tab that conveniently recommends DJ’s, photography, kids parties, balloons, treats & eats, sound & lighting and entertainment to your current search, while the multiple page ‘Request a Quote’ pane allows clients to fill in their requirements and request costs at the click of a button.
Alastair Laing, Group CEO of the Unlimited Events Group comments, “The online catalogue is set up to act as a ‘sales person in print’ – not just a means to promote products. The new website is designed to incorporate key elements including benefit orientated headlines, sub-heads that draw visitors in, body copy that compels clients to read more, and persuasive offers and call-to-action to get the phone ringing.”
