Media Moves… TheMediaOnline’s weekly round up. Bun Booyens to retire as editor of Die Burger in March. Blowtorch Advertising launches new vehicle into the market for Tata Motors. M&C Saatchi PLC buys Creative Spark, one of South Africa’s leading independent digital agencies. Africa Press List – African journalists and bloggers empowered. Globetom provides Klein Karoo with innovative marketing solution. Tuned In Publicity opens in the UK
This week’s BIG move: Bun Booyens to retire as editor of Die Burger in March
Bun Booyens, editor of Die Burger, will retire from his post at the end of March 2016, having been at the helm of the newspaper since 2010.
“Bun has asked to retire,” said Ishmet Davidson, head of Media24 News. “We are grateful for his advance notice which will enable us to do a thorough handover of the editorial portfolio to a successor during the first quarter of next year.”
Booyens said his tenure at Die Burger has been a highlight of his career. “This has been my third stint at the newspaper. When I was appointed editor in 2010 I undertook with management to lead Die Burger to its centenary. We have come to the end of this memorable year, and now is the right time – rather a little too early than a little too late – to pass the baton to someone else for the next shift. We have impressive young talent at the newspaper as well as a sound management structure. The newspaper will be in excellent hands.”
Booyens indicated that he intended to remain involved in journalism. “Ironically I’m looking forward to spending more time writing. Firstly I’d like to complete a commemorative book on Die Burger, its people and stories, spanning the last century. I would also really like to produce a book on cartoonist Fred Mouton’s work. Fred has been employed by Die Burger for over 40 years and there are piles of his sketches in his office just waiting to be compiled and produced into a proper collection. Hopefully I’ll be able to convince him of the idea.”
A successor will be announced in due course.
Who’s won what
Blowtorch Advertising launches new vehicle into the market for Tata Motors
Blowtorch Advertising has been appointed the lead creative agency by Accordian Investments, the authorised local distributors of Tata passenger vehicles for the South African launch of their brand new passenger vehicle, the Tata Bolt. The Joburg-based agency was recently selected over some of the biggest names in the industry to develop and oversee much of the campaign for the vehicle.
The new Tata Bolt hatch and sedan were launched in October and extend Tata’s passenger product portfolio. The vehicle marks an opportunity to reshape perceptions of the brand in the market. In the past few months Blowtorch Advertising has been hard at work developing various elements for the campaign, such as the TV campaign, print collateral and audio visual elements.
This account comes on the back of Blowtorch Advertising handling numerous design projects for Tata Africa Holdings, over the past two years. Tata Africa Holdings is a subsidiary of Tata International Limited. The vertical has a footprint in over 13 countries across the geography.
Globetom provides Klein Karoo with innovative marketing solution
Globetom has provided an innovative solution for Klein Karoo Seed Marketing (KKSM) Zambia, an Agribonus client, to assist them in collecting customer information in the informal, prepaid market they operate in. This was done through an SMS competition enabled by Globetom’s GP3 and iWin solutions.
“This solution is an example of Globetom’s platform innovation where our GP3 and iWin platforms were readily leveraged for incremental customer pull innovation. Globetom was able to quickly meet our client’s requirements by leveraging existing technology. Additionally, due to our very high degree of IPR ownership with limited third party supplier costs, we were able to offer KKSM a cost effective solution,” says Philip Stander, MD of Globetom.
Who’s making moves
M&C Saatchi PLC buys Creative Spark, one of South Africa’s leading independent digital agencies
M&C Saatchi Global has acquired award-winning South African digital agency, Creative Spark. CEO of the M&C Saatchi Global network, Moray MacLennan, said the relationship between South Africa’s M&C Saatchi Abel and Creative Spark, would “ensure that digital is a core pillar of the marketing, advertising and publishing conversation. Both agencies will now be able to add even more value to their existing clients in offering world class marketing solutions. I think it’s a powerful relationship that is already reaping dividends for both companies.”
MacLennan said South Africa had been a success story for the company. “Earlier this week, M&C Saatchi Abel were announced Agency of the Year at the annual Financial Mail AdFocus Awards ceremony. An incredible achievement considering they opened their doors for business a mere five years ago.”
Mike Abel who heads the M&C Saatchi Group on the continent said “Creative Spark will remain an independent stand-alone business, also servicing specific clients within the M&C Saatchi Abel JHB agency”.
Matthew Buckland, MD of Creative Spark added, “We are immensely proud to become part of the M&C Saatchi Group – the fastest growing independent agency network in the world and one that inspires immense respect. We share a pan-African vision with M&C Saatchi of creating a large, world-class digital agency and a strong digital publishing platform in Burn Media like no other.”
Tuned In Publicity opens in the UK
Tuned In Publicity, the specialist music public relations company, has spread its wings and will open up shop in England in January 2016. The six-year old PR consultancy aims to take South African pop/rock music to the UK market and has a long-term strategic vision to be a part of putting South African music back on the global stage.
Tuned In Publicity will provide musicians and bands with integrated marketing services that include both traditional and digital PR and marketing methods. There will be a strong emphasis on content development and marketing. The second and equally huge focus for the company will be regional radio plugging where South African music will be presented to producers and music compilers of over 300 small radio stations across the United Kingdom.
“There are literally dozens of radio stations that have their own dedicated slots, which showcase independent and unsigned talent and we will be targeting these particular programmes for air play,” said managing director, Tim Hill, who recently re-located to the United Kingdom, “It has been many years since an international artist broke from South Africa and my personal dream is to make this happen for someone. We have the talent and it is a matter of getting these artists heard by the right people and the public in order to build an international following.”
Tuned In Publicity, which started in 2010 in Cape Town, has provided PR and radio plugging services to a number of top local and international bands including Watershed, CrashCarBurn, Cindy Alter, Michael Bolton and Jennifer Rush.
Africa Press List – African journalists and bloggers empowered
African journalists have skills that are very useful and valuable to SMEs. They are the good storytellers that can help SMEs to communicate a clear message to a relevant audience.
That’s why, as a digital B2B publisher, Africa Business Communities, is dedicated to Africa Business News and to connecting Africa business professionals and entrepreneurs with each other.
Journalists or bloggers are invited to be included in the Africa Press List (register) – through which organisations (not only SMEs) can distribute press releases in a sophisticated and relevant way.
“We can only say: be aware of your skills, you can write a good message which is the basis for a PR service. You could start communication services by writing press releases for organizations – SME’s near you or known by you. We know that there is a strong need for that. Moreover, you could expand your services by using the Africa Press List yourself in combination with the Africa News Monitoring service. The combination of your writing skills and our tools form a good basis for rendering professional PR or communication services to SMEs.”
