Media Moves… TheMediaOnline’s weekly round up. Mr Magic takes time out. Ster-Kinekor’s Tshireletso Yvonne Diogo promoted. Quirk Cape Town appoints new managing director. Changes in Vuma 103FM as DJ Sbu takes on breakfast show. marcusbrewster appointed for offshore PR. Mortimer Harvey wins Ultra Dog digital account. Milpark Education appoints Jupiter CT. Magna Carta wins African PR Consultancy of the Year 2016. Mypressoffice, where PR and the media meet. Tribeca recognised in Holmes Report ‘Best Agencies to Work For’ review.
This week’s BIG move: Mr Magic ‘takes time out
Linda Sibiya has retired from Vuma 103FM, effective 30 June 2016. Sibiya has had a long and lucrative career in radio, and has been with Vuma 103FM since January 2015, hosting the hugely successful Kwasa Breakfast Show for the station. Prior to that Sibiya was the breakfast host for Ukhozi FM, broadcasting to millions of listeners across KZN and South Africa for 18 years.
Aside from the Magic Tour and other Magic interests, Motivational Tours and the Linda Sibiya Foundation, he has become extensively involved in the business sector over the past few years – to the extent that this has started putting pressure on his day to day radio career.
This, together with his TV commitments, leaves less and less time for his personal life, and as Sibiya says “I would love to wake up next to my wife for a change!”
It is for these reasons that he has decided to take a sabbatical from radio for a year or two, and focus on his other interests.
Tony Mallam, MD of Vuma 103FM, is totally supportive of Linda’s decision. “Linda is a 20-year veteran of the South African radio industry, and I understand his thinking. Breakfast shows put tremendous pressure on a presenter’s daily schedule, and given Linda’s many business interests, it’s time to take a break from daily radio and focus on business”.
Sibya will continue to be a brand ambassador and dealmaker for Vuma FM.
Who’s moved where
Quirk Cape Town appoints new managing director
South African agency, Quirk, has taken a pronounced step towards furthering their position as digital thought leaders by promoting head of strategy, Gerard Du Plessis, to managing director of the Cape Town-based head office. With former MD, James McKay, moving into a new role as group chief operating officer, Du Plessis was a “natural fit” to fill this position, having successfully led the strategy team while fulfilling the role of deputy MD for most of 2015.
“Quirk has always prided ourselves on being thought leaders in the digital marketing industry,” says McKay. “Our clients look to us as partners in understanding and navigating the constantly evolving marketing landscape. For this reason, we realised that the new leader of our largest office within the agency required strong problem solving and strategic thinking skills. Gerard is one of Quirk’s top business thinkers, he’s somewhat of a marketing unicorn.”
With international credentials and breadth of experience, great things are expected of this former professional surfer. Having joined Quirk after being marketing manager of a multi-national youth brand back in 2012, Du Plessis says, “As technology continues to be more pervasive and intuitive, our industry will be forced to adapt to remain relevant. At Quirk we’ve always embraced this state of flux as a new normal. Being at the forefront of this evolution, pushing the status quo to deliver more relevant solutions to our clients, is such an inspiring place to be. I’m ever grateful to the leaders at Quirk for empowering me with the right balance of freedom and responsibility to lead the next wave of talent and work.”
Changes in Vuma 103FM as DJ Sbu takes on breakfast show
Alterations to its broadcast license conditions granted by Icasa in December 2015 have led to Vuma 103FM making dramatic changes to its line-up, the station’s managing director, Tony Mallam, has announced.
These changes, requested by the management and shareholders of Vuma 103 FM, aim to position the station as a much stronger commercial contender in a highly competitive KZN region. In a nutshell, the changes granted were to language of broadcast (50/50 isiZulu and English), music (more inspirational music in the mix) and more talk.
“The biggest news we bring is that we have signed DJ Sbu Leope to drive our Breakfast Show from 6-9am,” Mallam said in a statement.
“The station also bids farewell to a number of current presenters, including the veteran Lucky Sefatsa and young Jacinta Ngobese, also looking to pursue other business interests.”
Ster-Kinekor’s Tshireletso Yvonne Diogo promoted
Ster-Kinekor Theatre’s Tshireletso Yvonne Diogo will be taking on the general manager of promotions and trade marketing role, a promotion from her previous role as marketing manager and account executive: media sales.
Tshireletso joined Cinemark in December 2011 and knew from the get-go that the sales team was a force to be reckoned with, within the media industry. While she noticed that there was strength in account management, cinema audience insight and competitive media advertising solutions, she realised that that there was an opportunity to elevate the Cinemark brand and ensure that cinema as a medium is given greater consideration in media strategy.
The dynamic dame was thus integral to the repositioning of the brand, which resulted in the business realising new accounts, being awarded the Best Media Owner MOST Award in the TV/Cinema category in 2014 and a Bronze Cannes Lions in Promo and Activations in 2015.
“What has been instrumental in delivering the results is a deliberate customer acquisition and retention strategy. Coupled with a thorough understanding of our value proposition, exploiting our competitive advantage of a high-end audience that is otherwise challenging to reach for advertisers, then aligning that with advertiser’s objectives,” she says.
Who’s won what
marcusbrewster appointed for offshore PR
International fashion and beauty photographer Nadette Clare-Talbot has appointed marcusbrewster to promote her debut European exhibition.
The campaign will be the first offshore assignment for the South African agency in its 25-year history. “Typically we are approached by local or global brands looking for implementation in our own country and then more recently, extending to the rest of Africa” says Marcus Brewster, founder and chairman of the firm. “This is a breakthrough year for us and an indicator of the strength of our own PR brand in being asked to represent an overseas client in their offshore market”.
Entitled ‘Lacey & Lace’, Clare-Talbot’s exhibition celebrates this iconic Maltese craft through the lens of beauty and stills photography and showcases 18 works accentuating lace as the common theme.
“Clare-Talbot is looking to create a profile and build a market for her art throughout the EU. Her current exhibition in Malta is a strategic communication build to creating opportunity around the upcoming Valletta 2018 European Capital of Culture which will open many doors for her as an artist,” says Brewster.
“The concept for this exhibition was born from my love of lace,” says the artist. “From my years of shooting for glossy magazines like Elle, Glamour and marie claire, I found that I instinctively visualized my imagery in a double page layout. I wanted to echo that idea in my exhibition by creating images as a two-part story.”
Mortimer Harvey wins Ultra Dog digital account
Mortimer Harvey has added Ultra Dog, a specialist premium range of veterinarian dog foods, to the agency’s list of clients. Ultra Dog is part of RCL FOODS Ltd.
The locally produced product is sold exclusively at veterinary clinics and veterinary owned pet shops. A leading pet nutritionist and a veterinarian are responsible for product development. Ultra Dog’s product range includes Premium Range, Superwoof Range, Optiwoof Range and Special Diet Range.
Andrew Fradd, group managing director of Mortimer Harvey, says the agency is thrilled to welcome Ultra Dog to the MH family. “We look forward to partnering with the Ultra Dog team to apply our OmniChannel solutions for Ultra Dog to become the leading pet food brand in specialist veterinary pet food channels in South Africa”.
Mortimer Harvey has been tasked to develop an over aching 360 degree digital strategy to move the brand into the digital space. “We will also provide client with an OmniChannel solution, which would cover all consumer touch points, as well as finessing of the brand itself” says Fradd.
Milpark Education appoints Jupiter CT
Milpark Education, a private provider of accredited business qualifications and courses in South Africa, has appointed The Jupiter Drawing Room Cape Town.
With just short of 20 years in the business, Milpark Education offers high quality learning options locally, with a footprint into the rest of Africa. In 2015, the institution was rated number one private provider of the MBA degree in the 2015 PMR Africa national survey on accredited business schools.
“We were invited recently by Milpark Education to present our credentials. During this process, we were impressed with their team’s passion for quality education in South Africa – especially at this time where there are obvious gaps in the system,” Kevan Aspoas, CEO of Jupiter CT, says.
Milpark Education Head of Marketing, Sandise Sibanda, explains: “We’re looking forward to working with the team at Jupiter as we continue on our exciting journey of delivering quality education.”
The Milpark Education account win comes in hot on the heels of Jupiter’s appointment to work with Burger King South Africa.
Magna Carta wins African PR Consultancy of the Year 2016
Reputation management agency, Magna Carta, has won the Africa PR Consultancy of the year category at the SABRE Awards in Berlin, Germany.
The awards were hosted by the Holmes Report, with their editors having reviewed the performance of 400 agencies based on their Report Card research process. The judging process was extensive, involving hundreds of submissions from the best public relations and strategic communications firms from across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Five African PR agencies were in the running for the prestigious Africa PR Agency of the Year award: Epic MSGLROUP, Atmosphere, Burson-Marsteller, Djembe Communications and Magna Carta.
“We were delighted to be amongst top agencies as finalists for Africa PR Agency of the Year and we are thrilled to be recognised by the industry and our peers,” says CEO Vincent Magwenya.
Who’s making moves
Mypressoffice, where PR and the media meet
Newsclip’s online press portal, mypressoffice, will ensure press releases are fast-tracked from your desktop to the pages of relevant publications. The portal connects communications professionals, journalists and publishers through the sharing of press releases and categorised content, all on one easy-to-use platform.
Punting and publishing press releases can be a contentious issue. PR practitioners may bombard journalists with unwanted material while journalists may have a hard time accessing the content they’re after. But all that is about to change.
mypressoffice gives communicators access to a dashboard where all uploaded press releases are visible by category. Anyone can pre-select categories of interest to receive notifications as new releases or information is added to that section of the website. This is ideal for journalists who cover a specific beat and for communications professionals who need to stay abreast of industry news.
Tribeca recognised in Holmes Report ‘Best Agencies to Work For’ review
Tribeca Public Relations has received an honourable mention in The Holmes Report’s 2016 review of Best Agencies to Work For, the only African public relations agency to feature in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) report’s results.
“We consider being highlighted as a Best Consultancy to Work For by the Holmes Report to be a great independent benchmark of company culture and workplace performance, in an industry whose primary asset remains its people,” says Cian Mac Eochaidh, co-owner of Tribeca Public Relations. “This accolade reinforces our ethos that ‘happy consultants = happy clients = happy business’.”
The Holmes Report asked employees across 50 of the best PR agencies across EMEA to complete a comprehensive anonymous questionnaire that gathers information about various different aspects of their own working environment, including work/life balance, remuneration, opportunities for growth and learning, among others.
