Media Moves… TheMediaOnline’s weekly round up. Media24 snaps up Ivor Price days after SABC resignation. Y&R and NATIVE VML partner to form new VML and Y&R Africa Group. New head of sales and marketing for Ster Kinekor. Times Media to manage advertising sales for television channel 1KZN TV. Five new clients for go4word. Digital Narrative joins forces with Clicks2Customers to create C2C Labs, secures Blippar partnership. SPARK Media turns one. Mortimer Harvey Middle East turns two. Ogilvy & Mather starts its o25 graduate search for 2017. Global music market beckons for South African record label. Savanna unleashes the future of SA comedy.
This week’s BIG move: Media24 snaps up Ivor Price days after SABC resignation
Media24 has appointed Ivor Price the manager for business innovation and special projects for its Afrikaans newspapers. Price has been a newspaper columnist for the group’s Afrikaans newspapers and until recently presenter at RSG and news anchor at SABC2. Price will join Media24 in August.
Price, like former acting CEO of the SABC, Jimi Matthews, resigned publicly from the SABC this week citing COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s “venomous tentacles” as his reason for leaving the public broadcaster.
Price started his career as a journalist at Die Burger in 1999. He moved swiftly through the ranks, holding various positions including publisher of Eikestadnuus, correspondent in London and innovations manager for the Media24 group. He joined the SABC in 2010.
Price said returning to Media24 was like a homecoming to him. “I had so many opportunities to develop at the company and I now look forward to take it to the next phase. I want to help develop growth opportunities.”
And another BIG move: Y&R and NATIVE VML partner to form new VML and Y&R Africa Group
Y&R South Africa and NATIVE VML are partnering to form the VML and Y&R Africa Group – a digitally integrated offering that will be positioned to deliver on the needs of an increasingly connected world.
The new group builds on the rich heritage of Y&R Advertising with its deep roots in Africa, the innovative shopper marketing credentials of Labstore, and the rapidly rising presence of digital marketing agency, NATIVE VML. This newly formed entity, which is already successfully working together on client business, will bring this combined strength to bear on the South African market, where truly integrated communications is now becoming a necessity for local businesses.
NATIVE VML, Y&R, and Labstore will maintain their independence, but aligning them under one senior leadership team will bring a new and enhanced offering to market – one that will be perfectly positioned to partner with clients in building truly connected brands.
NATIVE VML Co-Founder and CEO Jason Xenopoulos will assume the role of group CEO and will be tasked with driving vision and strategy, with operational support from his current leadership team. The VML and Y&R Africa Group will have offices in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban, as well as a network of 16 agencies in 12 African countries.
Who’s moved where
New head of sales and marketing for Ster Kinekor
Ster-Kinekor Theatres has announced the appointment of Motheo Matsau as its new chief marketing and sales officer.
The position has resulted from a consolidation of the marketing and sales (Cinemark) divisions into a single business unit, which is responsible for marketing the Ster-Kinekor brand to increase attendances, and growing its in-cinema sales and advertising offering.
Matsau joins the country’s leading cinema exhibitor following a successful career at MultiChoice and DStv where, for more than six years, he held various roles, the most recent being head of marketing for SuperSport for South Africa and the rest of Africa. Prior to that, he held various marketing positions at PPC and Unilever.
Matsau is excited about his career move from the small screen of DStv to one focused on the big cinema screen. Wearing his sales hat, Matsau and the sales team’s focus is to demonstrate to current and potential clients and advertisers the benefits of cinema advertising.
Who’s won what
Times Media to manage advertising sales for television channel 1KZN TV
Times Media has been appointed to drive airtime sales for the Zulu-language television channel 1KZN TV, effective 1 July 2016. For the past three years, 1KZN TV has been the fastest growing community station in South Africa, and has a past 7-day audience of 1.7 million viewers.
Vernon Matzopoulos, head of broadcast at Times Media, says, “This channel is a gem. It knows and understands its audience intimately and delivers exactly what they want. They’ve done the hard yards in building the viewership, now it’s our job to bring in the revenue these numbers deserve.’
1KZN TV is available as a free to-air channel in KwaZulu Natal, as well as in five million homes on DStv 261, and on StarSat channel 482. The strong local focus (up to six hours a day of Zulu-language shows including news and current affairs) is tailored for its core 25-45 year old market.
Media sales for 1KZN TV started with Times Media as of 1 July 2016.
Five new clients for go4word
Leading Cape-based PR and social media agency, go4word, has had a cracker of a first half of the year with as many as five new client wins.
It’s a mixed bag too, ranging from foodie heavy weights Danone Southern Africa and Buffet Olives, to the first ever internationally renowned Fisherman’s Friend StrongmanRun in South Africa and finally to cutting edge education with Eiffel Corp and International House Cape Town.
Danone Southern Africa selected go4word to manage the strategic messaging, media and public relations efforts to build the yoghurt category.
Buffet Olives, an olive growing estate in Paarl, producing some of South Africa’s finest olives, has appointed go4word for a six-month period to manage its PR and social media.
The go4word team embraced their more adventurous spirits for the successful pitch of the first ever Fisherman’s Friend StrongmanRun event to be held outside of Europe and of course the first in South Africa. Brought to South Africa by the “larger than life”, high energy, Ferdinand Rabie of Big Brother fame, the event is known as ‘the strongest event of all time” and is officially the world’s biggest cross-country obstacle race consisting of swimming, climbing and crawling obstacles.
Digital Narrative joins forces with Clicks2Customers to create C2C Labs, secures Blippar partnership
Interactive print and new media agency, Digital Narrative, has teamed up with global digital marketing agency, Clicks2Customers, to form C2C Labs, an innovation hub that will focus on augmented, virtual and mixed realities. The new entity has also announced that it is now a certified partner for Blippar in South Africa.
Although it made its mark as a search-engine performance specialist, Clicks2Customers, which is part of the incuBeta Group, has expanded into a full-service digital media agency. Its offering includes digital strategy, performance display, DoubleClick technology, data analytics and SEO.
Digital Narrative, meanwhile, specialises in connecting offline with online campaigns, making use of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), underpinned with DoubleClick integration.
C2C Labs will operate out of the Clicks2Customers Cape Town offices where the team will design and develop solutions for Clicks2Customers’ global clients.
Who’s making moves
SPARK Media celebrates its 1st birthday
One year ago NAB, Caxton’s local newspaper’s national advertising sales company, and Habari Media, specialists in digital sales, joined forces to form SPARK Media as a media sales powerhouse.
The launch of these two unique companies was one the likes the media and advertising industry have not seen in years. It was a true statement of the values that SPARK Media epitomised – insights and innovation.
The past year has been an exciting one for SPARK Media, “We have done a lot of soul searching, gaining and losing team members and partnerships but now we’re extremely pleased to be living our true purpose in print and online, and that is to be the go-to team for retail and location based marketing solutions,” says Gill Randall, Joint CEO.
Moving forward SPARK Media will continue to represent local traditional and digital media platforms, namely Caxton owned local newspapers and online assets as well as current and future partners that are in line with their clear objective of delivering locally relevant, effective audiences for advertising clients.
Mortimer Harvey Middle East turns two
From three people in a small room in a shared apartment to 30 marketing specialists in a design office overlooking the Nile, in the past two years, a lot of heart and smart has gone into making Mortimer Harvey Africa Middle East a true success story.
The team in Cairo is made up of a group of passionate, young marketing experts working together to create the future of marketing and advertising. They transition effortlessly from one field to the other with flexibility and curiosity.
The agency continually evolves and grows to rethink and redefine what they’re here to do. Currently, they offer a full go-to-market service, from strategy, business and marketing consulting to advertising and digital marketing, sales, e-commerce and CRM.
Mortimer Harvey Africa Middle East partners with local and multinational clients and gets involved in every aspect of their commercial activities. Vodafone, Total, Credit Agricole, AXA, Magrabi Optical (the largest fashion eyewear retailer in the MENA region) and Asfour Crystal (the largest crystal manufacturer in the world) have already enjoyed the benefits of the agency’s innovative solutions.
Ogilvy & Mather starts its o25 graduate search for 2017
Ogilvy & Mather (O&M) South Africa has opened the 2017 applications for o25, its annual talent pipeline programme. o25 gives graduates real-life work experience in the creative industry, with the opportunity to develop their marketing career.
Through o25, which was co-developed by FreshVision Consulting, O&M will again seek to acquire and develop up to 25 young, dynamic, talented students who are brave enough to tackle today’s communications challenges.
Those chosen will enter an immersive 12-month programme and gain hands-on experience in integrated marketing and in their respective areas of specialisation.
Online applications for the programme will remain open until August 26th, 2016. Entrants are given a brief to complete a challenge on Instagram, the fastest growing social media platform in the country. O&M’s senior management will screen applications and those shortlisted will be invited to Super Saturday – an assessment day in either Cape Town or Johannesburg in October.
Savanna unleashes the future of SA comedy
Savanna Premium Cider has set the scene for the discovery of the next big name in South African comedy with the announcement of the five nominees for the 2016 Savanna Newcomer Award.
This year’s finalists, Snooze Kambuwa, Farhan Esat, Ebenhaezer Dibakwane, Phil de Lange and Thabo “Summary” Kgaphola all have the apples to take on the comedy scene after strutting their stuff at the Savanna Newcomer Showcase, held at the Soweto Theatre in May. The Savanna Newcomer Award will be announced in September at the 6th Annual South African Comics’ Choice Awards®.
“Comedy in South Africa is a growing industry and Savanna understands what it takes to make it in the industry from the brand’s involvement with comedians for the past 20 years. Savanna certainly has the apples to help discover new talent and give them a leg up onto the big stage to launch their careers in comedy,” says Tania Kotze, Savanna SA Marketing Manager.
Global music market beckons for South African record label
South African record label Inhoud Huis has announced a new partnership with the world’s leading music-based entertainment company, Universal Music. This groundbreaking partnership will give Inhoud Huis access to the global music market, expanding the reach of Afrikaans music further than ever before.
The brainchild of Johan Vorster, Inhoud Huis is a household name in the Afrikaans music industry. Their roster features established Afrikaans names such as Bok van Blerk, Karlien van Jaarsveld, Lianie May, Dewald Wasserfall and Leah.
The partnership was confirmed at a signing ceremony at the Universal Music offices in Johannesburg on 15 July 15.
