Media Moves… TheMediaOnline’s weekly round up. TBWA\Durban sweetens up with acquisition of Sugar The Agency. Themba Nobanda appointed client service director for Dentsu Aegis Network SSA. Ahmed Tilly joins FCB Joburg in powerful new creative partnership. Fahmida Miller joins Al Jazeera’s as East Africa correspondent. Influencer Relations: Clockwork Media partners with Webfluential. Penny Siopis named ACT Lifetime Achievement winner. Emlo introduces PR programme for interns. BBC Worldwide channels listed in Loeries official ranking. Thabo Mbeki & Johann Rupert to address SA’s captains of industry at the 2016 Sunday Times Top 100 Companies Awards. Labstore celebrates second anniversary of SA launch. TBWA\ Africa kicks ‘Disruption’ up a notch. Alliance Media partners with Botswana for 50th.
This week’s BIG move: TBWA\Durban sweetens up with acquisition of SUGAR The Agency
In a sweet deal that has seen it double its digital capability overnight, TBWA\Durban acquired SUGAR The Agency (SUGAR), a smaller operation in KwaZulu-Natal’s capital city that has positioned itself as a significant player in the digital space over the past six years.
Sean Donovan, TBWA\Durban managing director, says acquiring SUGAR was aimed at increasing TBWA\Durban’s digital capacity, allowing it to become more media agnostic. “We have been building our digital capability organically over the past few years. By getting the SUGAR team on board, we were able to increase our digital team twofold from about 12 to 25 people.”
Warren Haviside, former partner and executive creative director of SUGAR and now head of the TBWA\Durban digital team, says SUGAR was originally established in 2010 as a through-the-line agency to offer clients fresh ideas and quick turnaround times. “Our size meant we were agile enough to stake our claim in the digital space when digital campaigns became more sought-after.”
The entire SUGAR team and its portfolio of clients such as Jägermeister SA, Jägermeister Pan-Africa, Corona Beer, AFGRI, Bidvest Insurance, Ignite Charcoal, Stella Artois, Calgro Developments, Xpanda Security and R&B Timbers, amongst others, has moved to TBWA\Durban’s offices.
Who’s moved where
Themba Nobanda appointed client service director for Dentsu Aegis Network SSA
Dentsu Aegis Network has announced the appointment of Themba Nobanda, as client service director for Dentsu Aegis Network Sub-Saharan Africa. Nobanda joins the company after successfully setting up and running his own business in the golf industry called Golf4Fun. His business has seen over 1000 people being introduced to golf after 24 months of operation.
With over 10 years’ experience in the marketing industry, he is a seasoned ex Diageo and P&G client in the region and has worked across sub Saharan Africa. Under his leadership at Diageo, Uganda Spirits Brands were rated Best Business Plan in Africa in 2014 and created a World Record of 1000 Bottles of Johnnie Walker Sold in one event (Forbes Celebration Dinner).
Ahmed Tilly joints FCB Joburg in powerful new creative partnership
FCB Joburg has taken a strategic decision to further bolster its creative product by bringing the highly respected and awarded Ahmed Tilly into the agency to partner executive creative director, Jonathan Deeb, in a joint chief creative officer leadership team.
Making the announcement, FCB Africa’s Group CEO and group chief creative officer, Brett Morris, said the decision was on the back of FCB Joburg’s outstanding growth, having more than doubled in size over the past three years.
Tilly, co-founder and ECD of Black River FC and previously creative director at The Jupiter Drawing Room Cape Town and TBWA, would be joining forces with Deeb to further enhance the agency’s creative product.
“This formidable new partnership will be responsible for the overarching creative vision of the agency, driving transformation and developing young talent. Welcome, Ahmed,” said Morris.
Fahmida Miller appointed Al Jazeera’s East Africa correspondent
Fahmida Miller joined Al Jazeera in 2015, originally working out of the network’s Johannesburg bureau. She’s covered major stories across Africa, from the Libyan revolution to death of Nelson Mandela, but is equally at home presenting current affairs and lifestyles programmes. She’s interviewed the likes of Rwandan president Paul Kagame and former South African president Thabo Mbeki, and covered stories like the student protests in South Africa and the ongoing drought in the region.
Miller previously worked at CCTV Africa, eNCA, SABC, and Kaya FM.
Who’s won what
Influencer Relations: Clockwork Media partners with Webfluential
Clockwork Media is set to help brands edge just a little closer to their audiences through its recently announced partnership with Webfluential, a platform connecting brands to online influencers.
The partnership with Webfluential will allow Clockwork to better serve its portfolio of clients by giving them access to powerful influencer marketing.
“We’ve always been focused on producing great content and pushing it through the right channels to achieve a desired result,” says Tom Manners, MD of Clockwork Media. “At the same time, we’re passionate about introducing and embracing new technology within the agency. It’s obvious that influencer marketing has become a major force within the marketing mix globally. As the world of communications continues to evolve it makes sense that agencies evolve with it.”
Webfluential, another proudly South African tech start-up, has seen massive global growth since launching in 2013, and now boasts some of the world’s top businesses as clients, including Coca-Cola, Vodacom, Shell and P&G. The platform allows brand marketers to search for relevant influencers with the perfect audience for their products to boost their online reach.
MobiMedia ups the game!
Mobile marketing agency, MobiMedia, a division of the Ole! Media Group, has been appointed the exclusive mobile content partner for Africa for Cartoon Network’s Games portal. In addition, MobiMedia has also acquired the rights to animated video content geared towards younger mobile users from its global gaming partner with whom the company has also signed a sole distribution license.
Under its Planet Games platform, MobiMedia is able to offer literally thousands of mobile games, apps, images, ringtones, and more, to over 20 000 different smartphone, feature and tablet devices to suit a number of different operating systems, including a range of over 100 HTML5 games. The offering also includes 22 Cartoon Network games that have never been published before, marking a first for South Africa.
Penny Siopis named ACT Lifetime Achievement winner
Visual artist Penny Siopis was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to the arts at the 19th annual Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) Awards, held at Sun International’s The Maslow Hotel in Johannesburg on Friday, 21 October.
Since 1975, Siopis has been exhibiting both locally and internationally. She says she is thrilled to have received this Award. “It is a wonderful recognition of my creative work, as an artist, but also a teacher.”
Currently an Associate Professor in Fine Arts at UCT’s Michaelis School of Fine Art and the chairperson of the department’s governing committee, Siopis’ advice to young artists is to be committed to their beliefs but also be open to the world around them. “Take risks. Be resilient. Don’t be afraid to show your vulnerabilities,” she says.
Who’s making moves
Emlo introduces PR programme for interns
The public relations industry is in need of new, and young, blood if it wants to keep up with the always changing trends in the world of communication. Being such a fast-paced industry it is often difficult for young graduates to secure their first job due to a lack of work experience. A PR internship programme will help solve this challenge. “With South Africa’s unemployment rate sitting at 26,6% (Stats SA, July 2016) the responsibility to give students an opportunity to gain practical, industry-related experience lies with business owners,” says Marisa Louw, founder and managing director of Emlo.
Although the agency is still in its infancy, Louw’s passion for developing young talent has led to the inception of the PR internship programme that will help students gain first-hand experience of the world of PR in an environment that is busy enough to help them grow as young PR professionals but not yet as fast-paced as the more established agencies in which they often feel overwhelmed.
Undergraduates and graduates who would like to pursue a career in public relations are welcome to forward their CVs a to marisa@emlopr.co.za to apply for the PR internship programme. Emlo is a member of the Public Relations Consultants’ Chapter (PRCC) and being a student member of the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA) will be an advantage for applicants.
BBC Worldwide channels listed in Loeries official ranking.
BBC Worldwide’s entertainment channels have been named as one of the top 20 brands in the prestigious Loeries Official Rankings 2016.
The recognition is based on the local creative work that the brand has implemented in South Africa over the last 12 months to reach out to local audiences and introduce new viewers to the BBC’s award winning portfolio of content. It follows the news that the marketing team has won its first Gold and Bronze Loerie awards for its work on BBC Lifestyle’s Great South African Bake Off and BBC Brit’s Top Gear.
It marks a year since the new global brands were launched to the South African market. Since then, the full channel portfolio on DStv featuring news, entertainment and lifestyle programming, has gone from strength to strength.
BBC Worldwide opened its African office in Johannesburg in January 2015, and in August 2015 hired its first in-country senior marketing manager, Shireez Latief who has successfully introduced a South African voice to its marketing strategy.
Mbeki & Rupert to address SA’s 2016 Sunday Times Top 100 Companies Awards
Former South African president, Thabo Mbeki, has been confirmed to deliver the keynote address at the prestigious Sunday Times Top 100 Companies awards event next month, where Dr Johann Rupert – chairman of Swiss-based luxury-goods company Richemont and South Africa-based Remgro – will accept the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his contribution to the country’s economy.
Previous winners of the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies Lifetime Achievement Award include Dr Christo Wiese, Bobby Godsell, Brian Joffe, Nelson Mandela, Allan Gray, Stephen Koseff, Richard Maponya, Bill Venter, Nthato Motlana, Donald Gordon, Sam Motsuenyane, Koos Bekker, Raymond Ackerman and Anton Rupert.
The Sunday Times Top 100 Companies tracks the best-performing businesses on the JSE, acknowledging those with the highest shareholder returns over the past five years.
Labstore celebrates second anniversary of SA launch
Labstore South Africa, local office of Y&R Advertising’s digitally-led retail and shopper marketing network, is celebrating the second anniversary of its launch in South Africa – and the Labstorians are taking stock of their challenges and triumphs against the backdrop of an ever-evolving local shopper marketing landscape.
The shopper marketing business unit of Y&R South Africa has not only reeled in new business (with six major client wins spanning across 22 separate brands), but has built a formidable shopper marketing team over the last two years. In July 2016, it was also announced that Labstore SA would form the shopper marketing leg of the newly formed VML and Y&R Africa Group entity, together with Y&R South Africa and digital specialist, NATIVE VML.
“Becoming the shopper specialist nestled within such a powerful and globally rooted Group is a significant milestone for us,” says Carolyn White, MD of Labstore South Africa and Africa. “It signals an industry shift in the sense that shopper marketing is no longer seen as just the in-store activation space, nor ideation in shopper channels only. Shopper-led strategic insights into consumer behaviour and the need for multi-channel solutions that connects brands and experiences, are becoming paramount,” she explains.
TBWA\ Africa kicks ‘Disruption’ up a notch
Only businesses with strong fundamentals, a consistent approach and gutsy resilience have been able to weather the particularly tough business environment in sub-Saharan Africa over the past 12 months, and they are going to have to maintain a robust constitution for the foreseeable future, says TBWA’s Director of Africa Operations, Graham Cruikshanks.
He says breaking through the negative sentiment of a difficult 2015 and 2016 has been challenging for all businesses in Africa, but TBWA’s decision to re-boot its proprietary Disruption® tool across its Africa network in 2015 paid dividends. “The move saw offices transformed and processes modified. There is a palpable sense that Disruption® is more deeply embedded throughout our business than ever before.”
Speaking ahead of TBWA\ Africa’s annual Africa Conference, Cruikshanks says the group intends to kick Disruption® up a notch when it hosts its 2016 conference in Windhoek at the end of the month. “This is in line with TBWA\’s global 21st century ambition to use Disruption® as the engine to drive growth by attracting 21st century brands.
This year’s conference will see Cruikshanks and his team share global updates as well as TBWA’s own Disruption® Roadmap for the business and how it translates for Africa.
Alliance Media partners with Botswana for 50th
Botswana celebrates its 50th year of independence this month and Alliance Media, who has been operating in Botswana for 18 years of this period, is joining in the celebrations.
The Alliance Media office in Gaborone has been a strong contributor to the country in creating employment, adding to the economy and providing innovative Out Of Home (OOH) media to the country’s many advertisers.
Alliance Media holds the exclusive advertising rights at the Sir Seretse Khama International airport, where it is has donated a billboard to Botswana to commemorate this Jubilee occasion.
“Alliance Media is proud to acknowledge the 50 year mark of Botswana’s independence and is pleased to donate this premium advertising site to the country for the month.” says Greg Benatar, sales and marketing director.
