Media Moves… our weekly round up. New face for Nielsen’s South African media business. Zwelethu Radebe joins Egg Films. M&C Saatchi Group makes key leadership appointments. J. Walter Thompson Cape Town and SunSteam join forces. Boomtown wins Hogan Lovells account. Media intelligence leader Meltwater acquires Oxford University AI spinout Wrapidity. Consulta Research relaunches with new service offerings and shareholding announcement. Jacaranda FM launches new brand positioning with a world first stunt. DStv offers Hearing Impaired subtitles on Sky News
New face for Nielsen’s South African media business
Nielsen’s South African media business has a new face in the form of Terry Murphy who has been appointed as director for Nielsen Watch Services in South Africa. Murphy will lead the commercial and operational teams responsible for Audience Measurement, AdIntel, Software Tools and the recently launched Digital Ad Ratings.
“The South African media industry is at an immensely exciting stage with the rapid proliferation of media services and consumption,” says Murphy. “These are driven out of a variety of digital platforms and media types. I look forward to applying Nielsen’s global tools and solutions to the South African market in 2017 to bring new standards of measurement and insight to the media market.”
Murphy has a wealth of experience in the media and marketing industry, spanning more than 20 years in broadcast sales, agency account management and digital measurement in both South Africa and the USA. Having held several leadership roles, her knowledge and expertise includes media strategy, consumer insights, business development and econometric modelling. Recently, as joint founder of the OOH Measurement Council (OMC), she was part of a team pioneering a new satellite imagery methodology for out of home measurement.
Murphy joined Nielsen on 1 December 2016.
Who’s moved where
Zwelethu Radebe joins Egg Films
Rising commercials director Zwelethu Radebe has nestled in at Egg Films, where he’ll be working with producer Dumisani Mvumvu from their Johannesburg office.
“We have been looking for the right talent to add to our Johannesburg roster for nearly two years, so we are super excited to have Zwelethu join us,” says Egg Films’ executive producer Colin Howard.
Radebe spent much of his youth behind the lens, recreating his favourite film scenes with nothing but an 8mm camcorder, his BMX and his younger brother as the actor. By the time he was cast as a caricature of cricket legend Lance ‘Zulu’ Klusener in a washing powder commercial, the film bug had its fangs in deep.
He finished top of his class throughout film school, winning numerous awards and the bursaries he needed to fund his studies. The trend continued at his first Loeries, where, just months after graduating, he won Silver for Ster Kinekor Thato in the student category.
Still just 27, Radebe has spent a busy last three years directing commercials fulltime for both local and international agencies and clients, shooting in nine countries across Africa and Europe.
“I’ve always loved Egg’s work and have been inspired by directors like Terence Neale and Sunu,” he says. “That’s the level of work that I want to do. To be the best, you have to surround yourself in an environment where the best are, so I’m looking forward to strengthening my craft here.”
M&C Saatchi Group makes key leadership appointments
On the back of an impressive year of growth for many of its newly acquired agencies, the M&C Saatchi Group (South Africa/Africa) has promoted Jerry Mpufane, group managing director (Gauteng), to chairman of the M&C Saatchi Johannesburg Group of Companies. Alan Bell, former managing director at The Hardy Boys, has been appointed partner and managing director at M&C Saatchi Abel’s Johannesburg office.
Mpufane, whose previous roles include MD of FCB Joburg, CEO at The Jupiter Drawing Room (JHB), GM SA Tourism and Group marketing director at the SABC, will be tasked with continuing the positive momentum the Group has achieved despite the tough market environment.
The successes of the Group’s newly acquired partners – which include Dalmatian Advertising, also acquired by M&C Saatchi PLC in mid 2016, and digital agency Creative Spark – have fuelled a large part of this growth.
Digital agency Creative Spark has been a standout success thus far, achieving year-on-year revenue growth of 28% in F15/16
Who’s won what
Walter Thompson Cape Town and SunSteam join forces
A highly contested business win in the rapidly expanding renewable energy sector has seen J. Walter Thompson Cape Town appointed to lead all marketing communication on the African continent for innovative solar technology enterprise SunStream Technology Inc.
The agency’s extensive regional footprint and campaign reach across Africa for the last 90 years provided the J. Walter Thompson team with unparalleled knowledge of the continent’s diverse markets, and in particular, nuances in consumer attitudes and behaviour.
Throughout Africa, a lack of electricity leaves tens of millions of mobile phone users struggling to keep their phones charged, compromising their connection to safety, opportunity and prosperity. SunStream™ products however, convert sunlight to electricity instantaneously at a 99% through-put rate, making them the most efficient micro-solar panels on the global market.
The J. Walter Thompson campaign is expected to roll out during the first quarter of 2017.
Boomtown wins Hogan Lovells account
Boomtown has been appointed to develop and execute an integrated profile raising campaign for Hogan Lovells in Africa.
“We want Hogan Lovells to be a recognised brand in Africa,” says Abena Poku, marketing and business development manager for Hogan Lovells Africa “We opened our first office in the region in 2013, having worked on the continent for decades. We felt it was time fort clients to know who we are and recognise us for our quality work, extensive network of local firms, and our commitment to making a difference in Africa.”
Having successfully won the account, Boomtown MD Andrew MacKenzie says: “The cultural insight within the agency to take brands into new markets is incredibly valuable to our clients, and it is a capability that is winning new business time and time again.
“To be able to work with such a prestigious global law firm is incredibly exciting for the team and testament to its strategic thinking and creative execution.”
Who’s making moves
Media intelligence leader Meltwater acquires Oxford University AI spinout Wrapidity
Meltwater, a global leader in media intelligence, acquired of Wrapidity Limited, an artificial intelligence (AI) spinout from Oxford University using breakthrough technology to automate data extraction from content on the web.
Wrapidity’s underlying technology will help Meltwater to improve and scale its industry-leading analytics software and address the volume of data coming from new sources as required for future product generations.
After evaluating over 20 companies globally in this space, the Meltwater team determined that Wrapidity is the strongest technology of its kind, complemented by an experienced engineering team led by co-founders Dr. Tim Furche, Dr. Giorgio Orsi and Dr. Giovanni Grasso.
Jorn Lyseggen, Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Meltwater, said: “Data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence are areas of strategic importance for Meltwater. Today, we are all drowning in unstructured data, and Meltwater is putting the whole weight of our company behind research efforts to unlock insights buried in the large amount of disparate data types found online.”
Wrapidity joins a growing number of recent acquisitions for the media intelligence pioneer as it continues to ramp up its technological offerings globally, with a focus on data science.
Consulta Research relaunches with new service offerings and shareholding announcement
Independent market research firm Consulta Research has relaunched as Consulta (Pty) Ltd. Key to this relaunch is the organisation’s new, expanded service offerings, that will focus on business strategy and analytics to complement its existing suite of market-leading research insights products.
Consulta has also announced that the prominent business leader Bonang Mohale’s family trust (Serialong Trust) has acquired the majority shareholding, owning 60% of the company, increasing its initial 16% shareholding purchased in 2008.
The new shareholding qualifies Consulta as a black owned company and gives Consulta a B-BBEE Level 3 rating in terms of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment framework. The Level 3 B-BBEE rating will afford a B-BBEE procurement recognition level of 125% to customers. The remaining 40% of Consulta is still owned by the founder and CEO, Prof Adré Schreuder’s family trust (Schadré Trust).
Consulta’s flagship research product is the South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SAcsi.
“Our team of experienced consultants can now offer support across company strategy, customer centricity, advanced data analytics, managing data technologies, and managing customer and employee communities,” says Schreuder, CEO of Consulta. “Today’s announcement is a leap in transformation – both in our ownership structure, and the range of services we offer to the private and public sectors.”
Jacaranda FM launches new brand positioning with a world first stunt
Jacaranda FM has revealed its new “More Music You Love” positioning in Sandton with a world first in radio: a billboard was used to tell a live love story, lip synced by actors to the station’s on air music playlist during the breakfast show.
The interactive story, dubbed “the greatest love story never told”, was determined by the station’s listeners who got to choose not only the characters, but how the story unfolded, and whether the couple fell in love… or not.
The stunt was performed on the corner of Johannesburg’s Corlett Drive and Oxford Road, and caused a stir with listeners, online viewers and motorists passing by.
Jacaranda FM’s GM, Kevin Fine, commented: “Our research shows that audiences want more music that they can sing to, dance to and connect with – which is exactly what our product delivers. This means more Taylor, more Bruno, more Katy, more Beyoncé and more Lionel and Mariah. Giving the audience such a succinct product drives listenership loyalty and creates the perfect platform for advertisers.”
DStv offers Hearing Impaired subtitles on Sky News
We’re constantly finding ways to make DStv more accessible, and our philosophy extends to customers who are deaf and hard of hearing. We’re proud to announce that Sky News (DStv channel 402) is now the first live news channel in South Africa to offer Hearing Impaired (HI) subtitles.
We’ve been offering HI subtitles on DStv since 2006. Sky News joins Mzansi, M-Net, and M-Net Movie channels, Vuzu and Vuzu AMP as well as all our BoxOffice titles as part of this ongoing commitment.
But we’re not stopping there. We’ve also been digitizing our Tape Aids library for the blind (go to tapeaids.dstv.com) and if you have a DStv Explora, you can record HI subtitles where these are available.
To get HI subtitles, just press ‘Options’ on your DStv remote and turn subtitles on. This is only a temporary fix, so the subtitles will switch off when you change the channel. To turn subtitles on permanently – so they display whenever they’re available – go to ‘User Preferences’, then ‘Video’ and ‘Audio’, and turn subtitles on.
