The weekly round up of media moves: Lesegokelame Modise new MD of JWT. Celebrity Services Africa opens in Nigeria with Ijeoma Ndekwu at helm. Nkhensani Moyane appointed MD of Glasshouse. NATIVE VML wins double second places at Creative Circle Awards. The MediaShop awarded Level 1 BEE. Primedia Unlimited has moved. MamaMagic, The Baby Expo is the Best Consumer Exhibition. South African agency ensures that London beauty salon soars.
This week’s BIG move: The MediaShop awarded Level 1 BEE
The MediaShop has reached another milestone in its journey and pioneering values by being the first and only media agency in the country to be awarded Level 1 BEE status.
“The MediaShop has always believed in uplifting both our staff and our country’s citizens and we’re absolutely thrilled that the work we’ve consistently put into our people has been recognised,” says group managing director, Chris Botha.
The BEE grading committee has deemed that its criteria of Ownership; Management Control; Skills Development; Enterprise and Supplier Development; Socio Economic Development and Responsible Communications & Marketing have all been successfully accounted for by The MediaShop.
“It’s the combined effort of our many internal training initiatives, uplifting of small businesses, intern training, 55% black management structure and so much more that combined, has enabled us to reach this goal,” says Botha.
Executive chairman, Ben Nkosi, has participated in business and leadership programmes both in South Africa and abroad for many years. “Empowered employees make for powerful and responsible citizens that have the ability to change the world, merely by approaching a situation from a different angle, and that’s exactly what we encourage our people to do. The Level 1 rating is as much for our staff as it is for The MediaShop,” he says.
Botha adds: “We believe that Level 1 BEE truly reflects our values of being pioneering, especially as the first media agency to achieve this status. We are also living our philosophy of being non-discriminatory, accountable and inspired, and that’s crucial not only for our clients but also for our staff as a critical part of our forward thinking organisation.”
Who’s moved where
Lesegokelame Modise new MD of JWT
Walter Thompson South Africa has announced the appointment of Lesegokelame Modise to managing partner of the Johannesburg team, with immediate effect. Modise, or ‘Lame’ as he prefers to be called, will work in close partnership with the team’s executive creative director, Nick Liatos, to grow clients’ brands and businesses.
Lame brings more than 15 year’s industry experience across sectors to his new role. During that time, he worked with the J. Walter Thompson company for five years, initially leading on the Telkom account, and then subsequently as business unit director on Global Team Blue. Leading teams in other industry sectors, Lame’s portfolio of expertise includes financial services, FMCG, alcohol, telco, tourism, automotive and B2B, working with brands such as ABSA, Ford, SAT, SABMiller, Coca-Cola, Dulux, Nandos, Unisa, GCIS and Standard Bank.
“I believe South Africa, and Gauteng in particular, are hotbeds of innovation, development and growth,” says Lame. “Cultures around the world are becoming increasingly urbanised, so we are in the most exciting of places to be, right here right now. And we need to leverage that, for our talent and for our clients – mentoring not only the leaders of the future, but finding the right brand solutions for a better and brighter tomorrow. “
Celebrity Services Africa opens in Nigeria with Ijeoma Ndekwu at helm
Global communications, events and talent agency, Celebrity Services Africa has announced the opening of a new office in Lagos, Nigeria, adding to their network of offices in Cape Town, South Africa and Beverly Hills, USA.
Heading up communications for the Nigeria office is Ijeoma Ndekwu, an award-winning lifestyle journalist and brand relationship builder who specialises in designing strategic integrated campaigns that support enterprises as well as start-ups to innovate, accelerate and grow.
“I’m excited about the new capabilities and capacity which CSA will offer Nigerian companies. At the same time we’ll be able to present local and multi-national companies with resources and a pool of talent from around the world working on a variety of projects,” says Ndekwu, who has executed various campaigns and strategic partnerships for a number of SMEs, government agencies and international corporations in Nigeria.
While CSA has had a strong presence in Africa – working on major strategies with such clients as Johnnie Walker (including the much talked about Lekki Bridge “Walking Man” New Year’s Eve social media stunt), Ciroc Vodka, the All African Business Awards, Carlson Rezidor hotels and Airlink airlines, among many others – the opening of the Lagos office will present Nigerian and pan-African companies access to the company’s high level capabilities and global experience.
Nkhensani Moyane appointed MD of Glasshouse
Executive director of Glasshouse Communications Management, Bridget van Holdt, is handing over the reins of managing director to the very capable Nkhensani Moyane.
“Transformation has been uppermost on our agenda and this appointment is an important milestone in the development of GHCM. While I will be stepping down and leaving GHCM, I will remain a shareholder and director during the transition,” she said.
“My passion remains in the public relations profession and I will be pursuing other exciting ventures, about which I will advise in due course.”
Who’s won what
NATIVE VML wins double second places at Creative Circle Awards
The winners for October/November/December Creative Circle Awards have been announced and NATIVE VML has been awarded two second places in the Digital Interactive and Television, Video and Cinema categories for Absolut One Source.
NATIVE VML, lead agency on Absolut Vodka, teamed up with multi-award winning Motswako artist Khuli Chana and some of Africa’s leading musicians to launch a pan-African musical collaboration called One Source. The integrated campaign, already being hailed as one of the hottest musical collaborations of its kind, followed Khuli Chana and other leading African musicians as they journeyed across Africa to create a concept album called One Source.
“The One Source project has allowed us to transform Absolut’s unique positioning as ‘The World’s Only One Source Vodka’ into a rallying cry for the creative revolution that is spreading across the continent. One Source not only refers to the fact that every drop of Absolut comes from one place, but that we, as Africans and human beings, all come from the same source too,” says Jason Xenopoulos, CEO NATIVE VML.
MamaMagic, The Baby Expo, is the Best Consumer Exhibition
MamaMagic, The Baby Expo, scooped up two Best Consumer Exhibition awards at the 2016 African Association of Exhibition Organisers (AAXO) and Exhibition Association of South Africa (EXSA) Exhibition Industry Awards held on in late January.
This joint awards evening celebrated and recognised excellence in the categories of construction, design, exhibition, organisation and exhibitor participation. MamaMagic, The Baby Expo won the Best Consumer Exhibition 6 001 to 12 00m² award for the Johannesburg Winter exhibition which ran from 12 to 15 May 2016 and a second Joint Best Consumer Exhibition 12 001 m² award for the Johannesburg Summer exhibition which was held from 1 to 4 December 2016.
Pampers by Procter & Gamble and Born Fabulous; two of MamaMagic, The Baby Expo exhibitors received distinctions for their exhibiting stands and won in the Consumer Exhibition Category.
“We pride ourselves in offering the best exhibition experience for both our exhibitors and visitors, and these recognitions are ways for us to measure our success in the past year and move the bar higher for our next exhibitions,” said MamaMagic, The Baby Expo Exhibition director, Warren Murray.
Who’s making moves
South African agency ensures that London beauty salon soars
Blush+Blow, a brand that was established with the help of South African advertising agency, Creative Zoo Advertising (CZA), is taking Londoners by storm. Joburg-based CZA designed the upmarket beauty salon’s brand and visual identity which has been so well received that it has contributed to Blush+Blow being featured in a review by The Telegraph of the best beauty salons around the UK and has been voted as one of the 10 most Instagram-able beauty salons in the UK.
The salon was founded by South African Bridget O’Keeffe, makeup artist, beauty blogger and entrepreneur in London last year. Director at CZA, Bjorn Annegarn says they assisted O’Keeffe in the metamorphosis of her vision from an idea into a brand with a visual identity to match the essence of the experience she wanted to create at Blush+Blow.
Annegarn says, “CZA was able to create a unique brand identity in the market not only through a bright colour palette and fun playful iconography but also through the mechanisms used to create interest during the launch phase of Blush+Blow.”
He adds, “By gaining an in-depth understanding of Bridget’s business we’ve been able to anticipate her marketing needs and contribute to refining the customer experience by giving her the tools she needs to create a world class experience. Technology has meant that despite the distance between CZA and Blush+Blow we’re still able to work closely with Bridget and ensure her needs are met”.
Primedia Unlimited has moved
Primedia Unlimited, South Africa’s leading provider of out of home and ambient media solutions has moved offices.
The company’s new address is 151 5th Avenue, Sandown. The reception team can be contacted on T: 010 306 5100 or lindaw@primedia-unlimited.co.za for general queries.
“We’re delighted to be in a new space – it’s given us an opportunity to optimise how we work, and more importantly, has given our people a happier, more modern home,” says group CEO Ryan Williams. “I can’t wait to host our great clients and partners here.”
