The Media Online’s weekly round up of moves in media. South African agency Platinum Seed chosen by Silicon Valley fintech company. Karin Du Chenne appointed CEO of Insights South Africa at Kantar. Stephany Brewer appointed chief client officer, Africa & Middle East for Insights at Kantar. Gisela Seeley appointed country leader for Kantar Media South Africa. Noeraan Hendricks appointed transformation director for Kantar South Africa. Tshego Mosupye named as #MTVBaseVJSearch Winner 2017
This week’s BIG move: South African agency Platinum Seed chosen by Silicon Valley fintech company
San Francisco-based BrightPlan has appointed South African digital creative consultancy Platinum Seed as its digital partner, preferring the local agency over others.
The partnership will kick off with Platinum designing and developing the user-experience and user interface for BrightPlan’s launch website. They will also be responsible for developing a go-to-market strategy for the product, a vital element of any SaaS start-ups arsenal.
Bradley Elliott, director at Platinum Seed, says the project will demonstrate the agency’s ability to combine business consultancy expertise with creative digital skills, a rare combination that is increasingly in demand.
“It’s a great vote of confidence that a company on the other side of the world sees value in what we do,” he says. “We’re in the fortunate position to have developed a solid understanding of how to take software-as-a-service products to market, which many creative agencies haven’t embraced yet.”
BrightPlan is an innovative “robo-advisor” application that plugs into users’ financial data to produce highly accurate savings and investment recommendations through artificial intelligence.
People moves
Karin Du Chenne appointed CEO for Insights South Africa at Kantar
Karin Du Chenne (left) was appointed in May as CEO for Insights at Kantar, which covers the portfolio of Kantar Millward Brown and Kantar TNS, South Africa. Du Chenne recently returned from a three-year stint in Turkey where she served as chief client officer for Insights at Kantar Africa & Middle East.
At the time she was responsible for leading the global and regional client relationships and supporting them in their growth activities in Africa & Middle East.
An inspirational business leader, Du Chenne has over 25 years of experience in driving marketing and communications that deliver business results.
“We are thrilled to have Karin lead our South African business. Her passion for our business and years of experience make her uniquely and brilliantly equipped for this role, and I have no doubt that she will lead our business and partner with our clients to drive growth”, commented Charles Foster, CEO Insights Africa & Middle East at Kantar.
Stephany Brewer appointed chief client officer, Africa & Middle East for Insights at Kantar
Kantar has appointed Stephany Brewer (left) to be Karin Du Chenne’s successor. Brewer joined Kantar Millward Brown in 2005 and has worked across Africa & Middle East and Singapore with its largest local and multinational clients, including Unilever. In her new role, Brewer will focus on deepening relationships with clients to bring them the best of what Kantar has to offer to grow their brands and market share.
Noeraan Hendricks appointed transformation director for Kantar South Africa
Noeraan Hendricks (left) has been appointed as transformation director for Kantar South Africa. Hendricks will lead the BBBEE strategy for Insights, and one of her key priorities will be to ensure continued transformation around skills development, as well as enterprise and supplier development.
She will also be a key link to WPP around matters of transformation as well as Trustee representation for the WPP BEE Trust.
“This is a new role of strategic importance to our business in South Africa,” says CEO Karin Du Chenne, “as an industry leader we have a true commitment and passion to drive transformation.”
Gisela Seeley appointed country leader for Kantar Media South Africa
Gisela Seeley (left) has been appointed country leader for Kantar Media, South Africa. Kantar Media is a global leader in media intelligence, including audience and advertising measurement, as well as consumer behaviour and brand reputation tracking. The company is officially launching the South African branch of their business, and in her new role, Seeley’s focus will be to lead a team providing reliable and high quality audience data.
“Gisela has worked in a senior leadership role within the research industry since 2001, and for the last eight years has focused on media research, setting up and running the media division within Kantar TNS. She brings with her extensive knowledge of audience measurement across TV and other media and has vast experience in setting up large research programmes across African markets. We have no doubt that she will be a great asset to the business and will continue to partner with clients to drive innovation in our media services” said Jennie Beck, chief client officer for Kantar Media EMEA.
Business moves
Primedia Outdoor wins Ekurhuleni Ad-Lites tender for the second time in a row
The Ekurhuleni Municipality has awarded a tender for the design, manufacture, supply, erection and maintenance of 340 street-name advertising signs to Primedia Outdoor for the next four years.
The municipality oversees the East Rand of Gauteng, which extends from Germiston in the west to Springs in the east and Nigel in the south and includes Kempton Park, Boksburg, Benoni, Brakpan, Edenvale and Bedfordview.
Primedia Outdoor held the street-name advertising tender from 2013, but had to re-submit when it expired in July 2016. The new tender will see Primedia Outdoor’s responsibility for the Ad-lite signs extended to 30 June 2021.
“We are delighted to have won this tender for the second time in a row,” says Kennedy Tshabalala, executive: rights and development. “It’s really a win-win situation for Primedia Outdoor and Ekurhuleni because Primedia has over many years become a specialist supplier of Ad-Lites in the municipality and is therefore well positioned to meet its contractual obligation.”
Making moves
Primedia Unlimited’s Bionic rewarded by Facebook
Facebook Marketing Partners has identified Bionic, powered in Sub-Saharan Africa by Primedia Unlimited, as its 2017 Innovation Spotlight Award winner in the Omnichannel: Online and Offline Sales category. The awards call for the year’s most exciting new technologies built on Facebook’s Application Programming Interface (API) to solve marketing challenges.
“Bionic is a platform designed to manage and automate online advertising spend. It works with companies to extract customer insights from the data they already have. At the same time, Bionic leverages Facebook’s Offline Conversions API to measure in-store transactions as they occur—tying companies’ digital ad efforts to offline shopping behaviours such as purchases and coupon usage,” said Facebook Marketing Partners in a statement.
Ryan Williams, Group CEO for Primedia Unlimited adds: “It’s been just over six months since Bionic entered the African market to service South Africa and our neighbouring countries and we’re already seeing fantastic results and benefits for our media agency and marketing clients,” he says. “We’re very proud to be associated with a company as innovative as Bionic that seamlessly aligns offline marketing efforts with targeted online opportunities.”
Currently operating in 25 markets globally, BIONIC has seen rapid growth in recent years and sees the diverse African landscape as a key territory for the future. With their Intelligent Automation features supported by an experienced team, Bionic has a proven track record globally with many major direct clients and agency partners.
Tshego Mosupye #MTVBaseVJSearch Winner 2017
Twenty-six-year-old Tshego Mosupye from Pretoria has been crowned the winner of the MTV Base VJ Search in partnership with Breezer at a thrilling finale party in Soweto.
Tshego – who maintained his cool during tough challenges as he stepped into first place over strong competition from more than 8000 hopefuls – now has the opportunity to meet and mingle with the biggest music stars in the world at international award shows and attend the best parties courtesy of a 12-month contract with MTV Base. His prize package includes an Edgars Active voucher to the value of R20 000 and accessories from Jabari.
This is the beginning for him, he believes: “It’s not only about the links and swag, there is a higher responsibility about how we serve our fans. As a VJ one must be fully aware of what’s happening in the streets and current affairs in relation to the music. I am thrilled and humbled to share the stage with an iconic brand such as MTV Base, a channel that is always ahead of our time and always shifting youth culture. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow – the possibilities for me are endless!”
Says Monde Twala, VP for BET, Youth and Music for Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) Africa: “Youth Culture is the heartbeat that drives our business. MTV Base remains on trend and continues to nurture fledgling talent into on-screen superstars and we see Tshego as another incredible local success story. Winning the MTV Base VJ Search has already transformed his life and we look forward to his journey in the next year. Our VIMN Africa vision for the continent is to work towards unlocking the potential of our homegrown talent.”
