Okuhle Media and Dumile Films join forces for innovative TV/Film production partnership. Morné van Emmenes appointed Kimberly-Clark’s marketing manager for the Baby and Child Care. Ogilvy Africa names new regional creative director in leadership changes. Microsoft opens first datacentres in Africa with general availability of Microsoft Azure. Out There Media wins MTN Group contract. Sony MEA appoints Tribeca PR as its South African agency. Port Designs appoints Syntech as distributor. Meetings Africa 2019 thrives with locally-developed mobile event app from Flock. Taxify rebrands to ‘Bolt’. Boomerang launches in HD. The future of SA’s healthcare system under examination at the Business Day Dialogues.
This week’s BIG move: Okuhle Media and Dumile Films join forces for innovative TV/Film production partnership
With the production of quality local content on the rise, TV production mavericks Okuhle Media have partnered with promising newcomers, Dumile Films, to tell authentic Cape Town stories and transform the local creative landscape. Dumile Films’ debut drama series, Nkululeko had a well-received first season on Mzansi Magic in 2018.
The South African Department of Trade and Industry are projecting investments and incentives of over R2.6 billion for the creative industry highlighting the need for proactive development of black stories and storytellers. The lack of thorough representation and executive transformation within the TV and Film production industry has been an ongoing challenge faced by the industry for close to three decades.
“We started our production company to curb the accepted practice of guessed culture when it comes to the creation and production of black stories, especially in Cape Town,” said Sibulele Siko-Shosha (above), founder/creative director and producer at Dumile Films. “The partnership with Okuhle Media provides us with the support, resources and opportunities to create and produce content that is authentic and of quintessential quality,” she added.
“Consistent hands-on industry experience is the most important ingredient to ensure that there is sustainable transformation in any industry,” said Prejlin Naidoo, Okuhle Media’s group managing executive. “Authentic cultural representation in content does much more than just entertain – it instills a sense of pride and empowering sense of social responsibility in those being represented; this is why a partnership such as this is important. It encourages the owners of the stories to be responsible for telling them and become direct recipients from the various value chains within production”.
People moves
Morné van Emmenes appointed Kimberly-Clark’s marketing manager for the Baby and Child Care
At the age of 30, Morné van Emmenes has been appointed as Kimberly-Clark’s marketing manager for the Baby and Child Care.
“I joined Kimberly-Clark in 2013 with no FMCG experience, let alone knowledge of the Baby Childcare category. All I had was a passion for marketing, brand building and a very teachable spirit, always open to learn new things and build my own knowledge and experience. It is a great honour to be appointed as the Marketing Manager for the Baby and Childcare category,” said Van Emmenes.
In his five years at Kimberly-Clark, Van Emmenes has been in the position of spending time working on and managing each one of the sub-brands in the Huggies portfolio in South Africa. He also had the opportunity to spend time as a member of the regional team where he was exposed to a new product and category, DryNites, as well as markets across their EMEA Region.
Ogilvy Africa names new regional creative director in leadership changes
Ogilvy Africa has named Brett Wild as its new Regional Creative Director. He takes over from Joao Espirito Santo, who is moving back to Portugal for a new assignment.
In his new role, Wild will be expected to spearhead the Pan-African agency’s quest to deliver award-winning and effective communication work for clients in line with growing demand for strategic communications services especially by global multinational brands now present in Africa.
While announcing the appointment, Ogilvy Africa Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mathieu Plassard said, “We are delighted and honoured to welcome Brett Wild to Ogilvy Africa at a time when the agency is going through a period of renewed creative growth and integrated communications delivery for Pan-African clients.”
Business moves
Out There Media wins MTN Group contract
Out There Media (OTM), a global leader in mobile advertising and data monetisation, continues its expansion in Africa and the Middle East, by being awarded the tender to build a digital advertising super hub for MTN Group.
MTN Group operates in 21 countries throughout the continent and will make use of OTM’s award-winning mobile advertising technology platform, Mobucks. Mobucks enables brands to connect and engage with consumers over their mobile phones in a highly targeted manner.
Kerstin Trikalitis, CEO, OTM, said: “At Out There Media we have the three key ingredients that mobile operators need to target audiences and increase revenue streams. We provide the technology, ad operations and ad sales in-house, offering our blue-chip clients and agencies unprecedented expertise and convenience. This partnership with MTN will also bring to market a pan-African solution improving SME viability via more effective and engaging, real time advertising and kickstarting a digital revolution across the continent’s markets.”
The first mobile operator to launch digital advertising with OTM will be MTN South Africa, followed by Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda.
Sony MEA appoints Tribeca PR as its South African agency
Sony Middle East and Africa (Sony MEA) has appointed Tribeca Public Relations (Tribeca) to support it in expanding awareness and driving growth of its extensive range of audio and digital imaging products in South Africa.
Drawing on its years of experience working with international consumer electronics brands such as Epson, TomTom, Logitech, Garmin, Asus and Toshiba, Tribeca will provide on-the-ground insights and strategic support to the Sony MEA team, which is based in Dubai.
“Our business objectives are very clear: we need to increase sales across our various South African retail partners,” explained Mathew Mathai, general manager – marketing communications, Sony MEA. “Tribeca has already demonstrated that it can support us effectively in achieving these objectives, and we trust their guidance in responding to local media and consumer expectations.”
Port Designs appoints Syntech as distributor
Syntech has partnered with Port Designs to distribute high quality carry bags, cases, tablet covers and accessories for technology products to local resellers.
“This key partnership will harness Syntech’s existing strengths and reseller channels to deliver the perfect Port Designs product to the right South African markets,” said Syntech co-founder Ryan Martyn.
“For the past 25 years, Port has developed strong worldwide partnerships, the most recent of which is Syntech. We chose to work with Syntech due to the company’s reputation for only distributing quality brands to the right channels. Innovation is at the heart of both these companies and introducing Syntech as a distributor for Port will ensure the continued growth of the brand in Southern Africa,” said Tennille Rhoode, country manager for Port Designs.
Microsoft opens first datacentres in Africa with general availability of Microsoft Azure
Microsoft has announced the opening of its first datacentres in Africa, with the general availability of Azure from the new cloud regions in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa. This makes Microsoft the first global provider to deliver cloud services from datacentres on the continent, which will help companies securely and reliably move their businesses to the cloud while meeting compliance needs.
“Microsoft Azure is now available from our new cloud regions in Cape Town and Johannesburg. The combination of Microsoft’s global cloud infrastructure with the new regions in Africa will create greater economic opportunity for organisations in Africa, accelerate new global investment, and improve access to cloud and internet services,” said Yousef Khalidi, corporate vice president, Azure Networking, Microsoft.
Making moves
Taxify rebrands to ‘Bolt’
Taxify, the ride-hailing platform, is changing its name to Bolt and introducing a new logo. This update brings the brand identity in line with the company’s broader vision of transportation that has already expanded from ride-hailing with cars to motorbikes and scooter sharing.
“Taxify launched five years ago with a mission to make urban transportation more convenient and affordable,” said Markus Villig, CEO and co-founder of Bolt. “Our first product was a taxi dispatch solution that gave the company its original name.”
Gareth Taylor, country manager for Bolt in South Africa, said the news name stood for “fast, effortless movement – exactly what the experience of getting around in a city should be, be it by car, scooter or public transport. It also underscores the company’s belief that the future of transportation will be electric”.
The Estonian-born tech company now serves 25 million customers in over 30 countries globally and has grown to be a leader in Europe and Africa.
Meetings Africa 2019 thrives with locally-developed mobile event app from Flock
Delegates to Meetings Africa 2019, the biggest to date with over 350 exhibitors, embraced the mobile application provided by Flock Event Management to make their show experience seamless and productive.
Arguably the premier trade show for the business events and meetings industry on the continent, Meetings Africa showcases Africa’s diverse offering of services and products while providing a forum for African associations and African meetings industry professionals to explore opportunities to grow their respective businesses.
For Meetings Africa 2019, Flock supplied a digital, custom-branded mobile app for attendees to download and access to facilitate their movement and participation in the show. The app housed all event information including speaker, exhibitor, attendee and general information as well as all documents including brochures and presentations; floor plans, photos and videos; and an interactive, instant survey for feedback from guests.
Boomerang launches in HD
Continuing its ongoing commitment towards re-imagining television for African audiences, Turner has now made Boomerang available in High-Definition across Africa. The switch took place on the morning of 5 March, rolling out across the whole continent, effective immediately.
The change marks Turner’s third African channel to transition to HD in recent months. Currently, South African viewers can enjoy watching their favourite kids’ channel, Cartoon Network, in HD, while the whole continent has access to the American blockbuster channel, TNT, in HD, alongside the ‘more to laugh about’ kids’ channel, Boomerang.
For the Diary
The future of SA’s healthcare system under examination at the Business Day Dialogues
“Change to the healthcare industry isn’t coming, it’s already here. We have the opportunity to innovate and collaborate to define solutions for our present and future,” said Dr Shrey Viranna, CEO of Life Healthcare ahead of the Business Day Dialogues breakfast event on 12 March, where the future of SA’s healthcare system will be placed under the microscope.
In 2018, the National Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi presented proposals to amend the current health insurance and medical scheme bills to promote lower costs and improved accessibility to quality healthcare services for both private and public healthcare patients. With wellness and access to healthcare considered a fundamental human right, it is no wonder that the topic of healthcare remains a critical one for people of all ages and races across the world.
Dr Viranna will be joined by Dr Anban Pillay (Deputy Director General, National Department of Health), Axel Baur (Senior Partner, Hong Kong at McKinsey & Company), and Vukani Mngxati (CEO, Accenture in Africa) in a panel discussion hosted by well-known broadcast personality, Siki Mgabadeli. Business Day editor, Lukanyo Mnyanda will welcome guests to the event.
The panel will also be open to questions from the floor.
The Business Day Dialogues are a series of breakfast events that incorporate expert panel discussion on a topic agreed in consultation with the sponsoring partner and the editor of Business Day, SA’s leading business title.