Media moves: Bonang’s House of BNG pops at launch, WPP launches empowerment initiative for women leaders in SA, MTF goes live

WPP launches initiative to develop its female senior leaders in SA. The MediaShop empowers from within. The MultiChoice Talent Factory Networking Portal Goes Live. One-Eyed Jack’s 2019’s off to a cracking start. Nfinity Group enters television and radio. Amfi Craft appoints Boomtown. P&G and Massmart partner to deliver 1.5 million days of clean water. Bonang’s House of BNG pops at launch with a celebratory response.

This week’s BIG move: WPP launches initiative to develop its female senior leaders in SA

WPP has held its first WPP Stella event in South Africa as part of the company’s continued commitment to developing its female leaders. WPP Stella, an international leadership and networking group for female senior leaders across the global WPP network, aims to help women achieve their maximum potential.

“The first WPP Stella group was established in the UK in 2015, following the need for a networking programme aimed at empowering WPP’s future female leaders,” said Robyn de Villiers, chairman and CEO of BCW Africa and the champion of WPP Stella locally. “Since then, WPP Stella groups have been established in Italy, Taiwan, India and Mexico, making South Africa the sixth country to launch this initiative. This is very exciting for us, especially as WPP operates in 112 countries globally.”

De Villiers said one of the key differentiators of WPP Stella was its focus on empowering female senior executives and enhancing their potential.

This year the South African arm of WPP Stella, which is part of the WPP’s SA Leadership Council’s wider gender equality work, will be centred round the theme of ‘Educate and Empower’ through an inspiring series of events. These will be focused on networking, knowledge sharing and creating partnerships in order to better support female senior WPP executives in their career journeys.

People moves

The MediaShop empowers from within

The MediaShop has been running an internship programme for a number of years and also tries to employ candidates on a permanent basis once they have completed the programme. On 1 March they had a new intake of 10 interns across their JHB, Cape Town and Durban office.

Ayanda Mda, Park Advertising’s HR manager, said graduates were selected from various institutions of higher learning before going through a stringent ‘Dragon’s Den’ style immersion workshop. They were given a brief to create marketing and media plans which were presented to members of the management team

“The programme is 18 months long with the first 12 months dedicated to providing training on media buying and planning, strategy, intelligence, OOH, campaign management and digital planning,” she said. “Coupled with the training there is practical on-the-job exposure in the various business units where they will get to implement what they have learnt.”

Kgaugelo Maphai, managing director of The MediaShop Johannesburg added: “I’m very proud of our intern programme and the fact that our organisation invests in it. Most companies run internship programmes for six to 12 months just to tick the box, but we go beyond by running a full 18-month programme to ensure these graduates get the grounding they need to succeed. We also give them a stipend of R7 500 which is double what is expected of us. We are proud that our programme has over the years produced many black strategists, planners and buyers in the industry who were initially trained at The MediaShop and we are happy to see them succeed in the respective agencies they now work for.”

From the mouths of Interns:

Sinazo Jayiya: Accuracy is very important when dealing with client information, especially money. As well as treating media owners in the way you treat clients.

Nolukholo Ceza: an eye opening experience for me. I have learnt about so many different aspects of media, schedules and chaselists. And sticking to the budget!

Mbali Jonas: I have learnt about sticking to client brief, producing accurate chase lists that correspond with schedules.

Ongiwe Sibahle Mboxela: from the interview with Bonita I have learnt that not everything is about formality, it is more about being ethical and professional, these are some of the values of The MediaShop and with that attitude I have already learnt so much this past week.

Business moves

The MultiChoice Talent Factory networking portal goes live

MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF), MultiChoice Africa’s flagship Pan-African shared-value initiative, has announcde the launch of the MTF Portal.vThe portal is the third touchpoint of the initiative following the launch of the MTF Academies, a 12-month regional film training programme aimed at upskilling the next generation of passionate young film creatives launched in October 2018 and the MTF Masterclasses launched in January this year to upskill industry professionals.

The interactive online portal is aimed at profiling and connecting Africa’s industry creatives and bringing pan-African talent and opportunities together in one place. The digital portal will allow filmmakers across the continent to network, find talent and showcase their work.

The MTF Portal forms part of the investment MultiChoice has made to improving the quality and supporting the production of local content and storytelling across the continent. The MTF Portal will serve both seasoned professionals and aspiring talent in Africa’s film and TV industry.

Amfi Craft appoints Boomtown

Amfi Craft has appointed Boomtown as lead agency for its global glass fibre and reinforced plastic and polyurethane business, starting with a brief to develop its brand and corporate identity.

The independent agency has been hired with a remit including global brand positioning, integrated communications strategy and creative.

Amfi Craft hasn’t invested in marketing until now and previously relied on word of mouth marketing and referrals. “We’re only one of seven organisations worldwide who ‘do what we do’,” said director, Vaughn Finkelstein. “In our 20-plus years we have used informal marketing to grow, but now is the time to invest in our brand and establish our global footprint even further.

“The Boomtown creative track record and expansive geographic reach will be key to our success as we create a globally relevant brand.”

Andrew MacKenzie, Boomtown managing director, added: “Amfi Craft is a proudly Eastern Cape business that’s competing in a global market. It’s an honour, and tremendous privilege, to partner with a team that has the vision and ambition to enter and compete in exciting markets and understand the power of a brand to do just that.”

One-Eyed Jack’s 2019’s off to a cracking start

One-eyed Jack has scooped two new wins already this year, both within the urban youth segment.

Reinforcing the agency’s credentials as entertainment marketing specialists, Volkswagen South Africa awarded the team the VW #VIVOnation festival for a second year, and TRACE TV brought the team on board to manage their latest campaign highlighting emerging talent.

“While entertainment is our niche, last year we worked hard at evolving from a company that promotes festivals and events on behalf of promoters, to working with brands that use festivals and events to build their brands”, commented Natasha Goosen, head of PR at One-eyed Jack. “Remaining true to our roots whilst spearheading corporate growth isn’t easy, but we’ve succeeded and have already seen great progress this early on in 2019”.

Nfinity Group enters television and radio

Partnering with Brand Game Shows, Nfinity Group has launched two new offerings, The Big Brand Show, and The Lucky Listener Show, entering the TV and radio market.

Both offerings are short-form game shows on which contestants can win cash prizes by answering questions about brands. The answers are then revealed through adverts being played, giving the brands exposure and advertising in this way.

Read the full story here.

Making moves

P&G and Massmart partner to deliver 1.5 million days of clean water

The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is once again partnerint with retail group, Massmart, to launch its 2019 Children’s Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) campaign, which will continue to raise awareness of the global water crisis and help to provide clean water to those who need it.

This World Water Day (22 March 2019), P&G will celebrate the achievement of its 2020 goal of delivering 15 billion litres of clean drinking water, through its non-profit CSDW programme, one year ahead of schedule. P&G is now accelerating its efforts to help provide clean drinking water to even more people by delivering 25 billion litres – more than 100 billion glasses of water – worldwide by 2025.

The Massmart group (Makro, Game, Rhino, Jumbo, Shield and Cambridge stores) will support the P&G CSDW campaign in South Africa via a “1 purchase = 1 day of clean water” campaign, enabling shoppers to contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #6 that looks to ensure water and sanitation for all. P&G will also host engaging activations in select Massmart stores in order to showcase to shoppers, the reality of access to clean drinking water.

For every P&G product consumers purchase during the month of April 2019 from a participating Massmart store, P&G will provide the equivalent of one day of clean water to help children and their families. Through the CSDW initiative, P&G and Massmart have set a 2019 goal to raise 1.5 million days of clean water, for South Africans who need it.

Bonang’s House of BNG pops at launch with a celebratory response

Bonang Matheba’s new premium beverage brand, The House of BNG, opened its doors to a record breaking response following its launch in Johannesburg, achieving over a billion #houseofbng impressions on Twitter and selling out in Woolworths both in store and online.

The House of BNG Twitter feed reached a potential 46 million people in one day and, as for Instagram, the House of BNG’s account sky-rocketed to 35 000 followers within the first 18 hours of going live.

The impact was also felt in sales with both the House of BNG Brut and Brut Rosé Méthode Cap Classiques (MCCs) requiring additional stocking in Woolworths stores and online.

“The result has been truly remarkable especially as it Bonang’s first endeavour from being a brand ambassador to a beverage brand owner,” said  Bonang’s manager, Davin Phillips of Celebrity Services Africa, who handle all aspects to Bonang’s brand, including the House of BNG.

In addition, Cosmopolitan magazine also reached a new milestone following Bonang being the cover of the April issue – reaching 20 million people within 24 hours.

The House of BNG is Bonang’s first foray into her own brand of luxury beverages. In addition, Bonang became the first black woman to be made a member of the Cap Classique Producers Association.¶