The Media Online’s weekly round up of moves in media.
This week’s BIG move: OLE!CONNECT amalgamates three digital companies
The Ole! Media Group has re-launched its service offering as a single business entity named OLE!CONNECT. Amalgamating the cornerstone companies of the group – MobiMedia (mobile content and digital publishing) and HoneyKome (creative and performance marketing) with newly acquired Shinka data and technology consultancy – OLE!CONNECT brings together some of the most advanced digital media and marketing solutions in the country under one label.
“We have been building digital and mobile expertise since 2009, when MobiMedia launched as one of the pioneering ‘mobile-first’ agencies in the country,” said Tim Legg, co-founder and group CEO.
“After acquiring the well-established online publisher, TEAMtalk media in 2012, we then added 2 more companies to the group in 2013 (AddSuite – programmatic media & performance marketing) and 2014 (HoneyKome – digital creative agency). Since becoming an Oracle Gold Partner in 2015, we’ve been growing our team’s data science competence in collaboration with Shinka.”
More than a simple rebranding, the group has also consolidated all management and administrative functions, a direct response to the market’s requirement for faster, leaner, more effective and agile service providers.
People moves
John Beale new head of comms for Pernod Ricard
Pernod Ricard South Africa has appointed John Beale, as head of communications. Beale holds a BCom Marketing degree from the University of Stellenbosch.
He began his journey at Pernod Ricard in 2017 as media manager responsible for media relations across all the South Africa brands. In his current role Beale oversees paid media, digital marketing, social media community and content; as well as public relations for all brands and Pernod Ricard Corporate.
Among his attributes is being awarded an IAB Bookmark Award: Social Media Marketer of the year 2014. He has extensive experience within the marketing and media industry having begun his career as a media planner at MEC. He went on to become the head of strategy at Cerebra Communications, and Managing Director for MECNotaBene in Cape Town, before founding his own consultancy, Eight Thinking, which he successfully ran for a year.
Outside of the work environment, his hobbies include fitness, motor biking, hiking, travelling, reading as well as music.
Business moves
DHL helps deliver high-speed thrills with Red Bull Cape Town Circuit 2019
DHL Express has announced its partnership with Red Bull South Africa as the official logistics provider of the iconic Red Bull Cape Town Circuit. This showcase event, which has toured around the globe to destinations like Hanoi, Tokyo and Mexico City, will take place at Cape Town’s Grand Parade on 2 June 2019.
Event goers will have the once in a lifetime opportunity to see one of F1 Grand Prix’s greatest legends in action, with David Coulthard in the driver’s seat of the Aston Martin Red Bull car. His skills will once again be on display with the iconic sites of the Mother City as the backdrop for this adrenalin-fueled showcase.
Megan Roper (left), head of marketing for DHL Express Sub Saharan Africa, said that DHL was always on the lookout for new and exciting opportunities to showcase the capabilities of its extensive logistics network in Sub Saharan Africa.
“When we connected with the Red Bull team, everything just fell into place. The opportunity to be involved with the logistics for an event of this nature, on the African continent, is very special indeed,” she said. “As the official Logistics Partner of Formula 1, DHL draws on over 35 years’ experience handling complex, time-critical, international motorsports logistics. Our team at DHL Motorsports is extremely well versed on Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Team’s requirements through our extensive global partnership so it was a natural collaboration,” concludes Roper.
IDG exclusively appoints Turn Left Media in Sub-Saharan Africa
From January 2019, Turn Left Media was been granted exclusive representation of IDG’s product portfolio across South Africa as well as the greater Sub-Saharan African region. With more than 217 million global unique visitors monthly and over 44 million fully opted-in technology decision-maker subscribers globally, IDG delivers over a million unique visitors per month, and has access to around 2.5 million opt-in subscribers across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Turn Left Media, an independent, boutique digital media sales house, is the contact point for businesses interested in understanding the IDG portfolio of solutions.
Founder and director, John Bowles, said, “As a media sales house focused on the professional audience, the IDG solutions excite us tremendously. We know the pressure businesses are under to reach relevant audiences while generating top quality leads, and with IDG in our portfolio we have the assurance that we can deliver results in the technology vertical better than ever before”.
Announcing a global first in the marketing field
Trial Run Media has conceptualised the world’s first network of Automated Business Intelligence Engines (ABIEs) that offers on-demand content like free samples and loyalty rewards, linked to automatic data collection. The Intellectual Property is owned by Trial Run. While sampling isn’t new, it has never been automatically linked to data.
What Trial Run Media has created is a consumer experience integrated across the physical and virtual environment. With Trial Run, consumers are in charge of the marketing experience. They choose the ‘content’ – a FREE sample of the brand they want to try – by entering a campaign URL into the browser of their smart phones. They are then prompted to enter their name and cellphone number, after which, they effortlessly receive a code to enter into ABIE’s keypad to release the sample.
Founders Ursula McDonald and Pippa Capstick call it ‘Advertising on-demand’. “Trial Run will give brands the data they need to make informed business decisions, understand who their market is and reward their most loyal consumers,” McDonald explained.
A live dashboard tracks each sample in real-time and connects it to the recipient’s mobile phone, creating an instant feedback loop that connects consumers to the brand world on their own terms.
Moving Tactics partners with Famous Brands on digital menu boards
Famous Brands, Africa’s casual dining restaurant franchisor, has appointed digital signage solutions company, Moving Tactics, as their digital menu board supplier. This appointment came about as a result of Famous Brands and Moving Tactics developing a working relationship over several years, which included the installation of digital signage, digital menu boards and audio solutions at several branded Quick-Service Restaurant (QSR) outlets across Southern Africa.
“We are incredibly proud to work with Famous Brands. They are a highly respected business that is leading the QSR industry with innovative digital technologies so that they can meet the needs of and engage with their customers. As their sole digital menu board installer, we are able to provide them with the latest digital screen technologies and provide that consistent look and feel across their brands,” said Chris Day, MD.
Making moves
The 2019 Sunday Times Generation Next Conference delivers an exciting line-up for marketers
The fifth edition of the Sunday Times Generation Next Youth Marketing Conference, presented in association with HDI Youth Consultancy, promises to once again provide an opportunity for brand strategists and marketers to engage on key issues affecting youth decision-making and consumerism in South Africa. The theme for the 2019 Conference is Redefining Cool.
“In an environment where social media technology plays an enormously influential role in defining the sentiment and aspirations that youth have towards brands, it’s essential for brand owners and marketers to be ‘woke’ to what is happening in the minds of those aged 8 to 23 years old,” said Reardon Sanderson, GM Group Sales & Marketing at Tiso Blackstar Group. “Our commitment to understanding this market for the benefit of advertisers is what has set Sunday Times Generation Next apart as a leader in unearthing market trends and preference.”
HDI Youth Consultancy CEO, Bongani Chinkanda, will be sharing his insights on youth culture, trends and behaviour by dissecting some of the findings from this year’s survey, and interrogating how that data fits into the bigger youth culture landscape.
Speakers include SweepSouth.com founder, Aisha Pandor; Julia Robson (professional gamer and Esports Correspondent for Africa, Ginx Esports TV); and Refilwe Maluleke (managing director of Yellow Wood).
StorTech becomes Nexio
StorTech, which has long been associated with high quality storage, data centre technology and networking solutions, has announced the launch of a new corporate brand identity, name and tagline. The organisation will now be known as Nexio, and the company’s new tagline is “The trusted IT partner for your digital future”.
Chris Volschenk, CEO of Nexio, said the company had created an integrated, secure digital ecosystem which offers full visibility and control. This allows the CIO to drive and deliver on their digital transformation and business strategy, enabling them to create new revenue streams. The rebranding is part of the organisation’s strategy to best meet the digital needs of businesses today.
HelloFCB+ Designs for Cradle of Human Culture
HelloFCB+, the human connections agency based in Cape Town, designed the corporate identify for the Cradle of Human Culture, launched in April by Wesgro and the Department of Cultural Affairs & Sport and Economic Development and Tourism.
The challenge put to HelloFCB+ was to inspire people to be curious about their origins, and take time out to explore more about this interesting topic. The team also needed to visually link the Cradle of Human Culture to the Cradle of Humankind, and highlight the routes and the sites and experiences along those routes.
“Our corporate identity for the Cradle of Human Culture incorporates design devices derived from the decorations on the egg shells and shards found on some of the sites. These graphics represent the contour lines of the geography, the layered edges of the sharpened rocks as well as the water adjacent to these sites while the overall design alludes to fingerprints, which represent our original identity,” said HelloFCB+ Nadja Srdic, Executive Business Director.
News24 and Netwerk24’s election coverage break traffic records
Media24’s two hero digital news brands – News24 and Netwerk24 – both shot the lights out with their coverage of the 2019 national and provincial elections, with News24 breaking all previous user and pageview traffic records.
News24’s extensive coverage and live results maps attracted over 2.16 million unique browsers* across its app, mobile web and desktop platforms on 9 May as the elections results came in.
Over 48 million combined pageviews were recorded on 8 and 9 May – election day and results day respectively – while the News24 live results maps had over 15 million pageviews during the course of election week. The data was seamlessly integrated directly from the IEC’s database, enabling up-to-the-minute displays of results which made for addictive viewing of the maps for both the national and provincial results.
“These incredible numbers are testament to the hard work and fantastic cooperation between our editorial and development teams over the past few months,” says News24 editor-in-chief Adriaan Basson. “This is a proud moment in the history of News24.”
For the Diary
Paris to host 90th Annual INMA World Congress of News Media in April 2020
The International News Media Association (INMA) announced that Paris would host the 90th Annual World Congress of News Media from 23-28 April 2020.
The news media industry’s premier experience will include a media conference, five seminars, a study tour, and more. More than 500 delegates from 50+ countries are expected to attend this second-ever World Congress held by INMA in Paris.
Highlights of the 2020 World Congress include:
- Congress venue: Palais Brongniart, a 19th century stock exchange re-imagined as a conference facility in the Vivienne district of Paris, where the media conference and seminars will be held.
- Opening reception: The Louvre, the world’s foremost museum, where INMA will have an exclusive viewing of famous works such as the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo.
- Closing awards dinner: Opera Ballroom of the Intercontinental – Le Grand, an historical landmark from the Napoleon III era, where INMA will hold its Global Media Awards dinner.