The Media Online’s weekly round up of moves in media.
This week’s BIG move: Ads24, Jacaranda FM and Viacom commit to MOST sponsorship
Viacom will for the first time sponsor the prestigious Bell Award at this year’s MOST Awards.
“Viacom is an important addition to our list of MOST supporters. Their marketing team recognises the MOST mantra which is ‘by the media for the media’. I am pleased and proud to welcome Strini and his team to MOST,” says Sandra Gordon, founder of MOST.
The Bell Award honours an individual who, though not working for a media owner or agency, has made an exceptional contribution to the betterment of the media sector.
Strini Naicker, vice president commercial & content distribution for Viacom International Media Networks Africa, said it was imperative for Viacom to “commemorate individuals who have consistently invested their lives”.
Ads24 and Media24 are, once again, the sponsors of the Shepherd Award, an accolade that celebrates the selfless contribution of an individual who has gone above and beyond in their contribution to the betterment of the media and marketing industry.
“We always look forward to MOST Awards because each year offers us something different in terms of feedback, which helps us to improve our service to our clients,” says Ané Honiball, GM of Ads24.
Jacaranda FM is providing the entertainment in the games room this year as well as sponsoring the Media Agency of the Year category.
“The MOST Awards is one of the greatest acknowledgments in the industry. It’s tough out there and people need to be recognised for their hard work,” says Jane Ruinard, Head of Commercial and Trade Marketing. “It also allows us a deep dive into where we can improve and offers a better flow of decision making for the sales and support teams.”
The 11th annual MOST Awards will take place on 10 September 2019 at The Wanderers Club in Illovo. Don’t forget to vote in the 2019 MOST Awards. To access the online survey click here, or go to The Media Online and look for the Click here to Vote button on the homepage sidebar.
People moves
Associated Media Publishing appoints Charl Edwards as new House and Leisure Editor
Charl Edwards is the new editor of our House and Leisure brand.
Edwards’ most recent role as homeware editor at online retailer superbalist.com, as well as his previous dual role as online editor and art director of Elle Decoration, makes him the perfect fit as editor, with diverse decor experience within the publishing, retail, branding and design industries.
“He brings with him a holistic brand focus and keen eye for detail of both print and digital, as well as a fresh outlook needed for this distinguished role,” said AMP CEO, Julia Raphaely.
Edwards will be instrumental in bedding down the newly refreshed Brand ID for House and Leisure, which was launched recently with an innovative and iconic magazine cover and the concept of focusing a lens on leisure.
DQ&A appoints new commercial director as part of global growth strategy
Roan Mackintosh has joined the global DQ&A team as commercial director. Mackintosh’s experience in both business leadership and digital marketing will assist the IncuBeta subsidiary’s expansion plans in both the local and global markets.
“Roan has more than a decade’s worth of experience in the digital space and is well respected by his peers. We are excited to have a person of Roan’s calibre join our team and add his experience to our corporate client base,” saod Jonathan Gluckman, IncuBeta director and CEO of NMPi Asiapac and Africa. “Roan knows how to translate the technical aspects of marketing into the business language that is required to secure the C-level leadership buy-in. We are confident he will be a valuable addition to our team and we know our clients will benefit from his insight.”
Avatar welcomes Dr Ewoudt Cloete as new chief digital officer
Newly appointed chief digital officer at Avatar, Dr Ewoudt Cloete, brings with him more than 10 years in the broader marketing communications industry. “Disruption needs to happen before the brief, and only those agencies who are data-led and digitally-driven will be able to do just that,” Cloete said.
Group MD of Avatar, Veli Ngubane, said data enabled Avatar to be an agency that does not need a brief but proactively engaging clients on their business challenges and solutions, then collaborating with client to write a brief in a high paced environment. This is why we will continue to expand our data and digital capacity in both our Joburg and Cape town offices.”
Ngubane said he was excited to have Cloete join the team “at a time when the agency is pivoting, creating niche pockets of excellence, equipped with future skills to retain its relevance in an ever-evolving business landscape”.
South African Women in ICT forum appoints new board
The South African Women in ICT Forum has announced the names of its new board members.
South African Women in ICT is an industry forum that brings together women working in the ICT sector, or other non-ICT industries but performing functions of an ICT nature. Working with private sector, public sector and civil society, its interests lie in furthering the advancement of women in the ICT sector.
“We are confident that the new board members will bring a wealth of diverse experience and industry knowledge that will pivot the advancement of women in ICT to the next level,” said Charmaine Houvet, outgoing Chair of the South African Women in ICT Board.
Chairing the board will be Mameetse Masemola supported by her deputy chair, Sonwabise Sebata. Zine Nkukwana has been appointed as the chief executive officer, Andréa Campbell is the incoming treasurer, and Theresa Stewart is the incoming board secretariat. The incoming non-executive directors are Jenine Zacher, Corien Vermaak, Marilyn Radebe, Nthabeleng Mokitimi-Dlamini and Irisha Luhanga.
The deputy minister of communications, Ms Pinky Kekana, expressed government’s commitment to continue to work with Non Profit Companies such as the South African Women in ICT Forum, as well as the private sector to ensure that women receive equal opportunities in the ICT sector as well as ICT enabled sectors.
Business moves
Brand storytellers Idea Hive broaden their African footprint
Local brand storytellers, Idea Hive, have announced their partnership with Kenyan marketing and communications agency, Red Fox Communications to provide essential brand and digital storytelling strategy and execution services to the African continent, starting with Kenya and advancing to Nigeria, Ghana and Rwanda.
This is a first for the South African agency which has become the first-choice for brands like McDonald’s and Shell.
Trade relations between Kenya and South Africa have strengthened over the last few years, with 31 percent of South Africa’s total trans-African exports being to Kenya in 2018
The Idea Hive/Red Fox partnership will provide South African businesses in Kenya and those looking to move into Kenya, with a native solution to their marketing, digital, advertising and communications needs.
Twiga Communications bags Granadilla insurance
Boutique PR agency Twiga Communications has been appointed to develop and implement the PR strategy for new insurtech company Granadilla.
The agency will deliver strategic communications that complements the brand’s overall marketing campaigns and product releases, to ensure growth in both brand recognition and take up by consumers.
Franco D’Onofrio, Managing Director of Twiga Communications, said, “The insurtech space and how it is disrupting the traditional insurance model is exciting. Working with app-based insurer Granadilla is a fascinating process as consumer needs and products change rapidly. So, innovation, relevance and creativity in how we communicate to the target audiences is key to effectiveness.”
Raizcorp and Loeries host first Pair Fair to match entrepreneurs and creatives
Over the past two years, business-development expert organisation Raizcorp has been partnering with the Loeries to offer branding and advertising masterclasses to creatives and entrepreneurs. This year, the collaboration took an entirely new direction with the introduction of the Pair Fair. This concept is the brainchild of Mama Agency, and has the goal of partnering growing entrepreneurial businesses with young creatives to grow exciting and innovative brands in the market.
The first event took place on Thursday, 13 June. The guest speaker was Robbie Brozin, the cofounder of Nando’s, who spoke about the collaboration between Nando’s and Hunt Lascaris (now TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris) when both businesses were in their infancy. Nando’s first brief to Hunt Lascaris was that they wanted to grow big on the back of creativity with an agency who wanted to win awards.
Brozin’s core message to the audience of entrepreneurs and creatives was that you don’t need lots of money to be creative.
Aimed at inspiring the next Nando’s–Hunt Lascaris success story, Brozin’s fascinating talk was followed by the Pair Fair which saw 20 entrepreneurs and 20 creatives seated across from each other to pitch their businesses and ideas for three minutes at a time, before moving on to the next person in a speed-dating type format
PEAR builds on media analysis innovation
Media monitoring, research, and analysis firm Professional Evaluation and Research (PEAR) has expanded on its internationally published analysis methodology with the introduction of two new qualitative measures in the media analysis space – media landscape points (MLS) and net reputation score (NRS).
Using various metrics (including reach, audience, circulation, opportunity to see, potential influence of the medium, and advertising rates), MLS ranks print, broadcast, and online media on an even keel by attributing a score from 1 to 100 to each source.
For its part, NRS looks at traditional net effect and net sentiment methodologies and incorporates PEAR’s SWOT analysis approach to brand measurement.
Out There Media participates In MTN’s 21 Days of Y’ello Care community initiative
Out There Media (OTM), a global leader in mobile advertising and data monetisation, will participate in MTN Group’s 2019, 21 Days of ‘Y’ello Care,’ initiative.
Every June, MTN employees across 21 countries and its selected partners are encouraged to get involved in social projects. This year’s theme is supporting youth skills empowerment in South Africa.
OTM is joining MTN’s Digital Services department for the course of the initiative, where they will be given the opportunity to roll up their sleeves, volunteer time and make a difference.
Rachelson launches Personal Branding for Entrepreneurs
Donna Rachelson has just released her fourth book, Personal Branding for Entrepreneurs, a fast and worthwhile read to enhance your personal brand and to figure out what makes you truly distinctive.
Rachelson has more than 25 years of experience in investigating what makes brands successful. She has a passion for entrepreneurs., has extensive experience in helping start-ups and growth stage businesses to succeed and is an entrepreneur herself.
She highlights a key finding from Seed Academy’s The Real State of Entrepreneurship Survey that marketing and getting customers is a key challenge for entrepreneurs. “They have limited funds to market their businesses, so it makes sense for entrepreneurs to brand and market themselves – it’s essential for any entrepreneur to get ahead.”
EOH joins AWS Well-Architected Partner Programme
EOH has joined the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Well-Architected Partner Programme to gain the expertise needed to help AWS customers build solutions, implement best practices, audit workloads, and make improvements to their cloud environments at scale. The company is part of a select number of AWS Partner Network (APN) Partners in South Africa to have joined the programme.
Comscore and MediaScience enter strategic partnership
Comscore, a trusted currency for planning, transacting and evaluating media across platforms, and MediaScience, a global leader in scientific, lab-based measurement of consumer interaction with media and advertising, are joining forces to provide deeper insights on how advertising works in the digital era. Through this partnership, Comscore and MediaScience will produce research that addresses how and why cross-platform advertising works, as well as measurement of audience size, behaviour, engagement and effect.
Comscore and MediaScience will leverage proprietary capabilities to provide innovative client solutions and a series of industry thought leadership studies to broadly and effectively answer questions that are challenging the media industry.
“MediaScience is looking forward to collaborating with Comscore on this initiative, by bringing best-in-class measures that address both the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ across platforms,” said Duane Varan, CEO of MediaScience. “This brings both breadth and depth to the field in unique ways which we believe will see exciting breakthroughs in better understanding the cross-platform landscape.”
Acronis appoints new master distributor for emerging markets
Acronis, a global leader in cyber protection, has announced that it has appointed Acronis Emerging Markets (AEM) as a new master distributor to increase its focus on, and accelerate growth in, the Latin American and African markets. As part of the agreement, AEM will market and distribute the full range of Acronis cyber protection products in these regions, providing local training and support for partners and service providers.
AEM is an independent company led by Garry Kondakov, an IT and cybersecurity veteran with more than 15 years of experience in growing business for various tech companies around the world. Kondakov has already established effective teams in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and South Africa.
Making moves
Triggerfish launches free career-focused learning platform for animators
Triggerfish, in partnership with Goethe-Institut and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Co-operation and Development, has launched Triggerfish Academy, a free digital learning platform for anyone wanting to understand more about the career opportunities and how to get started in the field of animation.
The website features 25 free video tutorials, quizzes and animation exercises introducing animation as a career and the principles of storytelling, storyboarding and animation, as well as several additional resources to help guide aspiring animators into a career in animation.
The South African animation industry is growing – and so is the demand for skilled animators globally,” said Noemie Njangiru, head of culture and development at Goethe-Institut Johannesburg, pointing to the success of recent Triggerfish projects like the Oscar-nominated Revolting Rhymes; Mama K’s Team 4, recently announced by Netflix as their first original animated series from Africa; and this year’s New York Children’s Festival and Shanghai International Film and TV Festival winner Zog.
Njangiru also highlighted the opportunities for animation outside the traditional film industry, within fields like advertising, app and web design, architecture, engineering, gaming, industrial design, medicine, and the motor industry, not to mention growth sectors like augmented reality and virtual reality.
The course was created by Tim Argall, currently the animation director on Triggerfish’s third feature film, Seal Team. He’s roped in many of the South African animation industry’s brightest stars, from Malcolm Wope, character designer on Mama K’s Team 4, and Annike Pienaar, now working at Illumination in Paris on Sing 2, to Daniel Snaddon, co-director of the multi-award-winning BBC adaptations Stick Man and Zog, and Faghrie Coenraad, lead dressing and finaling artist on the Oscar-nominated Revolting Rhymes, as well as Triggerfish head of production Mike Buckland.
The featured talent share not just their skills but also their stories, from how they broke the news they wanted to be animators to their parents, to common myths about the animation industry.
For the Diary
Hot91.9 FM and Real Comedy host Comedy Jam
Hot 91.9 FM and Real Comedy have announces the first HOT 91.9FM COMEDY JAM on Saturday 3rd August 2019 at Centre Court, Emperors Palace.
Award winning comedian David Kau is the Host for the show and will be joined by top South African comedians Barry Hilton, Mpho Popps, Chris Forrest, Nik Rabinowitz and Conrad Koch.
#Hot919ComedyJam
