The Media Online’s weekly round-up of moves in media, from account wins to people and positions, as well as milestones and celebrations.
This week’s BIG move: New BBC Studios leadership team for the region
Grant Welland, BBC Studios’ executive vice president for CEMA, has announced the new senior team responsible for leading the company’s established BBC branded services network and successful content sales and formats business in the region.
It reflects the strategic decision to move from a general management structure based around four sub-regions – Africa, Poland, Middle East and Mediterranean, and Central & Eastern Europe – to a focus on specialist lines of business for the CEMA region as a whole.
“In a rapidly changing market, the combination of a senior management team who are experts in their field, and well-connected teams based in local markets will give us the focus, consistency and effectiveness that we need to evolve and grow our presence in the CEMA market,” said Welland.
Reporting to Welland and responsible for strategy and business development, in addition to delivering revenue and profit growth across their line of business are:
Louise La Grange takes up the role of SVP branded services-commercial. Previously director for strategy and business development, Global Markets, at BBC Studios, in this new role for the business, La Grange will have primary commercial accountability for BBC Studios’ branded services across Central & Eastern Europe and Africa. Salim Mukaddam assumes the position of SVP Content and Format Sales. Formerly GM and vice president of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) at BBC Studios, Mukaddam is responsible for growing the value of the distribution business.
As SVP MENA Natasha Hussain will be responsible for driving opportunities for growth across all lines of business for Turkey, Israel, and the dynamic Middle East and North Africa region. Cecilia Beacon assumes responsibility and accountability for editorial and marketing decisions across BBC Studios’ branded services network in CEMA in the role of SVP Programming & Marketing.
People moves
SAfm welcomes Phemelo Motene as host of SAfm Life Happens
SAfm has announced that Phemelo Motene joined the station on Monday. Motene is a well-known lifestyle presenter in the talk radio space and she will be taking over SAfm Life Happens, which is broadcast weekdays from 13:00 – 15:00.
Acting station manager, Siphelele Sixaso said the appointment was in line with SAfm’s objective of leading the nation’s conversation. He said it was “imperative that we strive to put the best talent on air and we felt that Phemelo is the perfect fit for our brand. She is well versed in the radio talk show space and we strongly believe in her talent”.
Motene began her radio career at the then Radio Metro, now METRO FM, in 1999 as a newsreader. Shortly after joining the station, she took over from Romeo Khumalo as the weekend lunchtime host before leaving to a more demanding television job two years later. She then joined Generations where she played the role of Khensani Moroka, a lead role that was dearly loved by audiences until her departure in 2004.
Business moves
Hoorah Digital expands service offering to Sanofi
Hoorah Digital has been appointed as the preferred digital marketing agency to Sanofi’s Essentiale Extreme brand.
In 2018 the consultancy acquired Essentiale, and after servicing the brand in digital marketing consulting for just over a year, the scope of work has now been expanded thanks to the success of the relationship to date. Along with retaining the original portfolio, Hoorah will now extend to brand strategy development, creative design (video production, campaign key visuals, digital banners, 3D animation, social media creative, point of sale materials, in-store materials, health care practitioner materials, internal training materials), website management, social media community management, as well as a complete e-commerce strategy development.
“At Hoorah Digital we believe in the marriage of data, creativity, and media tech,” said Shaune Jordaan, founder and CEO of Hoorah. “We are looking forward to helping Sanofi SA reach new heights.”
Old Mutual, HaveYouHeard launch cornerstone of revamped sponsorship strategy
Old Mutual and its newly appointed strategic implementation partner, HaveYouHeard, have launched one of the cornerstones of the financial services company’s revamped sponsorship strategy – an impactful collaboration across music with aspiring artists and established industry experts.
Musicians, singers and aspiring artists will participate in a series of events intended to share knowledge that could help shape the careers and financial security of future artists while the technical experts will interact with them in a bespoke music hub in Johannesburg’s Newtown, giving advice and directing performances in the two in-house recording studios.
Old Mutual’s marketing team recently revised its sponsorship strategy in a bid to connect with new and emerging target markets for its products and services, particularly what it terms the ‘new age market’.
“Working with the new sponsorship strategy ‘rules’, our objective for Old Mutual was to create a high impact, always-on national campaign around financial prosperity that connects the new age market to the company,” said HaveYouHeard’s head of client service, Michele Mostert.
Santam Limited appoints Digitas Liquorice as its digital performance media and data partner
Santam has awarded Digitas Liquorice to run its sought after digital performance media and data business.
Following an extensive competitive pitch against multiple leading agencies in South Africa, Digitas Liquorice will be responsible for servicing the entire portfolio of businesses in the group marketing and communications functions, with the ultimate goal of driving growth through data-driven digital media.
“The rise of machine learning, artificial intelligence, big data and automation presents exciting digital media opportunities for Santam to drive scale, efficiencies and profitable growth through innovation in a highly competitive and changing marketplace,” said Clint Hess, head of marketing at Santam.
Channel VAS is fintech sponsor of Mobile 360 Africa
Channel VAS, the global fintech and data analytics company, is supporting the Mobile 360 Africa event, holding the position of Fintech Sponsor in this prestigious event taking place from 16-18 July in Kigali, Rwanda.
With most of the Channel VAS’ 30-plus countries of operation being in the African region, events like Mobile 360 Africa, which is part of the GSMA Series of global events are a prime opportunity for the company to network with key players in the mobile industry and showcase its innovative ideas, aiming to improve people’s financial inclusion in underserved and underbanked areas of the continent.
Acronis emerging markets appoints Tech Wise Business Solutions as African distributor
Tech Wise Business Solutions has signed a distribution agreement with Acronis Emerging markets. Under the terms of the agreement, Techwise will be supplying the full range of backup, anti-ransomware, disaster recovery, storage, and enterprise file sync and share solutions from Acronis across Africa.
Acronis uses award-winning AI-based active protection technology, blockchain-based authentication and hybrid-cloud architecture to protect all data in any environment – including physical, virtual, cloud, mobile workloads and applications. The company’s solutions range from specific offerings designed for service providers to those developed for end-user organisations.
Making moves
Mediology scoops perfect fit for Supa Quick
Creative media and digital marketing agency, Mediology, recently became the first local team to deploy South Africa’s newest out of home (OOH) medium – printable protective foam pillar sleeves in mall parking garages – for client Supa Quick.
Spotting the flawless synergy between Supa Quick’s road safety positioning and the Bumpa Buddy heavy duty pillar sleeves that keep cars safe from scratches and bumps while manoeuvring into tight spots, the agency took full advantage of first mover impact by pillar branding parking garages at eleven major shopping centres across four provinces – Gauteng (Centurion Mall, Mall of Africa, East Rand Mall, The Glen, Cresta Centre), Kwazulu Natal (The Pavillion, Cornubia), Western Cape (Canal Walk, Tyger Valley, Kenilworth), Mpumalanga (Highveld Mall) with the new medium.
The innovative brainchild of this brand-new OOH start-up, the Bumpa Buddy sleeves are made of highly durable polyethylene material that are printed on state-of-the-art printing machines with capacity to print large quantities quickly to ensure fast turn-around times on campaigns.
Congratulations to the South African Films that are in the 2019 Official Selection at ZIFF
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) will be leading a delegation of South African filmmakers to the 22nd edition of the Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF).
ZIFF is East Africa’s largest film and arts festival and provides an important platform to profile Africa’s burgeoning film industry. The NFVF has formalised a relationship with ZIFF, through the signing of an MoU which will focus on training and development opportunities for young filmmakers as well as identifying co-production opportunities. The programme is a skills exchange initiative which is meant to develop scriptwriting and production skills.
The NFVF congratulated the 11 South African films in the ZIFF Official Selection.
- Deep End
- Someone to Blame – the Ahmed Timol Inquest
- Coming Home
- Our Albertina
- The Moon Falls Unconscious
- Whispering Truth to Power
- Not in My Neighbourhood
- Five Fingers for Marseilles
- Burkinabè Bounty: Agroecology in Burkina Faso
- Please Frog, just one sip!
- My Country
Applying to University: A step-by-step guide
The CellCGirl online platform allows students to ask questions regarding the university application process and get answers to help with the process. If they are in their final year of high school, you may already be thinking about starting the next chapter of life.
“We want to be with you every step of the way to help you succeed in this journey. The best way we know how is to equip you with useful information and tools to get started,” said Juliet Mhango, Cell C’s chief human capital development and transformation officer.
Black River F.C. brings the African Bank brand campaign to life across various platforms
Black River F.C. was awarded the African Bank business as its above-the-line (ATL) communications partner in December 2018 and with this new role, the agency has been responsible for driving the brand’s performance and connecting the business to its current and incoming customer base.
The brand campaign ‘Everybody is Somebody’ is about treating everyone as an important person, regardless of their bank balance, social status, race or gender. This campaign, produced by Black River FC, sought to show that African Bank doesn’t discriminate – it is a bank that sees people for who they are, not for their socio-economic status.
Trevor Ndhlovu, Managing Director of Black River FC, said: “People with money are treated better than those who have less. African Bank is the bank that stands against classism and treats all its customers with respect, irrespective of what’s going on with their banking accounts – this is how ‘Everybody is Somebody’ came about.”
African Bank’s new MyWORLD™ account was developed and based on the ‘Everybody is Somebody’ positioning. It’s a day-to-day, digitally-enabled bank account that is designed to suit every customer’s unique needs. The bank shifts banking from individual needs to shared needs.
Parenting series by Elana Afrika the most-listened-to local podcast
This past week The Baby Brunch Parenting Series podcast, presented and produced by Elana Afrika-Bredenkamp, was the most-listened-to podcast produced in South Africa. It peaked at #3 on the Apple Podcast chart, trumped only by Ted Talks Daily (#1) and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah: Ears Edition (#2). At position #3 Afrika ranked higher than Oprah Winfrey’s SuperSoul Conversations (#4) and the Joe Rogan Experience (#5) and is the only locally produced series on the Top 5.
“The success of the podcast and the number of ears it’s reaching is one thing” said Afrika-Bredenkamp “but to receive feedback in our inboxes from moms, parents, and families from outside South Africa including New York and Israel is such a blessing and encouragement. It means we’re making a difference in people’s lives with a broad audience and network of encouragement, supporting moms in SA and around the world. The success of the podcast is further an indication that the team’s work has not been in vain and that what we’ve been doing is reaping results”.
The Baby Brunch Parenting Series is on-going series of conversations with ordinary mothers doing extraordinary things and is published fortnightly. More details on www.babybrunch.co.za. The podcast series has of late also been added to Jacaranda fm’s JacPod portal and is also available on www.thechangeexchange.co.za
New online library collection and teaching facility aiming to help create a sustainable future
Taylor & Francis has introduced its new Sustainable Development Goals Online platform, featuring an online library of over 12 000 articles and chapters – covering some of the world’s biggest ongoing challenges – as well as a selection of materials to help lecturers teach sustainability and enhance students’ satisfaction with their institutions.
This new venture from Taylor & Francis provides a platform in which to engage higher education students, their tutors, and the researchers in their universities, in learning about and addressing the issues set out in the 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – including poverty, inequality, climate change, pollution, and conflict.
Introducing Spotify Lite which is small, but just as loud
Spotify Lite is a small, fast, and simplified version of the main Spotify app. You’ll still be able to search and play your favourite songs and artists, save them, share with others, discover new music, and enjoy playlists made just for you, but with a few extra features making it ideal for older devices and operating systems.
“Spotify Lite was built from the ground up based on user feedback from around the world, allowing millions more to enjoy the world’s best music experience — especially in areas with limited bandwidth and phone storage,” said Kalle Persson, senior product manager at Spotify. “Lite can be downloaded separately, both for Free and Spotify Premium users, and used either alongside or independently from the main Spotify app on all Android phones running version 4.3 or higher.”
Spotify Lite is now available in 36 markets* across Asia, Latin America, Middle East and Africa on Google Play.
For the Diary
CEM 2019 to set a new benchmark in the customer experience battleground
SABC, Western Cape Government, KPMG, MultiChoice, Nedbank, Uber, and SA Home Loans make up a fraction of the companies not only in attendance but delivering keynote addresses at what remains the largest Customer Experience Management Summit in Africa. The event is taking place on 31st July to 1st August 2019 at the CTICC in Cape Town.
“This event will break new ground, not only in terms of the invaluable insights into how CX initiatives are proving themselves as differentiators for business growth, but in that there will be little to no theory. In fact, every aspect of the event has been designed to provide delegates with practical, real-life learnings,” said Shannon Mackrill, joint MD of Kinetic.
The summit aims to educate CX professionals and business executives via real-world examples and case studies at each stage of the customer journey, ultimately informing and inspiring customer experience strategies which encourage retention and advocacy.
