The Media Online’s weekly round up of moves in media.
Breaking news: HelloFCB+ wins creative and strategic duties for the City of Cape Town
The City of Cape Town has handed HelloFCB+ the reins to its account after a hotly contested pitch that pit a number of Cape Town-based agencies against each other.
“We’re absolutely thrilled to have been awarded the creative and strategic responsibilities for the City of Cape Town, and we’re looking forward to finding new and innovative ways of connecting them to an incredibly diverse audience,” said managing director, Robyn Campbell.
Priya Reddy, director of communication for the City of Cape Town added: “We are incredibly excited to go on this journey with HelloFCB+. The City of Cape Town is a complex organisation and we’re confident that the team at HelloFCB+ has the strategic and creative strength to help us tell the stories of our City to all those who live, work and play in Cape Town.”
The newly formed agency has been in a rich vein of form since the recent merger between FCB Cape Town and Hellocomputer Cape Town in April this year having added the Capfin and Sir Fruit accounts to their list of clients, along with a number of other project-based wins.
This week’s BIG move: All female student group from Vega to present at Microsoft Design Expo
Five female students from Vega (a brand of The Independent Institute of Education – The IIE) have been chosen to present their ideas at this year’s Microsoft Design Expo, taking place at the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington USA.
Students at Vega were challenged to design a user experience prototype that addresses a real-world problem, with Amy Burrow, Madelene Cronje, Luani Matthyser, Sandra Pavic and Keitumetse Pole standing out for their innovative ideas.
“We are grateful and extremely excited that we have been given this opportunity to represent our country,” said Matthyser. “As young females, the opportunity to present our ideas on an equal platform to that of the rest of the world inspires us to pioneer change in our industry.”
In keeping with the theme of empathy, the students’ idea incorporates virtual reality, augmented reality, 360-degree cameras and other technologies, such as immersive mixed reality technology, to help people experience different cultures and actively engage in events and activities from anywhere in the world.
People moves
Publicis Machine brings new creative group head on board
Publicis Machine has appointed Mawande Sobethwa as creative group head at the agency’s Cape Town office. As part of the leadership team, this young copywriter, content creator and filmmaker brings years of experience working with creative teams at some of South Africa’s top agencies to his new role, and his expertise and insight are set to benefit the agency’s prestigious clients.
“Our agency has been built on creativity,’’ said MD and chief creative officer Gareth McPherson. ‘’We employ creative thinking at every level to solve brand problems with unique solutions that really work. The creative expertise and insight of our leadership team is instrumental in driving this approach, and it’s with this in mind that we appointed Mawande Sobethwa to lead a group within the studio team.’’
The MediaShop Johannesburg appoints Claire Herman
With two decades of media and advertising experience under her belt, Claire Herman has been appointed media operations lead for The MediaShop’s Johannesburg office.
“Most of my career has been spent within media agencies with a three-year stint in media research conducting studies that prove advertising effectiveness and ROI,” she said. “I am very passionate about the media landscape and developing media strategies that are based on solid consumer insights. I believe that creativity, innovation and digital integration are crucial to any communications strategy.”
Kgaugelo Maphai, managing director for The MediaShop Johannesburg said that he and the Group are thrilled to have Herman on board. “Claire has worked across a multitude of clients and categories and has the research, analytical and business skills that we believe will elevate our business even further.”
Boomtown digital team expands with the appointment of Marion Marais
Following the huge growth in digital offerings, Boomtown has appointed Marion Marais as senior social media manager to lead the agency’s innovative approach to digital.
According to Boomtown MD, Andrew MacKenzie, “Increased awareness of the value of digital marketing has driven the agency’s focus in this direction. New and existing clients are trusting digital more and it’s not just part of an integrated campaign, it is leading campaigns. Because of this growth, we needed to bolster the department.”
An experienced digital marketer, Marais will lead the agency’s innovative thinking forward by placing ‘paid social media’ and ‘always-on content’ into communications strategies.
Top digital strategist for Wine & Food conference
Wineries can easily and effectively raise their digital visibility and strategically enhance their impact without having to spend an additional cent and do so immediately. This is according to digital and media marketing maven Judith Lewis, who has been ranked by her peers as one of the most influential members working in the UK industry today.
Lewis, who has consulted to leading global companies such as Google, NBC Universal, AmEx, Virgin.com, Virgin Startup and others, will be the keynote speaker at this year’s Wine & Food Tourism Conference at Spier near Stellenbosch, on 18 September.
“My goal is for people to leave my Stellenbosch presentation with a comprehensive checklist of digital things they can do right away,” she said. “My perception of South African wineries is that they are making tasty, innovative wines and that they have amazing stories to tell but they are not currently getting all the acknowledgement they deserve.”
The One Club for Creativity promotes Kasia Karolak
The One Club for Creativity, a nonprofit organisation whose mission is to support and celebrate the success of the global creative community, has promoted Kasia Karolak into a newly-created role to lead its gender equality programming.
In the new position of gender equality programme manager, she will oversee all of The One Club’s existing programmes and events on the issue and develop new initiatives.
For the past two years, Karolak has played a primary role in developing the global Next Creative Leaders. A joint programme from The One Club and The 3% Movement, Next Creative Leaders identifies, celebrates and gives a global platform to talented creative women who are making their mark on the world with both stellar work for clients and a unique point of view on creative leadership that’s changing the industry for the better. She also previously served as the club’s social media manager.
Business moves
Creative Brands launches in Nigeria
Creative Brands, the popular promotional gifting and custom-branding company based in South Africa, has boldly (and successfully) established a core team and offering in Lagos, Nigeria.
Creative Brands’ business journey has gone from small start-up in a Cape Town garage to a major, world-class promotional branding and gifting company now with offices in Botswana, Kenya and Nigeria, and they look set to continue their business growth.
“As the first-of-its-kind in the country, we are immensely proud to launch and drive the Creative Brands growth and expansion in the Nigerian market,” said managing director, Nicholas Markovitz.
Making moves
Facebook and Africa Check expand local language coverage as part of its third-party fact-checking programme
Facebook and Africa Check have added new local language support for several African languages as part of a third-party fact-checking programme – which helps to assess the accuracy of news on Facebook and aims to reduce the spread of misinformation.
Launched in 2018 across five countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Cameroon, Facebook has partnered with Africa Check, Africa’s first independent fact-checking organisation, to expand its local language coverage across:
- Nigeria, in Yoruba and Igbo, adding to Hausa, which was already supported
- Swahili in Kenya
- Wolof in Senegal
- Afrikaans, Zulu, Setswana, Sotho, Northern Sotho and Southern Ndebele in South Africa.
“We continue to make significant investments in our efforts to fight the spread of false news on our platform, while building supportive, safe, informed and inclusive communities,” said Kojo Boakye, Facebook head of public policy, Africa. “ Our third-party fact-checking programme is just one of many ways we are doing this, and with the expansion of local language coverage, this will help in further improving the quality of information people see on Facebook. We know there is still more to do, and we’re committed to this.”
Noko Makgato, executive director of Africa Check, said, “In countries as linguistically diverse as Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Senegal, fact-checking in local languages is vital. Not only does it let us fact-check more content on Facebook, it also means we’ll be reaching more people across Africa with verified, credible information.”
For the Diary
MUSIC EXCHANGE (#MEX19), South Africa’s only entertainment-economy-focused conference, returns to Cape Town for the ninth time from 13 to 15 September 2019 at the Radisson Red Hotel at the V &A Waterfront.
Music Exchange was honoured and recognised by the Western Cape Government for its contribution to Arts and Culture in March 2019; and this year’s conference will have an overarching theme of ‘rights’.
Martin Myers, founder and convenor of the conference, remarked, “This year MEX is delighted to have the key decision makers of some of the most important music bodies in South Africa attending”.
SAMRO will be in attendance at MEX19, as well as the CEO of Africori, Yoel Kenan, Active Music Publishers CEO John Fishlock, KFM Station Manager Steve Werner, along with advocate Barry Varkel, amongst others.
Artists include Chad Saaiman, RJ Benjamin and MEX chairperson, the legend Sipho Mabuse. Booking agents and promoters Lesley Wells, Craig Parks and Lauren Parks will also be sharing their knowledge, along with community radio specialist Selwyn Bartlett. MEX19 will also welcome back longstanding partners Paul Bothner Music to the fold.
Limited delegates tickets for MEX19 are available now through Quicket.
