Media moves: Taback new group MD of Mediology, SPARK launches industry Get It, Biznews looking for interns

This week’s BIG move: Marc Taback is the new group managing director of Mediology

Marc Taback (47) has been appointed group managing director at media and online marketing agency, Mediology, with effect from 1 March 2020

Working closely with founder and CEO, Ana Carrapichano, Taback will be based in the agency’s Johannesburg office while also directing its Cape Town office and growing national footprint as well as its drive into Africa and abroad.

“As we enter our fourteenth year, we are poised to grow our product offering and expand aggressively with the aim of being a leading media independent and marketing hot shop. Marc’s deep understanding of the media industry and his exceptional track record as a business winner who consistently delivers results, combine all the qualities we need to achieve our goals,” said Carrapichano, who said that after interviewing many candidates, she knew Taback was the man for the agency’s next ambitious phase.

Taback said joining Mediology after 17 years as CEO of Initiative Media where he was an integral part of the success of the business, was a natural fit.

People moves

Dr Koekemoer back at AAA School of Advertising

With nearly five decades of experience in marketing and advertising, both within the industry and educational space, Dr Ludi Koekemoer was recently named the new acting CEO of AAA School of Advertising.

Koekemoer is no stranger to AAA as he led the organisation as CEO for 15 years before retiring in 2015. The institution has since changed, with new owners, the adoption of new digital technologies and a whole new outlook of catering to the millennial generation and beyond.

“The one thing that remains unchanged is the purpose and founding ethos of the institution. To continue to deliver on our brand promise – which is to produce students ready for the world of work. To build on the successes of the past, a decision was made to bring someone on board with considerable expertise coupled with brand knowledge. The institution’s history and unrivaled industry reputation will be embraced by Ludi. AAA is, therefore, pleased to announce Dr. Ludi Koekemoer’s return,” the educational institution said in a statement.

The AAA School of Advertising boasts 30 years of producing top advertising, marketing, design and creative talent in South Africa.

Visit to register for your preferred course, and join us to shape the world.

SuperSport gears up for The Match in Africa

Seasoned tennis specialist Hendrien Grové will spearhead SuperSport’s Friday broadcast of the much-awaited Match in Africa, the showdown in Cape Town between superstars Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Grové will produce the four-hour spectacle, including a celebrity match that will be distributed internationally.

Having travelled to tournaments like Wimbledon, where she has interviewed stars like Federer, Nadal, Novak Djokovic and the Williams sisters, Grové is looking forward to being part of what may amount to the biggest event in the history of domestic tennis.

Fittingly, Rob Koenig will be among the commentators. A former South African tennis professional, he now commentates on the biggest events in the world, including the Grand Slams. He will be joined by Jason Goodall, another familiar voice on the ATP World Tour circuit.

Renowned broadcast anchor Carol Tshabalala, who has been on the big stage for events such as the FIFA World Cup draw, will be handling things courtside.

The local broadcast will begin at 6.30pm on Friday (SuperSport 1).

Business moves

SPARK Media launches industry focused Get It magazine

At the end of 2019, SPARK Media released its first media and advertising industry focused Get It magazine, modelled on the current popular localised national magazines.

Containing profiles of successful captains of the industry, social pages, suggested reading material for progressive marketers, competitions and a round-up of SPARK Media news, the publication offers a fun and informal look into the people and events that drive our industry while still offering the reader valuable information.

“Our media focused launch issue has been shared among our media agency and client partners and we’re very encouraged with the feedback we’ve received so far,” said SPARK Media CEO, Gill Randall. “Our next issue will be released mid-year with a third iteration being shared towards the end of the year.”

ROOTS research showed consumers like the feel of their favourite magazine in their hands and the opportunity to put it down and reread at a later stage.

“As the local Get It magazines prove to be highly valued and respected publications that build a sense of community among local consumers, so too will our trade Get It, as it did in the past, foster this local media and advertising community of ours,” Randall said.

2019, the year that was for Meta Media

Meta Media might be just over one year old, but it has proved it is a force to be reckoned with.

This one-year old agency boasts an impressive clientele list with the likes of Cell C, Nestle, Capitec Bank, Toyota and City of Cape Town. In addition to these household brand names, Meta Media recently scooped the buying portion of the Hollard account. For them media is not just a “gut feel” process but rather a process of applying a level of science to all media buys that enables it to get the best ROI for their clients, across all media platforms.

Meta Media is a member of the Nahana Communications Group and is a full-service media agency born in an era of data and technology, built on the premise of creating the agency of the future. Despite being just nine months old at the time, Meta Media placed top three at the 2019 MOST Awards in not one but two categories, namely Full-Service Media Agency of the Year 2019 and Overall Media Agency of the Year 2019.

“At Meta Media, we are curious!” said Kagiso Musi, group managing director at Meta Media. “While it may be a very innocuous statement, it has a much deeper meaning to us. We believe in digging deeper. We look deeper to provide solutions based on real insights that give our clients a different perspective, looking beyond the numbers and looking for the story behind the story. We use data to justify our decisions and recommendations and delve deep to understand performance and user behaviour.”

Reputation Mentorship Matters

Reputation Matters has launched a new mentorship service offering.

“It’s our vision to be Africa’s go-to reputation specialists that help businesses to become the business that people want to do business with,” said Regine le Roux, founder and managing director of Reputation Matters.

“In order for us to get that right, we are empowering companies to build their own capacity within the reputation management space,” she added.

“Our core focus remains reputation research using our proprietary tool, the Repudometer. With the reputation mentorship programme, we’ll be taking it a step further by helping our clients to keep the momentum going by implementing the recommendations to close the gaps identified in the research.

“We are also targeting entrepreneurs to empower them to build reputable businesses that people want to do business with right from the outset of their entrepreneurial journey.”

Founders Factory Africa, Standard Bank and Netcare invest in five new African tech startups.

Founders Factory Africa (FFA) has announced it has accepted five new startups into their Venture Scale programme, which kicked off on 3 February 2020. The venture development company, along with its corporate investors Standard Bank and Netcare, have welcomed LocumBase (South Africa), Bwala Africa (Kenya), Akili Labs (South Africa), FoodLocker (Nigeria) and EnvisionIt Deep AI (South Africa) to the six-month programme.

All five startups have developed product offerings targeted at the FinTech or HealthTech sectors, and are set for an aggressive growth strategy, aided by the technical and operational expertise offered at FFA.

Making moves

BONA celebrates love this February

Themed #BONALove, the February issue of the magazine features two variations of couples on its English, isiXhosa, seSotho and isiZulu covers. “The first cover version is a more mature couple who have been together for 11 years and just announced their new pregnancy, Salamina (36) and Tshepo ‘Howza’ Mosese. The other covers feature newlyweds; Senzo ‘Kwesta’ Vilakazi and Yolanda,” said editor Bongiwe Tshiqi.

The brand has received quite a lot of applause on social media for featuring two prominent same sex couples this year. Engaged couple, Moshe Ndiki and Phelo Bala as well as actresses Mandisa Nduna and Thishiwe Ziqubu.

“Representation is incredibly important to us, and a brand like BONA has to give an honest reflection of South Africa and the people who live in it. In keeping with that, we wanted to make sure that we were fully representative of all sexual orientations,” she said.

Anton Botes, general manager at Caxton Magazines added: “We applaud Bongiwe and her team on an extremely raw look at love at every stage and every orientation. It’s a remarkable issue that has generated very welcome conversation.”

Biznews to relaunch successful internship programme

Ever since Biznews was born in August 2013, founder Alec Hogg dreamed of replicating the Moneyweb internship programme which produced many of South Africa’s top journalists.

“It got proper attention two years ago when California-based Hazel Shore – widow of the FM’s founding editor George Palmer – told me she wanted to fund an SA financial journalist intern in his memory.

At the time Jeanette and I were in London, focused on our globalisation strategy so were in no position to take on that kind of responsibility,” Hogg said.

“But with that project completed we’re now into 2020, back home and about to move into one of three spanking new WeWork offices in SA. All of which seemed inconceivable back then.”

Now Hogg wants to recruit “the next Felicity Duncan, Gugu Mfuphi, Bruce Whitfield or Ron Derby”.

If you know a young South African who is insatiably curious, loves to write, is blessed with a voice for radio, understands business and is desperate to become a journalist, please ask them to send Hogg their CV and an 800 word (max) letter why they’d be perfect for the Biznews internship programme. His address is alec@biznews.com.

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