The Media Online’s weekly round up of people, account and business moves in media.
This week’s BIG move: Roanna Williams to chair the Creative Circle
Roanna Williams, the award-winning chief creative officer of Net#work BBDO, has been recognised and honoured for the role she plays in the South African advertising space by being named as the first woman to chair the Creative Circle.
The Creative Circle is a non-profit organisation that has been dedicated to promoting creativity as a business resource and maintaining high levels of creativity in the advertising industry for 30 years. It seeks to inspire the transformation of product, people and perception through the power of creativity.
Williams, a highly-respected creative thinker and accomplished illustrator and artist, has worked at many of South Africa’s top agencies. Her appointment at Net#work BBDO coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic, which, she freely admits, was a challenging time for the industry. Despite the restrictions of the pandemic and lockdown, Williams and her team were inspired to come up with the #Meltdown campaign, in which they melted all of the awards Net#work BBDO had won in 27 years and moulded them into pendants.
The Creative Circle endorses international awards shows that will earn agency entrants ranking points, thus levelling the playing fields for small, medium and large agencies, allowing them to compete by standardising the points for international awards shows.
Rankings are calculated on points allocated per win in each award show: Loeries, One Show, D&AD, Cannes and CC Ad of the Year (Made up of Creative Circle Ad of the Month). The points are combined to find and award the Agency of the Year and regional Agency of the Year.
“As chairperson of the Creative Circle, I’d like to further transform the perception of creativity in South Africa and the importance of the people in our industry,” said Williams.
People moves
Crazy New Partnership: The Crazy Store partners with Proteas legend, JP Duminy
The Crazy Store, South Africa’s fast-growing variety retail store, has announced a year-long strategic brand partnership with SA cricket legend, JP Duminy.
Duminy’s versatility and familial flare makes him the ideal candidate to partner with the family-friendly, fun and fresh experience that The Crazy Store offers in over 430 stores nationwide.
“JP Duminy is a South African sporting icon who embodies the meaning of family, philanthropy, and excellence. His values strongly align with The Crazy Store’s own. We couldn’t be more excited for this collaborative year with JP and the JP21 Foundation,” said The Crazy Store MD, Kevin Lennett.
JP Duminy is currently the Lions Cricket Franchise batting consultant and was recently appointed as a strategic consultant to the Proteas National Team at the Cricket World Cup.
“As a busy father and businessman, I prioritise ease, variety and convenience when shopping and choose retail brands that put their customers first and understand the importance of these values. The Crazy Store believes in the work that we do at the JP21 Foundation and that is something of utmost importance to me, so I am looking forward to this exciting partnership” he said.
Philip Morris’ new senior communications manager set to increase understanding of smoke-free future
Philip Morris South Africa (PMSA) has appointed Vuyokazi Xapa as its new senior communications manager. The appointment underpins the organisation’s need to scale up communications and encourage clear and open dialogue in South Africa around the availability of smoke-free alternatives to cigarettes.
Commenting on her appointment, Xapa saidthat she was excited about the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in joining a Global Top Employer like PMI.
“I am inspired to join an organisation like PMI which is committed to its transformation by providing people who smoke with better, scientifically-substantiated alternatives to cigarettes,” she said. “Like any transformative vision, change needs to be explained and we have to face scepticism and misinformation head on, which is why the role of communications is so important.”
Before joining PMSA Xapa served as senior manager for corporate communications at Bridgestone Southern Africa and was responsible for leading communications functions across the company as well as sitting as a member of the company’s extended management team.
Business moves
Integer\Hotspot wins PepsiCo SSA shopper marketing account
Integrated marketing agency Integer\Hotspot has been named as one of the agencies that will drive PepsiCo’s shopper marketing efforts across all its brands in South Africa, including household names like Weet-Bix, Liqui-Fruit and Ceres.
The move underlines the emergence of shopper marketing as huge growth opportunity for consumer brands, said Integer\Hotspot CEO Di Wilson.
“We’re excited that shopper marketing is finally carving its own place in the agency world, as it’s such an important part of the brand deliverables. It’s all about understanding that everything we do starts at the heart of the shopper. ABTL and BLTL are both key parts of the mix, but if both focus on awareness alone and fail to move the shopper to buy, we will fail to make it count,” said Wilson.
The appointment was finalised at the end of 2021 after a pitch process that included the agency presenting a strategic-led response, driven by local insights, to PepsiCo, with executive creative director Gavin Meek and strategic lead Sonia Correia playing key roles in the process. Wilson says the agency is currently ‘running at full speed’ taking briefs across all categories.
“Behaviour change has always been our primary objective, regardless of channel,” said Wilson. “Our work solves brand challenges to ultimately drive behaviour change, conversion and results, without which, we are wasting our time, our clients’ money and our consumers’ attention.”
IMA Wins PepsiCo Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) Account
Creative marketing agency IMA is one of two agencies awarded the PepsiCo account in South Africa for activations, including customer experience, events and sampling.
“This is an amazing opportunity to work on not only some of South Africa’s most loved brands but brands enjoyed globally,” said IMA Managing Partner Katherine Freemantle. “We’re excited to partner with PepsiCo SSA on insight-led creative activation ideas that will deliver results. It’s very rewarding to be working across different audience segments and we can’t wait to show up in different places in disruptive and engaging ways.”
The team at IMA will have the opportunity to work on a number of household names owned by PepsiCo in South Africa such as Marmite, NikNaks, Pronutro, Weet-Bix, Bovril, Simba, WhiteStar, Bokomo, Sasko, Lay’s and Moirs.
IMA South Africa operated previously as Elevator and rebranded in April 2021 to join the IMA Global Network. IMA also has offices in Leeds, London, Manchester, New York, Amsterdam, Munich and Sydney.
Clickatell announces Chat 2 Pay integration with Salesforce Commerce Cloud
Clickatell, a CPaaS innovator and Chat Commerce leader, has announced it has launched the integration of its industry-leading Chat 2 Pay payment solution with Salesforce Commerce Cloud, the fastest path to unified commerce.
Clickatell’s integration empowers Commerce Cloud customers to achieve enhanced payment options by allowing contact center agents to trigger payment requests via a payment link in chat messages. With Chat 2 Pay, customers pay for goods and services via Salesforce Order Management by simply clicking on a link delivered through SMS or WhatsApp without requiring them to expose their personal payment information to a human agent.
Boomtown assists First Choice Custard beat sales target
A fresh approach to the big idea from Boomtown contributed to First Choice Custard comprehensively beating its 2021 summer campaign targets.
According to the agency’s business group head, Mark Momberg, a key contributor to smashing the sales target was the fact that the agency’s big idea was conceived after its strategists had immersed themselves in the communities First Choice wanted to communicate with to ensure what it had to say resonated with them.
The national digital and in-store campaign devised by Boomtown – a simple ‘Buy any First Choice Custard and you could win one of 10-weekend getaways’ – went live across Instagram, Facebook and TikTok through video content, influencer content, static posts and updates to the First Choice channels’ cover images.
It was created by Boomtown’s team of Creative Director Thule Ngese, Art Director Sukesh Moodaley, Copywriter Obakeng Rapoo and Designer Jerado Burger.
While engagement with social media was not a key metric for this campaign, it was nevertheless impressive. Reach and impressions increased to over 1.3-million impressions and product video views – driven by the Soft Life campaign videos created by Boomtown – topped 190 000.
Rainbow Sports Global launches the revolutionary African Football Data Centre
Rainbow Sports Global has announced the launch of the African Football Data Centre (AFDC), an open, digital platform created in support of the development of football on the continent. The interactive platform, developed in cooperation with Football Benchmark, covers a broad range of data of African football.
The free-to-use data centre provides information on the financial performance of African clubs and leagues, including commercial and broadcasting revenues, data on major football stadia on the continent, among others. It also tracks the market value of some 700 African players contracted in top European leagues and the social media performance of hundreds of football entities (clubs, competitions, current and former players) on the most popular social channels. AFDC is available for all decision-makers, media and fans. There are plans for further developing the platform in a joint effort, by adding new features and themes.
Collaboration made easy: Spike in coworking spaces
Coworking spaces – that provide increased productivity, creativity and efficiency along with the added benefit of being cost-effective – are on the minds of every entrepreneur as industries look for buzzing hubs. They have, in fact, even motivated many to take the entrepreneurial route.
Locally, one of the leading companies in the coworking area, Workshop17, offers an extensive portfolio of high-quality, affordable, collaborative workspaces across South Africa that host SMEs, freelancers, nomadic workers and a growing number of corporates. Founded back in 2012 with the vision to create a working community environment, it’s inspiring members to become the best they can be at their work.
Heavy Chef and Workshop17 have both been serving the entrepreneur community together in a partnership dating back to 2017. As well as being an official venue sponsor, Workshop17 also offers a host of perks for members of the Heavy Chef entrepreneur community and together, they help to boost the local entrepreneurial ecosystem by creating spaces where entrepreneurs can connect with other entrepreneurs to inspire and empower each other.
“Our research has shown that many entrepreneurs need a flexible workspace and the ability to tap into a community of peers,” says Heavy Chef CEO Fred Roed. “This flexibility is the way the world is going and we’re excited to be packaging these types of options for Africa’s entrepreneurs. It presents entrepreneurs with entry-level access to Workshop17’s award-winning spaces as well as the ability to easily top up with more credits as they need them.”
Auditable Audio Aggregation
MAUS (Music Audit Usage System), an inspired, independent, user-friendly, one-stop technology-based platform, has arrived. It launched in response to a material need for creatives to take control of the economics of their vocations.
Developed by a dedicated and passionate team of seasoned industry leaders, MAUS delivers the requisite tools musicians need to accurately track their music royalty calculations, in real-time, according to the number of plays they receive on radio and television, with streaming platforms coming online soon.
In offering answers to questions likes, how much are my tracks potentially earning?, right through to giving access to data and insights that empower artists to claim what’s rightfully theirs, MAUS’ power is in its transparent, completely auditable, always-on, aggregation capability.
As all professional musicians know, Performance Rights (SAMRO) and Neighbouring Rights (SAMPRA) are important registrations to hold, albeit in the backend.
The MAUS platform was built for and informed by creatives, due to their need to understand and manage their unique entertainment profiles and the multiple revenue streams, managed by these two organisations, all leveraged by an autonomous and powerful backend.
“At its core, MAUS is a fast-evolving hub for artists to connect, share and grow,” musician and MAUS co-founder, Mark Stent shares. “It can help deserving artists get paid, and most importantly, it has the potential to educate. I could not be prouder to be part of something like the power of MAUS – a platform that will most certainly enrich the lives of its users.”
Making moves
Three new programmes for life-long learners from Red & Yellow
The Red & Yellow Creative School of Business has announced the launch of new diploma offerings, aimed at learners from all career stages. Running as part-time courses, these are suited to those who have just matriculated and still unsure of their career path, as well as those already with work-place experience who are looking for continuing education development.
Launching on 6 June 2022, Red & Yellow will now offer three of their most popular advanced diplomas as part-time offerings, running over two years. Each course is set at NQF level 7 and is aimed at providing students with new tools to get their foot in the door or upskill themselves for an ever-changing work environment.
“By offering these programmes on a part-time basis, we are hoping to provide those in highly demanding jobs or who are time-poor with an opportunity to grow their knowledge or learn skills for a field outside of the one they are currently employed in,” said Di Charton, head of department: marketing and senior lecturer (Marketing and Advertising Communications) at Red & Yellow Creative School of Business.
The three programmes that will be available are the Advanced Diplomas in Marketing and Advertising Communications; Copywriting; and User-Centered Design. The courses will be delivered online with three contact sessions per week. Each programme also includes eight weeks of intensives, spread across the two years, where students will be required to work collaboratively with peers in other disciplines.
To find out more about how to apply to the Red & Yellow Creative School of Business, go to https://www.redandyellow.co.za/.
Local cinema distributor celebrates ten years with feature pitching initiative
Calling all film makers! Local cinema distributor Gravel Road Distribution Group has announced a feature film pitching competition, open to those 18 years and older. Designed to supporting creative talent in South Africa, in celebration of the company’s ten years in the industry, the Gravel Road Feature Pitching Competition is now open, inviting entrants across the country, who stand in line to win a prize package which includes development support, a distribution guarantee and a R100 000 in cash.
The competition includes three elimination stages, including entries, shortlisting and a final round, culminating in an in-person pitch to a panel of industry professionals in South Africa’s filmmaking capital, Cape Town. Along the way, entrants will receive constructive feedback, support and input from industry professionals, to ensure that the initiative adds value to each finalist’s creative process.
“Film pitch competitions are a remarkable entry point for people in an industry that is often difficult to get noticed in” said Benjamin Cowley, CEO Gravel Road Distribution Group. “We hope that this competition becomes a valuable steppingstone, that it will enable promising talent to get exposure and help new film concepts come to the fore in South Africa’s vibrant film industry,” he added.
More information and competition submission details are available at www.gravelroadafrica.com/pitchcompetition
