The Media Online’s weekly round up of people, account and business moves in media.
This week’s BIG move: Provantage Media Group launches Spaza Media
PMG, through its brand activation agency, recently introduced Spaza Media, an impactful advertising solution designed to foster small enterprise development and job creation within township communities.
Through BBEEE initiatives, South African corporations are tasked with building more sustainable businesses and playing a greater role in economic transformation. This often presents a challenge: how can a business comply in a way that protects or enhances their competitiveness, while also realising value for their shareholders, customers, value chain partners and the communities in which they operate?
Proactive has identified an opportunity for an enterprise development program that moves beyond value chain strategies, and instead takes a strategic approach that both creates positive social impact and drives business value from other expenditure. The result: Spaza Media.
“Spazas are really at the heart of the community: people see them every day, and shop there every day,” said Makhetsi Phakoa, head of client service and sales for PMG’s Proactive division. “We want to transform media opportunities within these communities, while also bringing them value.”
However, spaza shops often fail to reach their full potential due to a lack of business skills, access to funding, exploitation, and limited regulatory support.
Through Spaza Media, Proactive seeks to transform the township and rural retail market by helping small enterprises like spaza shops flourish into bigger and more sustainable businesses, and by increasing the participation of black-owned SMMEs within the spaza branding supply chain.
People moves
Cheryl Reddy new CEO of Eclipse Comms
Eclipse Communications has announced a number of executive team movements, with key leadership changes including the promotion of Cheryl Reddy to CEO, Steve Powell’s transition from CEO to chairman of the Eclipse Group of Companies and Jacki McEwen-Powell stepping away from the communications agency to focus on other business ventures.
Reddy will primarily be responsible for the agency’s strategic direction and collaboration with shareholders to ensure that the agency is well-positioned to continuously achieve its mandate of people, client and agency growth across the full spectrum of services and business units in the agency’s four offices in South Africa as well as its office in Mauritius.
“Since joining this independent, award-winning agency in 2018, it has been an exciting and rewarding journey of guiding the growth of our agency, people and clients. Fostering great collaboration across the agency, coupled with insights-led strategies resulted in us being home to the likes of Nando’s, Pfizer SA, Netflix, IPASA, Amdocs, Country Road Group, Woolworths and Edward Snell. Our continued focus areas remain firmly on diversity, creativity, adaptability and agility,” said Reddy.
Wavemaker South Africa appoints Thami Kwidini as commercial director
Wavemaker South Africa has appointed Thami Kwidini as its new commercial director. Kwidini stepped into this position on 1 May.
A qualified chartered accountant, Kwidini first joined the Wavemaker team as the head of commercial finance, in December 2019, shortly before Covid-19 forced the country into lockdown. In this unpredictable time, hedemonstrated his ability to adapt in the face of a dynamic environment by providing comprehensive support to Wavemaker’s clients, while simultaneously putting together winning commercial models for the Telkom, and Tiger Brands business pitch. Kwidini also led the commercial pitch on Friesland Campina in which Wavemaker won and consolidated the account in Nigeria, Ghana, and Ivory Coast. Most recently, he put together a winning commercial model for the Danone business pitch covering Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa. In addition, Kwidini is responsible for commercial negotiations on new and existing clients.
“Thami is an integral part of Wavemaker’s success story,” said Merissa Himraj, Wavemaker CEO SSA. “I am thrilled to announce his evolving role, which sees him use his strategic commercial prowess to steer our client portfolio and provide oversight on key Sub-Sahara African markets. He is a true asset to the business, and we look forward to the strides he will continue to make in this role change.”
Karena Crerar appointed CEO to lead Edelman Africa into next phase of growth
Edelman, the global communications firm, has announced Karena Crerar as CEO, Edelman Africa. Crerar previously held the role of MD, Edelman South Africa.
“I feel privileged to be part of such a strong, entrepreneurial, fast-growing business. Between our global network, and our teams and partners across Africa, we offer unprecedented access for our clients,” said Crerar. “We’ve made sure to build long-term partnerships, offering our clients a lot more value than just dots on a map. This has made it possible for us to build a proven track record across Africa, meaning we can deliver real cross-continent delivery for clients across Africa.”
Edelman Africa’s ability to reach audiences across Africa has recently resulted in both its South Africa and Kenya teams being honoured at the SABRE awards across a variety of categories, including being nominated as the PRovoke Media 2022 African Consultancy of the Year. “What has been particularly exciting is the achievements of our Edelman Kenya office. Launched only two years ago, it’s purposeful, tactical work, and deep local relationships, have allowed the team to be recognised for the impact its achieving on behalf of our clients,” said Crerar.
Business moves
The Racket Club’s no boundary approach pays off with rriple growth in one year
Former experiential agency, Activent has rebranded to The Racket Club, with a through-the-line approach, which is paying off. In just a year since inception the new agency has experienced substantial business and revenue growth that has seen them triple their revenue and agency size in under a year when compared to the Activent entity.
Formed in 2021 by Grant Pleming, former Activent founder, the reinvention came out of the need to adjust the agency’s former below-the-line approach to that of a new through-the-line model, whilst maintaining the same disruptive nature of work and a hands-on approach to the way they work with partners/clients. The Racket Club also now boasts a leadership team with almost 40 years of experience and believes that cultural impact is their business metric.
He says that the agency is very proud of the work they’ve achieved for their clients which include prominent brands such as Red Bull, Pioneer Foods, Superdry, Cipla, TFG and Halewood to name a few.
Bravado Gaming announces big news as part of global expansion strategy
Premier multi-gaming organization and lifestyle brand Bravado Gaming has announced its entry into the MEA gaming industry as part of its global expansion strategy aimed at consolidating its regional fanbase and exposing local gamers to its revamped gaming experience.
The Bravado expansion with support from its sponsors – Alienware, Intel and Dell Gaming – will include the setting up of bases in South Africa, Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabiaand will boast a variety of competitive gamers and divisions from across the region while simultaneously working on the lifestyle eco-systems of the Bravado brand.
Anchoring its strategic entry into the already vibrant gaming region, which had a combined revenue of over US1.7 billion in 2021 and poised to reach over US$3 billion in 2025 – a compound annual growth of 13.8 percent, Bravado Gaming will be tapping into the region’s over 65 million gamers to establish a formidable local presence.
“The culture of Bravado Gaming is that of being the best version of yourself. We want to tell inspiring stories to gamers across the globe and we have lived by that tenet from day one, more than 15 years ago and it has brought us incredible success over the years, not only in competing in esports, but also in developing minds and introducing people to a whole new world and way of thinking in the gaming and gamification eco-system. With the support of Alienware, Intel and Dell Gaming we will be taking this call-to-action beyond the borders of just South Africa, by officially expanding Bravado into selected countries within this region,” said Andreas Hadjipaschali: CEO and co-founder of Bravado Gaming.
EVOLV Outdoor launches largest digital billboard in Ballito
In collaboration with The Coca-Cola Company, EVOLV9, Ballito’s biggest digital screen, has launched!
Few brands are as synonymous with festivity and holiday happiness as Coca-Cola. When we were prepping to launch our latest DOOH offering over the festive period, we asked, who better than Coke to bring this location to life?
“This site marks a significant moment for EVOLV Outdoor (Pty) Ltd as we expand our digital offering to the KZN coast. We are looking forward to helping brands connect with this premium audience at the most prominent convergence point in Ballito,” said Alasdair Muller. “Thank you to the team at GroupM for their trust in us to deliver for their client.”
Oliver’s u-studio grows through effective creative
Oliver’s pioneering in-house agency model is winning, both in growth and awards, according to Unilever’s largest digital agency, U-Studio.
As consumers have shifted online in the past two years, Oliver’s U-Studio has seen a quadruple growth with their pioneering in-house model for Unilever, with some of the company’s brands seeing a recorded growth of as much as 120 percent.
“The convergence of data, creativity and purpose-led brands have led them to be best-in-class for effective marketing campaigns,” said Theo Spencer, managing partner for U-Studio Africa. “We’ve seen exponential growth in South Africa both as an agency and for the Unilever brands, which can be attributed to our bespoke technology, talent and teamwork as well as being inside the company.”
Spencer attributes this growth to the key capabilities of U-Studio and its collaborative ‘inside’ approach. “We have gained a lot of business insight from our close partnership with Unilever, especially during the pandemic when the world slowed down and we needed to speed up and leverage this insight and technology from our parent agency The BrandTech Group.”
NBA Africa and KFC Africa announce marketing partnership
NBA Africa and KFC Africa have announced a marketing partnership that will see NBA Africa and KFC Africa collaborate on a number of promotions and activations for basketball fans across eight countries on the continent: Botswana, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania.
Through the partnership, KFC Africa and NBA Africa will launch co-branded product campaigns, limited-edition merchandise giveaways, and limited-edition KFC x NBA promotions, including the opportunity for basketball fans to win tickets to live NBA games in the U.S. and complimentary access to NBA League Pass, the league’s premium live game subscription service. Additional details about the promotions will be announced at a later date.
“We are proud to announce this exciting partnership between our iconic KFC brand and one of the most epic sports brands in the world,” said KFC marketing director, rest of Sub-Saharan Africa, Emmanuel Kasambala. “As a brand that has been on the continent for 50 years, we are passionate about connecting with the youth at the touchpoints that really mean something to them. So, beyond the extremely cool products and merchandise we will offer, we have longer-term plans to inspire the youth to achieve more in life through basketball. We are exploring various grassroots basketballinitiatives, like the refurbishment of courts, and basketball clinics in communities. It is about inspiring and enabling the youth to reach for, and achieve, their dreams.”
Making moves
The DStv Content Creator Awards to host the Kasi Marketing Lab in Khayelitsha
The DStv Content Creator Awards is in full swing, with registrations and entries flying in from across the country. In addition to shining a light on existing creators, there is a need to find and support emerging creators.
In a country where youth unemployment sits at a staggering 64.4%, content creation can become a viable source of income, and the awards want to do what they can to help. As such, as a build-up event, the awards are hosting the Kasi Marketing Labin Khayelitsha on 23 May, a learning day for emerging creatives, marketers and influencers. It will be streamed as a ‘TikTok Live’ all day, so that creators from all over South Africa can watch and learn too.
A powerhouse line-up of exciting guest speakers, all specialists within their fields, has been secured for the six-hour session.
The panel of speakers will include:
- Thabisa Mkhwanazi, Executive Head of Marketing, Multichoice SA.
- Content creators, Omar Morto and Moghelings
- Carla Harris, Media Partnerships Lead for TikTok South Africa.
- Pierre Cassuto, Global CCO of Humanz
- Natasha Goosen and Kwazi Ngubane, Influencer Relations specialists at One-eyed Jack.
- Bukelwa Monqo, Director at Atmosphere Communications.
- Luvuyo Rani, CEO, and co-founder of Silulo Technologies.
- Cameron Naidoo, Chief Rule Breaker of Guerilla Africa.
The Kasi Marketing Lab will be giving all attendees (present and watching online) a brief, so that they can enter the Kasi Content Creator Award, which is one of the event’s 22 award categories. The five nominees will announced in June and will be profiled by DStv, TikTok and all the event’s platforms.
The winner will be announced (from five nominees) at the awards event in August and will receive a beautiful trophy, R5 000 and a paid content creation campaign from one of the event’s partners.
NAB joins global counterparts in World Radio Alliance
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has joined the World Radio Alliance, becoming the 18th member of this global group of trade bodies representing radio companies and sales houses.
The World Radio Alliance (WRA) was launched on 10 February 2022, with the objective to demonstrate and promote the power and value of radio/audio by raising its market profile; speaking about it with a unified voice; and sharing best practice among members.
The members, currently from Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia and now Africa, provide a strong collective voice across the continents to highlight radio’s strengths and unique marketing power and the media mix opportunities created by audio innovations.
Since members are all committed to co-operation for the greater good of the total radio industry, the WRA functions on good faith, good will, trust and pro-active help. Members support the WRA by volunteering facts and figures for their country/region for any initiative it undertakes.
“We are honoured to be accepted into the World Radio Alliance and look forward to interacting and sharing best practice and ideas with our peers,” said NAB executive director, Nadia Bulbulia. “In this very dynamic media landscape, where audiences are given the choice of many different platforms, speaking with a unified voice is crucial to highlighting the ongoing popularity and power of radio. In South Africa, radio is the most used and trusted mass-communication medium that merits advertising support. We welcome the opportunity to join our global counterparts on the universal value of radio.”
The Real Good Travel Book now available for download
In 2020, OFM asked Central South Africa to “Show us your recipes!” Now, as the world slowly shifts back to a more ‘normal’ post-pandemic state, we asked listeners to share their most memorable travel experiences. The end product was The Real Good Travel Book – a collection of memorable travel experiences from OFM’s listeners and presenters.
This keepsake publication, showcasing some of the hidden gems of Central South Africa, can now be downloaded here.
Nick Efstathiou, CEO of Central Media Group, said The Real Good Travel Book is a celebration of the Central South African lifestyle.
“Central South Africa is home to many wonderful places to visit, things to see and delicious food to enjoy. A special thank you to our listeners for sharing their bucket list experiences with us. It was special reading all the adventures and now OFM gets to share it with you.”
The Beatles and Lionel Richie voted among the top 10 artists of the 60s, 70s and 80s in nationwide poll
Listeners from across the country voted The Beatles, Whitney Houston and the Bee Gees as being among the top ten artists or bands of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, in a poll competition hosted by digital radio station, East Coast Gold (ECG).
The poll, which was open for two weeks, online and on East Coast Gold’s social media platforms, received over 2 000 entries and provided valuable insights into which musical acts South Africans deem to be the most timeless from the golden years.
For East Coast Gold programming manager, Zane Derbyshire, this was illustrative of the fact that these three seminal decades in history marked a timeless era in music that is deserving of its own dedicated space on-air.
The poll formed part of ECG’s national ‘Times change, the music doesn’t’ campaign which aims to highlight the special place that classic hits hold in the hearts and minds of South Africans.
As Derbyshire concludes: “This poll has been an extremely valuable exercise for our radio station and has produced learnings that we will take into our music selection process going forward. Over the next few months, listeners can expect more hits from these top ten artists as we further our objective to become the leading music destination for classic hits. We have had such an incredible response to the poll that we aim to make this annual poll a permanent part of our programming strategy.”
- The Beatles
- Whitney Houston
- Bee Gees
- Elton John
- Michael Jackson
- Elvis Presley
- Madonna
- The Beach Boys
- Lionel Richie
Donna Summer
Biggest township gaming expo back again
The 4th Ekasi Techfest & Gaming Expo, now simply called Techfest Expo, aims to meet the needs of technology and gaming enthusiasts in Soweto and the surrounding areas which are together home to several million people, most of them under 30 years of age.
The Techfest Expo will return to the prestigious Soweto Theatre from 11 – 13 November 2022, with more entertainment, gaming exhibitions, esports tournament prize pools, arcade corners, and the best gaming to accommodate the drastic growth of the event.
“We’re thrilled to be bringing back the township biggest gaming expo and we are working around the clock to curate a show with a variety of dedicated gaming features across different age groups, ensuring there will be fun and entertainment for everyone to experience,” said Gabriel Ramokotjo
For further enquiries, please contact info@techfestexpo.co.za