The Media Online’s weekly round up of people, account and business moves in media.
This week’s BIG move: Mediamark undergoes bold new rebrand
Audio and digital solutions company, Mediamark, has announced a major rebrand with a revolutionary shift from their previously blue logo to invigorate and inspire both staff and the industry.
Mediamark celebrates its 25th anniversary this year and head of marketing, Charlie Wannell, says the timing for a rebrand was ideal. “We’re a vibrant company which has managed to reinvent itself year after year, as the media landscape has evolved at the speed of life,” she said. “After the past two years we felt it would be a great time to inject new energy and inspiration into our brand look to better reflect who we are and what we stand for. We partnered with design powerhouse, MILK, who really got our vision and encouraged us to be brave and think differently and we’re very excited to share this with the industry.”
Carla Kelly, MILK MD, explains, “We used the core aspect of Mediamark, to connect people to their audiences, as the foundation for the branding and the face of the company. The icon is symbolic of a bridge, creating a steadfast metaphor for their tagline and purpose, bringing people and media together.”
Wannell echoes the significance of the bridge, “We connect advertisers, with world class brands and audiences, through relationships that matter, and solution driven results that count. Partnerships define who we are, and we felt that the bridge epitomises the role we proudly play.”
As part of the rebrand, Mediamark has also added the tag line “Bringing people and media together”.
Another major change is the logo’s change in colour. Mediamark’s new palette of pink and orange aims to promote innovation, communication, and a forward-thinking mindset.
People moves
Award-winning actress Zethu Dlomo to lead a star-studded cast in Mzansi Wethu’s first exclusive family drama, Isibopho
When a woman’s beloved husband and father-in-law are murdered, she is culturally obligated to marry her brother-in-law – but what happens if he also wants her dead?
That’s the premise of Isibopho, the exciting and intriguing new drama from Mzansi Wethu, premiering on Sunday 10 July. The show explores the cultural practice of ‘ungeno’ – when a widow marries her late husband’s close relative in order to stay in the family.
In addition to a riveting storyline, the show is led by award-winning actress Zethu Dlomo, known for portraying a feisty character in the US historical adventure seriesBlack Sails, alongside a strong cast: the celebrated Slindile Nodangala (Lockdown); Sicelo Dlamini (Isithembiso); the award-winning icon Jerry Mofokeng (The Girl from St Agnes, Tsotsi); actor and musician Lerato Makhetha; and actress and producer Dineo Lusenga.
“Mzansi Wethu has been increasing their offering of brand new, high quality and original content this year. While our new shows have primarily been reality TV-focused, we’re excited to expand our new offering into a different genre. Our audience is versatile and discerning, and we are confident that Isibopho will become a firm viewer favourite,” said Shirley Adonisi, Director of Local Entertainment Channels at M-Net.
Business moves
The BRC TAMS panel still in good shape
The Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRC) has updated the media and advertising industry on TAMS (TV Audience Measurement Study). Although the Television universe has been affected by Covid-19, lockdowns and severe challenges over the past couple of years, the overall TAMS panel is in good shape.
Due to the absence of the Establishment Survey (ES) a new television-only ES was commissioned. The television universe was last updated in October 2020 and utilised PAMS for the update. In the space of two years much has happened, including flux in the market. For example, change in terms of habits whether forced or unforced, movement to new platforms, new players entering the market, different ways of viewing and the use of different devices which have affected the Television universe.
“As a result of the lack of data and the massive flux in the market, we took the decision to commission a TV-only ES in order to determine and focus purely on the TV market,” said the BRC’s CEO, Gary Whitaker.
Currently 97% of panel homes are installed with 90% (2821) of households reporting, despite being heavily affected by loadshedding and Covid-19. The panel weighting (or representative balance) target of 70% for individuals has always been exceeded and the household weighting of 80% is well over the targeted 65%. The panel is a ‘well-weighted’ panel.
DTT (Digital Terrestrial TV) representation on the panel is a good representation of what is actually happening in the country. “With DTT, we are dealing with a lot of estimates and the space is very complex. Over the coming months we expect to get data from external sources on the actual numbers as well as our own TV ES to gain a better understanding of these numbers,” said Whitaker.
The TAMS panel is still in good shape; however some recommendations were made by the panel auditors. Panel maintenance is a continuous process and has been prioritized in a five-step process (over a period of time) to address the churn of 452 replacement Households (HHs), 302 replacement HHs who no longer fit the TAMS TV universe definition, adding 83 new HHs, addressing the balance of pay and non-pay HHs and to develop a plan that will replace HHs that have been on the panel for more than eight years.
It is interesting to note that according to Nielsen’s Digital Consumer Survey there are now 4.5 million consumers, aged 15+, that only use streaming services (up from approximately 2 million consumers two years ago). 16.5 million people consume both linear TV and streaming content.
According to the Fusion survey from 2021, the biggest change from the Fusion 2018 survey is that “Any Streaming” increased by 6%. There has been a significant increase of 16% over the two surveys in internet subscriptions for TV shows or movies.
YouTube is still the most viewed VOD (Video on Demand) platform with Netflix coming in second. Interesting to note is that the number of devices being used to watch have declined from an average 2.5 to 2 although multi-screening or watching on more than one screen has increased daily from 39% to 52%.
Still to come this year, the full Television ES study will be released in the fourth quarter of the year with fieldwork scheduled for July to September 2022.
The full TAMS update presentation can be downloaded and viewed at //brcsa.org.za/brc-tams-update-roadshow-13-may-2022/
DUO Marketing + Communications adds three new technology clients this month
DUO Marketing + Communications, a specialist provider of marketing, communication and advisory services to business-to-business technology companies in Africa, has added innovative locally-grown brands including Analyze Consulting, Parket and Vastratech to its list of prestigious tech clients.
“Our business has been fortunate to benefit from the growth of digital brand elevation solutions currently in high demand. Our value to clients remains accountability, partnership and measurable results, says Judith Middleton, CEO of DUO.
New ways for EMEA creators to grow their businesses on Facebook
To help grow the creator economy, Meta has developed monetisation tools so that creators at all stages of their growth can build a sustainable business. The company has launched tools that will give creators in EMEA new opportunities to earn a living and engage their communities. Facebook is also extending its commitment to not collect any revenue share from their earnings in Subscriptions, Badges in Facebook Live and Paid Online Events by an additional year, through to 1 January 2024. For more click here.
Making moves
DUKE Group shines at Business Impact Index
The DUKE Group has sharde their rankings announced at the MMA SMARTIES Business Impact Index Africa (BII) recently.
The MMA SMARTIES Business Impact Index (BII) ranks the marketing industry’s top agencies, brands, advertisers and solution providers who are driving the most significant business impact around the globe through modern marketing campaigns – specifically in the digital arena.
Across the Group, DUKE achieved three awards in the top 5 for Africa, and two awards in the top 10 for EMEA:
Africa
Creative Agency – Duke ranked 3rd place
Digital/Social Agency – Mark1 joint 2nd & Dialogue 5th place
Agency Networks – Duke Group 1st place
EMEA
Creative Agency – Duke 8th place
Digital & Social – Mark1 2nd place, Dialogue 7th place
Shannon Delaporte, MD of Mark1, said: “What I love about this award, is that it focuses on business results which gives us an opportunity to really demonstrate our expertise in a way that shows how we help our clients grow and achieve their business goals. In the BII rankings, we received awards across various disciplines within the DUKE Group which beautifully outlines the fact that we work effectively as an integrated team. Team effort all the way.”
Diary
CAF President, Dr Patrice Motsepe, to address SANEF AGM
Dr. Patrice Motsepe, CAF President, will address the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) annual general meeting on Saturday. Members of the media are invited to cover the address. The details are below:
Date: Saturday, 25 June 2022
Venue: The Empire Conference and Events Venue (Building B – 4th floor, Hill on empire, 16 Empire Road, Parktown, JHB)
Time: 08:30am for 09:00amRSVP: dzudzie@sanef.org.za | 079 029 7656
