The Media Online’s weekly round up of people, account and business moves in media.
This week’s BIG move: Nielsen’s Ad Intel Digital launches in South Africa
Nielsen’s Advertising Intelligence Service (Ad Intel), a source of advertising spend and creative intelligence, has launched Ad Intel Digital to complement its advertising monitoring and ad spend data tracking software to help marketers manage marketplace complexities. In addition, as paid social media advertising has increasingly become an imperative marketing tactic for brands to expand their online presence, Ad Intel Digital includes paid social media ad spend and creative information on request.
“Consumers today have access to more media content across more platforms than ever before and marketers continue to increase their presence in the digital advertising channel where ROI can be measurable. To succeed and stay ahead, businesses need reliable advertising intelligence to develop efficient media strategies,” said Terry Murphy, MD for Nielsen Media, South Africa. “We’re pleased to announce that we will now be able to add digital to our advertising monitoring, providing a more holistic view across media platforms.”
The Ad Intel Digital solution captures paid advertising expenditure and creative data across monitored publisher websites. Marketers are provided with actionable cross-platform campaign insights through the intuitive online platform WizzAd+, with consistent brand and category views. For the first time advertisers in South Africa, media agencies and marketers can review and compare advertising activity across platforms that include Digital, TV, Radio, Print (Newspapers and Magazines), Cinema, Direct Mail and Out-of-Home across major, mid and minor categories covering approx. 2000+ active advertisers and 3000+ active brands.
Information is collected daily by monitoring over 300 of South Africa’s frequently visited websites and includes data from both mobile and desktop users. The measurement identifies video and display adverts running on these sites, captures the creative, estimates the impressions, spend, placement and formats and can differentiate between programmatic and direct advert buys.
According to Murphy, the monitoring of digital ad spending has highlighted very interesting trends. For example, 84% of the digital spend recorded from January to May 2022 is from direct or non-programmatic placements which are linked to 29% of the total ad impressions while 16% of the spend is attributed to programmatic placements and accounts for 71% of the total ad impressions in this period.
What is more, marketers can now benefit from a more accurate representation of advertisers’ digital ad buys across categories. New Ad Intel Digital reveals that Retail is currently leading the advertising spend chart, followed by Multimedia, B2B, FMCG – health and beauty.
Nielsen’s new offering in South Africa means that data can be analysed at a more granular level down to the device, ad buy type and ad formats. It’s interesting to note that of the total ad impressions 57% are served programmatically and 20% are served directly on the desktop whereas, the break up for mobile is: 14% of ad impressions served programmatically and 9% placed directly.
People moves
Ogilvy promotes ‘own grown’ talent
Ndu Donsa has been promoted to head of strategy for Ogilvy South Africa’s Johannesburg office. Donsa has been with Ogilvy since 2015 and has shone brightly in his rise through various positions in the group.
He joins the Ogilvy South Africa (OSA) strategy leadership team, which represents strategy directors across all business units including advertising, digital, content, social, design, PR and data. He also joins the leadership team of the Johannesburg office, partnering chief creative officer Kabelo Moshapalo and MD Tracey Edwards.
Neo Makhele, OSA chief strategy officer said Donsa’s “obsession with ideas and insights is fierce, and through his unwavering commitment to producing impactful work, he has always built great relationships with creatives and clients. As someone who also enjoys being deeply connected with culture, Ndu is the perfect candidate this role”.
He has over 10 years experience in the industry having worked on many household brands including: DStv, Carling Black Label, Castle Lite, Ace, Oros, Doom and Audi. He has also worked as an ambassador for Puma South Africa and is an active contributor to culture through video blogging and content creation, writing for GQ magazine and Superbalist.
New head of the STADIO Centurion campus sets the bar high
JSE-listed, higher education provider STADIO has appointed D. Simon Kekana as the head of its new, multi-faculty campus in Centurion, Pretoria.
Kekana is a passionate and dedicated advocate for higher education, possessing a broad and deep understanding of some of the key challenges facing the South African education sector. During his distinguished career, he has held several esteemed positions, including that of teacher, school principal, principal of a university campus, deputy vice-chancellor and deputy director in a government department.
Business moves
Idea Hive charts course towards VISION 2025 with expansion to Kenya
Idea Hive, a performance marketing agency, continues on its expansion journey as it strives towards being one of the leading go-to agencies in South Africa and the rest of Africa. The business has recently made some strategic organisational structural changes and expanded its service offerings into East Africa.
Effective 1August 2022, Idea Hive will be reconfigured to pilot the achievement of its 2025 VISION while also setting an enabling platform to properly service Idea Hive East Africa. To this end, Idea Hive now has two main business units: customer experience and operations.
Customer Experience (research & development hub) is tasked with delivering on its value chain, which entails Analytics, Brand & Consumer Strategy, CRM, Insights, Precision Marketing, and Innovation. This unit will be headed by Muzi Mthombeni, chief customer experience officer.
Operations will represent the heart of the business and focus on Idea Hive’s growth ambitions. It is an amalgamation of audience management, client services, creative, and growth. This unit will be headed by Sizwe ‘ Scoop’ Simelane as the chief operating officer supported by Zama Nxumalo, executive creative director.
The expansion into East Africa sees Idea Hive drive their market penetration and growth efforts in Kenya effectively with Muriuki Murunge the newly appointed MD.
Pint Size Media helps Evotel join the podcast conversation
Audio and video production company Pint Size Media is helping Fibre Network Operator (FNO), Evotel, tell its stories by producing a podcast covering a range of subjects around fibre-to-the-home.
“Podcasts are a fantastic opportunity for companies like Evotel to tell their stories. It allows listeners to hear content on-demand in their time and at their pace. For a brand, it provides another distribution channel to share their expertise, thoughts and conversations relating to their brand. For example, it’s an easy way to share information on subjects that can be listened to on-demand, in the car or while cooking dinner.
It sparks thought and conversations on the subject and can be listened to whenever you have a few minutes to learn a bit more about the company, what it does and what it can do for you – no long and winding spiel to get the facts,” said Janet Gericke, director at Pint Size Media.
Mindpool Productions and Fenix Marketing launch the ground-breaking Making The Cut brand campaign for KARAN BEEF.
Mindpool Productions and Fenix Marketing recently launched an innovative brand campaign for the largest beef producers in Africa, KARAN BEEF. The brand campaign, Making The Cut, is a comedy talk show, hosted by their brand mascot, BEEF, who “grills” South African celebrities in a studio environment. With BEEF as the new talkshow host in town, everyone is talking about him. There’s a whole lot at “steak” when BEEF opens his mouth – and that’s no bull.
A series of comedy spots, launched nationwide across social media, take a humorous approach to each celebrity’s career, shining the spotlight on their achievements, personalities, and behind-the-scenes anecdotes.
The campaign was launched on digital and social media platforms in March and has featured such celebrities as rugby legend Kobus Wiese, singing sensation Kurt Darren, TV and movie star Desmond Dube, who get up-close and personal with South Africa’s beefiest and most fearless talk show host.
Ithuba gets two more years as national lottery operator
The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the DTIC) and the National Lotteries Commission (the NLC) have extended the National Lottery Operator, ITHUBA’s operating licence for an additional two years.
Its licence term was set to end on 31 May 2023 and is now extended to 31 May 2025. ITHUBA CEO, Charmaine Mabuza, says as the Lottery operator, they welcome this important decision and as such, are committed to “continuing to excel in fulfilling our mandate”. Mabuza went on state that “the past years have demonstrated that ITHUBA has the requisite skills, competency and resources to run the lottery”.
“The DTIC has made a definitive pronouncement on what will support the needs of its people and the businesses that sustain their livelihoods during such perilous times is one to be commended.”
Hunter’s x Jacquel Culture House collab hits high notes
Hunter’s x Jacquel Culture House, the collaboration between the iconic cider brand and Tresor Riziki’s legacy empowerment partnership with in_Broadcasting, is hitting the high notes.
The multi-award-winning African pop maverick, known simply as TRESOR, partnered with in_Broadcasting less than a year ago to form Jacquel Culture House, and moved quickly to find a like-minded collaborator to broaden the project’s reach.
“Given TRESOR’s unwavering commitment to projects that uplift Africa – he is a proud UN Refugee Agency Ambassador – and Hunter’s long-standing track record as supporter of the South African music scene – it was clear that a Hunter’s x Jacquel Culture House would be the perfect collaboration,” explained in_Broadcasting founder, Jon Savage.
“And we’ve been proven right with the Hunter’s x Jacquel Culture House collaboration delivering opportunities for young artists within just a few short months of shaking on the deal.”
In addition to this quick success, the Hunter’s x Jacquel Culture House television show, hosted on MTV Base by Tshego Koke, is creating a national buzz within South Africa’s music-loving communities.
CloudSmiths and DotModus merge to form customer journey powerhouse
CloudSmiths, Africa’s largest and most experienced Salesforce partner, has merged with DotModus, a Google Cloud Platform Premier Partner in data engineering and cloud infrastructure consultancy, to form an omnichannel customer journey powerhouse that will operate under the CloudSmiths brand.
Launched in 2010, DotModus specialises in Google Cloud Data Analytics and Google Cloud Infrastructure. It is also a Gold Microsoft partner with a client portfolio comprising media, mining, retail, financial services and pharmaceutical multinationals across South Africa, the UK and the USA.
CloudSmiths is a Salesforce Cloud Reseller and Implementation Partner that specialises in the deployment and integration of the Salesforce platform and its solutions into third-party applications. Its current client portfolio includes leading South African banks, telcos and retailers.
Both companies are members of Dynamic Technologies, an evolutionary software and technology group of 12 companies across South Africa, Europe, the United Kingdom and the USA. The merged entity will spearhead the world’s major cloud technologies in the group.
It will also offer clients a one-stop solution for businesses seeking to use data driven insights to create exceptional customer experiences, helping their clients build great relationships with their target audiences.
CloudSmiths’ CEO Jason Timm, who holds a seat on the EMEA Salesforce Partner Advisory Board for Cloud Resellers, will lead the merged business in the same capacity.
Acclaimed PR agency rebrands to Dialogue, makes key appointments, and scoops top awards at the 2022 PR PRISM Awards
South African PR industry leader Tracy Jones’ award-winning agency is entering its 16th year in the industry with a clean sweep at the 2022 PRISMs and a growth spurt that has seen the agency embrace Dialogue as its new name, and substantially expand its client base and team with a tranche of strategic appointments.
Formerly known as Positive Dialogue, the agency is rebranding to a more impactful derivation of its name, Dialogue, because it “makes strategic sense”, said Jones. “The world is changing and so is PR. As a strategic artform, PR has evolved to be a myriad of dialogues – and not necessarily only positive ones. In a world of social media trolls, fake news, targeted misinformation, incidental confusion, bias bubbles, and the rise of conscious culture, trust is hard to find and harder to authentically create. That is when the power of dialogue comes to the fore. Being involved in shaping authentic perception and building trust through strategic communication has always been my core driver, and seeing the true value of PR becoming recognised as central to business strategy is deeply rewarding.”
Since the start of 2022, Dialogue has seen massive growth across its client portfolios, having recently added Pepsi Max, Johnson & Johnson Neutrogena, Fast Heroes South Africa, the Heart & Stroke Foundation, GoldPhish Cyber Security, the Azetco Bitcoin platform and the RTEOR Group to its client base. The agency’s existing clients include Coronation Fund Managers, Teneo Online School, Marriott International, Citadel, and the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation.
Animation brings the journey of the apple to life
Recode Media, the agency of record of Tru-Cape Fruit Marketing, has created a new television commercial for South Africa’s largest exporter of apples and pears using three-dimensional animation.
Rochelle Hendry, Recode creative director and someone who has worked on the Tru-Cape account for many years before Recode when Red Cherry Marketing handled the business, says the objectives were to promote Tru-Cape apples and pears as a healthy snack alternative for the whole family, to educate the consumer about the journey of the apple from the orchard into the bag on the supermarket shelf, as well as creating a fun, happy environment around apples and pears. “There were two versions of the TVC, one for apples and one for pears,” she says adding that Recode also filmed additional footage at Tru-Cape’s owners’ packhouse facilities at Ceres Fruit Growers and in Grabouw, at Two-a-Day. Some footage was filmed at Recode’s Johannesburg studio.
Tru-Cape Fruit Marketing’s Marketing Director, Conrad Fick says that the idea of following the apple in its journey was a long time in coming. “We first considered putting a camera into an apple-shaped case in the hope that it would film the journey through the sorting and packing line but when the potential risks to machinery were considered animation proved a much easier solution,” Fick says.
Tru-Cape also turned to poplar South African band, Sunset Sweatshop, to record its song, Takeaways From Nature, used as a jingle in the commercial and available to download on all music platforms.
BCX redefined repositioning the brand
The ICT company BCX, has revealed its new brand positioning to reflect its role as an evolving company in today’s constantly changing business landscape. Focusing on evolution and growth, BCX’s fresh look evokes its transformation from a digital solutions provider into one of the largest systems integrators and digital transformation enablers in its chosen markets.
BCX chief marketing officer, Mandisa Ntloko-Petersen, said, “We are at a pivotal point of transforming our business. The repositioning of our brand is a natural step in our journey to remain one of the largest ICT companies in our chosen markets by consistently adapting to the changing market and reaffirming our commitment to our clients and stakeholders. This is the next phase of our evolution; we are a business on a new and exciting journey with a massive transformative purpose – to reinvent future human experiences through creativity and technology.”
Makro launches new shopping app to build stronger relationships with their customers
Makro has launched new shopping app to bring customers closer to the brand’s shopping experience. In a sensitive economic climate, and as part of Massmart’s overarching strategy on e-commerce transformation South Africa, Makro wants to enable customers to buy products across its categories in a way that saves them time and money. Making it easy to shop wherever a consumer may be and making it simpler to access a full shop from one of South Africa’s favourite destination retailer.
Built in eight weeks, with over 120 000 products available, the app allows customers to shop a wide range of products, including an extended range for your pantry, right in the palm of your hand. Furthermore, the search functionality has improved allowing customers to find what they are looking for without having to try multiple search terms or keywords.
The new Makro Shopping App will have dedicated Pantry and Liquor categories. Combined with app gestures such as drawers, swipes, shifts and sharing – the Makro Shopping App will make it easier to shop and experience the full range on offer. The retailer has also implemented local sourcing for Pantry items to enable a 2-day delivery and optimised courier costs through automated IP detection and GPS delivery address location. These improvements will come with an advanced checkout design to showcase Pantry items and an increased product range.
Makro instance for Lighthouse to give away over R3 million worth of prizes
Beginning today, 21 July, Makro will give away fully-installed power systems on Sea Monster’s Lighthouse platform to celebrate the retailer’s 51 years in business. Lighthouse is the first entirely web-based gamified rewards network on the African continent. It is also a major player in the advertising business and attention economy. Over the course of the six-week promotion, Lighthouse will process almost R3 million worth of prizes via the app.
Lighthouse is a white label brand engagement platform that allows brands to connect with their customers through gamified content, and share real value with them. The platform also allows brands to measure and prove return on investment in one single place.
“In the attention economy, where people’s time has value, the fact that they actively choose to listen to what brands have to say should never be taken for granted. Consumers are no longer captive to marketing content – their time and attention matters to them, and brands should use that time wisely,” says Ynze de Jong, Product Manager, Lighthouse and Sea Monster Technical Lead.
Customers can enter by accessing the Makro 51st Birthday Campaign here or by following the steps shared in the Makro App, In-Store and on Makro’s social media.
Broadsign Extends Programmatic Ecosystem with Broadsign Reach Header Bidder
Broadsign, an out-of-home (OOH) advertising platform, has released Broadsign Reach Header Bidder, a solution for Broadsign Reach users that enables media owners to consolidate and manage programmatic bids from multiple third-party supply-side-platforms (SSPs). Rather than the current practice of reserving a one-to-one slot for each SSP partner, the solution enables a one-to-many approach that allows media owners to simplify ad operations, maximize yield value, and increase fill rates regardless of the SSP handling the transaction.
Making moves
How safe is your neighbourhood? Find out using News24’s Crime Check application
News24 has launched CrimeCheck, an application designed to help South Africans understand their risk of becoming a victim in a country where crime levels are among the highest in the world.
Buying a house or relocating a parent? Make sure you understand the risks of your intended area.
The application was built over several months and involved the processing of hundreds of thousands of official crime statistic records from 1 158 policing precincts from 2017 to 2022 and which will continue to be updated when crime data is released each quarter.
“This is a unique data journalism tool that we have developed for News24’s readers to be informed about crime in their neighbourhoods, or when they plan to relocate,” said Adriaan Basson, News24’s editor-in-chief.
CrimeCheck provides a gauge of risk on a series of crime indices as well as on several individual crimes like murder and burglary. It also provides detail of each of the more than 50 crime types in every precinct which are reflected in South African Police Service’s data.
Jacaranda FM community raise Over R1-million for Hospice
Throughout the years, Jacaranda FM’s Good Morning Angels has raised millions of rands for local communities as brands and the community come together to make a difference in people’s lives. Jacaranda FM listeners came together to honour and support Hospice in a big way as they honoured and celebrated Madiba’s legacy. Through an on-air fundraising exercise, Jacaranda FM listeners raised over R1 million which will be split amongst the 17 Hospices in Gauteng.
These Hospice sites serve the severely ill and their families every day of the year. Hospice, like everybody else, has been struggling through the pandemic and the station called on listeners to show them some love. Since Monday, listeners, corporates and supporters donated R 1 071 500! The Good Morning Angels Fund will round up the amazing amount donated so far by another R 32 500 for a total of R1 104 000 to the Hospices in Gauteng.
Jacqui Kaye, representing the 17 Hospices in Gauteng, joined breakfast host Martin Bester in studio to receive a cheque for the incredible amount. Watch the official handover here: //www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1044117033133138.
ECR and Futurelife come together to bring about change this Mandela Day
East Coast Radio partnered with Futurelife to make a positive impact in the lives of the children at Early Childhood Development Waterloo Crisis Centre. The two brands honoured Madiba’s legacy by starting their day at the centre and serving a nutritious porridge breakfast.
Each morning, kids from the community – aged six months to 5 years – visit the centre to spend the day. The centre runs a day care, which assists working parents who don’t have the financial means to pay for childcare.
“Mandela Month holds a very special place in the hearts of most South Africans and people really dig deep to support initiatives that provide relief, especially to those who are vulnerable. But not knowing where to start can be a big deterrent.
Working as partners, Futurelife and the Nelson Mandela Foundation, are giving South Africans a quick and easy way to make a tangible difference in the lives of our children this year,” said Tshepang Motsekuoa, head of marketing for Nelson Mandela Foundation.
ECR got involved on the day by preparing meals and packing food parcels for distribution for the kids to take home. The station’s Breakfast team also replaced some of the broken doors at the centre and donated a gas stove and other kitchen utensils.
Diary
World Out of Home Organization sets date for first in-person APAC Forum
The World Out of home Organization’s first in-person APAC Forum is scheduled for 12-14 October 2022 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
This follows WOO’s first post-pandemic in-person Global Congress in Toronto and builds on the success of virtual Forums for Europe, Asia and Africa in 2021 and early 2022.
There will be a full programme of presentations and speakers from the region and the wider global Out of Home industry. Topics to be covered include Maintaining OOH’s Advantage in a Digital World; Responding to the Sustainability Challenge and Driving Growth in OOH through Audience Measurement.
The APAC Forum will commence with Introductory drinks on Wednesday October 12, followed by a full programme of presentations on Thursday October 13 and Dinner in the city before a half-day of presentations on Friday October 14.
The Forum will be in English with translations for key local languages.
WOO President Tom Goddard says: “Reconvening for our Global Congress in Toronto was a red letter day for the industry but just as big a step forward has been the success of our virtual regional Forums for Europe, Asia and Africa.
“WOO is now a truly global organization with wide membership across the world. Our first regional in-person Forum in the APAC region is another major advance and will highlight a vital region for the OOH industry. There will also be a further in-person Forum for the Middle East, early in 2023.”
WOO’s next Global Congress will be in Lisbon from June 7-9.