The Media Online’s weekly round up of people, account and business moves in media.
This week’s BIG move: Novus introduces TikTok social media monitoring
With over one billion active monthly global users and more than 6.4 million South Africans embracing the short-form video hosting service, local media monitoring company Novus Group has announced that it has included TikTok as part of its social media monitoring offering.
“TikTok has become the go-to platform for the world’s youth looking for videos covering any number of genres and tastes. It is not difficult to see why it has become one of the fastest-growing social media platforms in the market especially among a younger demographic. TikTok is a critical tool for brands looking to position themselves to a new, largely untapped audience,” said Joe Hamman, founder and director of Novus Group.
Already, some universities are using TikTok as a tool to upload short lesson snippets. Companies are also seeing how TikTok can help increase leads and prospects as well as target future clients. It is also an easy way to engage with graduates. But the platform also provides business opportunities.
The TikTok monitoring service provided by Novus monitors a company’s brands, competitors, and campaigns. It can also monitor reels, comments, likes, and reposts to provide clients with a greater understanding of the engagement generated by specific posts or campaigns. Keyword monitoring can be done based on hashtags to ensure brands have a better understanding on which of its marketing content drives the most views and engagements from TikTok followers.
“Innovative South African companies are using TikTok to reach a wider audience and highlight their product offerings in more creative ways. Our social media monitoring solution is designed to show the return of investment they are getting on TikTok and other platforms,” Hamman added.
Click here to find out about TikTok media monitoring with Novus. As a special launch offer, you save 30% per keyword if you sign up in October.
People moves
M&C Saatchi Group SA restructures and expands leadership
M&C Saatchi Group South Africa has announced the appointment of long-time partner and group co-founder Jacques Burger to group chief executive officer, with Mike Abel assuming the role of executive chairman. With the South Africa Group experiencing significant growth over the last two years, an expanded leadership team for the Group has also been appointed. The move also allows Abel, part of the global Exco of M&C Saatchi Plc, to focus more on his global portfolio, which includes driving the group’s overall creative product and continually engaging with the South African team on key initiatives and high-level projects.
“Over the last 12 years we have focused our energy on building an agency group founded on strong values, deep smarts and meaningful client partnerships. With an expanding Group, this move gives us even more ability to unlock powerful and connected creative solutions for the challenges our clients face,” said Abel.
“Indeed,” saidincoming CEO Burger, “this is a new chapter of radical collaboration across our Group and the multiple disciplines and solutions they each bring. The ability to connect these opportunities while constantly and relentlessly applying our trademark approach of Brutal Simplicity of Thought is a powerful proposition. It is most certainly where the future of communication lies and will deliver greater value to our clients.”
Business moves
DUKE Group achieves 52% growth in one of the toughest years for the economy and industry
DUKE Group, a full-service communications company comprising seven independent, award-winning agencies, showed a remarkable 52% growth in 2022, despite complex economic conditions and tough industry headwinds. The agency’s approach of steady acquisition across both clients and companies has built stable foundations that have allowed it to become even more flexible and agile, delivering exceptional customer service and high levels of engagement.
“We believe in resilience and forging forward through thick and thin,” said Wayne Naidoo, Group CEO. “This translates to doing the unexpected, writing our own rule book, and pushing the boundaries. It also is defined by our commitment to diversity, inclusive leadership and a collaborative internal culture.”
Over the past three years, DUKE Group has added four new businesses, bringing the total of companies within the stable to: public relations company Dialogue; digital specialist Mark1; sponsorship company CHAMP; insights and research business NUDE; production company DUCHESS; and media strategy and planning company FAME. This allows for the Group to deliver end-to-end capabilities and to provide high levels of collaborative creativity to clients.
The company is committed to delivering measurable results within tightly managed spend and with clearly defined ROI. This aligns with current market expectations – companies are pulling back on advertising spend due to the economic climate so creativity, service delivery and ROI are key factors in ensuring successful campaigns and sustainable relationships.
“We take our work and our clients extremely seriously,” added Naidoo. “This is reflected in our leadership profile and in our promise to ensure that all our customers deal with senior, experienced agency personnel. Six out of our seven group MDs are women and three are women of colour, and our production company DUCHESS, owned and managed by women, was created with the purpose of empowering women in the creative production industry.”
The company set out on a very deliberate strategy of ensuring that it had the right blend of age, experience, gender and race, and all new senior employees are offered a three-month contract to ensure there is combability from the outset – this is key to ensuring that the culture of resilience, honesty and mutual respect is upheld.
BBC and Disney Branded TV join forces on Doctor Who
The BBC and Disney Branded Television have come together to transform Doctor Who into a global franchise for UK audiences and the rest of the world.
Under a shared creative vision, they will deliver this quintessentially British show to future generations on an unprecedented scale with Disney+ as the exclusive home for new seasons of Doctor Who outside the UK and Ireland. The announcement – which was made this morning by the next Doctor Who, Ncuti Gatwa, during an appearance on Live with Kelly and Ryan – begins a new collaboration between BBC and Disney Branded Television.
Both partners have aligned under returning showrunner Russell T Davies’ bold vision, who takes control of the TARDIS in 2023. He was responsible for Doctor Who’s revival in 2005 and is credited with propelling the show into one of TV’s biggest hits.
The new episodes will premiere on the BBC and Disney+ beginning in late 2023 for fans all over the world. The show will be produced in Wales by Bad Wolf with BBC Studios Production.
OFM partners with Dragons for 2022/23 season
OFM has once again signed on as the official media partner of the North West Dragons men’s cricket team.
As their media partner, OFM will cover the Dragons’ 2022/23 season with team news, results, information on upcoming matches, and interviews with players.
The team will participate in four domestic CSA tournaments during the forthcoming season, namely the CSA T20 Knockout, the CSA 4-day series, the One Day Cup, and the Mzansi Super League.
According to the Dragons’ management, they are excited to continue the partnership with OFM as they move into the top tier of the CSA’s new domestic franchise cricket structure.
Making moves
SANEF’s annual fundraising dinner remembers Black Wednesday, in honour of media freedom
Forty-five years since the brutality of the events of Black Wednesday on 19 October 1977, media freedom was not only trampled upon back then, but we also still see this key tenet of Article 16 of the Bill of the Rights being violated this day, in a country with an august Constitution.
As key proponents and defenders of media freedom, the South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) has since 2016 been holding an annual fundraising dinner during the week of Black Wednesday, aimed at raising funds towards legal cases that the organisation usually undertakes.
Black Wednesday refers to events of 19 October 1977, when apartheid-era Justice Minister Jimmy Kruger outlawed over eighteen organisations, including the Union of Black Journalists (UBJ) and three newspapers, The World, Weekend World edited by Percy Qoboza, and Pro Veritate, the publication published by anti-apartheid activist Beyers Naude. Qoboza and his deputy, Aggrey Klaaste were imprisoned. Naude and Donald Woods, editor of the Daily Dispatch, were banned from writing and put under house arrest.
Sbu Ngalwa, SANEF’s chairperson, said: “As the media and the judiciary – working independently – we have kept the fires burning in this country while other institutions seemed to be falling apart. That is why we asked the former Deputy Chief Justice to speak on the following topic: The Media and the Judiciary: What role should they play in the post State Capture era.
“I’m sure we will learn a lot from his insights and wisdom – he may be retired but fortunately wisdom does not retire but is only sharpened by time. The easy answer to the topic would be to say – for us as the media – we need to continue being vigilant and to relentlessly hold the powerful to account.”
The Pendoring indigenous language imbizo
Pendoring invites all stakeholders from the private sector, civil society and academia to participate in the Indigenous Language Imbizo to activate the UN International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032) in South Africa.
Through a series of short talks, panel discussions and interviews, the Indigenous Language Imbizo will be a platform to unite multiple stakeholders to campaign for the further development of and investment in South Africa’s indigenous languages, and for a more multilingual society.
The Indigenous Language Imbizo is free to attend and open to all passionate about developing indigenous languages and multilingualism in South Africa. Please register beforehand.
Event details
Date: 2 November 2022
Time: 09:30 – 12:00
Venue: Arts Centre at the University of Johannesburg
Registration: https://tickets.tixsa.co.za/event/pendoring-imbizo
The Keep Walking cultural shape shifters revealed.
The recipients in the inaugural Keep Walking: Africa Top 30 List have been announced, presenting a select group of next gen African creatives & visionaries who are boldly pushing culture forward while making impact on the continent’s creative economy, across music, film, media, fashion, and art.
An innovative new initiative from Johnnie Walker™ and Trace, the list comes after two months of rigorous searching with top talent managers and industry leaders across the continent to identify a definitive list of pan-African cultural shape shifters.
“We’re thrilled to have been able to bring this new awards platform to life along with Johnnie Walker™ and to identify this inspirational group of cultural shapeshifters. They all follow their own paths and, in doing so, bring nuance and progress to African culture; for which the world is taking notice,” says Valentine Gaudin-Muteba, Trace Managing Director, Southern Africa.
On the inaugural Keep Walking: Africa Top 30 list are:
- Music: DJ Desiree (South Africa); Ish Kevin (Rwanda); producer Tempoe (Nigeria); De Hermes (Mozambique); Guchi (Nigeria); Musa Keys (South Africa); Pongo (Angola); Marioo (Tanzania); DJ Black Spygo (Angola); Ruger (Nigeria); Yilim (Ivory Coast).
- Art: Fanuel Leul (Ethiopia); Obou Gbais (Ivory Coast); Prince Gyasi (Ghana) and; Sungi Mlengeya (Tanzania).
- Film: Director Meji Alabi (Nigeria/UK); actress Syndy Emade (Cameroon); director Maradona Dias Dos Santos (Angola); Evelyne Illy (Ivory Coast); SkinnyFilmmaker aka Jay Muigai (Kenya); actor/director Kang Quintus (Cameroon); actress Eliane Silva (Angola); actor Silvio Nascimento (Angola).
- Fashion: Lafalaise Dion (Ivory Coast); Luxury Recycle (Mozambique); Nana Kwasi Wiafe (Ghana); Junior Orina (Kenya); Mainga Sanderson (Zambia).
- Media: Fidjil (Cameroon); Nana Mitch (Ghana).
Top Telenovela Brothers delivered in Zulu
Hot on the heels of the Zulu release of the acclaimed novella Waaris, StarSat has announced the premiere date for their next Zulu versioned telenovela project: Brothers.
Known in its country of origin as FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano, the series has made history as one of, if not the best Filipino drama series of all time. It began as just a serial version of the 1997 film of the same name. The runaway success of Brothers greatly expanded the story and enabled nine seasons, over 1 600 episodes!
Not only is Brothers the longest-running non-anthology drama series in Filipino TV history, but none could match its ratings.
“We’re eager to bring our audience such a relatable and inspiring story,” says Debbie Wu, On Digital Media’s CEO. “Growing our Zulu-versioning capabilities has been a tough challenge, but it was worth it. Making world-class entertainment more accessible whilst promoting home-language use is a mission we believe in, and our investment in the project proves that.”
Firstwatch Whisky to Reward 100 Entrepreneurs
Firstwatch Whisky has announced the launch of an initiative set to empower everyday entrepreneurs. One hundred selected entrepreneurs will win a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in a certified online business course valued at R25 000 each. The top ten will then go on to take part in a prized six-month mentorship programme.
In our post-pandemic world, with even fewer jobs and a faltering economy, it’s even more daunting to put entrepreneurial ideas into motion. But entrepreneurs and SMEs are integral to our economy and create jobs in communities. This is an opportunity for those who want to grow their business and contribute to their communities.
First, you need to have a dream, and then you need to know how to turn your ideas into a successful business. Hopefully enjoying the ride doing it. Firstwatch Whisky understands that journey and what it takes to turn your visions into reality, so it is offering this incredible opportunity.
Anyone from SMEs to start-ups and aspiring entrepreneurs can enter, but only 100 participants will be chosen. At the end of this valuable course, the 10 top students will be selected for six months of ongoing mentorship following the completion of their course – for which there can be no price tag attached.
According to Pierre van der Westhuizen, National Brand Manager of Firstwatch Whisky, “We’re thrilled to be able to offer that first step along the road for those entrepreneurs just waiting to make their mark on the business world. We know they will not just become business leaders but also invaluable in their communities.”
To find out more about Firstwatch Whisky, visit https://firstwatchwhisky.co.za/. To enter, click here: https://bit.ly/FirstwatchCourseEntryForm.
See video link here: https://youtu.be/oI8-r10544g.
A new frontier in South African retail
Understanding how South African consumers react to various factors will be crucial for brands and retailers. Changes in our shopping behaviour were certainly fast-tracked by the pandemic lockdowns, and the question now is – will the upward trajectory of online shopping continue, and if so, what does that mean for retail and ecommerce players in South Africa?
Earlier this year, Wunderman Thompson released the global and South African consumer survey results in a report called The Future Shopper. Now, Wunderman Thompson has analysed the responses and is hosting a special deep-dive session into the four key emerging trends to be aware of.
Set to take place on Thursday, 17 November 2022, ‘A New Frontier in South African Retail’ will be hosted as a virtual event and is open to anyone to attend. Both local and international specialists in Retail stores, eCommerce, Marketplaces, Innovation and Customer Experience will share expert insights on the key trends that have emerged from the research and what to consider navigating the implications of the changes.
If you’re keen to attend, you can REGISTER HERE.
Shortly after registration, you will receive a confirmation email with a link to join the virtual event taking place on Thursday, 17 November 2022.
If you have any questions regarding the event, please contact laura.conti@wundermanthompson.com
