The Media Online’s weekly round up of people, account and business moves in media.
This week’s BIG move: Nedbank IMC announces Red & Yellow as official bursary partner
This year’s Nedbank Integrated Marketing Council (IMC) Conference, taking place on the 15 September, again promises to be the showcase marketing event in Africa that draws thought leaders from all over the world to discuss Marketing is Business©.
One of the IMC’s fundamental objectives is equipping the youth with the relevant skills and experience to lead the way in an increasingly competitive marketing sector.
The Nedbank IMC Conference partners with Red & Yellow Creative School of Business (‘Red & Yellow’) to meet this objective. Red & Yellow is Africa’s leading creative business school, which itself has a vision to build a formidable creative and energised talent pool. The Nedbank IMC is proud to be sponsoring two bursaries for on-campus students for 2024.
Dale Hefer, IMC CEO says that it is imperative for the marketing industry to seek out, nurture and retain talent. “This is precisely why our bursary programme is an integral part of the Nedbank IMC mandate,” she said. Hefer’s sentiment aligns with the latest Department of Home Affair’s Critical Skills Shortage list (2022) which singles out market research and multimedia design skills in particular as being in short supply.
Red & Yellow is not only a highly respected place of learning for creative industries, but is also a driver of social upliftment and transformation. The school provides financial access to underprivileged students and helps open up direct access to the marketing, design and other creative industries. It offers a variety of full-time and part-time programmes, including degrees, advanced diplomas, and higher certificates. Online qualifications and short courses are also catered for.
Verusha Maharaj, CEO of Red & Yellow (and a previous speaker at the Nedbank IMC 2020 conference) says the school’s 93% student employability rate, and a commitment to at least 10% of students being fully funded by bursaries, is testament to their success of driving youth employment and kickstarting fulfilling careers. “We’re delighted to partner with Nedbank IMC Conference to encourage more businesses to partner with us to develop the next generation of changemakers, innovators and creators from disadvantaged backgrounds.”
People moves
Ogilvy PR & Influence strengthens leadership team
Ogilvy Public Relations amplifies its strategic expertise with the appointment of Sanesh Maharaj, who joins the business as the new head of influence. This strategic addition to the leadership team marks a significant milestone in Ogilvy’s commitment to providing innovative and impactful communication solutions to its clients.
Ogilvy Public Relations’ new offering, InfluenceO, will leverage the power of influencers, thought leaders and creative storytelling to deliver impact and performance to clients. Maharaj brings a wealth of expertise to Ogilvy with a career spanning over 15 years in the communications and marketing industries. Known for his exceptional business-led tenacity and deep understanding of influencer marketing, he plays a vital role in pivoting the business to new heights and territories.
“My goal is to enable an earned-first creative approach for our clients to experience influencer-led campaigns, intersecting through traditional and new media spaces to build meaningful and lasting connections with their current and future consumers, and business-to-business advocacy,” said Maharaj. “In this new era of influence, which continues to disrupt and demand attention, agencies have to equip brands with more opportunities to make this transition through channels of influence.”
The InfluenceO is a tech platform and end-to-end program equipped to deliver a full spectrum of influence for greater impact in real-time consumer engagement for brands and their products; fuelled by creativity, driven by data, and powered by relationships.
Association of African Exhibition Organisers Unveils New Board for 2023/2024 at AGM
The Association of African Exhibition Organisers (AAXO) successfully concluded its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 1 August 2023, during which it addressed the current state of the African events industry and introduced its new board for the term 2023/2024. The AGM brought together industry leaders, stakeholders, and key players to discuss pressing issues and opportunities within the events sector across the continent.
The newly appointed board members represent a diverse array of companies and expertise, showcasing the dedication of AAXO to fostering collaboration and promoting excellence in the African events industry. The board members were announced as follows:
- Chair: Devi Paulsen-Abbott, Energy Capital & Power
- Vice Chair: Gary Corin, Specialised Exhibitions (a division of the Montgomery Group)
- Treasurer: James Bull, Informa Group
- Spokesperson / Immediate Past Chair: Projeni Pather, Exposure Marketing
The new board members also include:
- Tracy Gounden, Messe Frankfurt (Director)
- Chanelle Hingston, VUKA Group (Director)
- Adele Hartdegen, Dogan Events (Director)
- Joshua Low, dmg events (Director)
- Tiisetso Tau, Synergy Business Events (Director)
- Cornelle du Preez, Gallagher Convention Centre (Venue Committee Chair)
These board members, each accomplished leaders in their respective organisations, will bring their collective expertise and vision to drive AAXO’s initiatives, uplift the events industry, and foster international partnerships and collaborations for the benefit of Africa.
“AAXO expresses our gratitude to the outgoing board members for their dedication and contributions to the association’s growth over the previous term. We appreciate the unwavering support of all of our members and partners in supporting us in driving the economic growth of our continent through events,” said Devi Paulsen-Abbott, Chairperson of AAXO.
Business moves
Chow Town by Nedbank reaches 75 000 gameplay session in only four months
Nedbank has become the first bank in Africa to launch a game on the Roblox gaming platform. In the space of only months, the game has already attracted 75 000 gameplay sessions, and sessions continue to increase daily. The game also features in the top 10% in terms of total numbers and session time of Roblox games offering similar experiences.
Chow Town by Nedbank was created in conjunction with Sea Monster Entertainment, a leader in financial education and behavioural change. Allowing players to set up and expand a start-up takeaway joint through incremental investment, the game has been designed to nurture entrepreneurial skills and guide young people in making good money choices. Roblox is hugely popular with the 9–12 age group, and thus provides a learning environment that will engage their attention and facilitate the learning of these valuable life skills at just the right time of life.
This past weekend, 29–30 July, Nedbank hosted some 302 tweens at a specially constructed Chow Town experience inside Bounce at the popular Fourways Mall. At an adjacent panel discussion of experts, Buli Ndlovu, executive head of retail and business banking narketing at Nedbank, said Chow Town demonstrates Nedbank’s commitment to developing innovative digital solutions to help its customers meet their goals. The high uptake of Chow Town indicates that the strategy of using gaming to positively impact the youth’s financial behaviour was paying dividends.
‘One of the best gifts we can give our children is a solid appreciation of the value of money and how to earn it,’ she said.
Astron Energy launches welcome marketing campaign
Astron Energy recently marked the rebranding of its 100th site and aims to reach 200 by the end of this year. Reaching this landmark was the trigger for the fuel company to launch its national marketing campaign.
The century milestone was the trigger to launch the company’s national marketing campaign which it believes will bring its new brand into people’s homes and hearts.
General manager retail sales and marketing for Astron Energy, Farouk Farista, said: “We spent the latter half of 2022 and the first six months of this year building up momentum on our rebranding programme in order to achieve scale as quickly and safely as possible.
“Now that we have 100-plus sites, with a presence in every province and a healthy mix of urban and rural, the time is right to really elevate our brand into the public consciousness.”
According to Farista, the marketing campaign is focused on high performing media channels that will “launch the brand to the South African market with impact and stature”, and includes:
- 30” and 60” TVCs across 32 TV channels
- Brand integration and placement into top local tv shows
- Ads across top national and regional radio stations, including Metro FM, East Coast Radio, KFM and Umhlobo Wenene
- A national Out of Home campaign reaching all key provinces
- Iconic static and 3D digital billboards for high visibility and talkability
- A high impact social media campaign across multiple channels including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Display and SEO
Astron Energy’s campaign is focused on the new brand introducing itself to South Africa, by saying WELCOME!
“The Welcome campaign is about resonating with as many South Africans as possible, it’s about feeling connected, and the ads convey a strong sense of inclusivity,” he added.
Salesforce research: 87% South African IT leaders expect generative AI to soon have a big role at their organisations
Salesforce research: 87% South African IT leaders expect generative AI to soon have a big role at their organisations
Salesforce has released its latest State of IT report with key trends from IT leaders across 28 counties, including 200 from South Africa.
The report highlights trends impacting IT organisations, such as shifting approaches to application development, the widening gap between IT services demand and supply, and the transformative impact of automation and artificial intelligence.
Key insights of this year’s State of IT report include: Generative AI is set to revolutionise IT. 83% of IT leaders in South Africa say the role of AI in their organisations is well-defined, a figure poised to grow as 87% believe generative AI, specifically, will soon have a prominent role in their organisations.
Leaders are proceeding with caution, however, with 74% concerned about generative AI’s ethics.
Ongoing digital transformations are sapping IT capacity. 67% of South African IT organisations have trouble keeping up with demands from the business, with the situation anticipated to worsen as 78% project increased demand over the next 18 months. In response, 88% of South African IT leaders say they’re increasingly focused on driving operational efficiencies.
Teams seek to scale app development. Only 35% of South African IT organisations can support all app development requests they receive. To scale their capacity, 69% have adopted low-code or no-code tools, and 57% use composability.
Teams take an “all of the above” approach to security as threats loom. 75% of South African IT leaders have trouble balancing business and security objectives, prompting them to adopt an array of defence measures. 59% of South African IT organisations use data encryption, for example, and 50% use multi-factor authentication.
Minister of the department of communications and digital technologies hosts the BRICS ministers of communications’ meeting 2023
The Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Mondli Gungubele, is hosting the BRICS Ministers of Communications Meeting, which will be held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) from 31 July to 04 August 2023.
Previous meetings asserted the significant role of digital technologies in areas of large-scale e-governance platforms, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and harnessing data for development as well as increasing the effectiveness of the BRICS countries’ response to the challenges caused by the COVID 19 pandemic.
BRICS remains a strategic platform for South Africa’s foreign policy objectives. In the Department, one of the key strategic objectives is to advance South Africa’s National ICT interests in regional and international forums towards attaining partnerships for economic growth and development. It is for this reason that the hosting of this year’s Meeting of Communications Ministers is so important.
Previous meetings also resolved to encourage wider access to digital platforms and technologies, and for affordable access by citizens of BRICS countries to information and communication. They further resolved to establish modalities and approaches to promote equitable and inclusive access to digital resources for all people, irrespective of where they live.
Among the expected areas of discussion in this year’s meeting is digital inclusion, expansion and development of transformative technologies as well as internet governance and security.
Disney launches global Create 100 campaign to celebrate creativity and support make-a-wish with $1 million donation
Disney has launched Create 100, a global celebration of creativity marking 100 years of Disney storytelling. Some of the world’s most renowned visionaries and next generation talent across fashion, music, art and more have donated artworks, items and experiences inspired by their personal connection to stories and characters across Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and 20th Century, to benefit Make-A-Wish®.
To begin, Disney is commemorating the launch with a $1 million donation to Make-A-Wish to support the granting of life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses.
“Disney’s timeless stories and characters have made an indelible mark on pop culture around the globe, transcending borders, industries and generations,” said consumer products, games and publishing president, Tasia Filippatos. “We couldn’t think of a better way to honor 100 years of Disney storytelling than by collaborating with this outstanding collective of visionaries in support of Make-A-Wish.”
To kick off the campaign, Disney worked with Virgil Abloh Securities to reveal a 6-foot structural sculpture of Sorcerer’s Apprentice Mickey from Disney’s Fantasia at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London.
In line with Create 100’s goal to inspire and champion next generation talent, the ‘Structural Sorcerer —Sorcerer’s Apprentice Mickey Sculpture’ will be on display at the RCA over the summer.
Additional incredible artworks, items and experiences, together with the stories behind them, will be revealed over the summer. The Create 100 contributions feature everything from musical elements to comic books to recreations of iconic movie props and more from renowned talent such as global icon Beyoncé, famed French fashion designer Christian Louboutin, Italian Global Creative Director for Swarovski Giovanna Engelbert, Chinese virtuoso pianist Lang Lang, American fashion pioneer Tommy Hilfiger and celebrated Brazilian artist Vik Muniz. Global partners such as adidas, Pandora and Coach will also be contributing one-of-a-kind pieces to the celebration.
For more than 40 years, Disney and Make-A-Wish have granted wishes together for more than 150 000 children with critical illnesses worldwide.
Making moves
MTN SA unites the nation behind the Springboks in powerful ad
MTN South Africa has launched a powerful TV commercial that embodies the true spirit of South African unity and support for the Springboks as they prepare to defend their title in France in September.
The ad – titled “One team. 60 million voices” not only showcases MTN’s unwavering commitment to the Springboks but also sends a resounding message of inclusivity, highlighting the power of bringing all South Africans together as one formidable force.
At the core of the campaign is the potential for the Springboks to become the first country ever to win four world championship titles and to retain the prestigious trophy for two consecutive tournaments. With a nation of 60 million supporters rallying behind them, MTN’s ad captures the very soul of South Africa, exemplifying the strength that comes from unity.
Nomsa Chabeli, MTN’s General Manager of Brand and Communications said her team looked to SA’s youth for inspiration.
“Our young people sing, chant and rally behind their school teams every weekend at rugby matches, athletics meetings and netballs games. These rallying calls have evolved to embrace South Africa’s cultural norms and diversity which includes GWIJO, a practice of collective singing and response,” Chabeli says.
PNA and Breadline Africa kick off FUNKY SOCKS DAY 2023
South Africa’s leading stationery and art materials retailer PNA has announced the launch of the 2023 Funky Socks Day campaign, in collaboration with non-profit organisation (NPO) Breadline Africa in a combined bid to make a positive impact on early child development and improve schools in vulnerable communities across the country.
The Funky Socks Day campaign is hoping supporters will help make a difference – and encourage friends and family. Buy a Funky Socks Day sticker for just R10 at any PNA store nationwide and to support fund raising for education.
PNA and Breadline Africa are intensifying efforts this year by undertaking the construction of additional infrastructure to complete Lusemanzi Educare Centre established in 1997 in Orange Farm, Gauteng. Currently operating out of insufficient classroom space and only two toilets for its’ 200 learners, Lusemanzi urgently requires functional buildings and extra amenities.
The estimated cost of constructing the additional infrastructure, including ablutions, amounts to R1.5-million.
