The Media Online’s weekly round up. Revlon names MediaCom SA as digital and social media agency. Mbuli shows giant support for elephants. Vodacom appoints MobiMedia as strategic sales channel partner. The OMC driving to build its membership base. PriceCheck launches online car listing and comparison service. JCDecaux launches their DOOH solutions in East Africa.
This week’s BIG move: Revlon names MediaCom SA as digital and social media agency
Revlon has appointed MediaCom as its digital agency in South Africa. MediaCom, known as one of the world’s leading media communications specialists, has been steadily gaining ground with its revolutionary content and digital service offering, called MediaCom Beyond Advertising. This appointment by Revlon signifies a new era for MediaCom in South Africa’s advertising arena as the The Content and Connections Agency.
For MediaCom, the partnership with Revlon is both a proud and pivotal occurrence for MBA. “Our appointment as this iconic brand’s digital agency is a true testament to our insights-driven approach to content and creative execution,” says Federico Dedeu, head of MediaCom Beyond Advertising. “Our approach will enable the Revlon brand to authentically build relevance and appeal among the local millennial market.”
Brands of today are operating in both an exciting and challenging time. The development of online media has created endless ways to communicate and connect. These infinite choices are both a benefit and a burden – the increasing complexity of communication leaves many companies confused and craving simplicity.
MediaCom believes that everything is connected. For this reason, the company aims to ensure that paid, owned, and earned communications work together harmoniously to increase brand competitiveness while reducing wastage. That is why, even though MediaCom was founded as a media agency, it has transformed into an agency that thinks and operates in a new and ground-breaking way.
Who’s moving where
Ntokozo Mbuli shows giant support for elephants
First you see her friendly face, and the you hear the warm voice to match, as Ntokozo Mbuli enters your living room on the longstanding wildlife programme, 50/50, every Sunday evening. A firm favourite with viewers, Mbuli has been presenting South Africa’s favourite wilfdlife programme for over a decade, but few know that she is also the show’s executive producer. This multiple award winning lady’s talent seems to know no end, and she has a big heart to match.
Mbuli has announced that she will soon be taking a giant step forward in her love for wildlife, as she becomes the ambassador for the Rory Hensman Elephant Research and Conservation Unit. (RHCRU)
The late Rory Hensman learnt so much from observing wild elephants and living with tamed and trained elephants. His wish was that through education and knowledge of the wonders of this animal, we humans would be motivated to look after them, and in fact all wildlife. The Rory Hensman Conservation and Research Unit aims to establish an elephant research centre of excellence and to promote the potential benefits to human society, wildlife and conservation efforts. This non-profit organisation has already brought researchers from all over the world together including from Austria, Australia, USA and right her in SA, together, to share learnings in their common goal – to create a better, brighter future for all elephants in Africa.
“I fell in love with elephants when I spent time with some of the RHRCU researchers last World Elephant Day, and realized that I had to do something more to show my support for our tusked friends. The areas that RHCRU focuses on: reducing human-elephant conflict, elephant welfare, anatomy, scent detection and habitat protection are vital areas of research as we work towards ensuring that elephants have a sustainable future in Africa” said Mbuli.
Who’s won what
Vodacom appoints MobiMedia as strategic sales channel partner
MobiMedia, the mobile marketing arm of Ole! Media Group, has been appointed one of only three carefully selected strategic sales channel partners (SCPs) to handle Vodacom’s extensive mobile inventory.
Commenting on the latest move by the network giant, and their appointment, MobiMedia CEO, Tim Legg said: “MobiMedia was born mobile first and, since inception, has had a mantra to engage mobile consumers. We now have the opportunity to realise our vision, together with South Africa’s largest mobile network.”
Mobile marketing is the fastest and most direct way to engage with consumers. Specialist mobile marketing agency, MobiMedia, already provides agencies and brands with a full suite of services designed to engage the mobile consumer, including technology, concept, content and strategy. Now, with the ability to offer consumers direct access to Vodacom’s more than 36.4 million users on a monthly basis via a wide range of options and channels, the power of mobile marketing just grew even bigger.
South Africa truly is a mobile nation, boasting over 85 million mobile connections, with a 156% penetration reaching more people on a daily basis than all other digital mediums combined.
“With more and more people in South Africa and indeed across the continent, having access to smartphones and cheaper data streams, mobile advertising is geared to increase the chances of immediate response and with the correct user-profile inputs, is also better able to supply higher returns against investment,” concluded Legg.
Who’s making moves
The OMC driving to build its membership base
The OMC (Out of Home Measurement Council), after its successful launch of the Roadside survey data to the industry, is now focusing its efforts on encouraging the balance of the Outdoor Advertising industry to become members of the Council. While the existing membership base and their panel inclusion within the survey provides valuable metrics and strategic insight for media planners, it is the OMC’s mission to make the survey as inclusive and representative as possible, thereby enhancing the universe of Outdoor sites from which agencies and marketers can plan their campaigns.
The OMC, at an OHMSA meeting with media owners on 29 March, presented a three-year financial plan that incentivises smaller media owners to participate in the survey. The attractive offer is valid until the end of June 2017.
“We were very happy with the engagement and interest demonstrated at the meeting, and encourage any other Outdoor Advertising media owners that were unable to attend the meeting to contact us for further information on how to join the OMC,” says Dave Roberts, chairman of the OMC Board. “ The benefits of membership are numerous, notwithstanding the knowledge that media agencies are reliant on campaign planning that delivers media measurement to demonstrate the ROI for their clients, both nationally and internationally”.
PriceCheck launches online car listing and comparison service
Clicking your way to a brand-new car is a cinch, thanks to improved online platforms enhancing our e-shopping abilities. A survey by Munich-based global strategy consulting firm Roland Berger reveals that approximately 10% of new cars are currently sold globally online*, with volumes expected to double by 2020. Furthermore, 97% of 18 to 34 year olds use the internet to research vehicles.
Staying abreast of the trend, PriceCheck, Africa’s largest online product discovery and comparison service, has launched their brand-new car listing platform. Motorists can now start their hunt for the perfect set of wheels on PriceCheck, where a wide selection of new and used cars await discovery.
“PriceCheck’s strength and focus has always been the power and accuracy of our search. Combining a comprehensive guide with a user-friendly interface means that we can offer a departure from the traditional time-consuming car-finding methods. The process is now easier for people who don’t know much about cars, yet still feature-rich enough to enable car fanatics to find what they’re looking for,” says Kevin Tucker, founder of PriceCheck.
JCDecaux launches their DOOH solutions in East Africa
Marketers and clients in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) have been engaging in a digital discussion, the first of a series of annual conversations that JCDecaux Africa will be driving along the theme, ‘Connected Cities, Connected Consumers’ across the African continent.
The consumer landscape is changing at a dramatic pace and marketers need to remain relevant to the mobile consumer. A mobile phone is not just a device; it is the facilitator of consumer mobility which is undoubtedly the most defining lifestyle feature of this century. Mobile consumers are driven to be connected to information, connected to people, connected to causes and being connected to things.
“Nowhere does this newfound mobility play a more significant role than in Africa. We are ensuring that the comprehensive and ever-expanding network of digital signage, in a multiplicity of environments, provides a solid foundation for brands to engineer their conversations with consumers,” says Adelaide McKelvey, sales and marketing director Sub-Saharan Africa of JCDecaux. “Out of home platforms, both digital and static, provide the springboard to engage consumers with relevant and effective social and mobile media”.
Alasdair Muller, head of Sales, Sub-Saharan Africa, presented a full overview of how to connect brands with connected consumers, and provided some key take-outs that determine the success on how to integrate brand communication from Out of Home platforms all the way to the till.
