The Media Online’s weekly round up of moves in media.
This week’s BIG move: NMBT appoints Boomtown to develop tourism marketing campaigns
Following a successful tender process, Boomtown has been appointed by Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism (NMBT) as its tourism marketing partner.
Boomtown will work with NMBT to attract and increase the number of visitors to Nelson Mandela Bay by sharing what the city has to offer and to stimulate economic growth by increasing the income generated from visitors.
“Tourism is one of the world’s largest industries and one of the fastest-growing economic sectors,” remarks Boomtown Account Manager Lisa Snyman. “Tourism for Nelson Mandela Bay is one of the main instruments for regional development as it stimulates new economic activities, and we’re proud to be playing our role in the city we call home.”
Boomtown has established a good track record of delivering tangible results within tourism and governmental sectors and is excited to be working with NMBT. The brief includes the creation and implementation of a marketing strategy across all promotional platforms, including media buying, creative and the monitoring and evaluation of its work.
People moves
Deliwe Msibi appointed strategic planner at Mediology
Deliwe Msibi (26) has been appointed as strategic planner at media and online marketing agency, Mediology.
Joining Mediology from RMS Media where she was a media planner on accounts such as Standard General Insurance, Glencore and Galito’s Chicken for the past three years. She will work closely with media director, Michael Pearce, as well as the agency’s advertising, public relations and product teams, to develop, plan and implement strategies for Ascendis, Auto Pedigree, Bridgestone, Coricraft, Extramarks and Voltex among others.
A BA Communications Graduate from North West University, Msibi, who is fluent in four of the country official languages – English, IsiZulu, SeSotho and IsiXhosa and passionate about holistic communication, started her media career as a marketing and sales intern with Mediamark/VOW FM in 2015 before being appointed as sales co-ordinator with the company.
Kabelo Lehlongwane joins Riverbed as director of strategy
Monalisa Sibongile Zwambila, founder and CEO of full-service creative agency Riverbed, has announced the appointment of industry heavyweight, Kabelo Lehlongwane as the agency’s director of strategy and member of its executive leadership team.
Lehlongwane is renowned for his award-winning strategies and global experience. Having previously worked for one of the largest, most prolific through-the-line agency’s globally, Lehlongwane has firmly established himself in the industry as a formidable strategist who helps unlock business growth.
Additionally, he prides himself as being in the business of connecting people with ideas and has a propensity for fostering meaningful C-suite level relationships with clients.
Riverbed has almost doubled in size with revenues in excess of R100-million following the recent influx of new business including McCain, Sasol and Nedbank. “The need to scale up the business following these new account gains, although in line with our growth strategy, called for me to not only bring in someone to head up strategy but also build a strong leadership team to support this growth,” said Zwambila.
Machine MD appointed to Publicis Worldwide team
Machine MD and chief creative officer Gareth McPherson has been appointed to the Publicis Worldwide team as a member of the management and creative committees. McPherson joins a talented group of leaders selected from within the sizeable network of creative agencies of the Publicis Groupe, who provide valuable insight and guidance to the rest of the network.
The Publicis Groupe network of agencies and companies collectively form the world’s third largest communications group.
Machine joined the Publicis Groupe in 2014, with McPherson then leading the creative team as group creative director. He has effectively led the agency creatively since its inception in 2012, guiding it through the ranks, from initial recognition as AdReview’s Breakthrough Agency of the Year 2013, to currently ranking in the Top 10 Creative agencies in South Africa, and most recently being placed in the Top 5 Digital agencies’ rankings in the country. Over this time, the agency has delivered some of the industry’s best work. Gareth was appointed MD and Chief Creative Officer in early 2019.
Business moves
Meltwater sets sail with new Fjord release
Media intelligence company Meltwater has launched Fjord, a product designed to empower public relations, marketing and communications teams with an all-in-one product suite that enables collaboration and comprehensive AI-powered insights.
By focusing on simplicity and efficiency, Meltwater customers will enjoy an upgraded user-experience, with an intuitive new design and enhanced self-help options. Projects becomes a centralized workspace within the Meltwater product, enabling end-to-end campaign execution from media outreach to post-campaign analysis, and the industry-leading Meltwater Mobile app, available on iOS and Android, which now allows for instant notification and ad-hoc searching and analysis, as well as the ability to access all of the content from saved searches and tags in the desktop application.
House & Leisure increases sales by 28% after rebrand
Over the last quarter House & Leisure magazine sales have increased by 28%. Associated Media Publishing believes this is due to a redesign of the magazine, saying “responsible and well-considered design principles can boost brand value and deliver meaning, relevance and impact”.
The magazine’s print circulation fell 13.7% in Q4 of 2017 and if the ABC’s were anything to go by, the decline was set to continue, as is the case for almost all the local consumer magazines. The brand faced a serious challenge. How could they increase print sales in the short-term while simultaneously attracting a new digitally savvy consumer and not alienate their most loyal older readers in the long-term?
The team from Associated Media Publishing approached Mutant with the challenge. Working off an extremely cluttered newsstand, the Mutant team used design principles specifically to enhance the product. Andrew Whitehouse, ECD and founder points out “by applying a little neuroscience and simple design principles, the House & Leisure brand can elevate itself out of the category with a refreshed look that over time will build brand recognition and equity that is far more valuable than print sales”.
The new magazine hit the shelves in April 2019 and by August 2019 the ABC’s had reported an increase in sales of 28% – one of only two consumer magazines that stood up to a declining print market.
Making moves
The Future of Media Conference is coming back
Tiso Blackstar has announced that the Future of Media Conference, which was last held in 2016, is set to make a comeback and will take place on 23 July 2020, in Parktown Johannesburg.
The Future of Media Conference is directed towards the media, advertising and marketing sectors – where media platforms provide the vehicles for brands to reach and engage with increasingly tech-savvy and discerning audiences. Once again, the changing trends in advertising, branding, and content will come under the spotlight.
Eben Gewers, head of advertising sales, said the conference comes at a very important time: “Technology is advancing at a rapid rate and the industry does not always have an opportunity to sit back and take everything in. We see the Future of Media Conference as an opportunity to bring our industry colleagues together under one roof, where we can hear from experts in their respective fields, debate relevant issues, and leave with a well-formed view of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.”
Tiso Blackstar Events also hosts the Sunday Times Top Brands Awards, Sunday Times Gen Next Awards, the South African Radio Awards, Financial Mail AdForum and the Financial Mail AdFocus Awards, the AMARA Recruitment Awards, as well as the recently acquired MOST Awards.
Geleza Nathi to provide support through revisions of matric subjects
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has announced that SABC Education will be kick-staring the exam season for matriculants, with the series ‘Geleza Nathi’ which will be providing critical revisions on subjects.
The six-week long series went live on SABC 1 from Monday, 21 October 2019 until Friday, 29 November 2019 between 5:00am and 6:00am. Subjects covered in the series include Maths, Physical Sciences, English FAL, Life Sciences, Accounting, Business Studies, Economics, Geography and History.
Head of SABC Education, Danie Swart, said the initiative was aimed at helping students in matric best prepare for their year-end exams including providing them with easy access to matric results. We urge learners to take full advantage of all these resources.”
Help for matriculants will extend beyond broadcast hours, as they will be able spend an hour each weekday evening asking the experts, those difficult to answer and last-minute questions via the Geleza Nathi Facebook page.
For the Diary
Connect and learn at the intersection of tech, creativity and mindset
The Catalyst Africa networking event aims to accelerate attendees knowledge about technology, creativity and mind-set. Catalyst Africa will be presented by 30+ leaders across 5+ venues from 30-31 October 2019 at the UCT GSB Conference Centre.
The event is aligned with the South African National Government ambitions to embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR,) and is arguably the first initiative that will contribute to these ambitions by providing South Africans with access to the necessary skills required to harness the opportunities offered by the digital revolution.
Commenting on this Monica Rorvik, head of film and media promotion at Wesgro said: “We are proud to be part of Catalyst Africa as it aims to help attendees embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution and will drive the knowledge economy in both the creative and tech industries. We will continue to support such projects as the film and media industry is key to economic growth and job creation and is supported by the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape Government. We are excited to see what the event has to offer!”
DISCOP JOBURG Presents The Africa Channel Masterclasses
Africa’s largest and most respected content focused event, DISCOP JOBURG, taking place from 20 to 22 November, will put a strong emphasis on African television projects in development, partnerships with South Africa, and the booming animation sector
A newly revamped and focused DISCOP JOBURG programme will see a scope that goes beyond content buying and selling and that will include a strong sidebar program of panel discussions and master classes.
This DISCOPRO program will see more than 50 speakers, including many intrepid disrupters, on stage for panel discussions headlined by a series of masterclasses and a panel discussion led by experts from around the world sponsored by The Africa Channel.
These sessions will specifically address how independent producers can export their content and best adapt to the fast-paced world of multicultural television. Four sessions will provide a rapid course of study on what makes a project aimed at multicultural audiences actually sell in today’s challenging environment.
The DISCOPRO speaker line-up includes experts from broadcasters from across Africa such as Ethiopia’s Kana TV, the SABC, Royal Media from Kenya, and others. International companies such as -Côte Ouest, Warner Media, Turner Africa and Fox studios will also be represented in the DISCOPRO line-up.
