The Media Online’s weekly round up of people, account and business moves in media. As South Africa enters lockdown at midnight tonight, businesses will close across the country. But the media will continue to do its job, and The Media Online will continue to report on the sector. #StaySafe.
This week’s BIG move: PAMS2019 to deliver 20/20 vision
Given the current Government lockdown, the Publisher Research Council’s highly anticipated release of the results of the Publisher Audience Measurement Survey 2019 (PAMS) will now be a webinar delivered via ZOOM video conferencing on 7 April 2020 from 10h00 to 11h00.
Once again the PRC is set to deliver data reflecting their commitment to quality fieldwork, and a sample in excess of 15 000 of brand data. The #PAMS2019 survey results reinforce the PRC’s commitment to ensuring stability and the reliability of the methodology and gathering of data. These are fundamentals the media sector has become accustomed to over the past five years.
First time additions such as the introduction of Household Income in the sample frame and weighting, plus using renowned demographers GTI to share their expertise in matching rapidly urbanising profiles, are designed to provide users with greater depth and understanding. The PRC has gone to great lengths to supply media planners with the data required to prepare plans for clients on a consistent basis.
The efficacy of the research is sacrosanct and renowned global media expert, Robert Ruud says “The PAMS 2019 sample design as developed by Professor Ariane Neethling seems to be well adapted to the particular socio-economic landscape of the South Africa market. The innovations adopted in terms of appointing a new demographic data partner GTI to provide accurate population movements into metro areas, combined with the inclusion of income sampling and weighting should result in a well-balanced and efficient sample as in line with global best practice.”
PAMS 2019 offers an interesting picture of South Africa’s consumers and their relationship to brands across the Automotive, Banking, Cellular, Food, Fashion and Furniture categories.
“PAMS2019, is South Africa’s largest income weighted sample of over 15 000 respondents,” said Josephine Buys, CEO of the PRC. “With the latest, most representative sample and survey in South Africa that contains brand information.”
- Date: 7 April 2020
- Time: 10 am to 11am
- Place: Via ZOOM link
- For further details visit //www.prc.za.com/pams-webinar/
People moves
Craig Wilson joins Mickey Llew to launch Cape Town branch
Performance marketing and SEO agency, Mickey Llew has launched a Cape Town office in Muizenberg and marks the expansion with the appointment of Craig Wilson as organic search lead.
“Opening the Mickey Llew office in Muizenberg is a huge celebration for us, as the agency bucks the trend and continues to thrive and grow in a climate when many start-ups struggle to build and maintain momentum,” said David Jenkins, co-founder of Mickey Llew. “Having Craig locally based in Cape Town expands our ability to offer the excellent, hands-on service that our clients have come to expect from us, to a larger client base.”
Wilson has been in the international digital industry for more than 18 years, having worked as head of digital, head of search, and head of natural search at several renowned agencies including Mirum Agency/Wunderman Thompson, Creative Confusion, I Spy Search Marketing (since acquired by Dentsu Aegis Network – London), and Weboptimiser Ltd (London).
Business moves
ABC to exclude certain days for reporting circulation data
The ABC circulation data, for the period January to March 2020, will be due for submission from 1 April 2020 and close 30 April 2020.
Due to the impact of COVID-19 on the Media Industry, the ABC Board has resolved that the Publisher, at their sole discretion, may exclude the following days: 18 to 31 March 2020
The future impact of Covid-19 on the next report period, April to June 2020, will be evaluated by the ABC Board, and communicated accordingly.
Notice from Jaco Koekemoer, MD of Caxton Local Media and Commercial Printing
Caxton Printers is the largest printer of newspapers across the country and a major publisher of newspapers. The newspaper industry remains a fundamental communication tool to support government by disseminating factual information. It offers continuous support to the media industry and the citizens of South Africa.
Caxton will work closely with mainstream publishers to ensure that printing operations continue as normal.
To remain safe within this Covid-19 environment it will cease printing and inserting commercial leaflets into all publications printed at our facilities. Only the main bodies of newspapers will be printed. This means that publications will rely heavily on advertisers to support them with ROP (run-of-paper) advertising to be viable for printing.
Koekemoer appealed to advertisers to support newspapers in order for them to provide mediums where factual information can be shared with the citizens of South Africa. It still remains one of the most effective and trusted advertising platforms to reach all levels of society.
With commercial printing plants closing for the duration of the shutdown, Caxton will also not have trucks traveling across the country. The impact is that 70% of its workforce will be in lockdown, with the remaining 30% consisting of plate setters, qualified printers, stacker operators and a few truck loaders, doing the work.
To comply with transport regulations in these times, Caxton has organised transport for staff and most of the staff who are working, have vehicles. The largest portion of current factory staff, which consists of receiving, dispatching and inserting staff, work in the mailrooms. This section will be shut down.
The company has secured enough raw materials to accommodate print for all printing to continue for 30 days and beyond.
The newspaper factories that will be printing and supporting newspaper publishers are:
- • Caxton Printers JHB – Industria, Johannesburg, Gauteng
- • Lowveld Media – Nelspruit, Mpumalanga
- • Northern Media Group – Polokwane, Limpopo
- • Northwest Printers – Rustenburg, Northwest Province
- • Darwain Investments – Empangeni, Kwazulu Natal
- • Highway Mail – Pinetown, Kwazulu Natal
- • CTP Newspapers, Cape Town, Western Cape
Caxton Local Media newspapers and online platforms
Caxton publishes more than three million newspapers across the country every week, with the bulk of its distribution being door-to-door.
During the lock-down period, the majority of readers will be at home. Readers can source hyper-local content from these publications. Caxton Local Media newsrooms have over 300 editorial staff members working under the guidance of national group editor, Irma Green.
A task team was set up to focus on Covid-19 content and the impact of the virus on local communities. In many of these areas, Caxton publications are often the only way hyper-local information is communicated to our readers there. It enforces the importance of continuous publishing to assist government and business to share information on how to stay safe during the lock-down period.
The fundamental role of sharing information and educating communities has never before been so important.
Local clients can still contact their local sales representatives, while national clients should work through Spark Media.
All distribution staff have been briefed with regards to safety procedures.
Thrive with ‘DrD’: Dorianne Weil launches new podcast on JacPod
Internationally renowned development and relationship expert ‘DrD’-Dorianne Weil, is bringing her expertise to a new podcast series. Thrive with ‘DrD’ officially launches on Jacaranda FM’s podcast hub, JacPod, today, 26 March 2020.
Weil, who famously served as an expert psychologist during the Oscar Pistorius trial, has interviewed the likes of Mother Theresa, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and the Dalai Lama.
She hopes her new podcast will inspire people to live their lives with understanding and intention. “If you want expert advice and shared experiences around personal challenges, family dynamics, conflict resolution, communication, dealing with adversity, parenting, conquering fear and anxiety, overcoming trauma, being your best in the workplace, self-esteem and enhancing your relationship – in fact a spectrum of issues that will resonate with you, you cannot miss Thrive with ‘DrD’,” Weil said.
CWDi introduces an innovative virtual events solution
As businesses and event organisers have had to cancel events amid what is currently happening globally, CWDi has quickly adapted to the challenge, and to ensure valuable connections are still possible, the team has launched a virtual events solution.
“Technology has become such an essential tool to our everyday lives that it is hard to imagine life before it. Events have been using technology to enhance the experience but now is the time to make it the cornerstone of the experience,” said Samantha Gabriel, group experiences director. “The key is to master the engagement of audiences and to still retain the humanness of it all. Content is king, beautifully designed presentations are essential and the chat functionality and facilitation will be the what take the experience from good to great.
“A virtual event is a multi-session online event allowing people to interact in a virtual environment – allowing connection of audiences from next door to across the globe. The solution being offered means corporate conferences can still go ahead, activations can be moved online, launches and more can go on.
“We are thinking ahead and believe that virtual events will become an essential part of corporate marketing strategies as they not only offer flexibility and convenience but also highly interactive.”
Ailing events industry urges corporates for assistance during Covid-19
The South African event industry is reeling and unsure of its future as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. While the marketing industry has a significant challenge on their hands, a small group of local entrepreneurs are pulling together to provide a solution.
“Our local event industry is made up of bright minded entrepreneurs and passionate service providers who, almost without exception, are small businesses,” said Andrew Ross, managing director of Chaos Theory. “As strategic event providers we have consulted with some of our key service suppliers directly impacted by the cancellation of our own event pipeline, and have found what we believe to be a solution relevant for the marketing industry right now.”
It is initiating a live-streamed panel discussion on the 31March, staged and streamed for free by professionals in the event industry in exchange for a revenue split of money made by subscriptions to the stream.
Titled Going Viral, Marketing in a Pandemic, this online discussion, moderated by radio personality and top financial journalist Bruce Whitfield, will afford the broader marketing community online access to a think-tank of several industry experts on the way marketers could rethink strategies in this evolving crisis.
Several high profile names have already thrown their hats into the ring including Mike Sharman, Owner at Retroviral; Musa Kalenga, Chief Future Officer of Brave Group; Neo Makhele, Chief Strategy Officer of Ogilvy SA and Mike Middleton, Managing Director at WPP Liquid.
Tickets will be available through Quicket at www.quicket.co.za or email Andrew@chaostheory.co.za for more information.
BrandQuantum adds BrandInsight Stock Market Graphing feature
BrandQuantum has launched a BrandInsight Stock Market Graphing feature which is built into the BrandOffice software solution. This latest offering empowers BrandOffice users to pull on-brand, real-time stock market information into Microsoft Office programmes, helping to save company’s time and cut costs while creating consistently branded graphs that align to the corporate identity.
According to Paula Sartini, founder and CEO at BrandQuantum, “Financial services organisations often rely on external stock market feeds, which traditionally charge in foreign currency, to gather and present relevant data to their clients. For companies wanting to reinforce their brand in every customer interaction, they invest time and money into additional resources to modify the data from these feeds to align to the corporate brand identity for client presentations and reports.”
Think Tank partners with Fortinet to fill the cybersecurity skill gap in South Africa
Fortinet, a global leader in broad, integrated and automated cybersecurity solutions, has announced its first Fortinet Network Security Academy (FNSA) in South Africa, with Think Tank, a private higher learning organisation providing Information Technology (IT) solutions, training, recruitment and professional services. This unique program aimed to provide industry-recognized training and certification in cybersecurity in order to better prepare youth people for a career.
With this programme, Think Tank has already placed 73 unemployed youths in relevant IT positions out of 75. In addition, Think Thank also helped in implementing the FNSA program within an ICT Academy in Braam Park, Johannesburg thanks to its partnership with NGO Afrika Tikkun, an organisation providing education, health and social services to young people and their families through centres of excellence in South African townships.
“As a growing number of companies finds that Fortinet uniquely meets local security needs, we see increasing demand for certified Fortinet specialists. We strategically aligned with Fortinet across solutions, consulting and training, and this has proved to be a good decision,” said Think Tank MD Tebogo Moleta.
Making moves
SANEF directive on emergency media cards for lockdown identification
The South African National Editors’ Forum has advised all members of the media and their respective media houses and organisations to organise media cards.
The Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) and the South African Police Services (SAPS) have said if you are stopped by security personnel, who will be enforcing the lockdown, you will need to show media cards. This will include support services.
SANEF encourages media houses to go to the Publishers Support Services (PSS) via the Press Council to organise their cards within the next 48 hours.
Please send the forms to Lionel Jeffries at lionel@pdmedia.org.za or to Penelope at penelope@pdmedia.org.za.
Journalists wanting press cards must send the application form with a photo. Applicants for the press card will be invoiced later and therefore can send the application forms without funds for now. Cards can be collected from the Press Council.
Applicants and or media houses who are outside Johannesburg and or outside the Gauteng province must sort their own courier. All applicants must make their own arrangements to collect their press cards at the following address:
Press Council
First Floor, Building 8
Burnside Office Park
410 Jan Smuts Avenue
Craighall Park.
DA launches dedicated Covid-19 info channel
The Democratic Alliance has auncheda dedicated coronavirus information channel which will broadcast live on the party’s Facebook and Twitter pages twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays at 14:00.
The DA said it believed that South Africans have a real and urgent need for regular, reliable and consistent updates and information on the pandemic.
The party will be collaborating with and hosting industry experts, its Shadow Cabinet and public health professionals on the channel to provide up-to-date information on the state of the Coronavirus outbreak in South Africa.
It has also launched a dedicated e-mail hotline to which any citizens and residents can submit questions, concerns or suggestions for which we will provide verified answers and necessary feedback.
DA Corona Cast can be contacted via the following channels:
Email: coronavirus@da.org.za
Webpage: da.org.za/defeatingcoronavirus
Facebook: facebook.com/DemocraticAlliance
Twitter: twitter.com/Our_DA
Brand South Africa urges citizens around the world to play their part
Acting chief executive of Brand South Africa, Thulisile Manzini, has urged South African citizens throughout the world to play their part in curbing the Covid-19 pandemic.
“For more than a decade, we have embarked on a campaign that we named Play Your Part, which is a nation-wide programme created to inspire, empower and celebrate active citizenship in South Africa. It aims to lift the spirit of our nation by inspiring all South Africans to contribute to positive change, become involved and start doing. A nation of people who care deeply for one another and the environment in which they live is good for everyone,” said Manzini.
“We firmly believe that every citizen can play their part by taking preventive measures such as social distancing. Our President has stressed that those countries that have acted swiftly and dramatically have been far more effective in controlling the spread of the disease,” Manzini said in quoting the President. The nation-wide lockdown will be effective for 21 days from midnight on Thursday 26 March 2020 and as Brand South Africa we encourage every citizen to support this decision and play their part.”
For the Diary
Heavy Chef takes entrepreneur series online
Heavy Chef’s response to the coronavirus lockdown is simple. It will be livestreaming all classes and events, starting with The Futurists on 31 March, where Bronwyn Williams, Dion Chang and Musa Kalenga will provide their perspective on how Covid-19 is changing the world.
It has created a live studio at CEO Fred Roed’s house (follow on Instagram, to see how they set it up), and lined up Zoom interviews with Heavy Chefs on financial management, mental health, general health, remote working, government stimulus, cloud tools and loads more. This is going to be messy, but hey, it may also be fun.
Please email tickets@heavychef.com for more.
