The Media Online’s weekly round up of people, account and business moves in media.
This week’s BIG move: Successful ‘try-before-you-buy’ results in MetropolitanRepublic acquiring 8909
Naren Ramburan (financial manager), Alison Deeb (Group CEO), John Warsop (chairman of board), Paul Warner (founder of Metropolitan Republic & chief creative strategist), Ciaran Mckivergan (founder, 8909), Ilze Du Toit (group financial director)
A successful ‘try-before-you-buy’ relationship between MetropolitanRepublic and 8909 has resulted in the full-service brand agency acquiring a majority share in the digital hot shop.
According to MetropolitanRepublic CEO, Alison Deeb, the acquisition was finalised at the end of November after the agencies had proven a “right fit” for each other.
“8909 – a young, dynamic, data-driven digital agency led by Ciarán McKivergan – was the first potential partner we identified during a recent strategy session aligned to the continuous innovation we apply to our communications,” Deeb said.
And she added, “Impressed by Ciarán’s proposition of quantified creativity, we asked if he’d be willing to explore a partnership according to the try-before-you-buy’ approach MetropolitanRepublic has found is the best way to test compatibility.
“This sees us spending considerable time working together on projects and campaigns for brands within the MetropolitanRepublic stable before signing a deal. Obviously, we both passed the test, and we are delighted to have found Ciarán and his team.”
They pitched for and won the marketing integration account for one of South Africa’s heritage brands, Eskort. They won a New Generation Award in the Best Community Engagement category for their work for Flora. And they were awarded the digital strategy and rollout for household name medical brand, Grand-Pa.
People moves
Siya Kolisi appointed Aquafresh All-in-One Ambassador
Springbok Rugby captain, Siya Kolisi, has joined forces with Aquafresh as its All-in-One Ambassador and lead a nationwide campaign to inspire the people of Mzansi to reach their full potential.
The 29-year-old, who led the Springbok team to victory in last year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan, currently plays club rugby for the Stormers in Super Rugby and Western Province in the Currie Cup.
He announced late in November 2020 that he has decided to team up with Aquafresh and will join the oral hygiene brand as its All-in-One Ambassador from January next year to reimagine its social outreach programme. The deal was negotiated by Roc Nation Sports.
Sharing details of his partnership with the brand, Kolisi said: “Aquafresh is a brand that has been with me all my life. Even when times were really tough and all we had were a few things in the house.
“By finding confidence in myself, I managed to end up doing what I love. Now, with Aquafresh’s help, I’m going to be able to help the people of Mzansi to realise that they, too, are All-In-One. The intention is to empower others like me to stand out regardless of where they come from.”
“Siya’s role as our All-in-One Ambassador is not a simple one,” added Aquafresh’s brand manager, Mamabua Molepo. “Aquafresh believes that we can use our mouths to unite, inspire and impact our communities and the world around us. It’s important to keep our mouths clean and healthy, because they serve this significant function.
Business moves
2Engage helping to grow local taverns into mainstream businesses
Supporting local businesses as South Africa emerges from the Covid-19 crisis has never been more essential than it is now. Heeding this call, 2Engage has launched bonsella into a number of taverns in Gauteng. bonsella is the largest aggregated shopper rewards and loyalty programme in the independent main market in South Africa.
“With over 30 000 taverns across South Africa, the need for a solution that provides tavern owners with a competitive advantage in their local markets is paramount,” said Andrew Weinberg, CEO of 2Engage. “bonsella® encourages patrons to visit a specific tavern as opposed to one just down the road, which helps them grow their revenue and in turn helps them become mainstream, sustainable businesses.
“After launching at the beginning of July this year, the data has shown an increase of 69% in business transactions from October to November in participating taverns” says Weinberg.
bonsella® leverages a leading digital platform to deliver instant gratification rewards to members, while simultaneously gathering detailed shopper data and insights on customer behaviour.
“Brands are encouraged to collaborate with bonsella® by promoting their products in taverns through dedicated campaigns and marketing initiatives, driven by our proprietary rewards and CRM solution,” said Xolani Radebe, liquor brand manager for bonsella®.
HelloFCB+ brings SABC3’s festive season proposition to life
HelloFCB+ is using digital and social media to communicate SABC3’s festive season proposition to millennial fans of the channel’s programming.
Awarded the task after a strategic and creative pitch held a few months ago, the agency launched the ‘Escape the Norm’ campaign in November to reinforce the channel’s creative platform, ‘The Stage is Yours’. HelloMedia is handling the media buying.
SABC TV’s network marketing manager, Dichaba Phalatse, said the team from SABC3 was excited to have HelloFCB+ on board. “We have confidence in the team’s strategy, creative and digital expertise to enable us to connect with our millennial audience in a meaningful way, entrenching the brand promise of ‘The Stage Is Yours’ and giving much-needed escapism this festive season,” he said.
Pan-African news channel Africanews launches a brand campaign in South Africa
Africanews, part of the Euronews group, has launched a brand campaign in South Africa as the pan-African news channel continues to grow across the continent.
The print, digital and OOH campaign entitled The Voice of Africa aims to remind news audiences that Africanews, as the only truly pan-African news operation broadcasting in English and French, plays a crucial role in connecting African countries and the rest of the world to the continent.
The Euronews group already has a strong footprint in Africa, with both its channels – Euronews and Africanews – enjoying longstanding distribution across the continent, consolidated further in the last 12 months with the launch in South Africa onto MultiChoice’s DStv platform and Telkom, ZAP in Angola and Mozambique, as well on applications DEOD on Airtel Zambia, Nigeria and Uganda and Super TV Nigeria.
Distributed today in over 21 million TV households across the continent, Africanews is the only independent international news channel made for Africa.
The Euronews group’s increased presence in Africa comes as recent figures, published in the 2020 Ipsos Affluent Africa Survey [1], have shown that Euronews and Africanews saw some of the largest gains among all international news channels in terms of reach and awareness, making significant progress over past few years
World Out of Home Organization schedules first world tour for 2021 – Toronto congress postponed to 2022
The World Out of Home Organisation is holding its first ‘world tour’ in 2021. Three events, two of which are hoped to be live, will be held in Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific in the second, third and fourth quarters of next year.
The ‘tour’ will finish with the WOO Congress, scheduled originally for May 2020 and then delayed to 2021 due to the pandemic, in Toronto in May 2022.
WOO President Tom Goddard said: “While it’s disappointing to have to postpone Toronto, travel issues and continued health concerns, sadly, made this inevitable. But we are determined to gather in Toronto in May 2022. It will be the biggest reunion the industry has ever seen, with a world-class programme and speakers.
“But 2021 is still a big opportunity for us and one we’re determined to grasp. We’ve been discussing with our members a more extensive and diverse calendar of events for some time now – in addition to the big global Congress – and this is our opportunity to put this plan into action.
“I firmly believe 2021 will be a year of dramatic recovery for the worldwide OOH industry and WOO’s first world tour will be one of our major contributions to ensuring that it is.”
Hillary Clinton, Sam Branson & Chelsea Clinton partner to launch new global production company
HiddenLight Productions, a new production company founded by Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sam Branson and Chelsea Clinton,has launched.The announcement comes at the same time as a documentary series order at Apple TV+.
HiddenLight Productions is a global studio creating premium documentary, unscripted and scripted entertainment for TV, film and digital that will celebrate the best of the human spirit and help audiences see the world in new ways. Executive chair, Roma Khanna, and CEO, Johnny Webb, will lead the business.
“For too long, attention has been paid only to the loudest voices in the room. There have been generations of change-makers who have shaped and will continue to shape our world – often quietly, flying under the radar. We are excited to launch HiddenLight to share the stories of leaders – celebrated and unsung alike – who are defying the odds and marching bravely forward,” said Hillary Rodham Clinton.
HiddenLight
Productions’ first project is Gutsy Women, a straight-to-series order for Apple
TV+, hosted by Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton, inspired by their
best-selling book, The Book of Gutsy Women: Favorite Stories of Courage and
Resilience. In Gutsy Women, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton will spotlight a richly
diverse cast of trailblazing women, setting out on a quest to answer the
question: ‘what exactly does it take to be a Gutsy Woman?’
In addition to Gutsy Women, HiddenLight Productions has a number of projects in advanced development, which will be announced in the coming months.
Making moves
The Lite Bar concludes with Day 2 of Mindful Matters conversations
Castle Lite’s the Lite Bar closed off its two-day pop up experience at Parks Corner in Rosebank with a panel featuring Somizi Mhlongo, Pearl Thusi, David Scott, Proverb and host/bartender, Mpho Popps.
The second and last day of the Lite Bar kicked off with a flurry of activity as men were pampered with and enjoyed luxuries like exclusive hair cuts from Tshepo the Barber.
Once everyone was ready for the main event, the panel took to the stage and discussed some pretty heavy topics such as the psychological impacts of 2020, opening up about mental health, the fear of failure and attempted suicide.
The Lite Bar, a world-first innovation mindful matters bar, offered men the space to have serious and much-needed conversations about mental health among each other in a lite environment.
Castle Lite wishes to thank all men who joined them at The Lite Bar either via attending the event in Rosebank or by tuning in on the livestream. What a life-changing experience, the brand says, it has been and they look forward to hosting more mindful matters spaces.
Kfm 94.5 announces the Kfm Teacher of the Year.
After an inspirational five–week search, breakfast show Kfm Mornings with Darren, Sherlin and Sibs announced the winner of the Kfm Teacher of the Year campaign.
Jeremy Dietsiso, a much-loved life sciences teacher at Silversands High Schoolin Happy Valley, emerged the undisputed winner in this incredibly popular competion. Always positive and laughing, Dietsiso was nominated for the outstanding work he does at the school and in the community. Some of his accolades include introducing netball to the school, enrolling his learners in science expos and helping them with personal needs such as school equipment, school clothing, data and toiletries. Dietsiso also started a successful feeding scheme at the school and in the community of Happy Valley.
A total of 10 finalists were selected from more than 1 300 nominations, and Dietsiso scooped upmore than half of the 8 684 unique votes.
