The Media Online’s weekly round up of people, account and business moves in media.
This week’s BIG move: Google Play launches Play Points rewards programme in South Africa
Google has launched Google Play Points, a rewards programme for Google Play users that enables them to earn points for the ways they already use Google Play. Google Play Points has four levels, from Bronze to Platinum.
Launched this week in South Africa and 12 other countries – Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UAE – the programme lets users earn points and redeem them for in-app items or Google Play Credit.
“More than two billion people in 190 countries use Google Play to discover blockbuster movies, apps that help you be more productive, and books that inspire imagination. To show our appreciation, Google created a rewards programme called Google Play Points that lets you earn points and rewards for the ways you already use Google Play,” said Mariam Abdulahi, director, Africa Platform Partnerships – Android and Play. “Over the past two years, millions of people have joined the programme in countries where it’s available. From this week, South Africans will be able to sign up too.”
People moves
DeltaVictorBravo appoints Dhatchani Christian as Managing Director
The team at DeltaVictorBravo has welcomed Dhatchani Christian to the team. Christian has more than 20 years of strategy, marketing and consumer research experience and is an accomplished problem-solver who has worked with a wide spectrum of leading global, multi-national and local brands.
Christian recently returned from a four-year stint in the UK where she led brand, innovation and research projects for market-leading clients based in the UK, US and Europe with Mondelez International, Dole Foods and Filippo Berio counting among these. Prior to that, she worked with DeltaVictorBravo founder, David Blyth, at Yellowwood, as a strategy director. She has also held senior positions in consumer research at TNS as well as in brand management at Colgate Palmolive, and within sales and marketing at Standard Bank and FNB.
Her qualifications include a Bachelor of Business Science with Honours in Marketing from the University of Cape Town, and a Masters in Business Administration with distinction from the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in Johannesburg.
Piet Rampedi is the new editor for Pretoria News
Independent Media has appointed investigative journalist Piet Rampedi as the new editor of Pretoria News. The appointment is effective as of 1 February 2021.
Rampedi has 20 years of mainstream media experience in both print and broadcasting and has worked for titles and media organisations such as Sunday Independent, The Star, City Press, Sunday Times and the SABC. He takes over from respected media stalwart Val Bojé, who is stepping down to take up new responsibilities within the greater Sekunjalo group.
In line with the Group’s career development strategy, Rampedi was promoted to assistant editor at Sunday Independent prior to his new appointment. He previously headed up Independent Media group’s investigations unit in 2019, edited African Times newspaper from 2016 to 2019, and had a stint as the group’s political editor from 2013 to 2014.
Rampedi said he was looking forward to continuing Pretoria News’ tradition of groundbreaking journalism, and to further entrenching its reputation as a source of credible and reliable information, that is beyond reproach.
Business moves
COBRA and SMEgo: The perfect partnership
COBRA and SMEgo both assist small and medium businesses, helping them secure business funding to sustain operations and help them grow. By joining forces, the two entities will now be able to connect even more business owners to a wider range of funding opportunities.
COBRA (Covid-19 Business Rescue Assistance) was established in March 2020 as a direct response to the immediate and immense need to support distressed businesses that were impacted by the economic lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The objective of the organisation is to give businesses in distress the tools they need to make it through difficult times. This assistance comes in the form of legal advice, funding, staff, technology, and expertise in all business areas whenever necessary.
SMEgo provides a single platform and application system that makes it easier for businesses to apply for funding from multiple partners. This reduces the time businesses need to spend researching and applying for funding on each site.
“Finding a partner that shares our values and ideals has made such a difference to the COBRA initiative,” said Adam Craker, CEO of IQbusiness. “Not only has this simplified the funding process for distressed businesses, but it also gives us access to a wider range of tools to ensure that businesses get the help they need to keep going.”
By leveraging SMEgo’s network, COBRA will be able to refer businesses to the site and allow them to apply for funding – and follow the entire process – all from one convenient platform. The approach provides options that would’ve otherwise been impossible for small businesses to access.
Discovery Bank launches a new campaign to show why it’s a Bank like no other
A new multi-media campaign by Discovery Bank brings home a unique concept in banking and the basis of Discovery Bank – that it is no ordinary bank, it is a shared-value bank.
Firoze Bhorat, Chief Marketing Officer at Discovery, said, “Yes, while some services, such as banking, have been around for centuries and inherently still work, the models are outdated and ripe for disruption. This is our philosophy with all Discovery businesses… This new campaign, with numerous connection points to audiences, aims to take shared-value banking to consumers in a visually enticing way while it highlights every aspect of how Discovery Bank shares continual value with clients in meaningful ways.”
This latest campaign was created with MetropolitanRepublic.
FCB launches campaign for Toyota’s latest offering
Toyota South Africa has launched the all-new Toyota Agya to capture a bigger share of the country’s small car market.
Because the Toyota Agya has a lot more to offer than people expect of an entry level car, the FCB Joburg team of executive creative director Tian van den Heever, creative director Julie Thorogood, art director Leesha Harington and copywriter Matthew Shafto opted to position it as ‘a big deal for a small car’.
New fire for the Ener-G-Africa brand
Marketing consultancy Firejuice and sustainable energy start-up, Ener-G-Africa have joined forces to implement a marketing strategy that will expand Ener-G-Africa’s footprint throughout Southern Africa.
Based in Malawi, Ener-G-Africa is fast becoming known as one of the country’s leading sustainable energy companies, based on its development and manufacture of innovative solutions tailored to Africa.
These extend from rural cookstoves to a world-class solar panel factory – only the second in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Firejuice, in turn, is a team of marketing consultants that provides marketing strategy, planning and project management services to small and medium-sized companies.
This particular collaboration is a six-month engagement, during which Firejuice will act as an outsourced marketing department and support Ener-G-Africa as it expands.
Richard Bunderson, a Director of Ener-G-Africa, points to the solar panel factory as a major reason for engaging with Firejuice, which will “help Ener-G-Africa to take a strategic approach to generating demand once the plant is operational.”
Making moves
TNT Africa muscles up with exciting channel refresh for 2021
As of 1 February, TNT Africa will be revealing its 2021 channel refresh packed with an exciting slate of tailor-made shows and content that will keep African audiences glued to their screens. With this move, the channel aims to emphasise its commitment to delivering relevant and exciting programming to African fans.
As part of the refresh, TNT Africa will debut AEW DYNAMITE, the weekly flagship show from All Elite Wresting, the new professional wrestling league that is taking the world by storm. The launch kicks off on Friday, 5 February, at 13h20 (CAT) with the first five episodes of the new season. Then, every Friday night, during prime time at 20h00 (CAT), the channel will premiere the recent high-octane matches, two days after the US premiere, and after that repeated twice throughout the week. AEW offers an alternative to mainstream wrestling with a roster of world-class talent offering TNT Africa viewers a spectacular weekly wrestling programme jam-packed with action and the unexpected.
“TNT is excited to usher in a new era in entertainment that is attuned to our audience needs and appetite. Despite how far we’ve come, we remain steadfastly dedicated to giving our African audience premium content, and the launch of AEW DYNAMITE and the channel refresh bear testament of this,” said Guillermo Farré, head of the WarnerMedia General Entertainment.
Planet Classroom Network Channel on YouTube will showcase videos by youth from digitally hard to reach places.
The Pandemic raised awareness for the fact that at least 463 million students around the world have no access to technology. However, that isn’t stopping XtalksWorldListens co-founder Alex Bell, who believes every young person has an interesting story to tell the rest of the world no matter where they live. His organization gives the opportunity to young people in digitally hard to reach places to raise their voices and share their ideas and perspectives for a changing world. This turned out to be a perfect fit for the Planet Classroom Network’s YouTube Channel, the first-ever global multicultural channel for youth launched earlier this year.
This month, the Planet Classroom Network YouTube Channel features video presentations from youth in Malawi talking about their lives, their challenges and their dreams for the future.
“Every young person, no matter where they live, has an interesting story to tell,” noted Bell. “We aim to find the next Greta, the next Malala and the next Parkland kids.”
DStv Access customers will now have access to Novela Magic.
As part of M-Net and MultiChoice’s ongoing commitment to broaden the accessibility and entertainment value of its content offerings, Novela Magic on DStv channel 165 was made available to DStv Access customers from Friday, 22 January 2021 at 18:00. That means, together with DStv Premium, Compact Plus, Compact, and Family customers, DStv Access viewers can now experience the best of Africa.
Launched last year in November, Novel Magic celebrates Africa’s love for storytelling as well as the local creative talent by showcasing a variety of unique local stories with themes that resonate and engage with the viewers. The channel is MultiChoice and M-Net’s first-ever African only telenovela channel.
