The Media Online’s weekly round up of people, account and business moves in media.
This week’s BIG move: Triggerfish launches Netflix-sponsored pan-African Story Artist Lab
Triggerfish is calling for entries for a pan-African Story Artist Lab sponsored by Netflix. Shortlisted applicants will have three months of paid skills development with international industry experts. Nathan Stanton, a story artist on Oscar-winning features like Brave, Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc, will lead the training programme.
Sponsored by Netflix and produced by Triggerfish, The Story Artist Lab builds on the success of their Mama K’s Team 4 all-female writers lab, which saw nine African women placed in the writing room for the first animated Netflix series from Africa.
“Story artists translate screenplays into animatics, the loose first version of the movie that then shapes every step of animation that follows,” said Tendayi Nyeke, Triggerfish’s Zimbabwean-born development executive. “So having skilled story artists from the continent in control of how their stories are told is a gamechanger, not only in grooming the next African directors but also in giving pre-production artists the opportunity to establish their own voice as they bring African stories to life.”
African citizens with concept art and/or storyboarding portfolios can apply here until Friday, 23 July 2021 at. They must be available full-time for three months from August 2021; remote working is encouraged.
People moves
Songezo Ralarala appointed IAB SA executive board member
Head of legal for Connected Video at MultiChoice, Songezo Ralarala, has been appointed to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) South Africa’s executive board to assist in guiding the country’s digital media and marketing industries into the future. His appointment was effective 1 May 2021.
Ralarala will provide oversight and strategic direction for the IAB SA’s legal compliance as well as support for the IAB SA in complex legal decision-making and negotiations. He will lead the IAB SA Regulation Council and work with fellow bureaus, regulators, and relevant stakeholders to streamline efforts across the industry.
His legal acumen and experience in advising South African bodies how best to navigate industry regulations will stand Ralarala in good stead.
“The shift in how entertainment content is consumed continues to shape how the industry operates in the new frontier that is online. I look forward to contributing to the IAB SA’s remit of assisting industry members in navigating the challenges and harnessing the opportunities presented by the rapid growth of digital,” said Ralarala.
Ralarala joined MultiChoice in 2019 and besides being the head of legal he also serves as Executive Director of the global subscription video on demand service, Showmax.
Business moves
Telmar and ID5 announce innovative partnership to support publishers and brands when the cookie crumbles
Telmar, the global leader in advertising and media software and ID5, the independent identity solution for digital advertising have started a collaboration to enable advertisers and media owners to harness the full power of data in order to plan and predict effective media campaigns in cookie-less environments. The deprecation of third-party cookies and MAIDs limits the ability to activate first-party data and enrich media campaigns with data supplied by third parties.
The partnership with ID5 allows Telmar to increase the depth and breadth of the data they ingest from media owners and brands and further improves their ability to deliver audience planning service to clients in a post-cookie word.
James Ingram, CEO of Telmar, said, “With Telmar’s focus on innovation in the media technology sector and providing clients globally with gold-standard solutions to plan, create and execute media campaigns, identity is clearly key to delivering advanced solutions to our clients. The partnership with ID5 provides Telmar an unparalleled opportunity to deliver better and faster insights to our clients.”
ID5’s Universal ID solution enables the sharing of user-level information and the activation of first and third-party data in all browsers and in-app environments. ID5 provides publishers and app developers with a first-party identifier that can be stored and distributed to their monetisation partners. ID5’s privacy-by-design technology ensures that the ID is only generated and distributed if there is user consent. It also enforces privacy preferences in the advertising value chain.
Telmar also joins INSIDE, the partnership programme developed by ID5 for technology and media companies who support the distribution of the ID5 ID and share the same vision: to build a better and more competitive open web.
Tractor Outdoor launches new platform, The Future of OOH
International research indicates that one of the biggest stumbling blocks the global digital out of home (DOOH) industry currently faces is a lack of education around the new technologies that exist, and have the potential to massively benefit advertisers through allowing them access to real-time data and insights.
In a collaborative effort to educate the local outdoor industry and its stakeholders on the latest innovations within the DOOH realm, media owner Tractor Outdoor recently hosted a free webinar titled The Future of OOH, together with its partners Broadsign, AdMobilize, Voodooh and Hivestack.
Tractor’s own sales director, Lizelle Mc Connell, explained that through the Future of OOH webinar – which is the first in a planned series – the media owner aims to create a platform to educate brands, agencies, marketers and media owners on the exciting new technologies that have emerged. “These tools have the potential to unlock enormous opportunity for marketers; delivering measurable, dynamic campaigns based on real-time audience data.”
Narratiive partners with Carbon to bring next-gen revenue optimisation for publishers in Middle East and South Africa
Narratiive, the audience measurement platform for emerging and fast-growing markets, has partnered with Carbon, an innovative adtech company responsible for developing the first revenue management platform for Publishers. Working together in MENA & South Africa, they aim to bring the most comprehensive publisher-focused DMP, revenue analytics and audience data in a unified offering.
As a revenue management platform, Carbon helps Publishers analyse their audience and ad revenue as well as build custom audience segments – through automation or machine-driven tools – all in real-time to provide publishers with more targeted, better-performing campaigns.
The Narratiive and Carbon partnership enables Narratiive audience data to flow into Carbon, giving publishers a large lake of highly accurate declared audience data which they can then use to build custom audience segments in the Carbon Audience segment builder. This partnership creates a full-circle solution for Publishers giving them ultimate control and use of their first-party audience data.”
5FM welcomes a new show sponsor
5FM has welcomed a brand-new sponsor for four of the stations’ shows. Suzuki Auto South Africa is sponsoring the station’s chart show, Top 40 on 5 in addition to 5 Breakfast, 5Drive and The Roger Goode Show on 5. This sponsorship is set to last until March 2022.
In addition, the respective shows will receive three Suzuki models to test drive for the duration of the sponsorship. This includes the Swift Sport, the Ignis 1.2 GLX and the S-Presso 1.0 S-Edition. Similar to the youth radio station, Suzuki share a young target market with some of the newer model vehicles, making the partnership a great match.
“As a proudly South African youth brand within the SABC, we are extremely excited about the stations’ partnership with Suzuki. They have created a young and fun brand and at 5FM we saw that as a perfect brand fit. We know the stations’ youth audience will definitely appreciate the partnership,” said 5FM programme manager Siyanda Fikelepi.
GreenMatter appoints Tribeca to build momentum for its Fellowship programme
GreenMatter, a network that focuses on unlocking South Africa’s environmental, social, and economic potential, has appointed Tribeca Public Relations to raise the profile of its GreenMatter Fellowship, which offers a range of development opportunities for graduates and young professionals.
This follows Tribeca’s success in profiling GreenMatter’s Imvelisi Enviropreneurs programme earlier in 2021 – a bootcamp funded by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and in partnership with the South African Young Water Professionals Network.
Using strategic communications and a targeted media relations campaign, Tribeca will publicise the Fellowship to attract the attention of future Fellows seeking to become leaders in their environmental field, as well as raising awareness of its results among potential funders.
“The GreenMatters Fellowship offers a full suite of leadership, personal and professional development programmes to increase capacity and provide essential workplace skills for workers in the environmental field,” says Janavi da Silva, director of programmes at GreenMatter. “It teaches them how to succeed in the workplace, including important life skills like EQ, business etiquette, and personal finances, among many others.”
Media Brokerage Africa selected to lead pan-African distribution, content sales and advertising for Dancestar Television
Dancestar Television has announced that an exclusive distribution, content sales and advertising partnership for Africa has been formed with Media Brokerage Africa.
Dancestar TV (DSTV) is the world’s first over-the-top (OTT) live stream channel that features Electronic Dance Music culture 24/7. It’s a ticket to the world’s best nightclubs, festivals, and new music from the best DJs, producers, and artists worldwide, capturing the true spirit of the EDM lifestyle.
Andy Ruffell, CEO of Dancestar Ventures LLC, said: “As part of our 2021 expansion strategy, we are extending our reach to over 60+ OTT platforms worldwide, including Africa. Media Brokerage Africa provides unrivalled expertise in pan-African distribution, content sales, and advertising, so they are the obvious choice to help Dancestar TV penetrate the African market. Media Brokerage Africa will enable us to deliver a measurable platform for major brands to engage with the EDM Culture in Africa.”
Meltwater acquires business information company Owler
Meltwater B.V., a leading global SaaS provider of media intelligence and social analytics, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire crowd-sourcing company Owler, a Silicon Valley innovator in the $30 billion market for business information.
Since its inception in 2011, Owler has grown its user base exponentially to become the second largest online business community in the world, next to LinkedIn. The Owler community consists of five million active business professionals who contribute up-to-date business information to Owler’s 14 million company profiles. Owler members include 96% of the Fortune 500, and 73 percent of high growth companies in the USA.
“Over the last 10 years, Owler has built one of the world’s most valuable online business communities,” said John Box, CEO of Meltwater. “Owler crowdsources information that would otherwise be impossible to find. Combining this proprietary information from Owler with the insights that Meltwater is able to extract from online news and social media will differentiate Meltwater’s product in the market and bring great value to our 27,000 customers globally.”
Meltwater has agreed to purchase Owler for $18.9 million in cash and $5.6 million in Meltwater equity. Upon integration, the Owler business is not expected to have a material impact on Meltwater’s 2021 revenue forecast.
TelkomONE first to launch free catch up
TelkomONE – Telkom’s video-streaming platform, has announced the addition of a free Catch Up functionality across its SABC and other free-to-air channels on the platform – a first-of-its kind value-added offering by a video-on-demand service locally. Catch Up is a system-driven recording of various popular programmes across your favourite channels, that is then made available as a single asset, on demand. This means you can ‘catch up’ on any gems you may have missed during the live channel playout or wish to re-watch and enjoy again.
This is the first time in South Africa that the much-loved Catch Up feature is provided at no cost to VOD (video on demand) viewers. TelkomONE users can now use their mobiles, laptops and PCs to view any SABC 1, 2, 3, SABC Sport or SABC Education shows, or specific programs from the bouquet of news and faith-based channels, in their own time, outside of its scheduled playout, because they may have missed it, it was at an inconvenient time, or just because it’s worth watching again and again.
BRAVO Design takes on iconic wine brand, Nederburg
For the past two years, BRAVO Design in Cape Town has been working closely with one of South Africa’s most established wine brands, Nederburg, on an exciting brand refresh to bring the wine labels and brand in line with modern consumer sentiments and trends.
The team at BRAVO was briefed to look at the entire Nederburg range, from Nederburg’s flagship Two Centuries to its Foundation series. An immediate focus was the brand’s iconography: what it stood for, and what it revealed became important aspects to consider.
“An immediate focus was the Nederburg shield, and the two anchors, that have always been present on Nederburg labels,” says Brenden Schwartz, owner and creative director at BRAVO. “When we began our research, it wasn’t clear what the brand connection to Nederburg was. What we found was that the shield resembled that of Haacke Beck brewery, where one of the Graue’s was a director in the 1800s.”
The goal was to respect the old iconography, but to infuse it with meaning. Nederburg’s new labels very clearly draws on the past, while also being distinctly refreshed.
INVIDI + Irdeto Form Global Addressable TV Pact, Emerging Markets Focus
Global addressable solutions company INVIDI Technologies and Irdeto, the world leader in digital platform security are rolling out a ready-to-deploy integrated technology for pay-TV operators. An emphasis will be placed on the APAC, MENA, Sub-Saharan Africa, and India markets.
The collaboration of two industry innovators enables every television set-top box containing Irdeto’s broadcast middleware technology to become instantly addressable, allowing marketers to accurately and quickly insert the right ads to the right targeted audiences at the right times, via INVIDI’s market-leading cloud-based INVIDI Edge™ platform. INVIDI recently won its second Technology & Engineering Achievement Emmy® Award from The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
The new collaboration allows broadcasters and operators, as well as satellite, cable and linear broadcast MVPDs, to take advantage of cutting-edge addressability technology, thereby increasing ad inventory value and driving new revenue possibilities for ad sales — both with end-to-end measurement and accountability.
Making moves
MZANSI QUEST – Radio tunes in to virtual reality during lockdown
In a first for radio across the globe, Jacaranda FM have partnered with Tracker to create a safe, virtual experience for families, teams, and individuals to explore South Africa’s most iconic locations – without ever needing to leave the house.
Mzansi Quest is a free online game where players can collect some of South Africa’s most precious virtual artifacts in the hopes of winning the grand prize of R50 000.
Deirdre King, Managing Director at Jacaranda FM, explained: “Jacaranda FM has created family-friendly events every year, but Covid-19 changed how we gather and enjoy ourselves. It’s important for us to show-up for our listeners, and so, we asked ourselves; how do we boost morale and give South African’s something positive and exciting to focus on, whilst connecting in a safe way?”
From 21 – 28 July, anyone, anywhere can join the virtual adventure by connecting to Jacarandafm.com and following the prompts. Every player will select a big five character as their personal avatar, and for those who are new to virtual exploration, Tracker care bots will assist anyone who feels a little lost along the way.
“Over the last 12 months, lockdown has prevented us from connecting, travelling, and exploring our beautiful country. Through Mzansi Quest, we’re giving players the freedom to explore South Africa and the chance to connect again, despite the limitations Covid-19 has imposed, ” said Charlette Roetz, Head of Marketing at Tracker.
SA marketing industry alliance launches WFA global diversity, equity & inclusion census
The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) is launching the world’s first-ever global diversity, equity and inclusion census of the marketing and advertising industry, designed to provide hard data on the people working in the profession. And South Africa is taking part.
The survey will assess where the global advertising and marketing industry is in relation to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) by investigating workforce composition across the industry as well as people’s perception of diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace, including their sense of belonging and their perception of progress. The response will inform the research results which will in turn make for informed discussions across the industry.
In South Africa, an alliance comprising MASA, the local WFA affiliate and sister industry bodies the ACA, ARB, IAB, MRF and Kantar South Africa will spearhead this project to ensure wide reach across the corporate, agency, SMME and freelance marketing landscape.
For more, read the story here.
Digital Lab Africa calls on video game creators
The second phase of the Digital Lab Africa (DLA) call for applications is now open after a successful first phase for animation and immersive experience categories. The focus of this phase is on video games. The destabilising impact of the pandemic on the music and digital art sectors has been such that the inclusion of these two categories has been set to resume in 2022.
Applications for the video game category opened on 11 June and will close on 11 July 2021.
- To apply: //digilabafrica.com/submit-a-project/
- 1. Complete and submit the online form directly from this link: //forms.gle/TwQkvT45BpY4c9ez9
- 2. Send your application documents by email to: applications@digilabafrica.com
Audio Amplified now loading
The 12th edition of Radio Days Africa, taking place from 5 to 16 July, looks at radio’s relevance in a world of stand-alone audio platforms, podcasts, curated music offerings and bespoke audio content.The importance of podcasting on the continent is undeniable.
According to a Reuters Digital News Report, surveying 20 African countries, a third use podcasts regularly, with 50% of the responders noting that podcasts offer a deeper understanding of issues than other forms of media. Looking at the media platform in the uniquely African context, Podcasting the African Way is a five-part series curated by the Voice of Wits and Radio Days Africa. The Podcasting 101 Master Class, hosted by director, content strategist, podcaster, musician and general all-around trouble maker Jon Savage, equips attendees with the skills to create, promote and monetise their idea online.In a landscape that has traditionally been male-dominated, women are creating, designing, and innovating.
Join media professionals Claire Mawisa, Joanne Joseph, Rorisang Setlogelo, Motshidi Mohono and Nongcebo McKenzie as they look at how and why women practitioners are flourishing in The Future is Female.
What builds a successful broadcasting career? Legendary broadcaster and media consultant, David O’Sullivan and award-winning radio presenter Sakina Kamwendo share insights into their media careers during The Friday Fire Side.
To keep up to date with all the #RDA2021 action, download the RDA app from Android and Apple stores, search for Radio Days Africa. Join these and other thought-provoking online sessions. Register for free at www.radiodaysafrica.co.za
