The Media Online’s weekly round up of people, account and business moves in media.
This week’s BIG move: Agile, cross-platform and collaborative: Media24 launches Adspace24
Media24 is evolving its sales division to meet the challenges facing today’s media landscape – and those of tomorrow. Adspace24 is the amalgamation of their two sales divisions, Ads24 and The SpaceStation, to forge a focused, collaborative team able to create bespoke solutions ranging across Media24’s news products.
“In a world of always-on, increasing digital content consumption on multiple platforms, media owners have evolved from offering clients purely digital or print only advertising to supplying marketing communication solutions across formats and channels,” said Ishmet Davidson, CEO: Media24. “The demand, accelerated by the pandemic, is for solutions that deliver the right marketing message to the right audience effectively and cost-effectively.
“Our publishing model integrates formats, platforms and channels, taking the content reach of our legacy (formerly print-only) national brands way beyond ink on paper,” says Davidson. “It paved the way for also consolidating our commercial operations accordingly into a one-stop service hub for integrated solutions across our portfolio of trusted brands.”
Adspace24 brings together the strengths and industry knowledge of Ads24 and The SpaceStation to offer integrated, cross-platform communication opportunities that span the Media24 News offering. This gives clients access to the audiences of more than 60 trusted news brands, that leverage digital media, print, television, content marketing and insights to drive a brand’s message home.
“There are many challenges facing today’s media landscape, so we’re adapting to ensure that our client-facing teams are geared to meet these, both now and in the future,” says Tasmia Ismail, general manager: Media24 News Advertising Sales.
“Given the lightning speed at which technological developments emerge and change nowadays, agility is critical. It also boosts accessibility and creativity – there are so many more innovative ways of brand storytelling than the traditional solutions that we can help brands reach out to their ideal audience.”
People moves
HWB Communications appoints Bradly Howland as new CEO
HWB Communications has welcomed Bradly Howland as its new CEO. With 19 years working in the media and marketing environment, Howland has a strong understanding of the importance of an integrated approach to strategic communications, marketing and reputation management for brands. He previously worked at HWB as an account director and client services director before heading off to oversee the communications for one of the country’s hyper-scaling fintechs, Ozow.
According to Evelyn John Holtzhausen, founding director and board member of HWB, the appointment heralds a new era for the agency. “We are delighted to welcome Bradly back. With a deeper understanding of the evolving needs of brands, we’re excited that his return will bring with it a transformation in the way the business operates to better serve its clients.”
Howland said, “With the world in a state of flux, it’s imperative that agencies act as strategic counsellors to help brands navigate the rapidly changing landscape and shifts in consumer behaviour. Leading HWB, my main focus will be to recalibrate the way that we work to ensure that our clients see us as their extended marketing and communications team,” says Howland.
Bradly takes over from Lynn Erasmus, who has relocated to Europe.
“Under Lynn’s leadership, the agency was recognised as the ‘Best Mid-Sized PR Consultancy’ in the country at the 2020 PRISM awards, along with the numerous other industry accolades for client campaigns,” said Holtzhausen.
Red & Yellow appoints new senior lecturer, copywriter and creative director, Craig Strydom
This month the Red & Yellow Creative School of Businesshas announced the appointment of a new senior lecturer, award-winning copywriter and creative director, Craig Strydom.
Strydom is the latest member to join the institution’s world-renowned faculty and will be teaching Advanced Diploma in Copywriting and the Higher Certificate in Creating Digital Content.
In a career spanning an impressive 20+ years, Strydom has worked for nine advertising agencies across three countries, including the US, Canada, and South Africa. As a Copywriter, Creative Director, and all-around content genius, he has won awards in New York, London, and Johannesburg, including One Show, London International Advertising Awards, and the New York Festivals. This included being a writer on the Oscar-winning, globally acclaimed documentary, Finding Sugarman.
His passion for the creative industry began while studying music at the Tshwane University of Technology. It was here that he took an interest in creating jingles for advertising. He is currently completing his Master’s in Creative Writing at the University of Cape Town.
TCS names Langa Dube as country manager for South Africa
Tata Consultancy Services has announced the appointment of Langa Dube as its new country manager for South Africa.
Dube is an information and communications technology (ICT) industry veteran with more than 26 years of experience in the sector – 14 within the Tata group itself in various senior leadership positions. Prior to being appointed as the country manager, he was the business unit head for communications, media & information, energy and resources, and manufacturing at TCS. During this time he oversaw key transformational engagements leveraging cutting-edge technologies and TCS’ intellectual property, strengthening the company’s leadership position in the region.
Dube holds a National Diploma in IT, and a qualification in Management Advancement Programme from the celebrated Wits Business School in Johannesburg. He has completed the exclusive Tata Executive Leadership Programme and the ‘Being A Director’ course from the Institute of Directors South Africa. A believer in life-long learning, he is currently pursuing a Master’s in Digital Business at the Wits Business School.
Business moves
Russia Today removed from DStv platform until further notice
MultiChoice confirms that as of today, 2March 2022, Russia Today (Channel 407) shall not be carried on the DStv platform until further notice. Sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union have led to the global distributor of the channel ceasing to provide the broadcast feed to all suppliers, including MultiChoice.
SABC Sport scores rights to broadcast Netball World Cup 2023
SABC Sport will be broadcasting the Netball World Cup 2023. The announcement comes after a media launch which was held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. The tournament is due to be hosted in Cape Town, South Africa from 28 July to 6 August 2023.
The rights acquired by SABC Sport include the opening and closing ceremonies, opening games, one selected match on days Proteas do not play, all Proteas matches, the semi-finals and the final including daily highlights packages. A wrap-up video will broadcast at the end of each match day and will include a mix of highlights, interviews and the group standings.
All the action will be broadcast live on SABC Sport Channel on DTT, Openview 124, S3 and TelkomONE.
To enhance the viewer experience, SABC Sport will provide Telkom with the 2023 Netball World Cup feed to stream on their digital platform, TelkomONE in South Africa.
With 16 nations competing in 60 matches over the 10-day period SABC Sport is confident that the tournament will culminate into a phenomenal viewing experience for its audiences.
Gary Rathbone, Head of SABC Sport, said “As SABC Sport, we pride ourselves on providing South Africans with access to sport of national interest, and the acquisition of the 2023 Netball World Cup has just reaffirmed our brand mission. As a country, we are very proud to host the tournament in Cape Town – a first on the African continent, and as SABC Sport, we believe that it’s imperative that every South African is given access to world class sport content. We look forward to inspiring the nation and instilling national pride by making the Netball World Cup 2023 available to all”
Wavemaker South Africa bids farewell to Pick ‘n Pay as the retailer moves media services in-house
For the past 13 years, Wavemaker and GroupM have worked with major South African retail brand Pick ‘n Pay and has contributed enormously towards shaping consumer decisions through media, content and technology to ensure Pick ‘n Pay’s success and growth. After much thought, analysis and review, Pick n Pay has come to the decision to move their ATL media planning and buying in-house effective from 1 March 2022. This allows the retail giant to merge its already in-housed digital media with ATL media to drive communication synergy and performance.
Wavemaker South Africa believes that growth sometimes requires uncomfortable change. What matters is that these shifts are done in the best interests of the businesses it has long supported. Since October 2021, Wavemaker has worked to assist and support Pick ‘n Pay with this move to in-house media-buying services.
Although the transition from outsourcing to insourcing can be difficult, having a strategic partner that is equally invested in your business can make the process easy and effective, and can help to ensure that no marketing momentum is lost.
“Our successful partnership throughout the years has enabled us to provide the best solutions and strategic counsel to Pick ‘n Pay. While we are truly sad to see this flagship client leave us, we are always supportive of progress and wish them well with their in-sourcing journey,” said Merissa Himraj, Wavemaker CEO SSA.
SA gets first car tech magazine
Gadget magazine turns 24 this month, but is not resting on the laurels of being South Africa’s longest-running technology magazine.
Launched in 1998, it has continued breaking new ground, such as releasing the country’s first media NFT (non-fungible token) last year, and breaking the story in 2016 of a South African tracking down the lost Apollo 11 onboard computer.
Gadget publisher World Wide Worx has introduced the country’s first automotive technology magazine, titled GadgetWheels. It focuses on news and reviews of new cars on the one hand, and on the other hand the specific technologies, gadgets and features that are changing the motoring experience of every individual.
“The decision to launch a car tech title has been a long-time coming and always seemed a good idea,” said Gadget editor-in-chief and World Wide Worx founder Arthur Goldstuck.
“This year, however, we are seeing a near-gridlock of electronic vehicle (EV) launches, along with advances in on-board technology across all ranges of cars. It feels as if the new motoring era is finally upon us, and we intend to record the revolution as it happens.”
South Africa’s M&C Saatchi Abel expands footprint, opens a new office in the metaverse
M&C Saatchi Abel, has purchased ‘land’ in the newly created Africarare metaverse – Ubuntuland – marking its move as the first South African and African agency to set up shop in this digital world.
Africa’s first digital domain Africarare, is a 3D virtual reality immersive hub that houses a metaverse marketplace set in Ubuntuland. Ubuntuland will showcase some of the best of African art, fashion, entertainment, sport, tech and creativity and will provide a platform for artists from across the continent to showcase their work.
“The unique afro-themed metaverse establishes local representation in a growing global digital universe and will open our continent up to significant digital and economic growth opportunities for both talent, clients and industry colleagues to come together to solve business and even societal challenges with creativity,“ said Mike Abel, M&C Saatchi Group South Africa founding partner and CEO.
“This aligns with our own very clear commitment to pushing the bounds of South African capabilities and creativity in the work we produce across the continent. We love a good problem as a team, and we believe that creativity is the most significant key to solving these. Creating a virtual home for this is a very natural and fluid extension of our ability to do exactly this.”
Ubuntuland is created by Mann Made and will be open to public land sales from 2nd or 3rd quarter of 2022 as the team continue to work on the build for their Afro-futuristic world of proudly local creativity. Together with Mann Made, M&C Saatchi Abel and Africarare will create a cultural, social, and commercial destination for African creativity in the metaverse.
Assupol launches radio drama to increase financial literacy
Assupol Life has launched a new radio drama series, aimed at increasing financial literacy among South Africans through a different perspective on how to tackle the many barriers to financial wellness. Titled Through Thick and Thin, the radio series begins from the 1st of March 2022 and will be flighted across various national and community radio stations.
In taking a bold position on financial education, Assupol strives to reiterate its commitment to improving financial literacy in the country–a commitment that is not driven by sales or profit.
Speaking on behalf of Assupol, Velmah Nzembela; Group Head of Corporate Affairs said, “The past 18 months have emphasised the importance of saving for rainy days. Between your first job and retirement, there are different life stages and unexpectant circumstances that demand additional funds. We believe that this campaign speaks to every South African who has good intentions to manage their finances but is desperately seeking practical knowledge on how to actually do so. We are proud to serve South Africans with the knowledge required to improve their financial wellness and we hope the nation will enjoy this fresh spin on a somewhat daunting subject.”
The series will cover topics around savings, budgeting, retirement, investments and how to manage debt, and will be flighted on uKhozi FM, uMhlobo Wenene FM, Lesedi FM, Motsweding FM, Metro FM, Radio Zibonele, Jozi FM, Makhado FM, Mahikeng FM and UCR FM.
Marketing aficionados Noëleen Bruton and Debbie Combrink’s Marketing Grit kicks off 2022 with a head start
When marketing aficionados Noëleen Bruton and Debbie Combrink combine their career experience; knowledge, creativity and strategic thinking under their company, Marketing Grit – there’s a force of marketing expertise to be reckoned with.
Recently opened, Marketing Grit is a Cape Town-based boutique marketing and digital strategy agency, making a head start in 2022 with four new clients including NGO Headstart Kids that provides pre-schoolers from low-income families with a comprehensive Early Childhood Development (ECD) program to help combat malnutrition and meet the emotional, social, health, physical, nutritional and psychological needs of these children in the critical first five years of development; Hitchcock & Associates, one of Australia’s most prestigious and recognised immigration firms serving businesses and high-end individual clients; Positano online lifestyle and clothing boutique for woman who are no longer 22 but still want to look and feel fabulous and Holistic Life Care Coach, Olivia Wallace.
In addition to her responsibilities at Marketing Grit, Noëleen Bruton will be tutoring 2nd Year BComm as well as one year Diploma students twice weekly at the Institute of Marketing Management (IMM) Graduate School campus in Stellenbosch.
Outdoor Auditors partners with Seedooh in South Africa
Outdoor Auditors has announced a partnership with Seedooh, enabling global best-practice, third party verification of DOOH in South Africa for the first time.
Seedooh launched the world’s first independent verification technology platform for DOOH in 2017 and is in operation at market scale in Australia and New Zealand, where 3rd Party verification is now considered a requirement for DOOH campaign delivery.
Tom Richter, Seedooh CEO and founder, explained: “The work we have done in Australia over the last 5 years to establish best-practice standards for verified campaign delivery, is a proof case for the global sector. Transparency and confidence ultimately benefits all participants as OOH matures to compete with other digitised media – whilst remaining the only truly broadcast channel. We believe that 100% accurate and verified campaign data should be available on demand to both buyers and sellers, via a low-impact, highly secure platform”.
Marketing Achievement Awards partnering with Kantar to explore how to build brands for the future.
The Marketing Achievement Awards, in association with Kantar, will be hosting a four-part series set to share actionable insights into how to create and develop lasting brand value, while building a strong brand that can travel into the future.
Marketing experts will investigate the mechanics of brand growth and how to sustain it; the levers that help brands not only survive but thrive; how to create impact in a connected world; and why empathy, provocation and activation (EMPACT) creates a competitive advantage in sparking the corporate imagination.
The second event will take place on Tuesday, 15 March at 11h00 and will put the spotlight on sustainability with the topic, ‘Sustainable transformation in 2022: how to build and communicate your brand purpose to achieve buy-in avoid backlash from your consumers’. Presented by Kantars sustainability director Astrid Ricketts and Consultant William Stubbings, the presentation will pinpoint the common principles to help marketers build and communicate their brand purpose successfully.
The third event, ‘Creating Impact in a connected world – a media and creative duet’ will take place on Thursday, 7 April at 11h00. Presented by Natalie Botha, Head of Media & Creative and Karen Moodley, Account Manager at Kantar’s Insights Division, the presentation will unpack the opportunities and challenges forecasted for 2022.
The fourth – and final event – will take place on Thursday, 12 May at 11h00 and will use Kantar’s Insights 2030 to introduce EMPACT (empathy, provocation and activation) as the framework for insights departments to re-energise the corporate imagination. Presented by Bontle Modiselle, Associate Director of Strategic Consulting at Kantar, the event will reveal how marketers can use these insights to create a competitive advantage for their brand.
Register now to future-proof your brand.
Metrofile deepens its digital services offering, in acquiring IronTree
JSE-listed Metrofile, a leading document and electronic information management specialist in Africa and the Middle East, has deepened its suite of digital services – backup, disaster recovery, cybersecurity and specialised virtual private server (VPS) hosting – through its acquisition of IronTree.While paper-based document management remains a central pillar of securing content,the pandemic has meant that more documents are now originated, signed digitally, and then stored, indexed, and archived in cyberspace.
A recent World Economic Forum report proposed the opportunities from the digital transformation of industries could be in the region of $100 trillion over the next decade. As an example, this rapid increase of data also generates a knock-on demand into safe document storage and retrieval, and compliance with security and privacy regulations.
TAPO Group Upgrades Analytics Platform for the Monitoring of Press Releases in Africa
APO Group has announced the latest iteration of its state-of-the-art analytics platform for the monitoring of press releases in Africa. Press releases distributed by APO Group can contain multiple content formats, with clients able to add unlimited image, video and audio assets to their text content free of charge. Press releases are distributed via email to a vast network of more than 450 000 journalists in Africa or reporting on Africa.
In 2021, more than 32.5 million emails containing APO Group client press releases were successfully delivered to journalists in Africa or reporting on Africa, while the total number of press releases distributed by APO Group for its clients has increased by 42% in 2021 compared to 2020.
Vuma acquires 45%, non-controlling stake in Herotel
South African fibre provider, Vumatel has acquired a 45% non-controlling stake in Herotel, a significant fixed wireless internet service provider and meaningful player in the local Fibre to The Home (FTTH) industry. Herotel have passed over 150,000 homes and business users to the internet across more than 400 towns and cities.
The acquisition will accelerate Herotel’s vision of bridging South Africa’s digital divide, fostering economic growth and connecting more of the country’s secondary communities.
Making moves
BrandsEye announces rebranding, changes name to DataEQ
The team behind data and insights business, BrandsEye, has completed an extensive rebranding in response to accelerated company growth, having successfully evolved from a MarTech tool to an enterprise data provider.
Founded in 2007, BrandsEye was born out of digital agency, Quirk, which was later sold to Nasdaq and LSE-listed marketing communications company WPP. A tool developed for agency clients – brands – to keep an eye on their online mentions, BrandsEye utilised a proprietary mix of search algorithms, crowdsourcing and AI to mine data from online conversations.
Over time, however, BrandsEye evolved from being an agency’s online reputation monitoring (ORM) tool to its own standalone business, specialising in sentiment analysis and opinion mining. By honing the unique blend of AI and human intelligence, the company is able to produce high-quality actionable data from unstructured customer and public feedback.
DuPont Sustainable Solutions Unveils New Brand Name: dss+
DuPont Sustainable Solutions, a global operations consulting firm with extensive operations in South Africa, has announced it will operate under a new name: dss+ (pronounced ‘dss plus’).
Since DuPont Sustainable Solutions became an independent consulting firm after separating from DuPont in 2019, it has evolved and enhanced its capabilities through organic growth and the acquisition of three organisations to improve the breadth and depth of capabilities in operational excellence, sustainability, and ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance).
“dss⁺ has a solid history of providing expert process safety management and operational risk management services to many organisations in Africa,” said Rhyno Jacobs, Director of Sub-Saharan Africa for dss⁺. “Businesses are increasingly aware of the need to
World-class e-commerce photography studio opens in Durban
StudioK, an all-in-one compact photographic studio for professional e-commerce shoots, officially opened for business in Durban North in February 2022. The studio, which is supported by the well-known Studio[K]irmack in Cape Town, brings best-in-class automated product photography technology to the port city, including the advanced Orbitvu Alphastudio XXL – the first of its kind in South Africa.
Co-founders Shaun Burgin, Lance Howarth and Craig Bellingham are “beyond excited” about the launch of StudioK, and ready to assist businesses with their e-commerce product photography needs. “Setting up shop here makes a lot of sense, given that Durban is where you find so many of the country’s major import warehouses,” says Burgin. “It means quicker – and more affordable – turnaround for photography projects since the assets are often close at hand.”
“We aim to become the e-commerce photography and content solution of choice in KwaZulu-Natal,” adds Bellingham whose company has done numerous projects for clients including work for Adidas, Puma, Pick ‘n Pay Clothing, Jeep, Dunns, Sealand, HiTec and many leading brands – since opening Studio[K]irmack in 2008. “StudioK will offer world-class technology and services, with technology that offers automatic background removal, so that clients can create ready-to-use on-model, packshots, 360-degree spins and videos in a matter of minutes.”
A new loyalty programme for guests at leading South African hotel group
While the impact of Covid-19 on South Africa’s economy is undeniable, some businesses have managed to grow and thrive during what continues to be one of the most challenging times in the hospitality industry. One such brand is ANEW Hotels & Resorts, one of the leading hotel groups in the country.
As a way to give back to customers, ANEW is now launching its first loyalty programme, ANEW Rewards, which will be based on a simple reward system to benefit all guests, where they can earn ‘Wena Bucks’. Joining ANEW Rewards is straightforward, with everything done in just a few minutes online. There are no forms that need to be filled out or cards that need to be processed. What’s more, joining the rewards programme comes at no cost to the ANEW customer.
