Media Moves… TheMediaOnline’s weekly round up. SABC sends condolences on death of Ms Verna Vels. Vicinity Media boosts business development team. Senior account manager joins marcusbrewster. AIGS appoints sales and marketing director. New appointments and roles at HoneyKome. Indigenus names Lauren Shantall as preferred communications agency. Swedish Institute Appoints Mango-OMC. The SOS: Support Public Broadcasting Coalition looks for an SOS campaign organiser. Digitisation front runners in Africa team up with firstcoast to preserve the future of the past. Greatstock changes the face of stock imagery with new website. Auto & General Insurance receives first time sponsor award at BASA Awards. Continental Outdoor continues to dominate Africa’s DOOH growth. Groupon South Africa overhauls website to become a true online marketplace.
SABC sends condolences on death of Ms Verna Vels
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has sent to the family of Verna Vels, who died last week. It said Ms Vels “played a critical role in the development and execution of programmes at the SABC”.
Vels initially joined the SABC on 1 December 1954, as a radio presenter, and from 1963 until 1968, she presented the programme ‘Vrouerubriek’. She was the creator of the popular children’s programmes ‘Liewe Heksie’ and ‘Blommie Kabouter’. She was also the voice of the popular and beloved character ‘Bennie Boekwurm’, on the children’s series ‘Wielie Walie during the early days of SABC television. For the past 12 years, Vels worked with SABC 2 soap drama 7 de Laan as an assistant director.
Ms Vels spent 39 years with the SABC and retired in 1993.
Who’s moved where
Vicinity Media boosts business development team
Mobile advertising network Vicinity Media has announced the appointment of industry specialists Darren van der Schyff and Dwane McCarthy to take the helm of the company’s new business development and media sales across South Africa, and the African continent.
“With Vicinity Media now at the forefront of location based mobile (LBM) in South Africa, the appointment of Dwane and Darren cements our growth aspirations,” says COO Neil Clarence. “The new team gears us to entrench our brand in the minds of media planners and clients. We welcome Dwane and Darren and are confident in their ability to expand our footprint and meet the unrelenting demand for relevant mobile advertising.”
Having joined the digital media industry in 2011, Van der Schyff brings with him a comprehensive understanding of various media channels, publishers and competitors in the market place. McCarthy is passionate about all things digital and creating strategic digital advertising campaigns for clients.
Senior account manager joins marcusbrewster
Seasoned corporate communications practitioner Nicole Spruijt has been appointed as senior account manager at the Johannesburg office of PR firm marcusbrewster.
With over a decade in the strategic communications field and a BA (Hons) degree in corporate communications from RAU, Spruijt has extensive experience across a number of sectors, ranging from pharmaceutical and non-profit healthcare to energy and mining. She was a member of the Executive Committee (Exco) at the dual listed gold mining company Pan African Resources plc where her responsibilities included public relations, as well as investor relations and exposure to both the London and Johannesburg Stock Exchanges.
“With her keen interest in and experience of business and investor relations, Nicole is precisely the kind of senior, well-rounded manager we were seeking to expand our corporate comms and reputation management portfolio in the Gauteng office,” says MonicaBraganca, head of the Joburg office. “We are extremely pleased to have a professional of Nicole’s calibre on board allowing us to expand the scope of managed communication services we offer our clients.”
AIGS appoints sales and marketing director
AIGS has appointed Gustav Piater as sales and marketing director. With a wealth of experience within the sales and marketing arena in the ICT sector, Piater will be responsible for marketing and sales team leadership, as well as driving positive revenue growth.
Previously, Piater was employed as sales director at Qbcon for the past 15 years, and in this role he built the sales team and enhanced sales processes at the organisation. His extensive knowledge of the BI market, as well as his technical expertise in the software arena make him a great fit for AIGS’s product portfolio, and his understanding of business needs, together with his experience with premium clients like Denel and the Namibian and Zambian Inland Revenue Authorities, make Piater a valuable addition to the AIGS team, says Premie Naicker, MD of AIGS.
“We are thrilled to have been able to recruit Gustav to provide leadership for our sales and marketing teams. We are committed to building a successful local business, and strengthening our position as a leading software distributor in the country. Gustav’s leadership and knowledge of how to promote and support software solutions will be immeasurably valuable in helping AIGS achieve its goals.”
New appointments and roles at HoneyKome
HoneyKome, the digital agency launched by the Ole! Media Group earlier this year, is rapidly expanding. Agency director, Dylan Kruger, has welcomed new recruits Alessandro Bonora (creative director) and Tara Smith (client services manager), and congratulated Darren Leite (social media community manager) and Pieter Pretorius (technical director) on their new roles.
Having garnered experience in traditional and digital agencies in South Africa and abroad, creative director, Bonora, has worked on brands as diverse as Johnson&Johnson, Standard Chartered Bank and the World Wildlife Fund. With a background in education, art and English, Smith joins the agency as client services manager. Her experience as copywriter and strategist at Hello Computer, and most recently as account manager at Saatchi & Saatchi mean she is well placed to handle the intricacies of life in a busy agency and burgeoning industry.
Leite is an inter-company transfer from TEAMtalk media. As social media community manager at HoneyKome, Leite encourages the promotion of the organisation’s sports websites, and will manage the social conversation for the agency’s clients in the consumer lifestyle sector. A seasoned professional in the digital agency and publishing world, Pretorius moves from the role of lead developer to technical director at HoneyKome,
Who’s won what
Indigenus names Lauren Shantall as preferred communications agency
Lauren Shantall (Pty) Ltd has added new local furniture brand Indigenus to its stable of clients. Indigenus is a premium range of designer planters brought to life by owner and visionary Peter van der Post and designed by acclaimed South African designers such as Gregor Jenkin, Haldane Martin and Wiid.
Lauren Shantall (Pty) Ltd has been tasked with launching this new brand by managing publicity, media relations and communications.
Lauren Shantall (Pty) Ltd currently works with top local décor and lifestyle brands such as Plascon, Inhouse Brand Architects, Willowlamp and Probio, and thus meets Indigenus’s need for an agency with a rich design background.
Owner Lauren Shantall has many years of design experience including launching and managing the Freeworld Design Centre, judged “Best Design Concept in Cape Town” by House & Leisure magazine in December 2011, and managing the Design Indaba Expo.
Swedish Institute appoints Mango-OMC
The Swedish Institute (SI) is a public agency that promotes interest and confidence in Sweden around the world, establishes cooperation and lasting relations with other countries through strategic communication and exchange in the fields of business, culture, education and science.
In 2014, the SI and the Embassy of Sweden in Pretoria embarked on collaborative events in South Africa under the Sweden@SouthAfrica banner and appointed MANGO-OMC to oversee the communication objectives.
“The focus of the campaign is to knowledge share in the fields of creative entrepreneurship – specifically through technology. It’s a far-reaching scope with complex messaging requirements. We are thoroughly enjoying the challenge of working with a variety of media channels, partners and stakeholders and flexing our tactical muscles to reach strategic goals,” says account and managing Director, Nicole Capper.
What’s out there
The SOS: Support Public Broadcasting Coalition looks for an SOS campaign organiser
The SOS Coalition represents a broad spectrum of civil society stakeholders committed to the broadcasting of quality, diverse, citizen-orientated public-interest programming aligned to the goals of the South African Constitution.
The SOS Coalition wants to appoint a campaign organiser based in Johannesburg. The organiser will report to the co-ordinator, and will support the co-ordinator to drive a systematic strategy and programme for expanding the mass-base of the Coalition and advancing its vision for public broadcasting: encouraging people to demand broadcasting that serves the public interest.
Responsibilities include working with the co-ordinator and working group (and its subcommittees) to ensure operational and strategic coherence; Overseeing and strengthening the effective use of SOS communications tools (with an emphasis on social media), including developing a coherent communication strategy that aligns with the Coalition’s strategic aims; representing the Coalition at events, in structures and in the media when called on to do so and identifying opportunities for and facilitate the development and delivery of effective popular education and training on SOS issues, amongst others.
It requires a minimum of a three-year post-matric qualification, or equivalent thereof through relevant experience; excellent writing and communication skills for internal and external communication; excellent English written and verbal communication skills with multilingualism an
advantage; experience in developing and running online campaigns through social media platforms
and / or experience in web site development and management.
The Coalition offers a negotiable salary from R15 000 (all inclusive) commensurate with qualifications and experience.
Black females are especially encouraged to apply.
To apply, submit a CV not exceeding thee pages and motivation letter to Kerry Harris at kerryharris@worldonline.co.za by 05 September 2014.
Who’s making moves
Digitisation front runners in Africa team up with firstcoast to preserve the future of the past
Digitisation in archives and libraries is currently a buzz in the academic, library and archive environments. Digital preservation of our cultural and scientific heritage is among the most important present-day and future tasks facing society as a whole.
Africa’s front runners in these digital initiatives, such as the University of Witwatersrand, UNISA, University of Botswana, the National Library of South Africa, the Western Cape Government Archives, the Africana Library in Kimberley, the University of Stellenbosch to mention a few, have all invested in Zeutschel overhead scanners and related products that falls under the umbrella of the product range of firstcoast, an IT company who has been specialising in paperfree digital solutions for the past 14 years.
To be the partner of choice who can assist organizations in their complete requirement; is our mission. We are excited to be involved in the process of unlocking the valuable knowledge that resides in so many collections, which are not currently accessible by the huge potential of a digital market,” says Herman Crowther, managing director of firstcoast.
Greatstock changes the face of stock imagery with new website
Greatstock, a provider of highly relevant images and rich media, has unveiled its completely revamped website, designed especially to make discovering unique local content that much easier for users. A key feature of the new site is the ability to search by local material only, filtering out all images that were not created in Africa or that do not feature an African model.
“This feature addresses the growing demand for quality local imagery,” explains Margi Sheard, managing director of Greatstock. “A severe lack of diversity of content plagues many stock imagery sites. It’s a problem that has also largely contributed to the misperception of stock imagery as a whole. Greatstock’s wealth of beautiful African and South African imagery and content is one of our core strengths and is a true differentiator for us in this space.”
Greatstock has made many updates to its search engine behind the scenes in the past, it was time to give the front-end a fresh new look and feel while simultaneously introducing exciting new features. “Given the nature of our business, we are always looking for new ways to improve the customers’ search experience,” says Sheard. “Our clients need to be able to quickly and easily search for local material. Revamping the website was a way in which we could better enable them to do this.”
Auto & General Insurance receives first time sponsor award at BASA Awards
Auto & General Insurance was presented with the ‘First Time Sponsor Award’ at the 17th Annual Business Day BASA Awards held in Johannesburg.
The Awards recognises and encourages excellence and innovation in the field of business support for the arts. The judges evaluated the success of each sponsorship in achieving the objectives of the sponsor, and in bringing genuine benefits to the arts organisation. Auto & General Insurance sponsors both the prestigious Naledi Theatre Awards as well as the Auto & General Theatre on the Square.
“We are absolutely thrilled and honoured to receive this acknowledgment from BASA,” says Leon Vermaak, CEO of Auto & General Insurance. “South Africa has been blessed with such extraordinary talent and through our sponsorships we wanted to give our actors, writers, directors, designers, comedians, musician and technicians the support they so rightly deserve. We hope that our sponsorships will assist in nurturing, developing and exposing the wealth of proudly South African talent and product.”
Continental Outdoor continues to dominate Africa’s DOOH growth
Continental Outdoor has fast expanded its network across Africa into airports, malls, on escalators, bars and restaurants, and onto roadside. Much of the recent growth has been focused on the expansion of its Roadside Digital networks.
The network in Pretoria and Sandton reach in excess of 11 million consumers a month with the 11 sites. In addition to the comprehensive network in Gauteng, South Africa, a further 11 Ignite screens have been rolled out into sub-Saharan Africa over the course of the past six months into Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique and Botswana, with further growth into other countries planned soon.
A key benefit of the networks is that marketers are now able to plan, by day-part, or region, across Africa. Merlene Farquhar, Starcom, comments, “I love this new product for Africa. It gives us an opportunity to be innovative for new product launches right here in SA for the rest of Africa. The digital roadside format perfectly matched our recent campaign for Trident in Mozambique. The vibrant colours of the brand were displayed consistently both day and night, perfectly matching the Trident brand image”.
The synergistic benefits of DOOH and mobile integration is a key benefit for campaign planning, more so that Continental Outdoor are able to provide this as an additional service to clients.
Groupon South Africa overhauls website to become a true online marketplace
Groupon has announced a completely redesigned South African website, as well as updated versions of its popular iPhone and Android apps. These changes are the latest step in the company’s transition from a daily deal website to a true online marketplace, making it easier for customers to browse Groupon’s vast selection of deals.
“The website contains a number of significant changes that will enable us become a true marketplace for local services, goods and travel,” said Emilian Popa, CEO, Groupon South Africa. There’s a search bar which allows customers to type in exactly what they’re looking for and category filters to group similar deals together. For example, under ‘Restaurants’, customers can now refine results by cuisine types, including ‘Italian’, ‘Indian’ or ‘Japanese’.”
The latest version of the website was rolled out first in the United States in November 2013. In addition to a range of new search, browse and location features, the website has a sophisticated, uncluttered look, with a white, rather than green, background.
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