Media Moves… TheMediaOnline’s weekly round up. Trish Taylor appointed CEO of Urban Brew Studios
. Havas Worldwide launches PR Division with Verrijdt at the helm.Free Wi-Fi for everyone? Habari Media exclusively appointed to sell Free-Fi. HOT 91.9 FM joins forces with The Media Connection. On The Dot clinches TFG (The Foschini Group) e-commerce deal. ASUS appoints Clockwork Media. FCB Africa, FCB Cape Town win new business in Africa. Ogilvy Public Relations South Africa named ‘best turn-around office’ in the global network. Brand Communications develops digital ekiosk mobile brand for news delivery in Côte d’Ivoire. MASSIV Media announces new and improved commuter advertising platform. FOX International Channels (FIC) launches on ACTV in Nigeria. Phoenix Subsidiary PXS Distribution UK gets Kaspersky Labs
Who’s moved where
Trish Taylor appointed CEO of Urban Brew Studios
Kagiso Media has announced the appointment of Trish Taylor as CEO of Urban Brew Studios. Taylor, who is currently general manager of East Coast Radio, another Kagiso Media company, will take up this new position on 26 January 2015.
Kagiso Media deputy group CEO Omar Essack believes Taylor will bring dynamism and strong leadership skills to this new role. “Trish and I worked together at East Coast Radio for seven years when I was CEO at the station and I was responsible for recommending her for the station’s top job before I moved on to the group head office, so I am very familiar with her capabilities. She will bring new energy and a strong culture of innovation to Urban Brew. I look forward to working with her and the team,” he said.
Taylor has been at the helm of East Coast Radio for 12 years and through her passion and tenacity has imprinted her DNA on the brand.
Taylor, both a keen sportswoman and businesswoman has numerous business awards under her belt. This includes having been named the Nedbank Regional Business Achiever of the Year in 2006 and having won the KZN Women of Excellence Award in 2013. Of her new position at Urban Brew, Taylor says she’s excited about taking a giant step into the world of TV. “I am passionate about media and this move provides a further extension of my career in a space I really enjoy. I’ve loved my time at East Coast Radio and through my new role I look forward to accelerating TV and radio synergies.”
Havas Worldwide launches PR Division with Verrijdt at the helm
Havas Worldwide Johannesburg has appointed Chris Verrijdt, previously managing director of Dark Horse Communications, as the head of its new PR division.
“Globally, Havas is known as one of the most integrated agencies and in South Africa we have built very successful through-the-line and digital specialist agencies as well as a sports and activation business. Earlier this year we added media to the mix and so the next natural progression for us was to get a PR business off the ground,” says CEO Lynn Madeley.
Verrijdt says that with the speed at which communication now travels, it is critical for an agency to be “constantly ready”, hence the newsroom approach. “We need to be armed with the deepest, most current and relevant information, so as the landscape changes we constantly adapt for our clients.”
In addition to running PR campaigns and managing the social media channels across the Havas Village, Verrijdt has brought with him Caxton Magazines, South African Breweries’ Craft Beer, Sports and Environmental Media Awards as well as Taste of Joburg to name but a few to kick off the new Havas PR offering.
Who’s won what
Free Wi-Fi for everyone? Habari Media exclusively appointed to sell Free-Fi
#HaveYouHeard Habari Media, the multi-media sales company with a core focus in digital, has been exclusively selected by technology provider, Moben Africa, to sell advertising packages on the Free-Fi platform.
Free-Fi is ‘sponsored data’ and offers free and unlimited Wi-Fi access to end users without any of the disadvantages of current paid-for or limited data Wi-Fi models. When in a supported Free-Fi location, consumers select Free-Fi Wi-Fi on any internet enabled device and opt into the terms and conditions. Mobile and desktop advertising is delivered directly to the consumer via their device based on the amount of data or time they have consumed. Users will automatically reconnect the next time they are within the area.
“This is game changing for both the digital ad industry and consumers alike,“ says Wayne Bischoff, managing director at Habari Media. “Who won’t use free Wi-Fi? There is no data charge to the consumer, no login-ins, no data limits and no forms to complete. People simply need to agree to being served adverts every so often.”
The business model is similar to the traditional free-to-air TV and radio advertising system. Advertisers pay for subscriber’s traffic. It’s the same as watching a movie on free-to-air channels. Every so often (a set amount of time) adverts are served to the viewers in ad breaks. The concept is exactly the same. Every few megabytes of data or during certain time intervals a full page rich media advert will be displayed to the user. The user then has the option to click on the ad or continue surfing.
HOT 91.9 FM joins forces with The Media Connection
Community radio advertising specialist The Media Connection (TMC) has announced a sales and administrative partnership with HOT 91.9 FM, effective from November 2014.
HOT 91.9 FM broadcasts to Johannesburg North and surrounding areas, reaching a potential captive upper LSM (8+) target audience of 1.2 million people. The station features the two hottest morning show DJs in SA, Darren Scott and Jeremy Mansfield, on Joburg’s Hottest Breakfast Show at HOT 91.9 as well as entertaining, fun, world-class radio, targeted to its core market, from a professional on-air team.
“TMC is excited to welcome HOT 91.9 FM to the stable of professional, community driven stations that we serve, and we look forward to a long and rewarding partnership with them,” says Judy Milne, TMC’s chief executive officer.
HOT 91.9 FM’s mission is to deliver the best ‘old school and R&B’ music and to produce exceptionally great radio content and entertainment that will attract the revenue required to ultimately assist it to uplift the community within its broadcast footprint.
The Media Connection and HOT 91.9 FM sales teams will jointly manage national sales.
On The Dot clinches TFG (The Foschini Group) e-commerce deal
E-commerce logistics giant On the Dot has announced its appointment as supply chain partner to TFG (The Foschini Group, from their new state of the art warehouse facility in Epping Industria, Cape Town.
TFG, regarded as one of the foremost fashion lifestyle retail groups in the country, offers a range of 17 prominent household and fashion brands.
“TFG’s success speaks for itself and we’re very proud to be associated with them. They’re an incredibly dynamic and opened-minded company with a passion for innovation. The group will initially be taking @home and hi-online into an ecommerce environment. Once the platform has been tried and tested, their other brands will follow,” says chief executive of On the Dot, Koos Pieterse.
Andrea Agostini, head of transport and engineering for TFG Logistics, says that the decision to work with On the Dot was easy. “eCommerce success is hugely dependant on logistics, fine distribution and managing returns and On the Dot’s industry experience and state of the art warehousing and distribution facilities all form critical components of our ecommerce offer.” advantage.”
ASUS appoints Clockwork Media
ASUS South Africa, the award-winning hardware technology company, has partnered with Clockwork Media on a bold new marketing venture. The content and communications agency will spearhead ASUS’s upcoming Flipbook campaign, as well as provide digital, design and content work on retainer.
According to Clockwork Media co-owners, Tom Manners and Nic Simmonds, the appointment presents an exciting opportunity. “ASUS is fast emerging as a market leader in South Africa. As a rising name in the communications world, we understand the opportunities and challenges of sustainably growing a brand of this nature,” says Manners.
Clockwork Media has established a name in the ICT industry for its consistently engaging and creative work. Some of their tech clients have included Philips, PlayStation, Mimecast and Business Connexion.
FCB Africa, FCB Cape Town win new business in Africa
FCB Africa and FCB Cape Town have been awarded the French micro lending company, Advans, account. Pitching against McCann, Publicis and Voodoo, the combination of the FCB Africa network’s resource and local expertise FCB Cape Town’s strategic and creative brains proved a formidable formula.
The contract is to develop a new marketing and brand strategy for Advans in Africa. This will include localising the marketing and media strategies for each market as well as producing the creative. The FCB team will visit Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and Tanzania to workshops with the local clients.
Who’s making moves
Ogilvy Public Relations South Africa named ‘best turn-around office’ in the global network
Ogilvy Public Relations (Ogilvy PR) South Africa has been awarded ‘best turn-around office’ at Ogilvy PR’s annual professional achievement awards (PAA). The annual PAA are designed to recognise world-class client and operational excellence from among the global PR’s network of 85 offices.
“The last 12 months was about consolidating a significant period of change and growth for our agency. Critically it comes at a time where the role of integrated and strategy public relations programmes are delivering more than ever before for brands,” said Joanna Oosthuizen, Ogilvy Public Relations South Africa national managing director.
This award highlights the agency’s stellar growth trajectory in the last 12 months, which has seen the business form a strong national leadership structure, launch an Ogilvy Public Relations office in Durban, establish strong content solutions in both Johannesburg and Cape Town and be awarded a number of stellar new business accounts – all while sustaining significant financial and operational performance across the board.
MASSIV Media announces new and improved commuter advertising platform
MASSIV Media, South Africa’s specialist commuter advertising company, has announced its new and improved commuter advertising platform. MASSIV’s platform encompasses 4G TV, outdoor and mobilisation, that affords advertisers a brilliant opportunity to talk to their audiences using an alternative medium.
“As an advertiser you basically have a captive audience as commuters are travelling from one place to the next and are not only entertained but can gain more information about their favourite products”, said Gary Tilston, MASSIV Media’s commercial director.
“MASSIV’s strategic USP is the location of the large format screens above and in front of the most active queues at the ranks, allowing for maximum engagement with commuters for marketers,” says Tilston. “With an average queuing time of 23 minutes, commuters are highly likely to be exposed to our advertised content.”
Brand Communications develops digital ekiosk mobile brand for news delivery in Côte d’Ivoire
Brand Communications was appointed by I.LOG.S to create the brand ekiosk mobile, a value-added solution that offers a broad range of Ivorian newspapers and magazines at a low price.
In 2013, there were 253 million unique mobile subscribers and by 2017 this number should grow by more than 43%. The growing number of unique mobile subscribers can be explained by the growth of the population, the availability of low-cost smartphones and the fact that African middle class is more digital-oriented.
“We are pleased to be part of the mobile revolution occurring in Sub-Saharan Africa. At Brand Communications, we understand that there are high levels of mobile access in comparison to other basic services and they bring enormous socio-economic benefits to the region. We believe that ekiosk mobile will be a great addition to this booming landscape,” Terhas Berhe, managing director of Brand Communications, says.
Phoenix Subsidiary PXS Distribution UK gets Kaspersky Labs
PXS Distribution, the UK subsidiary of Phoenix Distribution, a prominent specialised distributor for the IT and consumer electronics industry, has announced its appointment as a distribution partner for the Kaspersky Lab range of boxed products for distribution within the UK and Ireland.
“PXS Distribution is a focused and unique Value Added Distribution company which specialises in taking key brands to market. The business has grown by 60% year on year, with an additional acceleration coming from their development within the UK reseller channel, plus the acquisition of significant high end product lines within the enterprise arena,” explains Simon Campbell-Young, CEO of Phoenix Distribution.
FOX International Channels (FIC) launches on ACTV in Nigeria
FOX International Channels (FIC), 21st Century FOX’s international multimedia business, continues to extend the distribution of its main TV brands across Africa with the recent launch of eight FIC channels on the new Nigerian pay-TV platform, African Cable TV (ACTV) [pronounced ‘active’].
The partnership between the two companies increases FIC’s reach in Africa to more than 17.3 million subscribers with up to 18 000 new subscribers added in Nigeria who will be able to enjoy the best premium entertainment, factual and sports TV channels FIC has to offer, including FOX, FOX Crime, FX, National Geographic Gold, FOX Movies, FOX Sports, FOX Sports 2, and the toddlers channel Baby TV. The FIC channels will be available through ACTV’s direct-to-home service.
The new launch in Nigeria arrives after the rebranding of FOX Sports channels in the region in August 2014, and represents another milestone for FIC’s business strategy to extend the distribution of FIC brands throughout Africa. In the last year, the company has not only increased its penetration in the African market, but also the number of brands distributed.
“Our vision is to ensure that low- and middle-income Nigerians can enjoy premium pay-TV at a value price. That is why we are delighted to welcome the FOX portfolio of channels to our platform. FOX is known for its high-quality programming, and its rich array of offerings means that there is something for every demographic. We are proud to partner with FIC to bring these channels to our discerning audiences across Nigeria,” said ACTV CEO Godfrey Orkeh.
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