How Woolworths lost its mojo

[Walter Pike] There was a time, those of us of a certain age will remember, when Woolworths was held up in marketing classes as a brand that had been built entirely on word of mouth. That has now changed. 2 Feb 2012 12:37

Pendoring relocates to Cape Town as part of Creative Week

The Pendoring Awards - which celebrate and encourage the use of Afrikaans advertising, as well as Truly South African communication for Afrikaans advertising - will this year be part of Creative Week Cape Town, on Friday evening, 21 September 2012. For the first time, too, the Loeries judging week and judges' seminars will also be held in the Mother City during Creative Week. 30 Jan 2012 11:59

Offlimit Communications

The brand activation agency that moves people to brands

The Whiskey Live Festival 2011 took place at the CTICC and the Sandton Convention Centre in November last year. With interactive demonstrations and informative speakers, Offlimit Communications represented the Coca-Cola brands, Schweppes and Valpre. 27 Jan 2012 09:41

[2012 trends] Convergence, content key themes for media, advertising

[Tanya Schreuder & Richard Procter] Consumers hold the upper hand in how we advertise: they are the ones who are more empowered, are demanding more and are less loyal. The challenge is to get to know your consumer! 2012 will see various trends being built upon where there is a convergence of media platforms, a need to share information in real time and a demand for cross-platform content and messaging that can simultaneously reach numerous audiences. 25 Jan 2012 14:48

[2012 trends] GFC's impact on media-marketing arena

[Karen Phelan] There are a number of trends forecast for 2012 that will have an impact on all facets of the media-marketing arena. 18 Jan 2012 15:59

[2012 trends] The cheese has moved for brands and youth

[Banele Rewo] From a marketer's perspective, we miss the mark from the moment we fail to understand the uniqueness of the South African youth market. The cheese keeps moving while we are wielding text books and strategies from 1996, 2010 or even September 2011, which may be off the mark and off the streets by June 2012. 18 Jan 2012 13:31

Charging fees for SMS competitions

Under the draft Regulations for the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), published in late 2010, it was made clear that the consumer should not be required to pay more for conveying an entry via SMS than the charge that would normally be applied to that consumer by his/her cellphone network operator. 13 Jan 2012 13:46

[2012 trends] The Write Stuff for 2012

[Lindsay Grubb] In talking to a fellow writer recently, we got onto the topic of client trends that came out of 2011. One of the most noticeable for us was that clients are on the lookout for something different from their agency/writer/creative, as they need to stand out from the clutter and general advertising methods aren't cutting it anymore. 13 Jan 2012 12:59

[2012 trends] Ad industry to continue defining, redefining itself

[Odette van der Haar] 2012 promises to be just as eventful as ever, as the advertising profession continues define and redefine its operations and creativity. I expect to see the following 12 trends and industry issues emerging in 2012. [multimedia] 12 Jan 2012 13:57

Events company, PR consultancy merge

Event production and décor business company StarFX and fledgling communications consultancy RedStar Communication have announced a merger, effective 1 January 2012. 11 Jan 2012 12:24

Time to own and hone the advertising industry

[Wayne Naidoo] We have long lamented the draining of the skills pool in the advertising industry. And many people have made good arguments as to why we are experiencing the 'juniorfication' of the industry and what we can do about this. However, I think that unless we are able to address this issue holistically, on an industry-wide basis, we risk a further spiral. 9 Jan 2012 14:38

Massmart-Walmart starts 2012 with extended price cuts

Following two highly successful promotions that have saved consumers over R100 million, Massmart and Walmart have started 2012 with another extended price cut promotion, providing much needed relief for consumers after the festive season. 6 Jan 2012 11:50

Kings of the castle

'Neptune's Castle,' described as South Africa's largest sandcastle, was created by local sculptors and Durban residents Promise Mthembu and Sasha Ngidi on Salt Rock beach, KwaZulu-Natal as part of Total's family summer programme. 6 Jan 2012 09:45

Will festive season ad campaigns ring cash registers?

[Odette van der Haar] Historically, the retail season promises a spike in advertising and naturally consumer spend is not far behind as advertisers pull out all the stops to ensure that their brand makes it onto consumers' festive season shopping lists. In the face of a continued global economic recession, however, this is no simple feat... 14 Dec 2011 11:09