Joe Public United has global ambitions

[Herman Manson: @marklives] When Gareth Leck and Pepe Marais first launched Joe Public with its 'take-away' advertising model they wanted it to change the face of advertising. While the agency evolved away from its original model - one that's still talked about today internationally - the two business partners are still dreaming big: not only do they want to change the network agency model - they want to do so in the global arena. 16 Feb 2012 10:31

Market domination via name identity

[Naseem Javed] Global corporate nomenclature is making history, right now, as the ICANN gTLD platform opens in full swing; the established and largest name brands of the world are now pitted against the newest, recently incubated, globally poised but relatively unknown name brands. 15 Feb 2012 14:18

Time for mass-media cooperation but not collusion

[Chris Moerdyk: @chrismoerdyk] There is so much competition among media owners in South Africa these days that you can almost smell blood. In fact, in many instances, it has moved beyond bloody one-upmanship to desperate survival tactics. So, it will probably sound contradictory if not a little silly to suggest, as I have done in the past, that there is now no better time for competing media to start co-operating with each other. 15 Feb 2012 12:34

Meet me at the 'ZMOT'

[Patrick Carmody] YAY, ANOTHER ACRONYM! Heck, I know, but here goes: so ZMOT is a term coined by Google and it refers to the actions we take once we have been stimulated to act by marketing stimuli. 14 Feb 2012 12:19

One year to get it right, says MXit boss

[Duncan McLeod: @mcleodd] Stellenbosch-based social networking company MXit has a one-year window of opportunity to improve and expand its products and services if it's going to fend off an onslaught of rival services like instant-messaging application WhatsApp, says its new CEO, Alan Knott-Craig. 14 Feb 2012 10:18

South Africa part of global Social@Ogilvy rollout

[Herman Manson: @marklives] Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide has announced the rollout of Social@Ogilvy, a unit that promises to deliver social media solutions to Ogilvy clients, and which will operate across numerous marketing disciplines such as advertising, direct marketing and public relations. 14 Feb 2012 09:32

Despite uneasy co-existence, state and media are co-dependent

[Thabani Khumalo] "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter," says Amadou Mahtar Ba, Africa Media Initiative (AMI) CEO. Indeed, a bold and tough decision. 13 Feb 2012 12:15

Sentech loses high court battle

[Duncan McLeod: @mcleodd] South African state-owned broadcast signal distribution company Sentech has lost a high court battle with e.tv sister company eBotswana over the piracy of television signals in Botswana. 13 Feb 2012 09:57

The fine art of telling 'national importance' from damp squib

[Stephen Grootes: @StephenGrootes] Good communication is priceless. When something is communicated badly, there is a cost to be borne. On Friday our currency bore that cost. It dropped 2% simply because of one announcement, that turned out to be about a shiny new design for our currency. A good idea communicated badly is as good as dead. 13 Feb 2012 09:51

"Marketing's common sense - anyone can do it." Well, maybe not.

[Sharon Keith] When you see the finished object - the advertising campaign, the packaging, the new flavour, the shiny social media campaign, it's tempting to think that these things are relatively simple and straightforward to plan and execute. But those of us "in the know" know. It's a long hard slog. 10 Feb 2012 12:42

Mentoring the next generation - a challenge to the SA creative industry

[Brianna Graves] There is no doubt that South Africa's advertising industry is already present on the world stage. But are those leading the industry doing everything possible to prepare for the future and to ensure a continued and well-established presence on that world stage? Who will step up to the plate to represent SA on the same global stage that will connect the worldwide creative community on Portfolio Night 10 on 23 May 2012? 10 Feb 2012 12:26

Direct marketing in the context of privacy regulation

[Nick Altini] The ever-growing volume of consumer complaints relating to unsolicited and unwanted commercial messages seems to be having a legislative effect, as the issue of privacy and the right to reject and not receive unsolicited commercial messages is a theme in existing pieces of legislation and in the draft Protection of Personal Information (PPI) law. 9 Feb 2012 11:34

Are journos being real twits to tweet?

[Chris Moerdyk: @chrismoerdyk] I wasn't in the least surprised to hear that the BBC and SKY News had put a stop to their journalists breaking news on Twitter. For some time now, I have been following South Africa journos on Twitter as they report directly from events. And it has been so efficient that I might've felt that I needn't bother to tune in the hourly broadcasts or visit news sites because I actually get to hear the news before the radio stations and newspapers. 9 Feb 2012 10:57

Avusa set to join newspapers houses' centralising drive

[Gill Moodie: @grubstreetSA] Sunday Times sports staff have been told that they are to be moved (minus the sports editor) into a weekend sports hub serving most of the Avusa titles. One can really sympathise with them but, sadly, this is indeed the direction in which the media world is moving and, in fact, if Avusa's sports hub is a precursor to it creating more of these company-wide shared services, it is one of the last of the big SA newspaper houses to do so. 8 Feb 2012 10:37

EXCLUSIVE: Hewlett combines assets to launch new agency player, Machine

[Herman Manson: @marklives] Adrian Hewlett, CEO and founder of the Habari Group, has combined his group's significant through-the-line, below-the-line, research, digital and social businesses to launch a major new independent advertising agency called Machine. 8 Feb 2012 09:19

Can Facebook ever make (real) money?

[Thomas Oosthuizen] Growth is hardly the challenge Facebook faces. The challenge for the monetarisation of Facebook is not how many people it reaches - it is a huge medium by any standards - but how it extracts revenue from its core business: connecting people in an objective, friendly, social, non-threatening and non-commercial environment. 7 Feb 2012 10:40

EXCLUSIVE: Punk'd out of ATL funk

[Herman Manson: @marklives] Alistair King, group creative director of the King James Group, doesn't bother to hide his enthusiasm for the latest, possibly bravest, move within his agency to further define its offering in a competitive market, where budgets are shifting from above-the-line to integrated campaigns and what was traditionally considered below-the-line work. 6 Feb 2012 14:06

Tricks of the trade: improving your on-air content

[Caren Olsen] The South African Advertising Research Foundation (SAARF) invited a number of top players in the radio industry to speak at a recent Community Radio Forum, giving community radio delegates advice on everything from programming to marketing. This is my advice for presenters on how to deliver a show with the kind of on-air content that attracts and retains listeners. 6 Feb 2012 12:42

The humble but immeasurably powerful photograph

[Francois Rank] In the fast-growing world of social media and viral videos, conventional communication tools and their power to shape perception are often forgotten or ignored. Recently, however, the world's most-powerful spin machine has returned to use old-fashioned PR - particularly the humble but immeasurably powerful photograph. 6 Feb 2012 11:37

Afrikaans advertising slipping towards mediocrity?

[Andrea le Sueur] Gill Moodie's article "Banning English ads in Media24 digital, print speaks to Afrikaans ID", published on Bizcommunity on the eve of the Pendoring Awards last year, struck a chord with the project managers at Folio Translation Consultants, who invited me to open a window on their perspective, outlining some of the challenges that professional language practitioners experience in this regard. 3 Feb 2012 12:57

Frankie's vs Woolies: score one to the little guy

[Willem Steenkamp] It's not often, in the real world, that David deals Goliath a devastating blow. But that's just what has happened in the Frankie's vs Woolworths saga, when the latter broke the first rule of crisis communications - say something tangible and truthful, and say it quickly. 3 Feb 2012 10:30

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

The delicate art of medical marketing

[Craig Lyon] Requiring specialised knowledge and high degrees of informed creativity, 'dark marketing' is becoming increasingly prominent in everyday life as more and more industries come under increased control and, even those that are not, turn to new and innovative ways to punt their wares. And it is in this domain that marketing for the pharmaceutical industry lies. 2 Feb 2012 11:46

A role for media agencies in solving the modern media blur

[Herman Manson: @marklives] London-based media company PHD Worldwide, a part of the Omnicom Media Group, recently stepped up its investment in the South African market with its purchase of a 70% shareholding in strategic media planning company page three. [video] 2 Feb 2012 10:31

What can Brand ANC learn from centenary brands?

[Thabani Khumalo] Think of giant brands such as Chevrolet, Kiwi polish, Coca-Cola, Jonnie Walker, Shell, Xerox, Guinness, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, IBM, Tata, HSBC, Levi's and a few more. All these brands are more than a century old, yet they continue to dominate their landscapes today. They just thrive on a solid reputation built in the past and preserved for the future. What can the ANC learn from the 10th-decade greats? 1 Feb 2012 13:00

Press freedom as the ANC sees it

[Stephen Grootes: @StephenGrootes] On Tuesday, 31 January 2012, in front of the Press Freedom Commission's members, the ANC had its say. Parts of its submission make you think the ANC is paranoid, and parts make you think it has a serious point. 1 Feb 2012 11:16

Tomas Roope on brands and social platforms

[Herman Manson: @marklives] Tomas Roope has been doing multimedia since 1991. That was before most of the rest of us even realised it existed. So listen closely. Once it might have described CD-ROMs (he did that, too) but today multimedia features in numerous consumer touchpoints, both online and off, and Roope has had a front-row view as a technical and creative director at The Rumpus Room. [video] 1 Feb 2012 10:34

[2012 trends] In case the world doesn't end...

[Louise Marsland: @Louise_Marsland] While the theme song for the Year 2012 will undoubtedly be ''It's the end of the world as we know it..." by R.E.M., and we'll be bored with all the End-of-the-World theme parties and raves and launches by March already... in case the world doesn't end, these are some essential trends and things you need to know for the year to come [with additional editing and contributions from moi - managing ed]. 31 Jan 2012 14:13

[2012 trends] Will someone (Eskom, maybe) please pull the plug?

[Sue Disler] That was my first reaction when Bizcommunity's editor Simone Puterman requested an article predicting 12 trends for 2012. A "trend" is defined as "a general tendency, movement, or direction". In my honest opinion, what most people will be purporting as trend is merely (if you analyse it properly), new and improved technology and ideas. 31 Jan 2012 12:06

[2012 trends] Bob, where's my flying car?

[Matt Ross] I'm risking joining the ranks of ludicrousness by jumping in the mire of guesstimation. I'm not focusing on any specific area of our industry; after all, any development affects us all. I have tried to be broad, though. Oh, and I've avoided trends. The following will be stalwarts for years to come - the temporary is never attractive, anyway. Unless you married Liz Taylor. 31 Jan 2012 11:36