[Michael de Souza] Blind ad networks do not allow advertisers to select where their ads appear and are mistakenly equated with uncertainty. The following, which also describes the tools that improve campaigns, should help to dispel fears and misunderstandings.
14 Feb 2011 13:18
[Tiffany Markman] A visitor to your site will glance at the whole page before he so much as tastes the first sentence. For this reason, it's important to clearly separate web copy with well-articulated ideas, divided by subheadings or 'subheads' that allow the reader to move from headline to headline in search of the value beneath. And, SEO dictates that good subheads be used to bring in additional traffic.
14 Feb 2011 12:27
[Douglas Kruger] Language can make or break our communication efforts and nowhere more so than in our speeches. That said, scores of corporate presentations today still suffer from the scourge of
document-speak. Document-speak is a sort of social virus. One person does it in public and the whole company catches it.
27 Jan 2011 12:54
[Terry Levin] You don't have to be clairvoyant to figure that this is the time of year for scenario planning - but this, the year that kicked off so neatly with its demonstration of pure binary code 1111, that has had mathematicians all atwitter about its status not only as the first prime year since 2003, but also the year that is the sum of no less than 11 consecutive prime numbers, will be more than different. So what does 'primeness' mean now?
24 Jan 2011 12:55
[Walter Pike] 2010 was the year that the penny indeed dropped. It was the year that the leading brands and marketing thinkers realised that the marketing environment was no longer the same; that the dynamics had changed. Consequently, I believe 2011 is going to be the rush for digital skills.
20 Jan 2011 14:35
[Gill Moodie] Richard Mulholland, the founder and owner of innovative presentations-strategy firm Missing Link, is becoming something of a guru in new-media circles, mostly on account that his business is proof of the success that can come from thinking out of the box. (Lord knows, many wrestling with where old and new media intersect could do with a bit of that!) Bizcommunity talks to him about innovation, problem solving and the challenges facing the South African media.
20 Jan 2011 12:41
[Sally Falkow] 2010 was the year of social media adoption - according to the annual Social Media Adoption survey, more than 60% of the global Fortune 500 now use some form of social media in their marketing and PR strategy and, for the first time, the spread was across all 500 on the list, not concentrated in the top 100 companies. This rapid adoption of new media and new technologies presents some interesting opportunities for the PR profession.
19 Jan 2011 14:13
[Angelo Coppola] The public relations sector in South Africa is going to be an exciting environment in 2011.
14 Jan 2011 13:06
[Tiffany Markman] I have high hopes for 2011. It's barely begun and already it's bursting with potential. That's one of the things that excites me about 2011: it could go anywhere. But here are a few things my writing and editing clients are talking about and thinking about for our written output in 2011.
13 Jan 2011 13:37
[Richard Mulholland] Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a big company called Hamelin. An evil witch came to the land and cursed the big company: "If you don't create some presentations/animate some adverts/make the corner of your logo curvy (pick applicable), everyone will have to work in dull cubicle farms for the rest of time."
13 Dec 2010 11:13
[Daniel Munslow] It feels like yesterday that we sat down with a crystal ball and tried to predict how the face of communication would change throughout the course of 2010. Now, it's already time to reflect and take stock of the year that has been. A busy year; a tough year; an exciting year; an unpredictable year! Of the
10 trends discussed in January 2010, the first eight were action items. Have these trends from January come true?
13 Dec 2010 10:23
[Odette van der Haar] We all expected 2010 to be a difficult year following the global economic recession, but the local advertising and communications industry faced some unexpected challenges which had little to do with economics and everything to do with a rapidly changing social, political and legal environment.
13 Dec 2010 10:12
[Yoray Narainpersad] In this article we are going to dive right into it - the best prospects for Adwords and other pay per click (PPC) platforms are those that are one step away from purchasing a product, filling in a form or performing any other call-to-action that you have initiated.
10 Dec 2010 12:36
[Tiffany Markman] I learned a couple of things this year that I didn't know that I knew. For starters, there were things I thought to be true about writing and my readers that aren't any more. It's possible that the recession changed things - or that we're evolving as consumers of content thanks to social media and other good stuff. So it's also possible that, as a marketer or communicator, you've picked up a couple of the same things in your business writing environment...
29 Nov 2010 12:30
[Issa Sikiti da Silva] In a world dictated by the profit-obsessed corporate and manipulated by commercial marketing, which sometimes resort to unethical practices to achieve its goals, social marketing has a critical role to play in steering behavioural change in society.
25 Nov 2010 09:34
[Issa Sikiti da Silva] The global Internet market is growing continuously and at a fast pace, generating more websites, more users and ad spaces, more ad impressions and shifting more money from print to online, Adtech head of global CRM Suhela Gremmel declared yesterday, Tuesday, 16 November 2010, in Johannesburg. Frankfurt-based Gremmel was speaking at the 2010 Bookmarks Workshop in Craighall Park.
17 Nov 2010 10:28
[Herman Manson] Journalism and marketing will continue to move ever closer, with the wall once separating them being steadily dismantled. By publishers. And that's a good thing. Read on.
15 Nov 2010 14:30
[Ilva Pieterse] The 16th annual Pendoring Awards was a well-attended and elegantly presented celebratory evening to honour this year's deserving Afrikaans advertising industry, held at Vodaworld, Midrand, on Friday, 29 October 2010. Joe Public received the most recognition for its efforts this year, with a haul of four Gold and three Silver Pendorings but the Prestige Award went to Ogilvy Johannesburg for an Exclusive Books campaign.
1 Nov 2010 11:55
[Issa Sikiti da Silva] Health journalism in South Africa is ailing and is in need of healing, Prof Guy Berger, Rhodes University head of school of journalism and media studies, said on Friday, 29 October 2010, in Sandton. He was speaking at the launch of the Discovery Centre for Health Journalism, which will from next year offer an honours degree with specialisation in health journalism at the Eastern Cape-based learning institution.
1 Nov 2010 09:36
[Amanda Sevasti Fairweather] They hide under the bridges of online anonymity, ready to pounce on unsuspecting forums, chat rooms, news sites and blogs. They can ruin a lively debate with one well-placed comment. They do not care about contributing. Often they don't even believe what they type. Their only desire is to provoke you - they are the Internet trolls.
28 Oct 2010 12:32
[Angelo Coppola] Blaming clients for the continued usage of AVE in South Africa when measuring the effectiveness of a public relations campaign is an excuse used by PR people, says Lesley Schroeder-McLean, MD of PR Africa, who maintains that media reach would be a far more useful measure of media coverage, until a more acceptable measure on a communications campaign's effectiveness can be found.
22 Oct 2010 13:59
[Daniel Munslow] 'Communication strategists' - the new term used to describe communicators in an era that sees a more strategic role for practitioners. The advent of King Report III has seen a requirement for stakeholder relations at board level, where the traditional term 'PR' and the old school 'PRO' has lost its relevance to the new role of stakeholder relations. This was a key trend covered during a special morning session hosted by the Public Relations Consultancy Chapter (PRCC) at the 2010 PRISA Conference held this week in Johannesburg.
22 Oct 2010 13:43
[Issa Sikiti da Silva] In this fast-changing business scene, agencies looking to stand the test of time and remain relevant to the environment they operate in need to adapt quickly - and collaborate - or face sudden death. This was the argument presented by some of the speakers yesterday, Thursday, 21 October 2010, at
Tony Koenderman's Brainstorm in Sandton, Johannesburg.
22 Oct 2010 11:55
[Angelo Coppola] Public relations in South Africa in the next couple of years will evolve and it will need to be flexible to evolving needs of consumers, said Janice Spark, director and managing partner of Idea Engineers, speaking at the PRISA national conference in Gauteng yesterday, Wednesday, 20 October 2010. Spark touched on six trends that will affect and influence PR and communications practitioners operating in SA.
21 Oct 2010 10:58
[Issa Sikiti da Silva] Brands looking to make an impact in the Twitter environment would have to tread carefully and set clear ambitions and objectives before adventuring into what experts have described as a collection of human garbage and facts. This emerged last week on the closing day of Brands & Branding for Good 2, held in Johannesburg. [presentation]
18 Oct 2010 11:43
[Sindy Peters] Thursday morning, 14 October 2010, saw the start of the two-day 2010 IABC Africa Conference at the Vineyard Hotel and Spa in Cape Town, South Africa. Communication strategists from around the country, as well as from abroad, are currently gathered at the event to learn, share knowledge, engage with the lineup of well-experienced speakers, seek inspiration and to network with fellow members of the shared industry.
15 Oct 2010 06:17
[Tara Turkington] As the last Chilean miner was pulled out of the
Fenix rescue capsule this morning, millions of people watching on televisions around the world cheered with relief and jubilation. This has - technically speaking - been one of the greatest news stories of all time. Here's why.
14 Oct 2010 13:13
[Issa Sikiti da Silva] Three years after the post-elections violence in Kenya that left more 1500 people dead, scores injured and some 660 000 displaced, the role played by the media, vernacular radio stations in particular, during and after these events, still puzzles many observers. They continue to wonder whether Africa's vernacular radio stations are tools of nation-building or platforms for fomenting ethnic hatred and violence.
14 Oct 2010 11:51
[Issa Sikiti da Silva] The world is changing. From Internet advertising revenues upstaging TV advertising revenues in the UK last year to xenophobic violence, South Africa's successful 2010 FIA World Cup to reduced global competitiveness, inadequate leadership, global recession and corruption, among others, delegates attending the Brands & Branding for Good conference currently underway at the Hilton Hotel in Johannesburg were told.
13 Oct 2010 11:10
[Issa Sikiti da Silva] In a continent plagued by bad governance, election rigging, political intolerance and media freedom threats, and ruled mostly by former liberation movements, election time appears to be a critical period during which ordinary citizens look to the media to provide them with pertinent information to help them make informed choices.
11 Oct 2010 12:21
Angola
Botswana
Malawi
Mozambique
Namibia
South Africa
Zimbabwe
Cote D'Ivoire
Ghana
Nigeria
Kenya
Uganda
Tanzania
Mauritius
Seychelles
Algeria
Egypt
Morocco
Zambia
