Better measurement and squeezing out fake news - 18 Apr 2017

We hope you had a relaxing Easter weekend and that you're ready to hit the ground running.

To get you in the mood, kick back and find out about the new Socio-Economic Measure (SEMs), set to replace the market segmentation tool, Living Standard Measure (LSMs), over the next two years. It follows industry sentiment regarding, amongst other things, the relevance of LSMs, its misrepresentation of the South African landscape, racist bias and other inaccuracies that it portrays.

Sticking with serious topics (particularly with HuffPost South Africa's controversial blog take down currently in the spotlight) I found out about the impact of fake news from Herman Wasserman, professor of media studies at UCT and Lauren Green, senior analyst at BrandsEye. Both spoke at Safrea Cape Town's recent fake news event and explained that we're living in a 'post-truth era', where public opinion is shaped by ideas that appeal to emotion and personal belief rather than objective facts. They also shared tips on how we can each do our part to squeeze out fake news.

Still on the media front, Jessica Tennant chats to this week's #Newsmaker, Jacaranda FM's Rian van Heerden, and finds out how listeners convinced him to stay put... for now. He speaks of the huge need for social upliftment activities and what he loves most about hosting a breakfast show.

Switching to an advertising perspective, Quinton Jones shares the need for more honest, open conversations between client and agency in an article titled ‘Media: Dark art or science?'

Lastly, if you were born on or after 25 June 1986, stop everything to find out how you can get involved in Cannes Lions 2017 - all I'm going to say is ‘48-hour film challenge'! The brief will be uploaded to Cinemark's website later this week, so best you register soon. Best of luck!