Beeping bank wars - 27 Feb 2012

By Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)

On Thursday evening, 23 February 2012, when I caught wind of what has been nicknamed the #bankwars, my first reaction was to *wince* and tweet that "[t]his banking blowup on Twitter is just thoroughly cringeworthy. I see even @nedbank uttered something inane" (see this retweet to understand why). I also likened it to the teen-mag cat fight over ABCs that happened on Bizcommunity several years ago.

Walter Pike has begun dissecting what happened in "#bankwars - Standard Bank tries to do a Frankies" and I'm looking forward to part II later this week; TechCentral gives Standard Bank's side of the story; and Tiffany Markman has shared her experience of FNB's breaking its brand promise to her. As various commentators on Twitter remarked, this is going to be one of those case studies that we hear and read about ad nauseum - until the next big screw-up.

Talking about ABCs, the Q4 2011 figures are now out and Gill Moodie last week gave us the lowdown on newspaper circulations and this week will give us the magazine figures.

On the radio side, we're gearing up for April Fool's Day, when the stations announce their full DJ lineup shuffles and we listeners all think it's a joke until we realise that it's not and start howling. We've already had some appetisers: we know that Sasha Martinengo is out and that Anele Mdoda is going back to Highveld, while her partner Grant Nash is retiring from radio (which reminds me of this gem of a tweet from the parody account @Steve_Beep_Bank: "Who do you hate more Grant, Anele or me? #StevesPoll").

Happy Design Indaba this week! I'll be there, tweeting up a storm until my thumbs give out from RSI!

All the best
Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)
Managing editor

PS The latest Ornico Ad Showcase features TV ads for Lexus LFA, UNICEF, Coca-Cola, SADAG and Old Mutual, and radio ads for FNB, Crime Line, Standard Bank, Tracker and HIV-free Generation.

PPS Welcome to Adcheck and Holton & Associates, which have just opened press offices on Bizcommunity Marketing & Media South Africa!