How to be big on Biz - 3 Oct 2011[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] First, some housekeeping: if you've been wondering what, when and how to send your contributor pieces and general news and press releases to Bizcommunity, especially now that we have launched 16 more content channels with corresponding newsletters, wonder no further! Take a look at our guide, "How to contribute to Bizcommunity, from op-ed pieces to news" and all should become clearer. (If not, let me know.) Secondly, on to the industry news: this week it's the turn of Gill Moodie to give the scoop on Scoop!, Media24's new Sunday tabloid that launches towards the end of October 2011 with Peet Bothma at the helm; Mike Abel has issued a challenge to the ad industry to make far better television work over the coming year, after an unmemorable showing at this year's Loeries for TVCs; Herman Manson chats to Godfrey Morley on transforming the ad agency business at Draftfcb Cape Town; and oh, yes, just in case you've not heard, Prakash Desai has indeed left the building - Avusa's, that is. read more Biz’s true story lies in the numbers - 26 Sep 2011[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] There is a hidden story that dramatically improves the true value to readers and advertisers on Bizcommunity's set of portals, both old and brand-new. Curious? Read our MD Robin Parker's piece today for some amazing facts and figures to do with the Biz tribe. read more Viva, Right2Know, viva! - 19 Sep 2011[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] Thanks to a complete revisioning (which included changing the venue, black tie dress codes for both nights and rearranging the categories per evening ie radio and TV were split up), the Loeries ceremonies were short and sweet this year, and the two MCs, Riaan "I'm on a stage" Cruywagen and David "The Hoff" Hasselhoff, had their audiences eating out of their hands. This certainly left a lot of time for partying, of which there were plenty, judging by all the invitations and tweets. read more Hambe kahle, Deon du Plessis - 12 Sep 2011[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] It is with much sadness that we pay tribute today to Daily Sun founder and publisher Deon du Plessis, who, as Mandy de Waal puts it, has gone on his great sabbatical in the sky. Tragically, Du Plessis died from acute bronchitis this weekend at the age of 59 in his home in Johannesburg, just as he was about to take three months' sabbatical. Du Plessis loved to say in his weekly blog posts as publisher, "This is how we roll it in Sunland" - and this swashbuckling phrase sums the man up, too, writes Gill Moodie. read more A green-and-gold Spring - 5 Sep 2011[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] With the change in season comes the most gorgeous Spring weather (in Jozi, at least); a Bok-befokte South Africa - and Bizcommunity - thanks to the 2011 Rugby World Cup happening in New Zealand; and the usual outbreak of new account wins/new appointments/new launches/new beginnings/new partnerships (and allergies, of course). So, without much more ado, Bizcommunity has partnered with Aegis Media to bring you the monthly Thought Leadership Digibates, a series of marketing/media debates which will be broadcast and streamed live, starting this Thursday, 8 September 2011, with a cracker of a panel. Then, we've also partnered with Google South Africa to give all Bizcommunity readers R400 worth of pay-per-click advertising on Google - follow our "Google AdWord Free Trial" series every Monday for the next 12 weeks as we explore the benefits of Google AdWords and take you through the steps of setting up and optimising your first campaign. We'd also like to take the opportunity to congratulate South Africa's very own Raymond Louw on being named one of this year's World Press Freedom Heroes (the other being the late US journalist Daniel Pearl) by the International Press Institute. read more (1 Comment) Thank you for celebrating with us! - 29 Aug 2011[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] To everyone who's commented, tweeted, facebooked, emailed and wished us and sang happy birthday face to face, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! It's an honour to be such a major part of your working lives and you sure know how to make all of us feel special. Winners of our birthday gifts to you have now all been announced on our Facebook page - congratulations! While my Cape Town colleagues were busy partying it up last week, I was privileged to be one of the participants at the annual Habari Media Symposium, which this year took a new name, Tuongee (Kiswahili for "let's talk"), and a different format (much smaller, more intimate and very much conversation-based). read more Biz Bang! Come celebrate 10 years with us! - 22 Aug 2011[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] It's our 10th birthday and you're all invited to our virtual party! Join the merrymaking here on Biz on our Whizz Bang tribute page, which contains our Biz Bang Theory of how Biz began, as well as on Facebook and Twitter (#happybiz10). Feel free to say what you like about us and let us know what Biz has done for you or your business since the beginning.
Let’s talk about facts, baby - 15 Aug 2011[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] Lately we seem to be oscillating between Sunday newspapers Sunday Times and City Press being the news, not just reporting on the news. So this week, we're back to good ol' Sunday Times and a controversial story alleging that there's something not kosher about a communications tender awarded to TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris by the DA-run provincial government of the Western Cape. read more Women's Day - 10 Aug 2011[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] read more No smiles thanks to Sowetan, dammit - 1 Aug 2011[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] So here's the breakfast show on 94.7 Highveld Stereo, the Breakfast Xpress, trying its best to make the City of Joburg smile with its hairnets of colourful fake flowers on trees down William Nicol Drive and Atlas Road, when along comes Sowetan Live with a column by Eric Miyeni that should never have been published, dammit. Once again, Avusa's editorial controls have failed; there's opinion and then there's hate speech. read more Self-regulation, regulation or oversight? - 25 Jul 2011[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] Will the News of the World scandal have any relevance for South Africa's media? Will there be any impact on our media landscape? Media and marketing analyst Chris Moerdyk, Mail & Guardian editor Nic Dawes writing in the Guardian and M&G news editor Drew Forrester continue the debate, with Moerdyk now proposing that self-regulation (and the new Press Freedom Commission) won't work now and suggesting that an independent media oversight structure may. In the meantime, on Saturday, 23 July 2011, Julius Malema failed to obtain an interdict in the South Gauteng High Court against City Press publishing details yesterday of his family trust fund. read more (1 Comment) Celebrating Mandela Day - 18 Jul 2011[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] Launch of Press Freedom Commission in SA - 11 Jul 2011[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] On Thursday, 7 July 2011, SANEF and PMSA launched the Press Freedom Commission in Johannesburg. That same afternoon, the closure of Rupert Murdoch's 168-year-old British Sunday tabloid News of the World, was also announced, supposedly thanks to the ever-increasing ramifications of the phone-hacking scandal and advertisers pulling ads. read more Reruns at the SABC - 4 Jul 2011[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] I think we all know the plot by now: ousted acting SABC CEOs threatening to sue (and yet another payout on the horizon), boardroom skullduggery, cries of political interference (this time at a ministerial level), SABC board members resigning in protest... Can't they find a new script, as this one is getting rather, rather old? How about a sex scandal? Oh wait, we're not really talking about a TV series but the running of our national broadcaster... read more And indeed South Africa did roar! - 27 Jun 2011[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] Last week Tuesday night, 21 June 2011, Net#work BBDO became the first South African ad agency to have scooped three Cannes Lion Grands Prix in the space of just five years, when it won the Grand Prix Radio Lion for its 'Mercedes-Benz - Safety Features Love, Bud, Toby' radio campaign. Only two years ago, in 2009, the agency bagged its first - and SA's first-ever - Grand Prix Radio Lion for its 'Virgin Atlantic Airline Dancer, Dog and Ferret' campaign. read more |
In turn, we're giving away 50 cases of 
