Why some ads work better than others do - 30 Apr 2012

[Rod Baker, Content Director] We've got some interesting research - believed to be a first - for you from UCLA. Researchers have found that when it comes to which ads are winners your brain knows better than you do. read more

Not a quiet April - 23 Apr 2012

[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] Apologies for the lack of an editorial column last week; I was one of those affected by the large power failure in Johannesburg that Monday, and my laptop battery wasn't sufficient to keep me going. So what's been happening lately? The tip of the iceberg: the SABC circus is still in town; it's award show season (Clio and various One Show shortlists are out; South Africa got four D&AD Yellow Pencils last week and one ADC Bronze Cube the week before; the MTN Radio Awards has been sparking heated debate); Cell C has put its new agency decision on review; MediaCom is the new Telkom media strategy, buying and planning agency and Y&R is the new Telkom TTL agency; Chris Vick continues to stir on Business Day, with Primedia Broadcasting responding; David Bullard vs Mondli Makhanya continues; The New Age last week Wednesday launched its new weekly media and marketing page, under the editorship of Louise Marsland; the e-tolling uproar continues unabated (latest on Twitter today: #mediaNOtotolls); and the ASA is trying not to get involved in those ghastly Protection of Information Bill ads... Oh, and the Press Freedom Commission Report is being launched this Wednesday. Please don't forget to take our Biz reader survey (first 1000 readers to respondents each receive a one-month subscription to iPad-only daily magazine iMaverick!). Once again, travel safe this long weekend! Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz) Managing editor PS The latest Ornico Ad Showcase features TV ads for Hyundai i10, Dentyne, Bevcan, Three Ships Whiskey and DPSA, and radio ads for Lasher, The Star, Hansa Pilsner, DStv and SASSA. PPS Welcome to 702 Talk Radio, 94.7 Highveld Stereo, Floodgate, ForeBrands and all its sub-brands, McEwan, Park Village Auctions, True Technical, and Wow Factor, which have just opened press offices on Bizcommunity Marketing & Media South Africa! read more

April Fool’s... or not? - 2 Apr 2012

[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] The April Fool's press releases - under embargo - started arriving in my inbox on Thursday last week already, so when on Friday, 30 March 2012, I read The Media Online's story that Media24 almost poached the entire Sunday Times' investigative team of Mzilikazi Wa Afrika, Stephan Hofstatter and Rob Rose, I checked the date twice and still almost didn't believe it. Incidentally, the trio walked off with the 2011 Taco Kuiper Award for Investigative Journalism on Friday afternoon - nothing new for them. And then there's State Security's new 'advertising' campaign for the Protection of State Information Bill... read more    (2 Comments)

Awards season has officially opened! - 26 Mar 2012

[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] Actually, I think there are very few months of the year in which there aren't any awards events. And since Bizcommunity.com covers so many different but related industries, there's always a different circle of professionals 'robustly debating' the worth and value of awards. read more

Help us make Biz better for you - 19 Mar 2012

[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] Today we've launched our Biz reader survey, to which the first 1000 readers to respond will each receive a one-month subscription to iPad-only daily magazine iMaverick. Read more about the reader research here and take the survey here. read more

Lots on the go - 12 Mar 2012

[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] First, the sad news: today the South African media community has been paying tribute to top economist Tony Twine, who passed away on Sunday 11 March after having suffered a heart attack last week - see Twitter and Google News - and Afrikaans actor Andrew Thompson committed suicide on Friday 9 March. We at Bizcommunity.com extend our condolences to family, friends and colleagues of both. On a positive note, IOL has a new editor - Alastair Otter - and the Mail & Guardian a new associate editor - Phillip de Wet; 5FM has been teasing us with more lineup changes; and Black River FC has bagged Edcon's Legit account from The Jupiter Drawing Room; and 8ta's through-the-line services are out to tender. Controversially: South Africa has a new brand slogan; Ster-Kinekor Theatres is no longer advertising its movie schedules in Independent Newspapers, according to iafrica.com; the Cape Argus has gone 'compact' since last Friday - read Gill Moodie's interview with editor-in-chief Chris Whitfield; Tiffany Markman has written a follow-up to her #bankwars: 'Steve' vs Standard Bank experience; and this morning 702's Redi Tlhabi hosted a debate between reputation manager/spin doctor Chris Vick and M&G editor Nic Dawes regarding media integrity, professionalism and accountability (listen to the 702 podcast). In other news, Karin Botta and Uno de Waal from trigger/isobar (part of Aegis Media) are currently in Austin, Texas, attending the annual film, music and interactive festival SxSW and blogging about it here on Biz; the next Thought Leadership Digibate, hosted by Aegis Media in conjunction with Biz, will focus on the state of print media in SA this Friday 16 March; and we've partnered with iafrica.com to launch the Jobs Channel, which enables job seekers to search for jobs across a range of industries in SA. read more    (1 Comment)

Design is for one and all - 5 Mar 2012

[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] I'm not going to rabbit on much about Design Indaba in this editorial column, as I'm saving it for the special edition newsletter which we will be putting out later this week (hint: send your press releases and gallery contributions for editorial consideration by end of Tuesday afternoon for possible inclusion, or forever hold your peace). What I will say is that, once again, it was a well-run, thought-provoking and inspiring conference that was jam-packed with wonderful ideas showcasing how design is truly cross-discipline and should be part of everything we do. And the Design Indaba expo was crammed with the most wonderful, high quality South African design and craft, so much so that I'm still not sure I saw everything, despite having spent at least five hours perusing it over three separate occasions. read more

Beeping bank wars - 27 Feb 2012

[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). read more

Further shakeups in advertising and media - 20 Feb 2012

[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] Lowe Bull is rebranding as Lowe + Partners South Africa after the international parent company acquired a majority share in the local agency, with Peter Badenhorst to be ECD of Lowe Johannesburg - read all about it in Herman Manson's exclusive for Bizcommunity.com. This should really come as no surprise, considering that in September 2011 it was announced that Matthew Bull had teamed up with FoxP2's Andrew Whitehouse to launch the New-York-based The Bull-White House, a sister agency to FoxP2. Last week we announced that Joe Public had not only won the Jet account but that it has gone international with Joe Public Amsterdam. read more

Good idea, poor communications - 13 Feb 2012

[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] So the hoo-hah of the weekend was the announcement on Friday afternoon that the South African Reserve Bank governor would announcing something of "national importance" on Saturday afternoon, together with the president and the minister of finance. And, oh boy, did the speculation and rumours fly and the markets react! In the end, it turned out to be more a case of historical importance or significance: redesigning our note currency for improved security and honouring Madiba at the same time by including his face on the one side. read more

Comings and goings, winning and losing - 6 Feb 2012

[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] So we've made it to February 2012 and, with the start of a new month in what is still the beginning of the year, comes a continuation of announcements of major comings and goings: Francois de Villiers, Happy Ntshingila, Vino Govender, Simon Camerer, Ishmet Davidson, Noel Studti, a new DMMA exco, etc etc. Of course, the big news of last week was Woolworths vs Frankie's, with the ASA ruling in favour of the little guy. read more

Hamba kahle, John Farquhar - 30 Jan 2012

[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] With much sadness, we at Bizcommunity.com extend our condolences to family, friends and colleagues of John Farquhar, the legendary ad man and commentator who passed away this weekend after a long period of illness. In conjuction with AdVantage magazine, which he co-founded in 1993, we have set up a special page to commemorate his life and legacy and we invite everyone to add pay tribute to this man of fascinating contradiction who had such an impact on the South African advertising, marketing and media industries. Details of wake:

• Date: Friday 3 February
• Time: 12.30pm-3pm
• Venue: Bryanston Country Club, Bryanston Drive, Bryanston, Johannesburg

Birth and death - 23 Jan 2012

[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] Being wished "Happy Birthday!" reflects the paradigm shift that communications has been experiencing lately. Thanks for making my day special yesterday, whether it was by Facebook, Twitter, email, BBM, Whatsapp, SMS or by phone! On a sadder note, we at Bizcommunity.com extend our condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Michael Mayer, the South African voice artist extraordinaire who passed away over the weekend. read more

So what’s trending, baby? - 16 Jan 2012

[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] It's mid-January 2012 already and mostly everyone should be back at work by now. A Happy New Year to those of you who've not been around in the past two weeks and boy, oh boy, do you have a lot of reading to catch up on since we commenced with our 2012 Biz Trends Report Series last Monday! And what a bumper crop it's been so far, with loads more still to come! Plus we're thrilled to announce Aegis Media as our VTS (Very Trendy Sponsor). Talking about Aegis, the third Thought Leadership Digibate takes place this week at 9am on Thursday, 19 January 2012, and the theme this time around is search-based marketing. read more

Sawubona, 2012! - 9 Jan 2012

[Simone Puterman (@SimoneBiz)] Hello, hello, hello and welcome to 2012! This is the future speaking! I know there were a lot of readers out there who couldn't wait to see the back of 2011 and we're all desperately hoping for a bigger, better and brighter year this year... although what's been happening economically in Europe and America does cause some trepidation. read more