All things bright and digital… - 18 May 2015[Leigh Andrews] There were some great lessons for SA creatives from SXSW, held in Texas in March. NATIVE VML's Head of Social Media, Amanda Sevasti, attended the festival and shared her favourite moments at a select gathering last week. read more Celebrating SA’s One Show pencil wins - 11 May 2015[Leigh Andrews] With an eye on global industry trends, Louise Marsland's latest [TrendTalk] column investigates whether brands can truly unlock the sharing economy, as explored in PricewaterhouseCoopers' ground-breaking research into this recent economic phenomenon. Bringing the focus back home, South African advertising agencies have lots to smile about, having garnered 10 One Show pencils at the One Show awards late last week. Tony Koenderman looks specifically at Ogilvy's unmatched creative dominance, listing its accolades stretching as far back as 2011. Still in that awards mindset, the [Loeries 2015] are looking beyond advertising by including a category for every business, with 'service design', which covers every form of customer interaction - a global advertising awards first... read more Top global ads of 2015 so far… - 4 May 2015[Leigh Andrews] In this week's [TrendTalk] column by Louise Marsland, we look at great ads in play, highlighting how this year's top industry trends such as branded content, social advertising and storytelling are taking the lead in branding, resulting in new advertising concepts and ideas. We also look at how to actually get into the advertising business, as Chris Brewer explains advertising is not a nine-to-five job and it takes some tenacity to get your big break in the business. Still in the topic of creativity, Leigh Andrews provides feedback on how to build a strong brand based on a presentation by Trevor King, marketing director of Caesarstone at the recent [Creative Business Exchange], where King shared his ideas and lessons learned throughout his career. Lastly, in sticking with the topic of celebrating what makes local advertising effective, we find out what Patrick Young, Red & Yellow's design lecturer, expects from Loeries Creative Week in Durban this August. Lots of meaty reading to get your advertising week off on the right note. read more Things are still cloudy for Hlaudi, but sunny in cinemas - 28 Apr 2015[Leigh Andrews] Instead of merely reporting on the news, publishers are reporting about the SABC's inner workings - again. This time, it's alleged by the Sunday Times that the SABC boss hid a R500m loss from parliament. read more Celebrating awards past, looking ahead at awards to come… - 20 Apr 2015[Rod Baker] It was an eventful weekend award-wise, with the 2015 MTN Radio Awards winners announced, as well as the winners of the 2015 PRISM Awards. Danette Breitenbach attended the PRISM Awards and shares insight into how the night turned dreams into reality for some PR consultancies and practitioners. Flip through our gallery of the 2015 PRISM Awards to see the winners on stage, on the red carpet, and in their seats at The Maslow Hotel. In light of all these accolades, it's fitting that we start planning ahead for big local award ceremonies still to come. One way to do so is to look into BBDO's expectations for the [Loeries 2015]. Leigh Andrews found out what the agency's creative team of Alexis Beckett, Brad Reilly, Johann Schwella and Liam Olding are most looking forward to from the Loeries Durban Creative Week, taking place from 10 to 16 August this year. read more Jimi in a jam… - 13 Apr 2015[Rod Baker] Once again, the SABC is in the news for all the wrong reasons, this time due to head of news Jimi Matthews, who allegedly assaulted a female member of staff when the feed was lost during Zuma's SONA. At the end of it all, it seems that it was probably the jamming device 'wot done it', and now there are calls for Matthews to be suspended over the assault claim. In a happier - and less physical - report, Louise Marsland in her [TrendTalk] looks at 'Branding for good' and how the tide has turned in marketing, with products and campaigns from big brands working hard at providing solutions to societal problems. read more SABC News to scrap non-English languages? - 30 Mar 2015[Rod Baker] In terms of its own mandate and charter, and its core values - all readily readable on its own website - the SABC makes it clear that it will provide services in all 11 official languages. And what service in one's own language is more important than the news? Let's face it, it's an irritation when you cannot understand what an actor is saying in his or her latest film as it's being broadcast in your non-mother tongue, but when it comes to news, you need to know what is going on. Alas, it seems only those who speak English will be catered for as of later this week, because according to a media report, SABC News plans to scrap bulletins in Afrikaans, vernacular languages. Next, Chris Brewer asks: How much is an idea worth? and uses as an example a subject close to our wallets... read more How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time… - 23 Mar 2015[Rod Baker] Chris Brewer remembers all too well the agony of SAARF's Council meetings of past and what he refers to as the elephant in the SAARF boardroom. In his regular column on Bizcommunity.com, Brendan Seery's [Orchids & Onions] gives an orchid to FCB and Toyota for their warning on 50 shades of pirate parts. read more Giving print a bad name - 16 Mar 2015[Rod Baker] Chris Moerdyk has an issue with a newspaper article and magazine opinion piece as examples of how newspapers and magazines are giving print a bad name, while namesake Chris Brewer asks whether you're ready to attend the AMPS LSM funeral. As he says, "Hands up all those people who think they know what an LSM is and actually use this to define target markets, plan media schedules - or anything else, for that matter..." Then, Leigh Andrews writes on one of the biggest topics affecting the local marketing industry today - the epic impact of global-local acquisitions and mergers. read more How the media used tech to cover the #Capefire - 9 Mar 2015[Rod Baker] The fires that devastated large areas of the Cape Peninsula last week were covered extensively. Now, Stuart Thomas reports on the drones, maps and social networks SA's tech-savvy media used to report on the #CapeFire. Moving to fires that rage internally, Tiffany Markman is amazed by the fact that when it comes to business writing unless you are ready for a whole world of drama, you can't really say what you mean or say what you want to say. read more Focus on Design Indaba - 2 Mar 2015[Rod Baker] One of the highlights of the annual calendar is, what else... Design Indaba and as always, we were there, bringing you the latest from the world of design. On the media front, it pays to get mad - which is what happened when members of the media found their cellphone signals blocked during Jacob Zuma's SONA. read more On your marks, get set… all things design-centric full steam ahead - 23 Feb 2015[Rod Baker] With the dust barely settled on last week's Bookmarks Awards, Danette Breitenbach speaks to a number of winners to find out why exactly a Bookmarks win is meaningful (hint: the actual winning is the least important aspect.) It's set to be a busy week for the design-minded among us, with the Design Indaba conference kicking off at the CTICC later this week and the expo running all weekend. Leigh Andrews will be attending, and got an exclusive teaser from Joe Public agency's Executive Creative Director Xolisa Dyeshana and Chief Creative Officer, Pepe Marais on what we can expect from their conference-opening talk. read more Unhappy banker wants Sunday Times gagged - 16 Feb 2015[Rod Baker] Banking giant HSBC has threatened the Sunday Times for exposing the wealthy South Africans who stashed R23bn in secretive Swiss bank accounts, demanding all this data be 'destroyed'. According to the newspaper's report, the list of South African clients who held bank accounts with the secretive HSBC Bank in Switzerland include CEOs of top blue-chip companies, diamond dealers, sports stars and a key figure in the arms deal. On a lighter note, we carry a Q&A with IAB Digital Summit speaker Eyabo Macauley. She is Head of EMEA Advertising at Shazam, and tells us why she thinks it's important for brands to create interactive content for campaigns... And finally, last week Biz Takeouts Marketing and Media Radio show host Warren Harding (@bizWazza) was joined in studio by Dillon Mann (@dillonmann), Head of Communications for the World Wide Web Foundation (@webfoundation). read more SABC drama - 9 Feb 2015[Rod Baker] It's back in the news again for all the wrong reasons, this time because Communications Minister Faith Muthambi and COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng have been accused of a hostile takeover of the national broadcaster. The DA claims that recent developments pose a great threat to the corporation's independence. Gravity beckoned - and Mugabe answered the call... read more Adspend - 2 Feb 2015[Rod Baker] The New Age (153,000 readers, according to AMPS) enjoyed R10,199,988 of government spending in 2013-2014, says PoliticsWeb. Sowetan (with 1,674,000 readers - more than 10 times more than The New Age) got R10,434,476 - about R240,000 more to play with. read more |
