Africa’s winning ways - 12 Oct 2015[Leigh Andrews] Good news for the state of journalism on the continent: All four South African journalists nominated for the landmark 20th CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards 2015 won their respective categories. The top prize went to Burkinabé journalist Hyacinthe Boowurosigue Sanou, writes Thinus Ferreira. read more The gift of the business gab - 5 Oct 2015[Leigh Andrews] We start off with an exclusive from Louise Marsland...The Mail & Guardian has appointed seasoned journalist, editor and digital strategist Verashni Pillay as its new Editor-in-Chief. It's hoped that Pilllay will reinvigorate the brand and steer the publication "back to its roots", following a raft of retrenchments, recent cutbacks and falling circulation. On the topic of professionalism, Marion Scher shares tips that'll make the difference between a brilliant or boring speech, especially with today's ever-distracted audience, such as keeping the speech short, keeping it personal and using humour - but not starting with a joke. Daniel Munslow adds his views on the evolution of business communication, with feedback from the recent International Association of Public Relations' Congress, where he was one of a handful of speakers at the largest PR conference of its kind hosted in Africa. read more The social customer service trend and other tech-enabled inventions - 28 Sep 2015[Leigh Andrews] This week, Louise Marsland writes about some of her favourite new inventions in today's digital-enabled time in her latest [TrendTalk] column. One of these is the Wize Mirror, which can diagnose what's wrong with your body through facial analysis. read more The importance of visual marketing and top online design - 21 Sep 2015[Leigh Andrews] Exciting news: We have a new navigational interface as of today, designed to enhance Bizcommunity's unique brand offerings. There's a full list of new features for you to test drive, get cracking! This week we also look at the importance of visual content in marketing, with Charles Mburugu asserting that content is definitely king when it comes to online marketing, and visual content at the top of the list. read more All about African entrepreneurship - 14 Sep 2015[Leigh Andrews] It's exciting business times ahead as Orange launches the continent's first mobile crowdfunding platform in Côte d'Ivoire. Orange is also getting involved with the social innovation approach instigated by HelloAsso. read more Time to put that innovative thinking cap on - 7 Sep 2015[Leigh Andrews] In an economic crunch, the client is king, says Takudzwa Madzikanda, explaining that times have shifted from when the agency held the power to dictate work to the consumer. Reduced marketing budgets globally mean it's now a constant battle against our own competitors for the same, ever-reducing client pool so we need to do something different. read more Journalism is not a crime... - 31 Aug 2015[Leigh Andrews] After months of retrials and public protests, the Al Jazeera journalists jailed in Egypt have been sentenced to three years in prison. Mohammed Fahmy, Peter Greste and Baher Mohammed were accused of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. read more The digital marketing future on our doorstep - 24 Aug 2015[Leigh Andrews] Today sees the start of our Special Focus on Digital Marketing. read more Putting Africa in the spotlight - 17 Aug 2015[Leigh Andrews] The Loeries 2015 Creative Week in Durban took place this past weekend - view all the winners from Saturday and Sunday night, as well as all the coverage on the event in our special section. During the Unilever South Africa annual networking brunch, the FMCG company used the opportunity to showcase the work of four directors from the Academy for African Filmmakers (AAF), announced as winners at this year's Cannes in June. Meanwhile, Esther Karuku dives into the world of product placement in tv shows and movies, especially the emergence of this in Kenyan productions. The Vox Africa team take a closer look into the Kenyan government's very own advertising agency. read more Looking to female business inspiration across the continent - 11 Aug 2015[Leigh Andrews] When marketing to millennials, it helps to remember that they're 'self-centred', so you'll do well sticking to selfies, hashtags and retweets when your brand looks to appeal to this target market, writes Michele Warbreck. Something sure to appeal to that market, Mohammed Awal writes about the app developer challenge launched by Airtel in Ghana, designed to encourage start-up developers to build locally but internationally appealing and relevant apps. read more Innovation in Africa lifting off - 3 Aug 2015[Leigh Andrews] The African Innovation Foundation has announced a call for entries for the Innovation Prize for Africa 2016. read more Technology set to change the continent’s customer engagement strategy… - 27 Jul 2015[Leigh Andrews] This week, Leigh Andrews provides feedback on CEM for the tech-enabled African future, as discussed in the opening keynote of last week's Content Engagement Management Africa Summit. Don't forget the upcoming webinar presented by Meltwater Africa in association with Gumtree and Bizcommunity, on how to successfully influence brand reputation in today's hyper connected world. read more Pan-African published fiction prize up for grabs… - 20 Jul 2015[Leigh Andrews] The Etisalat Prize for Literature 2015 has put out its call for entries. This is the first ever Pan-African prize celebrating debut African writers of published fiction. Also making headlines, a new app will allow Kenyan SMEs to buy government bonds with just Ksh3,000. read more Improved digital skills and a call to release all jailed journos in Ethiopia - 13 Jul 2015[Leigh Andrews] Lilian Mutegi writes that Standard Group is to unveil a 24-hour TV news channel, set to give Kenyans a variety of news channels to watch as this is the second in its stable, set to deliver comprehensive, incisive news. In more good news for the continent's media industry, Airtel Nigeria has partnered with The Journalism Clinic to train journalists to host a four-city-four-week multimedia journalism training road show for 100 Nigerian journalists, offering them tools and techniques to make their digital content more compelling. Lastly, WAN-IFRA and the World Editors Forum are calling for the release of all journalists still jailed in Ethiopia, after a week in which six of their colleagues were freed. read more Africa’s social media success story - 6 Jul 2015[Leigh Andrews] This week it's all about African social media, kicking off with last week's first African Social Media Day celebrations on 30 June, when social media fanatics on the continent used the hashtag #SMDayAfrica to participate in the parallel event, global Social Media Day, launched in 2010 by Mashable. In light of this, Rachel Kanyoro discusses how social media has evolved in Uganda, with its rise in use attributed to the country's majority youth and politicians turning to the platforms to popularise their agendas. Lilian Mutegi adds that Facebook is eyeing the East African market - and Kenya in particular - having just opened its office in Johannesburg, South Africa, which Facebook describes as "the first step in furthering our investment in Africa and its people". Seems social media's the place to be... read more |
