The more things change, the more you can’t stay the same… - 3 Nov 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] Thanks to the internet, the way our brains work - how we shop online, and the way we operate offline - has changed for good. Claire Cobbledick reckons businesses have to adjust their thinking - their customers already have. In his article titled Positioning luxury brands in emerging markets, Cobus van Zyl says that it would be wise, when planning a new campaign or product launch, to take a more outside-in approach when designing a message for a specific target audience. read more Retail in Africa making waves - 27 Oct 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] The 2014 Retail Congress Africa Award for Innovation has been awarded to the Okunoren Twins - Nigerian clothing icons. The awards celebrates retailers who are driving change with inspirational vision and foresight. read more The next frontier - 20 Oct 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] Carol Pineau suspects that if one were to create a map of data sets throughout the world, it would look much like the electricity map - data overload in the US, Europe and parts of Asia, yet a mere sprinkling around North Africa, South Africa, Lagos and Kenya. She reckons data is the next frontier and that it matters enormously. read more More awards, more rewards - 13 Oct 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] Even though I often think that there really are enough awards shows by now, plus rumours of future awards shows for the best awards shows (if that doesn't in fact exist already), it is nonetheless always great to see excellent work in the industry acknowledged and rewarded. The beginning of this month saw yet another advertising awards show - the second African Cristal Awards - take place in Marrakesh, Morocco, which brought together African and international experts to celebrate exceptional work produced on the continent. read more And the winners are… - 6 Oct 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] The APO Media Awards winners as well as the AABLA Southern African winners were announced last week - a big congratulations to you all! Sumitra Nydoo, business correspondent South Africa at China Central Television (CCTV Africa), took first place at the APO Media Awards, for her piece entitled 'South Africa's Wonderbag Revolutionizes Cooking'. The final round of the AABLAs, which recognises bold, game-changing leaders in Africa's business landscape, will take place on 14 November 2014. read more What’s in a perception? - 29 Sep 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] Research by Brand South Africa has revealed how perceptions of South Africa and its people can hinder or advance the country's business progress in the rest of Africa. The project, South Africa Incorporated or SA Inc, was created by Brand South Africa as part of its Africa Programme in order to uncover what local businesses face when trading with and investing in peer countries on the rest of the continent, and travelling to and living there. Last week we saw Charles Stretch state that SMS still is a vital communication and marketing tool for businesses - both internally and externally; and Danette Breitenbach explained that trust is the new commodity in business. In other news, Microsoft 4Afrika and Afrilabs have launched 'Collaboration Challenge'; and the Southern African AABLA nominees have been announced. read more On a creative high - 22 Sep 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] The Loeries Creative Week Cape Town came to an end last night, Sunday, 21 September 2014 at the CTICC after a jam-packed week of creativity, judging, awards ceremonies and parties; leaving all attendees on a creative high. Covering the Loeries for the 12th year, we celebrated by dropping 1500 colourful Biz-branded balloons from the roof of the auditorium, two of which contained prize vouchers of R10,000 to spend on a creative digital marketing campaign on Bizcommunity.com. read more Let's get creative! - 15 Sep 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] Creative Week Cape Town has finally arrived, promising lots of excitement and inspiration this week. The judging at the 36th Annual Loeries also kicked off this morning, and brands and agencies who are waiting in anticipation will finally know if they're in the running to get an elusive Loerie in the hand. In The Loeries - where brands and creativity meet, our staff reporter takes a look at how the Loeries has evolved to an open market for brands to window shop for creativity and innovation when engaging customers. In other news this past week, Facebook reached a landmark 100-million users in Africa through mobile; and Zimbabwe's finance minister announced a raft of tax hikes, including on mobile phones, in a bid to boost dwindling government revenue as economic growth stalls. Another interesting report from Instant Grass shows nine ways women are changing African markets; and a PWC report, Africa Business Agenda 2014, reveals CEOs' optimism about growth. Last, but not least, if you missed last week's Biz Takeouts show, make sure you listen to the podcast which is now available. That's all from me, have a great week! Cheers! Ilse van den Berg, Editor: Marketing & Media Africa (@Biz_Africa) P.S. read more Are you grabbing the OOH opportunity? - 8 Sep 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] Tatenda Chiweshe reckons there are lots of opportunities in the Zimbabwean OOH advertising environment. According to him, there is a massive opportunity in digital screens, as well as gantries and indoor advertising, point of sale, activations and transit media. read more And the favourites are… - 1 Sep 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] Millward Brown last week announced South Africa's Best Liked Ads for Q1&2 2014 and Coca-Cola was selected as the country's top brand in the 2014 Sunday Times Top Brands Awards. In last week's exclusive Loeries Creativity Q&A series for Bizcommunity.com, Jessica Taylor chatted to Executive Creative Director of McCann Australia and also the creator of the fantastic "Dumb ways to die" campaign, Patrick Baron. Joseph Neusu reckons emotional branding - the love affair between consumers and brands, is extremely important, and Estiaan Robbetze says the idea of primetime is somewhat dead. read more Forbes is first - 25 Aug 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] With a beautiful sunshine weekend behind us here in Cape Town, we enter the last week of August 2014! Can you believe it? Herewith the news highlights from the past week: According to the IPSOS EMS Affluent Survey in Africa, Forbes Magazine has been named the top magazine amongst Africa's richest. In this week's exclusive Loeries Creativity Q&A series for Bizcommunity.com, Sindy Peters chats to Arno Lindemann, Chief Creative Officer of Lukas Lindemann Rosinski. read more Can't read, won't buy... - 18 Aug 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] Françoise Henderson says that as Chinese is set to overtake English in 2015 as the biggest language on the internet, with Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian making rapid inroads, the advantages of a translated website are obvious... Studies by analyst firm Common Sense Advisory has found that 75% of customers prefer buying products in their own language. read more And the finalists are... - 11 Aug 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] Well, a big congratulations to all the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist 2014 finalists! I can't believe it's that time of the year already... Good luck to each and every one of you, and thank you for the contribution you make to the industry! David Blyth has dubbed Ghana the 'lesser-known marketing treasure of West Africa' and says that when judged on market size, this country is often overlooked by brands looking to expand across Africa. Last week also saw the celebration of our 100th Biz Takeouts episode! Our show host, Warren Harding (@BizWazza), chatted to leader of Democractic Alliance (@DA_News) and Premier of the Western Cape, Helen Zille (@helenzille), as well as Justin Beswick (@justinbeswick) and Kirsten Wilkins on TEDx Cape Town (@tedxcapetown). read more Eenie meenie miney moe... Chinese handsets set to grow? - 4 Aug 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] According to Russel Southwood, the price of generic Chinese smartphones (at around $70-80) will be affordable by a significant chunk of Africans who currently own feature phones. There's also the possibility that the Chinese handset Xiaomi (which runs on Android), an iPhone lookalike, will come to Africa. read more The strange culture of business marketing... - 28 Jul 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] Chemory Gunko reckons South Africa has a strange culture when it comes to business marketing where many marketing people placed in companies are juniors, if they even exist at all - or the role is just not taken seriously at all by anyone internally. She gives advice on what you should be looking for in today's digital age and what skillsets an effective marketing person in your organisation should have. read more |
