How does Africa tweet? - 7 Jul 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] In the second How Africa Tweets study, Portland analysed geo-located tweets originating from Africa during the final three months of 2013. The study dives deeper into Twitter use in Africa - which cities are the most active, what languages are being used the most and what issues are driving the conversation online. read more Is Africa still in the lead? - 30 Jun 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] Is Africa still leading the global mobile payments innovation race? Howard Moodycliffe reckons Africa has lost some ground... Michael Wood states that developing markets develop better global business leaders and Adelaide Potgieter thinks that big ideas have a bigger role than ever. In other news over the past week: The 2014 Burson-Marsteller Twiplomacy study shows that Uganda's Prime Minister, Amama Mbabazi, is the most conversational politician on Twitter. read more Why? Because we Cannes! - 23 Jun 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] Last week saw the annual celebration of creativity in communications, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, take place in Cannes, France. Congratulations to all the South African agencies and production companies who were shortlisted and of course those who walked away with Grand Prix, Gold, Silver or Bronze Lions to add to, or begin, their Cannes Lions collection. read more Have you done your market research? - 9 Jun 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] According to Laine Barnard, extensive market research is vital in order to determine the best strategy before entering a country with a new product or service. He also reckons the process of urbanisation is steamrolling through Africa and with that comes more spending money and a growing desire to spend that money - making retail in Africa a hot topic right now. read more A constellation of stars... - 2 Jun 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] A big congratulations to all the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) winners! If you missed it, have a look at all the 2014 AMAA stars. Mike Silver writes about commercialising the YouTube experience and reckons that as the online and offline worlds converge further, brands will do well to look over their shoulders (or screens) as talented domestic pets and performing babies fight for their audience's online attention. In Juliette Attwell's BizCareers column, she advises how mixed experience can help rather than hinder your career, as well as the difference between a cover letter and a motivational letter. Stephen Claassen poses the question whether Africa is the emerging market of the decade and Travis Bussiahn gives advice for radio station managers on how every on-air presenter they let go takes a piece of their future with them. Last but not least, if you missed last week's Biz Takeouts show, listen to the podcast which is now available. Have a great week! Cheers! Ilse van den Berg, Editor: Marketing & Media Africa (@Biz_Africa) read more Africans to tell the African story - 26 May 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] Big news this past week was that Mail & Guardian launched a homegrown digital news platform, Mail & Guardian Africa, for Africans to tell the African story. The platform is lead by Editor, Charles Onyango-Obbo from the head office in Nairobi, Kenya. Google kicked some dust in Apple's eyes as it was named the world's most valuable global brand in the 2014 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brand ranking. read more An endless online party - 19 May 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] Taking a look back at the week's top stories, Jenny Reid reckons social media is a bit like an endless online party that can quickly get out of hand. Do your employees understand professional social media? In her BizCareers column, Juliette Attwell gives advice on how to handle the "Tell us about yourself" question in an interview. On Tuesday we rounded up our interviews with the Loeries Africa Committee by chatting to Editor-in-Chief of Brandwork Nigeria, Dan Oshodin. Millward Brown revealed seven key lessons for brands, based on the performance of brands such as Apple, Amazon and Visa over eight years of the BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study. All African journalists (African nationals based on the continent) creating content targeting an African audience, are reminded to enter the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Competition before the entry deadline of 30 May 2014. read more Bringing content back to Africa - 12 May 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] Mark Tinka reckons that the next phase in the development of Africa's internet infrastructure will see more content and services brought closer to end-users which will result in better performance when accessing web applications, services and content. 90% of African internet content is hosted outside the continent today. read more Calling all African journos! - 5 May 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] All African journalists (African nationals based on the continent) creating content targeting an African audience are invited to enter the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist 2014 Awards which has now been officially launched. Making entries even easier this year, journalists can make submissions via the entry form website www.cnnmcaja.cnn.com. read more Twitter tips for medium-term tweeps - 14 Apr 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] Do you consider yourself as a medium-term tweep who doesn't need another silly Twitter etiquette lesson? Well then, have a look Tiffany Markman's ten Twitter tips for non-newbie tweeters like you. In other news, Times Media Group has acquired a 49% stake in Radio Africa, while Woolworths has announced its expansion plan into Africa over the next three years. read more Africa is inspiring... - 7 Apr 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] We are excited about our opportunity to interview the Loeries Africa Committee and so far we've chatted to Denford Mangora from Jericho Advertising in Zimbabwe as well as Ulric Charteris from Root225 in Tanzania. Interestingly enough, when asked what inspires them at the moment, they both said "Africa". read more yuMobile purchase approved - 31 Mar 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has approved the applications of Safaricom and Airtel to acquire yuMobile, just a few hours shy of the deadline for approval. The commission has now provided a six months transition period that will cater for the transfer of the services from Essar Telecom Limited to the two applicants. Daryn Smith shares insight on what your marketing agency focus should be on when it comes to brand building vs ROI. In other news, make sure you check out the highlights of the Loeries Africa Roadshow's stop in Nairobi. read more Did your favourite ad make the list? - 24 Mar 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] Millward Brown has announced the Best Liked Ads from Q4 2013 with Coca-Cola's 'Share A Coke With Bobby' taking the number one spot. Have a look and see if your favourite ad made the list... read more Shedding light on retail in Africa - 17 Mar 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] For retailers wanting to know how best to enter sub-Saharan Africa, a new study by global strategy consultancy firm A.T. Kearney shows that Rwanda, Nigeria, Namibia, Tanzania and Gabon occupy the top five places of the inaugural A.T. read more Long live the brand - 10 Mar 2014[Ilse van den Berg, @Biz_Africa] Nicolle Velleman reckons brands are more than product features. She says a brand is not a name, visual identity, logo, product or tagline - though these are common misconceptions. read more |
