Quite some time ago, in his book The Future of Advertising, Joe Cappo, the publisher of Advertising Age in the US, wrote about a world of increasingly cynical consumers ignoring more and more the increasing clutter of conventional advertising and simply not accepting or reacting to the same old tired claptrap, gimmicks and shallow come-ons. He was spot on because, that's happening right now. 25 Nov 2009 12:17
It is always sad to see a newspaper close down. Even sadder when it might possibly have been avoided. And sadder still when the driving force behind it is someone you admire. 10 Nov 2009 12:52
The man who built himself the reputation for being one of the country's most hard-hitting independent print publishers, Branko Brkic, has launched an online news magazine called The Daily Maverick - www.thedailymaverick.co.za, which went live Friday morning, 30 October 2009. 2 Nov 2009 10:04
There are a lot of cute little phrases in marketing - most of which make those of us who have been in the business for a while want to go outside and throw up in the gladioli. But, there are some buzzwords that have a huge amount of merit. Such as "exceeding expectation". 28 Oct 2009 09:48
While it makes sense to get the maximum amount of mileage out of local television commercials by going global, this can be very costly if the ads aren't accepted by foreign target markets. 23 Oct 2009 11:14
Apart from being held to ransom by security and insurance companies, are there any more marketing opportunities in the crime situation? Well, I think there is at least one big one and it all has to do with these car guards we now see at every single shopping centre. 13 Oct 2009 11:45
The advent of online publishing has demonstrated just how fragile the communications link is between media and consumers. 6 Oct 2009 10:26
The 31st annual Loerie Awards - the first ever to be held in Cape Town, 24-27 September 2009 - were the best ever in the long history of this prestigious event. [multimedia] 27 Sep 2009 15:56
There is an enormous opportunity for the advertising agency with even the vaguest semblance of balls. 14 Sep 2009 10:58
Online seems to be leading ad spend out of the recession doldrums in South Africa, with significant increases in revenue finding their way through Internet portals. In July this year, for example, Bizcommunity.com recorded an all-time high in terms of gross revenue since its launch almost 10 years ago. 8 Sep 2009 10:50
Am I living in hope that, unlike in previous recessions, this time round the advertising industry will give some thought to what needs to be done to bring relevance, accountability and return on investment to what they do? 7 Aug 2009 07:59
There seems to be some kind of tacit understanding among our captains of industry that, when they are obliged to deal with the media, the best form of attack is defence. Tune in to the average weekday business programme on radio and hear one chief executive after the other coming across as defensive, wary, monotonous and with complete lack of conviction. 29 Jul 2009 09:42
A glimmer of hope for the embattled SABC has blinked on brightly with the news that interim board members have not only hit the ground running since their appointment less than two weeks ago but are sending out some very postive messages to the public, Parliament and, most importantly, the staff. 24 Jul 2009 10:11
Never before has there been so much interest in the nomination process for a new SABC board amid demands from many sectors to make the process a lot more transparent. 15 Jul 2009 10:11
Of every 100 football fans considering coming to South Africa for next year's 2010 FIFA World Cup, I estimate that 90 will already have decided to come, while a further eight will be wondering whether they can afford it given the global economic meltdown and only two might still be vacillating as a result of crime levels in this country. 2 Jul 2009 10:21
The problem with books and magazines is that people tend to judge them by their covers. Take Popular Mechanics for example, unashamedly one of my favourite magazines, but which I am sure a lot of people pass by because they think it is something that only appeals to engineers and rocket scientists. 30 Jun 2009 06:39
It's the SABC's most popular soap opera yet - jam-packed with comedy, farce and tragedy - and its playing out in Parliament as the national broadcaster's former board members and top management trade insults and point fingers at each other. All of which will solve nothing. 24 Jun 2009 11:26
If the level of pettiness of complaints to the world's advertising standards authorities is anything to go by, the world's consumers are certainly getting a lot more sensitive about what they see in advertising. 17 Jun 2009 12:54
The SABC cannot be everything to everyone; it is time to be pragmatic and businesslike, get the organisation back into profitability and allow it to rebuild itself - and only then look at what may be possible. 8 Jun 2009 12:19
By charging the Mail & Guardian with the theft of TV footage from its on-off-on-off Special Assignment documentary on political satire, the SABC has opened some extremely interesting doors. Or, should that be cans of worms? 1 Jun 2009 13:14
Call me old fashioned, call me a geriatric romantic, but I have been missing soaps on radio. And I'm convinced I'm not the only one who would like an occasional break from talk radio or music and have a good old fashioned daily soap in which to lose myself and get thoroughly distracted from everything going on in the world of politics, business and sport. 29 May 2009 10:32
You have to hand it to e.tv. It's the best news channel in the country by a mile and its always enthusiastically looking for great news angles. But, I really wish it would stop coming up with knee-jerk, pseudo research projects because these are dangerously misleading. 28 May 2009 07:20
One of the most asked questions that comes to me these days is how companies can get on board the 2010 bandwagon without falling foul of FIFA's strict ambush marketing rules. The answer is simple. 27 May 2009 09:21
The most immediate reaction from the mass media to President Zuma's new Cabinet was to question the appointment of a military general to the post of communications minister. The very idea of giving former SANDF chief, General Siphiwe Nyanda, the communications portfolio was greeted with a lot of huffing and puffing about jobs for friends and lack of experience. 20 May 2009 09:38
What on earth has happened to Brand Zille? Only a year ago I was talking about her as one of South Africa's leading natural-born marketers but right now I get the feeling that she has ditched a lot of the successful strategy that put her where she is. 13 May 2009 15:35
Doyenne of South Africa's market research industry, Barbara Cooke, will retire at the end of May 2009 after working 51 years in the research, advertising and media industries. 8 May 2009 10:21
David Bullard, who was fired from the Sunday Times last year after writing what the newspaper regarded as "racist" column, will get his day in court on 22 June 2009 when he faces up against publishing company Avusa. 5 May 2009 12:56
A lot of event marketing lessons have been learnt in the move to South Africa of this year's Indian Premier League - not least of all that a huge amount of hype can be generated in a very short time. But, whether the organisers of the Confederations Cup are purposely banking on this or are simply fast asleep, no-one will know until that event is upon us. 5 May 2009 09:49
With caution and considerable circumspection, it might well be possible to read between the lines of last week's election results and come up with some interesting market research and consumer behaviour trends. 28 Apr 2009 13:33
It has come as no surprise that Business Day has decided to discontinue its late edition because it does not take rocket science to realise that, for the past few years, this second edition has been a complete waste of time, money and energy. 21 Apr 2009 10:59
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