The annual Sunday Times Top Brands Awards were announced late last week and saw Draftfcb become the Brand Agency of the Year. Congratulations to all the winners. On an equally sober note, Yoav Tchelet, of dotJWT, the digital division of advertising agency JWT, reckons that if the government does crack down on alcohol advertising as it's threatening to do, brands will be forced to undertake "stealth" marketing and will use the internet and social media to advertise their products by other means. And when it comes to marketing and advertising products and services, this opinion piece has it that companies will need to take the soft power route. It's the new currency. On the sporting and media front, a recent survey has shown how South Africans are using the media - and what media - to keep up with what's happening at the Olympics. Finally, that article that you have just polished to perfection... Is it tweetable? Well, Roja Bandari, a PhD candidate in electrical engineering at UCLA, has developed an algorithm that is claimed to predict with 84% accuracy whether a news article will be popular on Twitter or bomb on the social media site. Content Director: Rod Baker PS Find out more about the alcohol advertising legislation, smoking and food labelling laws, by listening to the latest Biz Takeouts podcast from the Biz Takeouts Marketing & Media radio show. PPS Take a look at the latest Ornico ad showcase.
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