Rethinking advertising - 23 Jan 2017[Leigh Andrews] If you're not yet into the swing of things, we have industry-relevant thought leadership to get you on the right track. First up is Daryn Mason, an Oracle CX evangelist, who explains why machine learning might be the saviour of advertising, as it brings greater nuance to the way consumers manage content and how brands distribute it. He says the technology is turning ad blockers from all-or-nothing sorting programs into sophisticated ‘content brokers' that scrutinise adverts for relevance based on each customer's needs. Sticking to the topic of ‘learning', I chatted to two of the AAA School's lecturers Charles Maggs and Mandy Speechly, on the students' 2016 #LoeriesRankings and wins. read more From Instagram Stories to design thinking - 16 Jan 2017[Leigh Andrews] As January gains momentum, so does our coverage of all the latest happenings in the creative industry. First up, Anne Dolischek delves into the debate surrounding Snapchat and Instagram Stories as marketing platforms, the latter of which has since grown to more than 150 million daily users in just five months. read more #BizTrends2017 is alive and kicking! - 9 Jan 2017[Leigh Andrews] 2017 is off with a bang, and we have ample good business reads on hand to ease you into the new work year. Key among these, you'll find inspiration and predictions from some of the industry's most respected and revered BizTrends thought leaders, innovators and trend specialists. read more #BestofBiz 2016: Marketing & Media - 12 Dec 2016[Leigh Andrews] What a year it's been! With the work year winding down for most and plans full steam ahead for 2017, now's the perfect time to scroll back through what made industry headlines in 2016. We've listed our most-read marketing and media stories, as well as our most popular contributors, most-viewed press offices, most-read new business wins and most-read new appointments of the year. Keeping that forward focus, we find out more about another of #DesignIndaba2017's anticipated international speakers: Olafur Eliasson. read more Mobile moments and human-focused problem-solving - 5 Dec 2016[Leigh Andrews] Welcome to December! We have a number of interesting reads to ease you into the month. First up, Nirmal Nair suggests forgetting 'mobile-first' as your customer is demanding mobile-always. Nair says this is especially important as we plan for the rise of Generation Z, who is comfortable with as many as five concurrent screens, as opposed to millennials, who opt for two. read more Beating ad-blockers and transit advertising trends - 28 Nov 2016[Leigh Andrews] With frustration at the rising nature of targeted ads hitting us everywhere online, we've seen an abundance of ad-blocking software. That's good for the consumer, bad for the advertiser. read more Get ready for #BizTrends2017 and our Financial Mail AdFocus Awards coverage! - 21 Nov 2016[Leigh Andrews] The end of the year is drawing near but things certainly aren't slowing down at the Biz offices, especially as work on our annual future insights project, #BizTrends2017 is well under way. Curated by Louise Marsland, it features insight from some of the industry's best and brightest thought leaders and futurists and will begin publishing early January 2017. read more Communications at the forefront - 14 Nov 2016[Leigh Andrews] In her weekly Loeries feature, Leigh Andrews spoke to Y&R about their Loeries rankings. They won in nine categories and had an impressive all round haul from the Awards. read more Why everyone is multimedia-focussed - 7 Nov 2016[Leigh Andrews] Last week we ran our #FocusonMedia, curated by our trends editor, Louise Marsland. Now's the perfect time to catch up if you missed it, as it offers insight into all the latest media trends, including print media with broadcast elements and digital media with video - this is all one and the same these days, as everyone is multimedia-focussed. read more King James hits the mark - 31 Oct 2016[Leigh Andrews] The Pendoring Awards, which celebrates the best in advertising in all South African languages, announced the winners on 28 October. King James walked away with the Prestige Award for the second year in a row! Have a look at the full winners list. From advertising to social media as JP Kloppers gets technical on the algorithms that try to analyse the meaning and sentiment that drives online messages. read more The business realities of AR and storytelling - 24 Oct 2016[Leigh Andrews] I've finally reached the end of my #BeyondRetail2016 conference coverage, with an overview of the final panel session. In it, Bruce Whitfield asked the day's speakers about future retail trends and how continued technological advancement and disruption is set to shake up the local retail industry. Tied to this aspect of innovation, Johan Walters writes that augmented reality is no longer the exclusive domain of the CMO. read more Business relationship betterment tips - 17 Oct 2016[Leigh Andrews] Last week's #BeyondRetail2016 conference resulted in many important factors for marketers to consider, all linked to one important question: Can retail save the SA economy? I kick off my coverage with 'the economist's view' as shared by the first speaker of the day, Dr Azar Jammine of Econometrix. I've also brought back my weekly #Loeries2016 article as a way to find out more about those who did well in the latest Loeries rankings. Bucking the trend of putting agency creatives front and centre, first up is Left Post Production, which came out on top of both the TV, film and radio: editing company and TV, film and radio: post-production 2016 tables, as well as two names in the top ranked editor table. Broadening our scope to the social media sphere, Edmond Hlophe shares how to effectively engage on Snapchat and get your brand to 'snap, crackle and pop' on the social media platform. Lastly, in an article that's relevant to all involved in the communication sector, James Wilson writes that Stockholm Syndrome is alive and well in the PR industry. read more Snapping to Snapchat and the cost of ‘impersonalisation’ - 10 Oct 2016[Leigh Andrews] All eyes are on Snapchat as its parent Snap is readying a 2017 share offering. Little wonder as it has over 8 billion video views a day. read more The digital consumer data revolution - 3 Oct 2016[Leigh Andrews] As we're now a month closer to the end of 2016, it's more important than ever before to track what your customers say about you in the fast-moving online realm. Ismail Schuster writes about this democratisation of brand perception, highlighting the importance of providing good customer experience as the starting point in keeping sentiment positive across social platforms. Bianca Quinn-Diavastos adds that digital marketing can also drive customer acquisition for financial brands, especially as the move online offers them ways to improve efficiency and effectiveness that can prove sluggish in the offline world. read more Brand representation and social media in the spotlight - 26 Sep 2016[Leigh Andrews] Just like sand through the hourglass, so are the days of the SABC. Bonnie Ramaila gives us her views on the issues revolving around the public broadcaster, but it's not all on Hlaudi's shoulders. read more |
