Chief Marketing Officers fail to ‘walk the talk'
Most chief marketing officers are confident about their ability to set strategy, but many also confess to weakness at operational execution. According to new research from Accenture, for many companies looking to achieve organic growth, a significant gap exists between their strategic will and their operational excellence.

FIFA warning on illegal lotteries
Further to its media release in September 2005, FIFA continues to be alerted to emails referring to the 2010 FIFA World Cup and informing recipients that they have been selected as prize winners in a lottery draw and have won substantial sums of money.

Eighty things to watch in 2008
From Facebook suicides to eco-fatigue and intellectual luxury… these are on the list of 80 things that will define 2008, says JWT, the largest advertising agency in the US and the fourth-largest full-service network in the world.

Nando's cries fowl over MTN/ASA ruling
Nando's and its advertising agency Black River F.C. have expressed their extreme disappointment with the ASA ruling on MTN's complaint about their ‘Yello Hummer' ad parody and confirmed that they will be taking the case on appeal.

Watchdog rules against Nando's ad
[Tshepiso Seopa] The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled in December that Nandos' withdraw its “Yello Hummer” advertising of the Hummer vehicle prize and that all of its print ads, in-store promotions, as well as radio commercial material be withdrawn immediately. This follows a complaint lodged by MTN against the ad parody with the ASA.

Zola stars in rape commercial
South African men rape over 500 000 women every year in South Africa. This is the sobering thought that well known SA Kwaito musician, television presenter and actor Zola leaves viewers with at the end of the latest ‘Real Men don't Rape' commercial, which was flighted in December.

Clio awards online call for entries opens
NEW YORK: The 49th annual Clio Awards, the world's most recognised global awards competition honoring creative excellence in advertising and design, have announced the first group of industry leaders who will serve as Executive Jury Chairs to head its seven awards categories for 2008.

Going beyond the game
Twenty 20 cricket. The Rugby World Cup. The Telkom Cup… We're witnessing an era of sport like no other – for both players and spectators. With so many ‘new' events on the sporting calendar, organisers and ‘owners' of these events are looking to brand these uniquely so as to differentiate them, says S'bu Manqele, group business director at branding agency Switch.

Innovation firm Cheskin joins Added Value Group - Added Value
Added Value, WPP's brand development business, has acquired Cheskin, the market-leading innovation-consulting firm.

Secrets to becoming a successful manager - CCI Coaching Academy
Managing people and teams is about more than just management and putting out fires. It is about enabling a team to commit with enthusiasm to excellent, timeous delivery. This is an easy concept to understand, but, as most managers know, achieving this is not as straightforward as it sounds. It is a skill that very few managers are taught.

LiquidChefs builds SA's biggest round bar - LiquidChefs
LiquidChefs was again put to the test, with building South Africa's biggest circular bar for a premium function held in Durban.


Venturescapes entertains in the winelands - Venturescapes
Destination entertainment company, Venturescapes partnered with destination management company Terra Nova to produce a private gala dinner held at the picturesque Uitkyk wine estate in Stellenbosch in November. First time visitors to South Africa Fleetwood Trailers, an American based company, chose our beautiful country as an incentive destination for their company this year.

Sandton magazine launches
Media Nova is launching a dedicated magazine for Sandton in partnership with journalist Josef Talotta who will serve as launch editor. The new lifestyle, city-branded-title will target Sandton's residential, tourist and business readers.

Should the internet be filtered?
NEWSWATCH: There is no news roundup these days of the most important stories in our industry without a mention of the internet and how it is influencing media and society, how our brands are now consumed or marketing efforts around it. So much so, that from China to Australia, the politicians are trying to control it too.

Murderous year for media worldwide
[Issa Sikiti da Silva] The year 2007 has been a dangerous year for the media worldwide as a total of 86 journalists and 20 media assistants lost their lives in the line of duty. Among these casualties, Africa accounts for 12 – eight more than the 2006 count. Iraq remains the danger zone for media, with 56 media workers killed there (66 in 2006), according to a tally compiled by the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF).

The journalist of the future has arrived
[Robin Parker] As far back as 1996 at a Highway Africa conference at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, I outlined the journalist of the future. One working across multimedia platforms, easily able to circumvent government restrictions in times of turmoil or simply to prevent a curious world sneaking a peak at a dubious human rights record. Those days have arrived and are currently most clearly evident in the post-presidential election violence sweeping Kenya.

Kenyan bloggers keep world informed
[Louise Marsland] With news blackouts in force in Kenya it is up to the bloggers to keep the world, and indeed many of the media, informed of the terrible atrocities being perpetrated in what was just a week ago a relatively peaceful country in Africa. Mobile phones are being used to update Kenyan blogs and video shot of the violence in Kenya via mobile phone is being disseminated by mainstream news media.

Hard times ahead for SA consumers
[Louise Marsland] NEWSWATCH: What with Polokwane, the Bhutto assassination and the current crisis in Pakistan, it's hardly been a quiet Christmas for the news media. Of particular relevance to our industry is the financial pinch that hit consumers this festive season after a long year of interest rate rises and cost of living increases. Retailers are reporting a huge drop in sales this December. In other news this past week, Facebook becomes a rallying point for SA teens to defy the Government ban on underage canoodeling and a detained journalist is freed in time for Christmas.

Many media remained imprisoned at Christmas
[Issa Sikiti da Silva] As the year drew to a close and many working people prepared to spend quality time with their families and friends, the international media fraternity remains outraged by the continuous detention of journalists, some of them in undisclosed locations and in horrible and inhuman conditions. At least 127 journalists were still behind bars worldwide as from December 1, 2007.

Monitoring South Africa appoints new COO - Monitoring South Africa
Monitoring South Africa (MSA) has appointed Anri Schwim as the new Chief Operating Officer and new member of the board.

MTN network upgrade
MTN South Africa's extensive network upgrade and performance enhancements conducted in the second half of 2007 resulted in a 16% traffic increase over the 2007 festive season. Figures released by the group this week indicate that voice traffic soared to 2.15 billion, up 15% over last year's 1.87 billion calls.

'Ice God' confirms Kaya FM slot
[Tshepiso Seopa] Those who love him call him the ‘Ice God' or the ‘Morning God' while those who don't like him would rather say that his voice is irritating and that he is overrated… Just-Ice Ramohlola has confirmed that he is joining Kaya FM after being absent from the airwaves for quite a while now.

Metro FM gets a life with new website
Urban music station Metro FM has launched a new lifestyle website: www.metrofm.co.za, promising to bring its listeners an urban-chic online experience that connects, informs and entertains.

Ad Talent Salary Survey 2008 - Ad Talent
Do you remember the days when Chappies cost half a cent? When a cent could be split in two? And a Wilson's toffee filled your mouth and took forever to chew? Petrol has gone up and interest rates are on the increase. Do these daily expenses never cease? So while you are counting your pennies for 2008 have a look below and see if you are being paid the right rate.

Advertising and media industry likes them young - 24.com
The advertising and media industry pays younger employees better than their more mature counterparts. On average, a 55 year old employee in the industry earns less than a 30 year old in the same position. This is according to the 2007 Careers24.com Salary Survey, the most comprehensive online survey of its kind ever undertaken in South Africa.

Road rage in South Africa sees a slight decrease - Synovate
50% of South African drivers have experienced aggressive or threatening driving behaviour from other drivers in the past 12 months, according to Synovate's recent road rage study. This is a 4% decrease since the last measurement in May 2007.

An organic experience at Woolies
Woolworths is launching a whole new organic line in February, with more than one hundred new certified organic product lines. All the new grocery products are certified by independent organic certifiers who conduct stringent audits to ensure the authenticity of both organic ingredients and organic production processes.


Pepsi takes it to the Max
Pepsi has launched a new drink: Pepsi Max. Like Pepsi Light, Pepsi Max is 100% sugar free but has an enhanced flavour of cola to ensure maximum taste. According to Avishkar Ramgovind, marketing manager, Pepsi South Africa: “Pepsi Max is the definitive drink for the young male South African consumer. Pepsi Max consumer advertising and activation has been very attitudinal and this will be brought into SA as well.” Pepsi Max is promoted by the strap line ‘Maximum Taste, No Sugar' and will be launched with a consumer campaign across SA's beaches these summer holidays.

Official Sponsor of African Cup of Nations
Samsung Electronics announced its sponsorship of the African Cup of Nations 2008 (ACN) in December. The tournament will be held in Ghana from 20 January to 10 February 2008 and is arguably the greatest sporting marketing property on the African continent. Samsung aims to enhance its brand awareness and preference in the African region by leveraging the power of the ACN sponsorship. The sponsorship will also establish Samsung's premium brand image throughout the continent.

A Watershed moment for Amstel
Amstel has announced its sponsorship of South Africa's premier rock/pop band, Watershed, who are kicking off their 'Kick Back Tour' this December, hitting the coastal regions during the festive season. Watershed have just returned to SA after their November Tour to the UK and Middle East. Amstel of course has also just 'returned' to SA with its relaunch last month.

Telkom TV calls for local content briefs
Telkom Media has published its first round of briefs for the production of local content, as well as a guide to its standard Terms of Trade for acquiring local content.