Loeries TV and Cinema Crafts judges announced
The TV and Cinema Crafts Judging Panel for the 2008 The Loerie Awards are now out.

European visitor praises Markex
Markex 2008 ranked alongside the best of European trade shows in regard to organisation, quality of stands and numbers of visitors. That's according to Freddy Lacamera, international export manager for Supreme Promotional Services (SPS), who was in South Africa to assist with the launch of local distributor PS... at Markex.

Bizcommunity.com beefs up Gauteng sales team
Senior Bizcommunity.com sales manager, Riaan Kriel, will head up sales in Johannesburg from 1 July 2008. His redeployment to the proverbial city of gold is part of the continued expansion and growth that the Bizcommunity brand has experienced year-on-year.

Third-party management accreditation is essential to building market trust - CRF South Africa
[Samantha Crous] Uncertainty is rampant. Trust is the central theme in business today.

Succes for Lifestyle SA Festival - Celebrating Black - Lifestyle SA Festival
The Johannesburg leg of the Lifestyle SA Festival - Celebrating Black, hosted at Gallagher Estate last monght, made its mark on the hearts of Afropolitans, attracting approximately 8000 visitors from across South Africa.


Campaign to make a difference globally

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August 2008 marks the launch of the M.A.D (Make a Difference) World global campaign, which aims to inspire people to make a difference to themselves, to others and to the planet. 108 M.A.D World hearts are moving across the globe, being handed to famous people and not so famous people. Each heart has a unique number and can be tracked, real time, on www.lovemad.org. Individuals who receive the heart are invited to visit the site, plot their heart on the M.A.D World map, make a difference, share their M.A.D act online and then pass the heart on to someone else. The site also offers over 1000 suggestions of user-generated ways to make a difference, including inspiring stories from around the world.

Two Silver Film Lions for SA
CANNES, FRANCE: On the final night of the 55th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival on Saturday, 21 June 2008, Ogilvy South Africa and King James Cape Town both stalked off with Silver Lions in the Film category. Despite all the hype, MetropolitanRepublic's MTN Clap, produced by Velocity Films, only received a Bronze Film Lion.

Senior appointments at Ogilvy Joburg
Ogilvy Johannesburg last week announced three senior appointments in line with its vision of liberating brands, as well as the talent within the agency.

SA makes Film Lions shortlist
CANNES, FRANCE: It's the final countdown... The Film, Titanium and Integrated Lions shortlists have been released for the 55th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, and South Africa features for Film. Winners will be announced at the fourth and final awards ceremony on Saturday night, 21 June 2008, along with the results of the Film Young Lions Competition, Agency of the Year, Network of the Year and Palme d'Or recipients.

More Cannes Lions for SA
CANNES, FRANCE: During the third awards ceremony of the festival week, the 55th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival honoured the winners of the Press, Design and Cyber Lions categories last night, Wednesday, 18 June 2008. Apart from DDB SA's Press Grand Prix, there was one Silver Press Lion, three Bronze Press Lions and one Bronze Design Lion for South Africa.

BBDO ad misses Grand Prix by one vote
BBDO Cape Town's Gold Radio Lion for its Marshall Music “Drums” campaign reportedly narrowly missed out on the Grand Prix by one vote. Only five Golds were awarded from a total of 1259 entries from around the world.

Press Grand Prix for DDB SA
CANNES, FRANCE: DDB SA scooped with the Press Grand Prix at the 55th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival last night, Wednesday, 18 June 2008, for its Energizer campaign. Said DDB SA executive creative director Gareth Lessing, who led the Energizer team, “It's just beautiful. Sometimes you have a plan, but every now and again the outcome exceeds your expectation.”


SA's first Gold Lion goes to BBDO Cape Town
CANNES, FRANCE: After having received South Africa's only D&AD Yellow Pencil, a Silver Clio and a One Show Merit this year, BBDO Cape Town's Marshall Music “Drums” commercial scooped SA's first Gold at the 55th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival last night, Tuesday, 17 June 2008. At the second awards ceremony for the winners of the Media, Outdoor and Radio Lions, five Silver Lions and one Bronze for SA were also handed out.

Promise creates engaging multimedia direct mail campaign - Promise
Promise was recently approached by Conservation Corporation Africa (CC Africa), a luxury safari company and safari operator, to create a multimedia direct mail campaign aimed at the super-premium international market.


AMASA Media Planning Workshop - AMASA
Calling all marketers, media owners, ad agency staff, media planners and strategists and anyone wanting to better understand our diverse media environment and the art of media planning. AMASA's annual workshop will be taking place 21 - 24 August 2008 at Little Switzerland, Drakensburg.

RedCube Porter Novelli and Vega partner in CSI initiative, InCube8 - RedCube Agency
RedCube Porter Novelli and Vega, The Brand Communications School, are partnering to implement an entrepreneurship encouraging, skills development project called InCube8.

Cross Colours gives Nando's chips a cheeky face - Cross Colours
For a brand rooted in passion, irreverence and edgy humour, a generic pack shot of potato chips or nuts in a bowl just wouldn't cut it for the packaging of Nando's new range of snacks. Instead, consumers picking up a packet of Nando's chips will find a snack with more than just flavour, but personality as well.


Fire at Ads24 Joburg
Ads24 Johannesburg is having a very blue Monday: its office building experienced a fire this morning, Monday, 23 June 2008. While all Ads24 personnel are fine, they are without telephone lines at present. If you do need to get hold of your representative urgently, contact them on their cellphones, or contact Elizca Henn on +27 (0)71 687 6109.

Correction: BBDO CT win not SA's first Gold Radio Lion
BBDO Cape Town's Gold Radio Lion is not South Africa's first, as incorrectly published on Thursday, 19 June 2008. The first SA Gold Lion went to King James for Mini SA in 2005, the first year of Radio Lions at Cannes.

More live blogging from Cannes
CANNES, FRANCE: Apart from Bizcommunity.com's own guest blogger, The Refinery GM Pam Marsh, giving us all the lowdown on the 2008 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festivial, recently appointed media director of FNB Gisele Wertheim-Aymes is also on a roll. Follow Pam in Cannes on the Bizcommunity.com breaking news blog and find out why Wertheim-Aymes is too clever by far.

Live blogging from Cannes Lions
CANNES, FRANCE: The 55th International Advertising Festival is in full swing and Bizcommunity.com guest blogger Pam Marsh, GM of The Refinery, is having a blast of a time. To find out what she has been up to and happily snapping away at, read [Pam in Cannes] First impressions and [Pam in Cannes] Joining the conversation.

November 1 lands Mascom Wireless account and joins Africa's young emerging business leaders - November 1
November 1, the up and coming Johannesburg-based branding group, has landed the Mascom Wireless account. Mascom Wireless is the leading cellphone operator in Botswana, with its network coverage now spanning 80% of the population.

Not all the talent is leaving... - Talk2Us
It's refreshing to come across someone who chooses to import himself and share his invaluable experience and know-how with us! That Oliver Landreth has chosen South Africa and Talk2Us as where he'd like to do the sharing is a big plus for us, and for the clients he will be dealing with.


Internet, consumer expectations change brand trust playing field - Affinity Brands & Branding
Two factors have recently dramatically changed the playing field when it comes to building brand trust, and not all marketers have adapted their strategies to compensate for the challenges arising from the new environment.

Repackaging for online electronics store
Digital Planet, one of South Africa's largest online electronics stores, recently underwent a rebranding phase, changing the look, feel and functionality of the website. “We want people to be excited about receiving a package from us. This lets them know that we always try to improve their experience every day,” comments Neil Watson, MD at Digital Planet. However, the experience doesn't stop at the site: the entire packaging has been redesigned to resemble a present. “Customers were taken back by receiving their items neatly wrapped in blue bubble wrap, sealed in yellow tape bound by a flashy sticker with the words ‘To Me From Me',” adds Watson.

Doccie festival looks at the environment
The 2008 Encounters South African International Documentary Festival, which began yesterday, Thursday, 19 June 2008, at Nu Metro Hyde Park in Johanneburg, intends to build upon the success of last year's Environmental Focus by screening films such as Distant Cousins, Urban Cowboy, Laxmi's Blessings and Birdman, all of which explore special relationships between humans and animals - baboons, horses, elephants and pigeons in particular - and the healing power of the veld as revealed to cabaret artist Antoinette Pienaar in The Shaman's Apprentice.

Opera comes to the big screen
Cinema Nouveau begins its opera-on-screen experience today, Friday, 20 June 2008, with the screening of Puccini's La Boheme. “We are extremely excited to present to our South African another unique in-cinema experience, a first of its kind in our country and one of the only few in the world,” says Michelle Roodt, marketing executive, Ster-Kinekor Theatres.

i5 wins Microsoft CRM award
South African company i5 was named the first global winner of the Microsoft Partner of the Year award in the category, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, earlier this week. The award is to be presented at the Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston, Texas, in July 2008. According to i5 CEO Glen Ansell, the award is the culmination of the company's determination and sharp focus on the Microsoft technology stack, and specifically, Dynamics CRM. “Having recognised the viability and relevance of Microsoft's CRM package soon after the inception of i5 in 2004, our company took a strategic decision to become the South African market leader in this aspect of Microsoft's technology solutions,” he says.

Design Achievers Awards winners
The winner of this year's Design Achievers Awards is Sidhika Sookal, an information design student from the University of Pretoria, who presented her thorough and well-researched awareness campaign for cervical cancer. The awards ceremony, the culmination of months of dedicated design work, took place on Youth Day earlier this week at the Theatre on the Track in Midrand, Gauteng.

Diary of an Internet startup - Part 1 - Springleap.com
The highlights and lowlights of Internet startup, springleap.com, as experienced by CEO Eric Edelstein.


Final deadline for Pentawards
The final deadline for entering the Pentawards '08 has been extended until 30 June 2008, with no late fee. So, you have a few more days to upload your best packaging designs and take your chance to be Pentawarded in Monaco, France, on 30 October this year. To enter, go to www.pentawards.org.

ACAP to simplify image rights communication, management
ACAP, the new, global, non-proprietary, machine-readable protocol that enables publishers to control how their online content is reused, is to adopt semantics of the Picture Licensing Universal System (PLUS). ACAP has previously concentrated on text-based web resources, and its adoption of PLUS semantics is part of a planned extension to meet publisher requirements to communicate more precise terms for use of photographic and other media resources by web crawlers.

Global consumer focus group test on e-reading
DARMSTADT, GERMANY: Earlier this year, focus groups in Stockholm, Tokyo, Zurich and London were introduced to, and asked to comment on, digital e-readers by IFRA and four partnering newspaper publishers in the eNews programme. This is reportedly the first time mobile e-reading has been researched across geographic regions.

Getting your marketing emails delivered is a specialist skill - Striata
Spam filters can be effective not only against spam and unsolicited email, but also in stopping legitimate, permission-based marketing communications.

KREW Interactive launches Kellogg's online! - KREW Interactive
KREW Interactive has announced the website launch for Kellogg's in South Africa. In addition to showcasing all brands and product lines within the Kellogg's stable, the site provides historical information regarding the company, insights with regards health and nutrition in general and specific product-related nutritional facts.

M&G Online partners with Zoopy - Zoopy
With the launch of the test version of the new Mail & Guardian Online late yesterday, Tuesday, 17 June 2008, it has been revealed that South African social media site Zoopy.com is the news site's online video delivery partner. Launched in March 2007, in December that year Zoopy was selected as Nokia's regional imaging partner for South and West Africa.


Spirit Interactive gains key accounts - Spirit Interactive
May 2008 was a busy month at Spirit Interactive for both its existing and new customers. Several high profile clients commissioned it once again to both revamp their existing websites for them, and create exciting new campaign based sites to attach to their already successful “Spirit designed” main websites.

Age of the Screen threatens traditional advertising
[Louise Marsland] What do you do when students know more than their lecturers in terms of new technologies and applications? When ad agencies are reporting up to 40% lost in above-the-line budgets internationally? When the new consumer is a ‘screenager'? You shift direction to ensure that you remain globally relevant. And this is what the AAA School of Advertising is doing in the marketing communications industry to update its curriculum to produce graduates who are also digitally relevant.

SAE Institute launches scholarship search
Opening its doors in Cape Town this July, SAE Institute - reportedly the world's largest creative media academy - has launched a comprehensive scholarship programme which invites disadvantaged or financially challenged South African students to submit their creative credentials for a place at the world-class academy. Ten places will be available for prospective audio, animation and multimedia students in one of the upcoming diploma courses.

New design, marketing, photography courses in the Stellenbosch winelands - Stellenbosch Academy Design and Photography
The Stellenbosch Academy invites your applications for a variety of design, photography and creative business disciplines.

Exhibitions form core part of SCC's business offering - SA Convention Centre
Exhibitions are an integral part of the annual business turnover which Sandton Convention Centre (SCC) generates, and they fill an important space at the convention centre.

Oasys in the Pretoria Homemakers Expo - Oasys Innovations
The 11th Pretoria Homemakers Expo hosted around 300 exhibitors on 475 stands. With 300 home lifestyle industry leaders under one roof, visitors were provided with an exceptionally high standard of quality exhibits.


Oasys stays in the race for this year's Durban July - Oasys Innovations
Oasys Innovations will once again provide the electrical infrastructure for this year's Vodacom Durban July. This will be the seventh consecutive year for the Oasys Electrical team.

Scan wins again at Markex - Scan Display
Scan Display's stand was named Runner Up in the Medium Stand category at last week's Markex & World of Events 2008, at the Sandton Convention Centre. The latest win means that the exhibition and display specialist has won an award at Markex Jhb for the last five years.


Boating lifestyle brings families closer together - Biz Events
When you buy a boat, you're not just buying a hull with great trim, finishes and a motor. Of course that's part of it, but at the heart of it is the lifestyle you're buying into. It's one that centres on family and friends, activity and fun, health and vitality, and which plays out in the fresh air and sunshine of the great outdoors.

UCM website relaunched - UCM
UCM, media brand owner of premium brands FHM and heat, is proud to announce the relaunch of its corporate website.

SA Men brings you the good news! - SA Men
Gandhi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” The trouble is, while we enjoy feeling good and like to feel that way as much as we can, too many of us spend too much time and energy focusing on all the things that make us feel bad. What we don't do is follow Gandhi's advice and do something to change our world.

Recognising the best men in SA society
The winners at last week's annual Men's Health Best Man leadership event were: Mark Gevisser in Media; Bryan Habana in Sport; Given Mkhari in Business; Dr John Hanks in Science and Technology; Ringo Madinglozi in Arts and Culture; and Brent van Rensburg in Public Service. A new award, the editor's choice award, was presented to an individual Men's Health felt had provided exceptional and inspirational service in his field over a number of years - cricket icon Shaun Pollock. Finalists were selected following a public call for nominations and direction from a panel of specialists in the respective categories, as well as finalists from previous years. Winners were selected by the readers of Men's Health via its website and magazine.

Blaque goes monthly
The new urban lifestyle magazine for men, Blaque, launched in March this year, will go monthly from its third issue in August 2008. The magazine claims to target a diverse group of upwardly mobile black men aged between 24 and 40 years old. Content and direction is determined by an editorial committee which includes publisher Vuyo Jack, editorial director Nick Mosikidi, marketing director Monwabisi Thethe, sales director Peter Machemba, Lereko Ntshona who covers music/events and editor Kojo Baffoe.

Reconcile, CCMA tells SABC, Snuki
[Issa Sikiti da Silva] The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) has postponed for two weeks the matter opposing suspended director of news Snuki Zikalala to the SABC, to give the two parties time and space to work out their differences in order to reach an agreement.

Xenophobia is fundamentally evil - Moosa
[Issa Sikiti da Silva] Xenophobia is fundamentally evil and there is no excuse whatsoever for such actions, Valli Moosa, former minister of environmental affairs and tourism, told a capacity crowd at The Star's ‘Never Again Debate on Xenophobia', held last night, Tuesday, 17 June 2008, at Wits University in Johannesburg.

Mobile search - through the keyhole
[Daniel Aufrichtig] Using a mobile phone to search for information on the Internet often feels like you are trying to look up a word in a dictionary, through a keyhole, with only a chopstick to turn the pages. If you have content on a website that you need to get out to customers, this should concern you.


loveLife generation on mobile network
[Tshepiso Seopa] As of this morning, Friday, 20 June 2008, teenagers with WAP-enabled phones can join MYMsta, a mobile-based social network dedicated at empowering young people in South Africa and preventing HIV. www.MYMsta.mobi is an initiative by loveLife for informing, educating and entertaining the loveLife generation.


Campaign management key to mobile marketing
[Eddie Groenewald] Mobile marketing requires careful up-front planning and campaign management to ensure the best possible experience for customers. The days of crafting a message and hitting the send button to the base of customer cellphones are over. Companies need to think about what they want to say, how they are going to say it, when the campaign will roll out and managing the response from customers.


Ubiquitous cellphone spreads tentacles
[Chris Moerdyk] The ubiquitous cellphone is fast establishing itself as a primary marketing tool in the South African consumer environment. Quite apart from the fact that it is a far reaching and omnipresent medium - let's face it, everybody from millionaires to street urchins carry one - there is something unique about a cellphone that sets it way apart from conventional mass media. And that is the consumer is never too far away from it.

The century of mobile
[Louise Marsland] Radio is “so last century”, an old medium which is losing out to the iPod, online radio and cellphones. This is the view of former ‘Mr Radio', Stan Katz, who is aiming to transform the mobile space in South Africa by providing free online access and calls via your cellphone.

Community organisations use bulk SMS during refugee crisis
Cape Town-based BulkSMS.com recorded its highest-ever monthly SMS volumes on its Community.BulkSMS messaging platform during the recent xenophobic violence. These above-average SMS statistics for organisations within South Africa's civil society were largely based on calls for volunteers and essential items to assist displaced African immigrants.

Mobile ringtone campaign during Euro 2008
Puma's mobile ringtone campaign “Together Everywhere” aims to connect fans during Euro 2008. When a team scores a goal, their supporters' phones ring with their favourite team's chant or national anthem. Fans are also automatically connected to 10 of their pre-selected fellow supporters so that they can celebrate together. Euro 2008 stars including Alexander Frei (Switzerland), Nicolas Anelka (France) and Freddie Ljungberg (Sweden) introduce these conference calls with a special welcome message. The call is free and lasts for a minute. Supporters gain access to the programme through tags that come with Puma's new v1.08 Tricks boot and by visiting www.pumafootball.com. The ringtones of country-specific chants and anthems are downloaded and automatically activated. The campaign runs until the end of the championships and is available in Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany., Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

How a crazy dream turned into SA's first digital chain of humanity - Fireworkx.com
For almost a century, the South African Red Cross Society has been working quietly behind the scenes to relieve suffering and restore human dignity. From one regime to the next, the needs of the people have changed, but the needs of the society have remained the same. To make a difference, it needs funds; and to get funds, it needs publicity.

Medal Paints takes its website live - Quirk eMarketing
Need a splash of colour in your life? Quirk eMarketing has redeveloped the Medal Paints website to ensured that the fresh and trendy brand has been brought to life online.

Freakonomics local style: Part one - Habari Media
[Adrian Hewlett] I'm in the middle of a book called Freakonomics and, as usual, when reading something that interests me, I tend to apply what the author is discussing to what's relevant in my everyday life. One of the key points in the book refers to asking the right questions.

Habari Direct promotions - Habari Media
Teri Fynn has been promoted to client services director and Bronwyn Dane to operations director at Habari Direct.

Soccer fans greeted by world's largest billboard
VIENNA, AUSTRIA: Officially ratified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest advertisement ever seen, the world's biggest billboard has been grabbing the attention of football fans flying into Vienna Airport for the closing stages of Euro 2008. Covering an area of more than 50 football pitches, online betting company Betfair has spent the last four months growing different kinds of plants to spell out the message 'NO.1 FOR FOOTBALL AND STILL GROWING!'


Mascom - in touch with Botswana - Clear Channel
There's no denying, if you want to make your mark, the largest outdoor advertising boundary wrap in Botswana will do it!

Creative Vision's TVC for Draftfcb makes Cannes Film Lions shortlist - Creative Vision
We are over the moon as we are one of only six South African production houses to have made the Lions Film shortlist.


Faith's Milo Marcer shoots McDonald's - Faith
Faith's Milo Marcer downed his tattoo tools yet again to direct the latest McDonald's commercial launching the new Mega Mac Burger for Leo Burnett. Marcer continues to feed his dual passions of film directing and body art.

Fugitive goes digital
June 2008 marked the fourth season of 94.7 Highveld Stereo's popular Fugitive promotion which, for the first time ever, had extensive reach across various digital platforms. A highly interactive, listener-driven competition, the Fugitive is based around a mystery man - unknown even to 94.7 presenters - with a cash bounty on his head, who reveals clues on-air as to his whereabouts in order to allow listeners to find him and win the money.

Greetings from the drawing board! - Grapevine Creative Media
The start of a new era is upon us. After months of planning, sketching, brainstorming and midnight revelations, our plans are coming together for some exciting tweak, pinch and tucks.

Case study 05: Xenophobia and the case of poor Government communication and no leadership - Crisis Communications Consultancy
The recent horrific xenophobic attacks by South African township residents on foreigners from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Somalia, Malawi and Nigeria have once again highlighted the lack of crisis leadership, crisis planning and management capabilities in the Government of the Republic of South Africa.

MSA introduces specialised information service for agencies - Monitoring South Africa
Leading media monitoring company, Monitoring South Africa (MSA), has launched a new PR telesales division designed specifically to serve the needs of PR and communications agencies.

New lineup for East Coast Radio
East Coast Radio has announced its first major lineup change in several years. As of the first of next month, the shows will be filled with a new feel and new ideas and ways of interacting with listeners. “Our jocks are very excited about the new changes and are looking forward to their new roles,” says Naveen Singh, East Coast Radio's programme manager.

Metro publishes souvenir book and CD
Metro FM has published a 232-page souvenir book and CD as part of the station's 21st birthday celebrations. Metrospective: Twenty-One Years of Metro FM reflects on the changes that have taken place in South Africa during the course of the station's existence.

New radio stations RAMS now out
The first data for South Africa's new commercial stations is out, with the release of SAARF RAMS June 2008, the third release of the year. Collected only from the large urban listener base, the numbers are still small at this point, but provide the first indications of how these stations may fare in the future.

Keep your employees close and your ex-employees closer
In the upper echelons of the job market, professionals often share their opinions of ex-employers with their peers and thus an ex-employee can be a company's best ambassador in the corporate world. Organisations should therefore do their utmost to ensure that staff members leave on a positive note, according to Debbie Goodman-Bhyat, MD of Jack Hammer Executive Headhunters.

SA job site announces one millionth registered user
Avusa's online recruitment site CareerJunction last week announced that it has over one million users registered on the site, highlighting the ever-increasing trend of online job searching in South Africa, as opposed to more traditional job hunting methods. Mandla Mamba of Johannesburg received an iPod Shuffle from CareerJunction for being the millionth registered CareerSeeker. On average, CareerJunction claims it advertises over 40 000 job ads per month on behalf of its clients, attracts around 340 000 unique visitors per month and generates in excess of 15 million page impressions over the same period.

Functional communications requires the same efforts as advertising
Financial service providers need to focus the same efforts and energy on their functional communications as they do on their advertising material, and build trust through consistency. This is one of the findings from a study HKLM Confluence recently undertook on behalf of a large financial services client.

Trust Barometer launch - Ask Afrika
In August 2008, Ask Afrika's 2007 Trust Barometer results will be launched, capping off a fourth year of existence since 2004. Previously this ran as the Most Admired Company Survey. This year the questionnaire has been revised extensively to include a major trust section to supplement the Reputation Questions.

Online retailers take the gap left by Amazon move
[Lesley Stones] Local online retailers hope for a windfall after Amazon take action following thefts.

Profiling the consultive salesperson
[Peter Gilbert] In the second of my series on types of salespeople, the focus is the quadrant 2 (QII) consultive salesperson. Consultive salespeople are amongst the most difficult to find because it is a conceptual sale, focusing more on business outcomes or results, than product features and benefits. Unlike closers, consultive salespeople often move comfortably into management roles.

Sponsorship for Scottish pipers
Chivas Brothers was the chief sponsor for the third consecutive year of the widely acclaimed 100 Pipers Scottish Pipe Band Championships which took place in Levengrove Park, Dumbarton recently.


Engen to kickstart Dynamic Cycle Challenge in PMB - Octagon South Africa
Sunday, 29 June 2008, marks a historic date for Engen as it presents the first of the Engen Dynamic Cycle Challenge events, in partnership with Velokhaya, at the Harry Gwala Stadium in Pietermaritzburg, ‘the Bikers City for Africa'.

Octagon named Sports Agency of the Year by Sports Business Journal - Octagon South Africa
Octagon was named “Sports Agency of the Year” by industry trade publication Sports Business Journal at its inaugural awards event held in New York.

SABC, SASFED, IPO in joint research project
[Issa Sikiti da Silva] The SABC, the SA Screen Federation (SASFED) and the Independent Producers Organisation (IPO) have signed an agreement to undertake a joint research project into international best practices regarding procurement of local TV by public broadcasters and the issue of intellectual property rights. The parties met on Saturday, 21 June 2008, in Hyde Park, Johannesburg, for the signing of the landmark agreement.

SuperSport, UEFA renew pay-TV rights
SuperSport yesterday, Thursday, 19 June 2008, announced that it has signed a deal for the exclusive pay-TV rights in sub-Saharan Africa for the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup from 2009 - 2012. The latest agreement means football fans will be treated to the best of European club action until 2012.

SpongeBob SquarePants to hit sub-Saharan Africa
MultiChoice Africa has signed a multi-year distribution deal with MTV Networks International to carry leading kids' entertainment brand, Nickelodeon, in southern Africa. Starting 1 July 2008, Nickelodeon will launch as a 24-hour English language channel, broadcasting to more than one and a half million DStv subscribers in Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Standard Bank renews contract with Three Ring Circus - Three Ring Circus
Three Ring Circus recently announced that Standard Bank, current title sponsor of the Rocking Future Roadshow, has renewed their contract for the second consecutive year.