Industry heavyweights in largest media merger this year
EXCLUSIVE: It was announced today, 17 November, that independent printing heavyweight Uniprint and multimedia giant Hirt & Carter will seek to join forces in what will be the largest industry union of its kind in the South African media industry this year. The deal, currently under review by the Competition Commission, will see the two successful companies in a commercial benefit share swap deal to create a merger of equals with all downstream brands and business units unaffected.

Call for SA franchisors to enter UK's Franchise Marketing Awards
LONDON: The Franchise Marketing Awards is calling on the UK and international franchise community to submit entries for the 2009 initiative. Now in its third year, the awards have added Best International Marketing Campaign to its established categories, allowing franchisors from around the globe the opportunity to gain worldwide recognition for their marketing campaigns.

CMO Council meeting tackles CSI, Brand SA
[Sindy Peters] The relationship between CEOs and chief marketing officers (CMOs), as well as the role marketing should play in corporate social investment projects, were topics of discussion at the second annual CMO Council board meeting held in Cape Town last month. Bizcommunity.com spoke to Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council, regarding feedback from the meeting, as well as Brand South Africa and Africa's place within the CMO Council global network.


2008 Mondi Ithabise! winners
South Africa's multi-billion rand stationery and office products industry celebrated the winners of the Mondi Ithabise! Awards last week. An initiative of the Southern African Association for Stationery, Home and Office Products (shop-sa), the 16 year-old awards programme is designed to acknowledge the industry's outstanding individuals, companies and marketing campaigns.

Price decrease promotions are all about perception
[Chris Moerdyk] South African business in general seems to be missing out on a wonderful marketing opportunity by completely ignoring what every single consumer in the country desperately wants to hear. Prices decreasing.

SA Tourism pays tribute to Mama Africa
South African Tourism has expressed deep sadness at the passing on the weekend of singer Miriam Makeba. CEO Moeketsi Mosola paid tribute to Mama Africa (as she was affectionately known the world over) for her grace, her generosity and for the invaluable contribution she made, both to the fight for freedom in South Africa and to establishing globally the soul-lifting and joyous music of this continent.


Seminars need reinventing to survive - Chris Moerdyk
I'm finding that a lot of companies that send their executives and staff to many of the seminars and workshops being offered right now, are beginning to wonder whether these are providing any sort of value.

Mobile marketing, broadcasting ahead of 2010 World Cup
The importance of mobile marketing and broadcasting ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup will feature prominently in the upcoming Soccerex 2008 that South Africa will host later this month.

Call to revise advertising code of practice
The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (the ASA) is inviting all interested parties to submit proposals for amending the Code of Advertising Practice for the year 2009. Proposals should be well motivated and must reach the ASA by 31 March 2009. The Code is revised annually to keep pace with societal changes in South Africa as well as to reflect evolving advertising practice worldwide.

Ten tips for APEX
The Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) has compiled ten tips on how to create the best APEX submission possible. ACA believes APEX is not just an award but a reputation. A campaign may have been spectacularly effective, but if an APEX entry is not as good as the campaign, it may not win an APEX.

Time for students to sharpen D&AD pencils
LONDON: It's time for students to sharpen their pencils and start solving some problems. The D&AD Student Awards are back with a fresh batch of design and advertising briefs, set by a mix of multinational and niche brands.


Koenderman launches book on advertising quotations
Tony Koenderman's Smoke and Mirrors: advertising in a nutshell has just been released by Jonathan Ball Publishers. It's a collection of quotations about advertising, published in book form, comprising 1618 quotations from critical or admiring opinion leaders, humourists and giants of the industry.


Loeries delays host city announcement
After all the hoopla and fanfare last week, Bizcommunity.com regrets to announce that The Loerie Committee will not deliver on its promised announcement of the Loerie host city this week.

Chery launches in SA - Mortimer Harvey
The exciting new range of Chery vehicles were launched into the South African market earlier this year. The launch, co-ordinated by Mortimer Harvey, was held at the Thaba Ya Batswana Eco Lodge which was enthusiastically greeted by press, fleet owners and dealers.

Cadillac CTS campaign scoops silver Assegai - AdMakers
With the announcement of the winners of the Direct Marketing Association Assegai Awards last week AdMakers kept its record in tack for winning an award every time they've entered these results driven awards.


Wicked Pixels takes TBWA Hunt Lascaris for a ride - Wicked Pixels
Getting a car to surf a road wave was never going to be easy. 2008 D&AD winning director, Craig Wessels (MTN ‘Stickies', Hyundai ‘Freestyle', Parmalat ‘Pure Joy') of Wicked Pixels took up the challenge of creating the new, Nissan Livina X-Gear commercial for TBWA Hunt Lascaris. Also catch up on Design Indaba, Clover and Mrs Balls.


Loyiso juices up his new music video with Tropika - Stimulii
Lyrical maestro Loyiso Bala's eclectic taste in music is on full display in his latest music video, Dali Wami. While the local crooner's singing style is still rooted in R&B, Dali Wami, which features in his recently released album, Blow Your Mind, reaches out to a wider audience.

Joe Public wins Gold at Assegai Awards - Joe Public
Joe Public is celebrating its gold and two silver wins received at the Assegai Awards, held last week at Gallagher Estate. All awards were as a result of creative executions for long-standing client, eBucks.


Third Quarter winner of the 2008/9 Salient Performance Award is announced - Salient Advertising
The management team at Salient Strategic Advertising and Design strongly believes in recognising and rewarding staff who contribute to the agency's growth and success. It therefore launched the Salient Performance Award at the end of April 2007 to reward staff who consistently exceed expectations within key performance areas.


Sisters with Blisters' animated march - Masters & Savant
With a clear message to stand against women abuse, fighting this with humanity rather than guns and bombs, 1st for Women and Jacaranda FM stand firm in their sponsorship of the Sisters with Blisters walk.


To all that supported the ABF Crazy Golf Day - Advertising Benevolent Fund
The Advertising Benevolent Fund of South Africa (ABF) has expressed its deep and very sincere thanks for all the support received for its Crazy Golf Day at Kyalami Country Club, Johannesburg, last week.

Financial crisis - what you can do to avoid it - Brainstorm Projects
One needs only turn on the TV or listen to the radio and the doom and gloom glares at you. The US market is collapsing, the rand is volatile and things that seemed set in stone a couple of months ago are now looking progressively shaky. Business, new clients and sales are becoming harder to come by.

Loeries expo flies to New York
The final stop for the Loerie Awards Travelling Exhibition, sponsored by the SABC, will be at The One Club in New York City, a global non-profit organisation for the recognition and promotion of excellence in advertising, 20 November - 5 December 2008. “The One Club is seen as the most prestigious advertising awards granting organisation globally, so it's fitting that the very best in South African advertising would be exhibited here,” says Kevin Swanepoel, One Club president. The expo showcases the winning 2007 work. Venue: The One Club Gallery, 12 East 26th Street, Fifth Floor, New York, NY 10010.

Record number of entries for Eurobest 2008
LONDON: A total of 5895 entries from 680 companies in 38 countries will be competing at Europe's top creative advertising awards next month, an overall increase of 11% versus last year, and an all-time record for the 21st Eurobest awards, which this year evolves into a three-day European Advertising Festival. Without taking into account the new Design category, the increase is 5%. For more info, go to www.eurobest.com.

SA striving to win battle of international perceptions
[Mike Abel] International perceptions about a country have an effect on foreign investment, investor confidence and even the social fibre of a country, says International Marketing Council (IMC) of South Africa marketing manager, Vuyelwa Nyakaza. Speaking at the recent launch of the IMC's Branding the Nation campaign and the launch of the book, Africa: The Good News, Nyakaza highlighted that being branded as a nation had much to do with how South Africa was perceived internationally.

The political party name game
[Anthony Swart] Elections are in the spotlight. America has cast its ballot, and South Africa will soon be following suit. What's really exciting about our political climate is the introduction of the new political party, which until recently has had no name...


Cross Colours creates a hot read for Nando's - Cross Colours
The pain and pleasure of peri-peri became the subject for a fiery new book commissioned by none other than a brand synonymous with peri-peri - Nando's.


Karin Boshoff promoted to managing director of HKLM Design Johannesburg. - HKLM
Karin Boshoff has been appointed to head up HKLM Design while maintaining her role as head of HKLM Exchange. Boshoff and her team will continue to build the reputation of HKLM and the brand as a leader in the design industry.


Talk2Us awarded BBG Technologies account - Talk2Us
Talk2Us has been appointed by BBG Technologies to manage all its strategic brand, PR and marketing activities. Talk2Us will also be responsible for the organisation's publicity.

The other side of the sell - OIL
[Michael Lawrence] Michael Lawrence, head of OIL, crosses over briefly to the other side and returns with lessons from the client's perspective.

New appointment - CineMARK
CineMARK has recently appointed Suhail Asvat as its new chief financial officer.

Deadline extended Art Vespa design competition
Vespa South Africa has extended its deadline for its Art Vespa 2009 competition to 15 January 2009, it announced yesterday, Wednesday, 12 November 2008.


The Open Window scoops gold, silver and merit at the 2008 Assegai Awards - The Open Window
In its first year of participation in the Direct Marketing Association's (DMA) Assegai Awards, The Open Window School of Visual Communication's design students, in collaboration with marketing students from Tuks, received several accolades in the Student Category of this annual competition.

“All” the inaugural Bookmarks winners
[Simone Puterman] The inaugural Online Publishing Association's Bookmark Awards last night, Thursday, 13 November 2008, were not without controversy, as some of goodie bag CDs - supposedly the 2008 showreel of the winners - instead contained what appears to be confidential Primedia 365 internal communications. Several hours later, Bizcommunity.com has managed to track down the actual official list of the winners...


United States bloggers to tour SA
Brand South Africa, under the auspices of the SA International Marketing Council (IMC), has invited a group of bloggers from the United States to tour selected sites in this country during early December. The aim is to generate publicity for South Africa. Zoopy Gauteng GM, Nic Haralambous will be accompanying the tour and blogging exclusively for Bizcommunity.com in this space.

Durban goes live
This month sees the launch of www.durbanlive.com, a website covering urban life and culture across the city. DBNLive arrives in KZN after the success of pioneering Joburg urban culture website JHBLive, which has been a pivotal part of youth culture in the big smoke for close on a decade.


Google aims to stop ‘agency fraud'
[Louise Marsland] Myth and misunderstanding is leading to digital mayhem in the industry, whereby agencies are being accused by digital behemoth Google of committing fraud or, at the very least, irresponsible accounting with their clients cash online. As a result, Google announced today, Friday, 14 November 2008, that it would be ‘Google certifying' five key agencies leading this space in 2009.

What SA can learn from "Digital Obama"
[Benon Czornij] On Tuesday, 4 November 2008, I watched the results pour in and the announcement that Barak Hussein Obama would be the 44th president of the United States of America. The revolution of ‘Change' had finally woken the world. It arrived in our email boxes, and penetrated the screens of our computers via YouTube and Facebook profiles, our phones via SMS alerts, and even Xbox games.


Afrigator launches blog ad network
Afrigator Internet has launched Adgator, billed as Africa's first blog ad network tailored specifically for South Africa, today, Tuesday, 11 November 2008. According to Justin Hartman, MD of Afrigator, this is a way for advertisers to reach thousands of South Africa's top bloggers and blog readers while offering bloggers the chance to earn money from their sites.


‘Hologram' tech debuts during CNN election coverage
Last week, CNN debuted its new ‘hologram' technology during its coverage of the American elections. CNN also reports record traffic to its international edition of CNN.com.

Yahoo brings your brands closer to your exact online audience - apurimac media
Digital media and marketing company apurimac media has just released its bi-annual Online Demographics and Psychographics Survey for Yahoo! South Africa users.


SPEND2WIN at Digicape - Digicape Apple Premium Reseller
Every time you spend R2000 or more at Digicape before 15 December 2008, you'll stand to win a share of R70 000 in prizes, including iPhones, iPods, Macs and more! Spend to win today, you know you want to...


Callit-IT assists in Indonesia - Callit-IT
Callit-IT, the event logistics specialists, recently broadened its scope into Indonesia. Unilever Arabia hosted its Unilever Customer Preview for its new Ponds face care range last month in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Gmail launches voice, video chat
Google has just launched browser-based voice and video chat as a natural extension to webmail and instant messaging, allowing people to choose how they want to communicate at each moment - by email, instant message, voice, or video. The launch comes as video communication grows in popularity; many of the latest lines of laptops, for example, come with built-in webcams. The feature is being rolled out over the next day or so on PCs and on Macs. Google Apps customers get this service as well, at no extra charge, and can video chat with any other Gmail or Apps users.

PRIMEDIA@HOME maximises reach for GCIS's 16 Days of Activism campaign - PRIMEDIA@HOME
PRIMEDIA@HOME has once again been contracted by Government Communication and Information Systems (GCIS), to maximise reach of its promotional material for the world-renowned, annual 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children campaign.


Greymatter ropes in Direct Marketing Organisation of the Year and five Assegai Awards - Greymatter
Greymatter has received the Direct Marketing Association of South Africa's (DMASA) Direct Marketing Organisation of the Year Assegai Award for 2008. The agency last week took top honours with the most Assegai awards - three Gold and two Bronze for five direct marketing campaigns.

Southern Sun brings home Miss World
Southern Sun has been awarded the naming rights as the ‘Home of Miss World 2008'. This was announced today at the official welcoming of the 112 Miss World 2008 contestants at the Sandton Sun last week.

Events Summit rescheduled
First it was called Events Indaba, then it was renamed to Events Summit and the date shifted from end of October 2008 to November. Since then, it has been rescheduled to 21 - 23 July 2009, based on input from both event buyers and suppliers, to take account of completed school holidays plus two important sports fixtures at Coca-Cola Park.

SAACI board member elected to international body
Nina Freysen-Pretorius, vice chair of the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI), was recently elected to the board of the International Congress & Convention Association (ICCA). SAACI national chairman Thomas Overbeck says the election is indicative not only of her professionalism as an individual, but also of the high esteem in which the South African conference industry is held internationally.


True Colour Events spices up Retail Awards - True Colour Events
True Colour Events sets the standard with the addition of a brand new glitzy event to the retail calendar. The inaugural Retail Awards hosted by The Times and Sowetan, took place on Thursday, 30 October 2008 at the Dome at Constitution Hill, proving to be a fitting location for an event that boasted a bevy of celebrities and some of the top players in the retail and property industry.


VWV teams up with Gary Bailey to coach corporates on 2010 - VWV Productions
“The 2010 FIFA World Cup is one of two mega events in the world second to the Olympics. Arguably soccer is the more exciting of the two. 2010 makes this the biggest branding opportunity we will have as a country in this decade. It also means that all South Africans are in National Service for our World Cup.”


Collyer Lessick hosts Unilver event in Jakarta - Collyer Lessick & Associates
A glass terraced conference room! A penthouse converted into a spa! These were just a few exciting elements Collyer Lessick International (CLi) conceptualised, planned and executed for its client Unilever.


Where will you be for Christmas? - Summer with Don't Forget George - Don't Forget George
As Father Christmas pulls on his fluffy white thermal drawers and polishes his sleigh clean, South Africans take one last glance in the mirror and reach for their bathing suits anyway.


PenQuin International delivers “something for everyone” at the Steinhoff Summer Cup! - PenQuin International
At last Joburg gets its very own world-class racing event! “There is something for everyone” at this year's Steinhoff Summer Cup held at Turffontein racecourse on 29 November 2008.

Eventing - we are not reinventing the wheel: A historical perspective on eventing - Don't Forget George
According to the Oxford Dictionary, an event is defined as: “1. a thing that happens. 2. a public or social occasion”. Events have existed since time began. Oddly, not very much has changed. The dictionary definition describes an event but fails to touch on an event's utility. The motivation behind an event is as important as the event itself. This purpose remains almost unaltered, hundreds of years on.


Ash Searle - So you think you can dance! - Conference Speakers International
Ash Searle was born and bred in Gauteng. He began dancing and performing at the age of eight, which put him in great demand as a rare breed. He danced in numerous shows throughout his school days and was a firm favourite as the leading male in many dramatic productions.


Smile and the world smiles with you: humour in marketing - Don't Forget George
Humour is infectious. Laughter is contagious. When we smile, it makes us feel happy, elated, entertained and strong. In marketing, humour is not a new concept.


It all begins with a pencil and a story... The role of DFG animation in brand activation - Don't Forget George
Marco Curado works at Don't Forget George Events and Productions. He is an artist, his art - graphic design and animation. His art represents just one of DFG's spectrum of services - tailored to the world of communication and marketing.


Big screen soccer event in Gugulethu
Event management company ZA FanZone will host the Soweto Derby in Gugulethu this weekend, screening the highly anticipated soccer match between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates live on a giant outdoor LED screen.

The Baby Expo: Best Exhibition of the Year - The Baby Expo
The Baby Expo™ Durban won ‘Best Exhibition of the Year' at the Exhibition Association of South Africa (EXSA) awards held on the 13th November 2008 at the Expo Centre NASREC.


IDG Design in top 10 at Electra Mining 2008 - IDG
IDG recently designed and custom built an award-winning stand for Verder Pumps SA at the 2008 Electra Mining Africa Tradeshow. The Verder Pump's SA stand was selected based on its clean design, which made the branding really stand out.


Sony stand voted best at AVA Expo - Volcano Advertising
Sony's exhibition stand at the recent Audio Visual and Appliances Expo, held at Sandton Convention Centre, was awarded best overall stand. The stand was conceptualised and designed by Volcano Advertising, which also co-ordinated its manufacturing and erection.

Entry call for ADmag Awards
The annual prestigious ADvantage ADmag Awards for all consumer magazine categories is now open for entry. Bizcommunity.com is the online media partner for the 2008/9 awards and is sponsoring a new award for the digital editions of the publications.

Media Nova formalises customer publishing arm
Media Nova has formalised its customer publishing division, following the success of its two lifestyle titles, The Property Magazine and Sandton magazine. This strategic decision follows hot on the heels of Media Nova being awarded the contract to publish the RCI Directory of Resorts 2009-2010.

Your Child to close
The latest casualty of the current tough financial market is Your Child magazine. Media 24's parenting division, Alchemy Publishing, announced late yesterday afternoon, Wednesday, 12 November 2008, that the last issue will be published in January 2009.

First male editor for Essentials
Caxton Magazines has appointed Darren-Jay Hart as the new editor of Essentials magazine, it announced yesterday, Monday, 10 November 2008. Hart succeeds Tanya Kovarsky, who took over the helm of Cleo magazine in July this year.


Strong new circulation figures for FHM and heat - UCM
The Audit Bureau of Circulations of South Africa (ABC) has announced good quarterly circulation figures for number one men's lifestyle magazine FHM and for heat, SA's premier weekly celebrity and entertainment news glossy.


A 360 degree opportunity to reach all South African women - woman360
As of December 2008, woman360 will absorb Media24's special interest women's magazine titles: Femina, Psychologies and Lééf - met hart & siel.

Bold new look, larger format fresh focus for Media24's free community magazine myweek - myweek
Media24's free community magazine myweek has a bold new look, larger format and a fresh focus. A total of 13 local, glossy magazines are published monthly and distributed via selected hotspots in up-market shopping centres, restaurants and businesses across the country.

MIC now largest single shareholder in Primedia
Announced this morning, Thursday, 13 November 2008, is an equity deal signed by the Mineworkers Investment Company (MIC), Primedia and Brait, making MIC the largest single shareholder in Primedia and this reportedly the largest broad based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) shareholding in the media sector.

Newspapers circulation down, consumer mags still down - ABC
[Issa Sikiti da Silva] Almost 70% of South African daily newspapers have experienced circulation declines, with the exception of the Daily Sun, which delivered the largest growth at over 7613 copies, according to the third quarter year on year analysis released this morning, Thursday, 13 November 2008, by the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC). The presentation took place at the Hyatt Regency in Rosebank, Johannesburg.

Ginwala Commission's Report should be public - FXI
The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) has written to President Kgalema Motlanthe, asking him to make the Ginwala Commission's Report - on the fitness of Adv Vusi Pikoli to hold the office of national director of public prosecutions (NDPP) - available to the public by Friday, 14 November 2008.

Legal Journalist of the Year winners
The Financial Mail's Rob Rose has taken first place in the print category, and the SABC's Sasha Wales-Smith the electronic media category, in the 2008 Webber Wentzel Legal Journalist of the Year competition, it was announced yesterday, Wednesday, 12 November 2008.

Media leaders call for media development in Africa
DAKAR: Over 32 CEOs of African media organisations met last week in Dakar, Senegal, and called for a stronger push for media development in Africa, and agreed to collaborate so that media can play a more proactive role in Africa's development.

Mobile charity drive raises R655K
Grapevine Interactive, a wireless application service provider (WASP), says SMS aficionados let their thumbs do the talking by raising R655 000 for Carte Blanche's ‘making a difference campaign'.

Standard Bank launches mobile-based ATM/branch locator
AfriGIS, a location based services company, has developed a mobile service that enables Standard Bank customers to locate the nearest Standard Bank ATM or branch from their cellphones.

MMA releases mobile attitude/usage study, revises ad currency definitions
NEW YORK; LONDON, SINGAPORE & SAO PAULO: The Annual Mobile Attitude and Usage Study was released yesterday, Wednesday, 12 November 2008, by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA). Also published earlier this week by the MMA was its first revision of Global Mobile Measurement Ad Currency Definitions.

Cyberlaw expert joins WASPA adjudicators
Cyberlaw expert Sizwe Snail has been appointed as an adjudicator tasked with resolving any complaints mobile consumers may have with the 147 full and affiliate members of the Wireless Application Service Providers' Association of SA (WASPA), it was announced earlier this week.

MMA launches South Africa Council
Joining the recently launched India and UK Council and other local European bodies in Spain, Ireland, Germany and Austria is the South Africa Local Council of the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), established to lead the creation of guidelines and best practices and educate and evangelise on the mobile channel locally. The announcement was made yesterday, Monday, 10 November 2008.

Clickatell's winning streak continues - Clickatell
Global mobile messaging provider, Clickatell, has been shortlisted for two outstanding implementations in the “Best Customer Services Provider” category of the 2008 AfricaCom Awards.

Morkels and RBA use mobile tech in house promotion - Multimedia Solutions
Morkels and RBA New Homes are using mobile technology to create awareness about a joint promotion where the two companies will be giving away a fully furnished home.

Clickatell sweeps 2008 Mobile Star Awards - Clickatell
Global mobile messaging provider Clickatell was awarded several honours at the recent seventh annual Mobile Star Awards for 2008.

Mobile internet process - Grapevine Media
[Hans Mol] According to Opera's latest report, Africa's mobile phone industry is growing at nearly double the global rate while at the same time, PC penetration rates remain low as the initial costs are high.

CNN launches image-matching mobile app

click to enlarge

NEW YORK: CNN International earlier this week launched CNN MyClick in conjunction with MyClick, an application that allows users to directly connect to CNN's mobile news site using camera mobile devices. Users can now take a picture of a CNN logo, either in print form (magazines, leaflets, brochures, billboards etc) or captured off a TV screen, and connect to http://cnnmobile.com to access the latest news headlines, stories and more. The application, which may be downloaded from http://cnnmyclick.com is currently available in more than 13 countries in Asia Pacific and is compatible with a wide range of GPRS and 3G-WAP-enabled mobile devices and PDA smartphones.

Die Burger's cycle tour entry date extended - Die Burger
Entries for the Die Burger cycle tour, which would have closed on Monday, 10 November 2008, has been extended due to an increase in enquiries and more people wanting to enter. Cyclists now have until 12:00 on Friday 14 November to enter this amazing cycle tour.

Sport24 grows up, leaves the 24.com nest
24.com recently launched the standalone Sport24.co.za, complete with new content management system and new look. Sport24 has been around for about a year and a half but initially as part of the 24.com portal strategy.

Obama did it, how can you? - AlterSage
4 November 2008 will be remembered for many reasons. Not only did the United States choose Barack Obama to be its 44th president, but it was also a great day for internet marketing. With Obama's victory it was proven that internet marketing can no longer be ignored. With one objective in mind, Obama's team created the best internet campaign ever employed by a politician - and it worked.

It's not too late to jump online in time for the festive rush - Acceleration Media
Marketers that have not yet allocated budget towards online advertising for the festive season still have time to acquire good placement opportunities ahead of the December rush.

Broadband conference attracts top speakers - MyBroadband
MyBroadband's fourth annual conference promises to be the biggest and best yet, with speakers from Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, Neotel, Multichoice and Seacom.


The Children's Hospital Trust R2 a Day fundraising campaign - donate now! - Quirk eMarketing
A few weeks ago, Quirk eMarketing launched the Breadline Africa Blogger Bakeoff. Now, it's showcasing the new Children's Hospital Trust fundraising campaign.

Portable Event Advertising Bin - Right Stuff
When it comes to event advertising, the "accessory" has now become the "necessity." In the past, the traditional event bin was an after-thought, a branding accessory which took a back seat behind the banners and flags, which always held centre stage when displayed at public functions.


Ford forges into Africa - INM Outdoor
The Ford Motor Company is building strong awareness and driving new sales through its outdoor advertising awareness campaign throughout Africa. The campaign, originated by Ford in Detroit, has identified the Focus, Ranger and Explorer ranges to drive into these markets.


The Incredible Hulk on the loose in Gauteng - Volcano Advertising
To promote Nu Metro Home Entertainment's latest DVD release of The Incredible Hulk, Volcano Advertising used bright green die-cut signs featuring bold onomatopoeia style headings, appearing on or close to fallen walls, uprooted trees, bent street poles and blown-over information signs, in and around Gauteng suburbs.


Pro Shop goes mobile around town - What's New Media
Today's consumers are more mobile and wireless so What's New Media brings familiarity to brands or promotions directly to the consumer several hundred times a day, via a new high-tech vehicle which continuously moves around town.

Parliamentary film festival
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) in partnership with the Parliamentary Millenium Project (PMP) will hold their third Parliament Film Festival this week in Cape Town.

Two Joint MDs for Endemol SA
Entertainment programming company Endemol announced the appointment of Levern Engel and Sivan Pillay as joint MDs of Endemol South Africa yesterday, Wednesday, 12 November 2008. Engel and Pillay take up their new roles with immediate effect.

NFVF releases graduate absorption study results
Earlier this year, the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) embarked on a graduate absorption study to track students who were offered bursaries by the foundation. The study has now been completed and published on its website.

Humanoid gets the girl - Egg Films
Humanoid's duo of directors just turned into a trio with the addition of a feminine touch in the shape of Verushka Vogt. Since its inception three years ago, Verushka is the first new director to join the group of filmmakers.


Velocity takes home Gold at the London International Awards - Velocity
Velocity has achieved two Gold awards and a Silver in the television and cinema category at the London International Awards.

Bioscope shoots ‘Share it' ad for Steers - Bioscope Films
Director Hylton Tannenbaum has just shot the first of a campaign of Steers ads promoting Wacky Wednesday's two for one. The ad features a young couple sharing their burgers.


Fresh Eye's Cindy Lee gives new Postbank ad an authentic touch - Fresh Eye Film Productions
Talking to audiences, not at them, is what director Cindy Lee from Fresh Eye Film Productions is getting a reputation for among South Africa's ad agencies. The latest example of this is the commercial for Postbank.


Riverstone Films enjoys a Creative Circle "Ad of the Month" - Riverstone Films
Riverstone Films has taken a joint first place in television for Creative Circle's "Ad of the Month”, September 2008.


Good values start with filming
Filming of the Heartlines television series Hopeville started in Waterval Boven in Mpumalanga last week. Set to be screened over a six-week period on SABC2 in late February 2009, the series continues the Heartlines' tradition of using television to tell stories that will get the nation talking, thinking and acting on good values. It is being produced by Curious Pictures.

Cape Town filmmaker selected for Binger Filmlab
Elan Gamaker, a Cape Town-based writer/director, has been accepted into the Director's Coaching Programme of the Binger Filmlab (www.binger.nl) which, in conjunction with the Amsterdam School of Art, invites six international filmmakers annually to participate in its five-month intensive course. The residence takes places March - July 2009, and includes a trip to the Cannes Film Festival, where prominent industry members meet the Binger attendees and are introduced to the projects being developed in the programme. Gamaker will be developing his second feature film, entitled Swart Gevaar, during his tenure at the Binger.

Coca-Cola Zero joins forces with Samplex in Namibia - Samplex
The Coca-Cola Company stable recently launched Coca-Cola Zero in Namibia. This vibrant and eye catching launch, organised by the Samplex and Matrix PR team, was held at one of the most hot and happening clubs in Windhoek - Club La Dee. In addition Samplex was given the fun task of promoting Coca-Cola Zero at street promotions throughout the city.


Tradeway gets its promoters on track - Tradeway Promotions
Tradeway Promotions has announced that it has successfully completed its pilot project using its custom cellular location-based services to track and monitor promoter activity and performance. The company says that this has added an extra dimension to its standard supervision and monitoring procedures delivering exponential results for clients and their activations.

PR to roar at Cannes Lions
2009 will see the launch of PR Lions, with the inaugural jury to be chaired by Lord Tim Bell, chairman of Chime Communications, the organisers of the 56th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival announced earlier this week. The winners of the first-ever PR Lions and Grand Prix will be honoured in Cannes on Monday, 22 June 2009, alongside Direct and Promo.


Call to enter PRISA PRISM Awards 2009
Entries for the PRISA PRISM Awards 2009 close on 31 January 2009 and winners will be announced at the function to take place in Johannesburg in March 2009. As always, creativity - a necessity in these challenging times - is one of the key criteria in these annual awards of the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA).

Six tips to improve your online communication
[Melissa Attree] If you remove all the tech and jargon and ‘stuff', embracing Web 2.0 concepts and thinking, it's relatively easy to make a good first impression, and, let's face it, when it comes to communicating through the web, that's all we have. Here's a short list of some things I've picked up or noticed along the way that irk me.


Effectively manage internal communications throughout the African continent - ChatROOM
When organisations deal with staff compliments of several hundreds across different countries on various levels of hierarchy and from different cultures, educational background, language preferences and demographics, effective internal communication becomes a major challenge.

New copywriting and translation service is better than ever - Purple Cow Communications
Thanks to a recently completed restructuring process and acquisition trail, local online company Copywriters.co.za is in a better position than ever to provide top quality copywriting, editing, proofreading and translation services to clients locally and abroad.


Don't let your press release down - Encyclomedia
Journalists say that 95% of press releases get sent to the bin, many of which for reasons that are simple to fix. However, not many companies are aware that they could be making a far greater impact through a few changes in the way they work with the media.


Custom publishing house launches PR division
Custom publishing house, the TCB Group, recently launched a new publicity management arm, TCB Media Consultancy. Commented group CEO Deidre Theron-Loots, "In line with the current trend in the US and Europe, it makes sense for the TCB Group to extend our portfolio of services to include public relations.”

RAB appoints new general manager
The Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB) South Africa today announced the appointment of Norman Gibson as general manager. Gibson will be joining the RAB in January next year, bringing with him a wealth of media, sales and marketing experience.

Radio Pulpit awarded broadcasting licence after 27 years
After many hearings and a period of almost three years, the Independent Broadcasting Authority (ICASA) has awarded Radio Pulpit a broadcasting license. This means that for the first time in 27 years, since Radio Pulpit's establishment in 1981, the legitimacy of the station has been acknowledged.


Amon to babysit for Penny on Metro FM
Metro FM'S Amon Mokoena will be standing in for presenter Penny Lebyane, who is going on maternity leave. Lebyane usually presents The Ultimate midday show between 12 noon and 3pm weekdays.

What's up at Lotusfm
As of 1 November 2008, Jared Dukkhi has taken over Lotusfm's DNA Show, which airs 10am - 1pm every Saturday and Sunday, station manager Gail Samuels announced earlier this week. The station is celebrating 25 years in broadcasting this year.

Free online job advertising for South African NPOs, Government and educational institutions - Jobs.co.za
South African job portal Jobs.co.za will provide free online job advertising to benefit non-profit organisations' charities, community services, Government and educational institutions as its investment in social responsibility, it announced today, Wednesday, 12 November 2008.

Free job board for global open source community
STUTTGART, GERMANY: www.openDesktop.org, a network portal for open source and IT specialists around the world, recently launched a free job board for its global open source community. "The job board is more than a traditional job board. It is also a project board. We expect it to become a popular place for community members to outsource jobs, such as logo designs. Developers may also search for project members, or for experts to market newly-built applications. The board may even be used to search for business partners, or project financiers. In short, it's a multipurpose job board," said founder and CEO Frank Karlitschek.

Economic downturn effects on SA consumer behaviour
[Alan Todd] Whether you call it the “credit crunch”, an “economic downturn” or a "recession”, the fact is that the consumers' discretionary spending is being squeezed hard, and their confidence about the economic future has been dented. Consumers are feeling economic stress right now, and this anxiety is heightened by a sense of danger rooted in 21st century worries about terrorism, environmental guilt, genetically modified foods, oil shortages, political uncertainty, currency fluctuations and AIDS, to name some.


Vision Africa introduces MediaMetrics results - Vision Africa
Last month, Vision Africa, a full-service marketing and stakeholder research company, held a breakfast for media, agencies and selected corporate companies to present the results of MediaMetrics, a product of Vision Africa.

BMI takes sponsorship evaluation to the next level - BMI Sport Info
For nearly 20 years BMI has conducted extensive research on quantifying and measuring trends in a wide range of sponsorships, sports codes, music arts and culture and related topics. BMI has also been at the forefront of implementing digital sponsorship evaluation technology. This includes Newbase, which is a premier digital print brand exposure monitoring system used in over 40 countries worldwide.

New research reveals domestic servants influence on brand choice - Ask Afrika
Domestic help is often said to be one of the reasons more South Africans do not emigrate. The truth is that a very small proportion of South Africans say they have domestic help at all at only 11%, with only 4.8% saying they have full-time help.

Impact of advertising on retail brands: Tesco case study, Part 1
[Pedro de Gouveia] How 'Every Little Helps' - advertising helped Tesco's brand image in the 1990s. The radical transformation of Tesco's fortunes from slumbering number two to Britain's largest supermarket chain, has been well documented in the UK.


Marin's rides Lama onto local soil
The multimillion dollar point of sale corporation, Marin's, has landed on local ground. Based in France, the company is investing in South Africa with an aim to place the country in the forefront of economic and technological advancement.

All the 2008 SA E-Commerce Awards winners
The winners of the 2008 South African E-Commerce Awards, hosted by Jump Shopping, were announced yesterday, Monday, 10 November 2008. Winning the most awards this year was eDreams.co.za.

Gain control of your liquor business - Pointeq Teqnologies
Pointeq's Windward System Five (WWS5) is a revolutionary product for owners and managers of liquor/beer/wine stores because it gives you the data management capabilities of giant retail chains at a price that is affordable to almost any retailer.


The lowdown on Glycaemic Index (GI) and Glycaemic Load (GL) - The Heart and Stroke Foundation SA
[Ayesha Seedat] National Diabetes Awareness Week runs form the 10 - 14 November 2008, with the 14th marking World Diabetes Day.

Nampak Wiegand Glass rolls out the red carpet for customers - Nampak Products Ltd
Nampak Wiegand Glass rolled out the red carpet for customers recently when the company hosted its first customer day in more than 20 years.

Channel O pays tribute to Mama Afrika
Besides her youth, besides her courage, besides her unwavering spirit, besides hope, perhaps Miriam Makeba's greatest gift to us was her music. When we hurt, her voice healed us. When we were down, her melody made us get up and dance. When we celebrated, hers was the rhythm that accompanied our joy.


SABC pledges impartial treatment of political parties
The SABC will meet major political parties in Cape Town next week to explain how it will ensure its coverage of the 2009 Election will be fair and impartial. The meetings are part of an outreach by the SABC to all sectors of South African society and will include joint provincial road shows with the Independent Electoral Commission.

OATS rebrands Africa division
JOHANNESBURG: Oracle Airtime Sales (OATS) has announced the rebranding of its Africa division to DStv Ad Sales.


SA, Netherlands collaborate on reality TV show
Currently being broadcast on Llink television in the Netherlands is Expedition Unlimited, a reality TV show on the South African adventures of five models and five young people with physical disabilities. The show is a collaboration between South African Tourism and the Netherlands' VSB Fonds and National Committee for International Co-operation and Sustainable Development.

Cautionary notice from Soweto TV
Urban Brew Studios and Soweto TV have sent out a cautionary notice informing clients that Tshepo Mofokeng or his company, Township Media Communications, does not in any shape or form represent Soweto TV, Urban Brew Group or any of the group's affiliate companies. For any information regarding marketing or advertising on Soweto TV, contact Marco Velosa, the group sales and marketing manager, +27 (0)11 781 0151.

The return of Sweepslag
SABC2's weekly live Afrikaans music show Sweepslag - presented by radio personality Maurice Carpede - returns to the national channel for its second series of 13 episodes from this Friday, 14 November 2008, at 7.30pm. The show will feature Eden, Lianie May, Guillaume and Coleskes live on stage, and features a few surprises, including the two mainstream artists each performing an acoustic-version of one of their most popular hits every week. Each show was also recorded in front of a live studio audience.

[BizPod 001] Launch of Bizcommunity.com's first podcast
[BizPod/Interactive] Welcome to BizPod/Interactive, another way to consume information that you really want - by listening! In this, the first of Bizcommunity.com's podcast ventures, we aim to unpack all the latest trends in digital marketing and social media, guided by host Japie Swanepoel, founding partner of online strategy company longtail.