NAB responds to 'funding crisis' letter circulated by MASA

In response to an open letter addressed to media owner associations and other interested stakeholders by the Marketing Association of South Africa (MASA) in December 2011, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has in turn written an open letter to industry. Read more >>

[2012 trends] GFC's impact on media-marketing arena

[Karen Phelan] There are a number of trends forecast for 2012 that will have an impact on all facets of the media-marketing arena. Read more >>

[2012 trends] Is life the new start-up?

[Gisele Wertheim Aymes] Our fast-changing and über-connected world impacts the way in which we work and live and, to stomach the harsh realities of life in 2012, we will all need to learn how to live! Read more >>

[2012 trends] Whoosh! The year in which nothing happens

[Walter Pike] In 2012, things will stay the same. Everyone still believes that marketing has not changed and that social is a channel. Yes they are starting to understand how important channel is but they have not and will not grasp just how much. Read more >>

[2012 trends] Strategically solving the conundrums of marketing complexity

[Darren Woolley] The world is sitting in a now familiar state of uncertainty, with debit crisis, stagnant established markets and emerging growth markets and continued pressure to deliver increasing returns. In the face of this uncertainty and continuing increase in fragmentation and complexity, marketers will need to strategically develop more flexibly responses to deal with a range of conundrums. Read more >>

[2012 trends] Apocalypse now!

[Matt Rose] 2012 is the year of the apocalypse (thanks, Mayans). But if you think about it, in a way they are right. Every year it ceases to be the end of the world as we know it. The world is in a constant state of revolution and innovation. Read more >>

EXCLUSIVE: Martin MacGregor joins M&C Saatchi Abel

[Herman Manson: @marklives] Martin MacGregor, the former MD at Nota Bene MEC Cape Town, has joined M&C Saatchi Abel as managing partner: connection. MacGregor joins the agency as it turns two years old this February and follows an announcement that M&C Saatchi Abel is increasing its head count to 100 by the end of Q2 2012. Revenues have reached R50 million. Read more >>

[2012 trends] The year of short-term commitments

[Agnes Barnard] As the world gets hotter and we become more connected, and brand interaction is now a conversation and no longer a monologue, the trend we are seeing coming through loud and clear are those of "short-term" commitments. Read more >>

[2012 trends] Occupy 2012

[Charl Thom] The past year will go down in history as a time of unexpected political regime change, social unrest and civil protest, from the bloody end to Muammar Gaddafi's 41-year rule in Libya to the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York that spread very quickly around the world. Such conditions make for interesting and exciting times, because they bring change. Lots of change. Read more >>

[2012 trends] A ratcheting up of existing trends

[Janice Spark] Looking forward, we can expect a ratcheting up of existing trends throughout 2012. Whether you're a politician, an executive or a consumer, the odds are strong you're going to need to hang firmly onto your hat. Read more >>

[2012 trends] Your friend is literally the trend

[Anice Hassim] 2012 will bring fundamental tectonic shifts to the balance of power in technology choices. Many of these will be driven by the people and for the people - in 2012 the trend, literally, is your friend. Smart enterprise will embrace this change but big business will very quickly have to learn to shut up and listen to what the consumer wants. Read more >>

[2012 trends] Strong and continued growth for social media

[John Beale & Heike Meyburgh] With 2011 in the rearview mirror, we expect a strong and continued growth on various social media platforms in 2012. The increased online penetration and a strong drive from mobile operators to connect more people to the internet through smartphones or dongles will undoubtedly lead to more people joining social networks. Read more >>

[2012 trends] Email marketing trends shaping the year ahead

[Warren Moss] Despite what the doomsday predictions say, email will not become irrelevant due to the rise of social media. As one of the most cost-effective and efficient eMarketing service offerings, email marketing is expected to continue to be a crucial part of the digital marketing mix in 2012. Read more >>

EXCLUSIVE: Media24 confirms Grazia launch in SA

After all the speculation in December 2011, Media24 confirmed to Bizcommunity.com late this afternoon, Friday, 20 January 2012, that it will indeed launch the international news and fashion weekly magazine Grazia in South Africa later this year - the 20th edition worldwide and the first one in Africa. Read more >>

Gold Ozzie for Visi

The Ozzie Award for the 'Best Overall Design for a consumer magazine with a circulation under 250 000', went to South African magazine Visi, at the recent Eddie and Ozzie Awards. For those who prefer sports to décor, the February 2012 issue of Sports Illustrated, out now, carries a Super Rugby feature with three different covers. Read more >>

New SABC GCEO, five new MDDA board members

Communications minister Dina Pule has announced the appointment of Lulama Mokhobo as SABC GCEO for a period of five years, following a recommendation by the SABC. President Zuma has appointed five new board members to the MDDA, acting in terms of Section 4 (1) (b) and Section 4 (1) (c) of the MDDA Act. Read more >>

[2012 trends] What's up in media for 2012?

[Marion Scher] Ever since I read Faith Popcorn's Clicking in 1998 (and I can't believe you haven't read it - really?) I've been hooked on trends and how important it is not only to pay attention to what's affecting people right now but what could happen around the corner. Because you need to be around that corner, armed with what you need to reach your market. Read more >>

[2012 trends] The way to customers' hearts is through their phones

[Vanessa Clark] Never before have people had such a love affair with a communications medium as they have with their mobile phones. Now, marketers aren't communicating with consumers via an impersonal one-way device; rather, they are communicating with them through a device people happily carry around 24/7. Here are my top 12 trends for the mobile world in 2012. Read more >>

Lose circ fast; build it 'damn slow' - Daily Sun GM Minette Ferreira

[Gill Moodie: @grubstreetSA] As the search for a new editor for the Daily Sun nears its conclusion (the final round of interviews is being held this week), Bizcommunity.com speaks to Minette Ferreira, GM of the Daily Sun, about the paper's circulation drop, how it's clawing back and where to from now sans the legendary publisher and founder, Deon du Plessis, and editor Themba Khumalo. Read more >>

Liza Albrecht quits Media24

[Roshila Jarosz: @Lipika777] Media24 group editor Tim du Plessis on Thursday, 19 January 2012, confirmed that the group's head of digital for Afrikaans titles, Liza Albrecht, has resigned. According to Du Plessis, the decision as to who will replace Albrecht will be made within the next week or so. Read more >>

Media24 'aggressive' in the tablet space

[Roshila Jarosz: @Lipika777] According to Leonora Redelinghuys, the divisional head of Touchlab, the unit specifically set up to develop Media24's tablet applications, the group is 'very aggressive in this space'. "With the largest tablet-focused development house in South Africa, we aim to solve the difficult problems facing digital publishing," she says. Read more >>

Ogilvy PR Cape Town wins adidas SA account

After a three-way agency pitch in November 2011, Ogilvy PR Cape Town has been appointed by adidas South Africa as its dedicated consumer and corporate communications PR agency with immediate effect. Read more >>

[2012 trends] It's not about trends, it's about a reality check

[Dustin Chick] There are no trends in the communications industry this year. There are realities. Fundamental, yet often simple, factors which then influence how communicators can bring value to the organisations they work within. Read more >>

[2012 trends] Re-evaluating the way we work, communicate

[Lisa Dawson Biggs] 2012 will be a year in which we will be forced to re-evaluate the way we work and the way we convey our clients' messages to the market. Here are my tips and predictions for the months ahead. Read more >>

[2012 trends] Print - the new 'cool' in 2012

[Lyn Davis] Smart printing, that fulfils a particular need or niche, will survive the digital shift into 2012 and beyond. I like to think that print will never disappear. With many people spending their entire working day in front of a screen or glued to their smartphone, easing the commute with a newspaper on the Gautrain or relaxing in the bath with a book after a long day are some of life's great luxuries. Read more >>

Public invitation to suggest radio content

In what is described as a first for the South African radio industry, Kagiso Broadcasting is commissioning creative people to conceive and create great programming for listeners to Jacaranda 94.2 and East Coast Radio. Read more >>

[2012 trends] The new frontiers of market research

[Leanne Freeman] I think 2012 will be a fascinating year for market research in South Africa, as more specialist tools and techniques are increasingly absorbed into mainstream methodologies. New technology will be a key driver, but this will be carefully balanced by efforts to really understand consumer behaviour by directly engaging respondents. Read more >>

[2012 trends] Exciting period for marketing research in SA

[Craig Kolb] We are in the middle of an exciting period in the marketing research industry, with a number of major shifts taking place that affect how research is done. The web in particular has led to multiple developments which threaten to topple the cherished technologies and techniques that have dominated the last two decades. Read more >>

[2012 trends] Generation Y Not

[Jason Levin & Jessica Oosthuizen] South Africa's young consumers are more savvy and demanding than ever before. Not surprisingly, marketers have to work harder and smarter to make their brands compelling to kids, teens and young adults. 2012 stands for pace, progress, challenge and increased 'prosumer' power. Here are 10 whats and hows, ending with some of the hottest youth brands to look out for this year. Read more >>

[2012 trends] The cheese has moved for brands and youth

[Banele Rewo] From a marketer's perspective, we miss the mark from the moment we fail to understand the uniqueness of the South African youth market. The cheese keeps moving while we are wielding text books and strategies from 1996, 2010 or even September 2011, which may be off the mark and off the streets by June 2012. Read more >>

ADC: Interactive Jury for ADC 91st Annual Awards

NEW YORK, US: The Art Directors Club (www.adcglobal.org), one of the premier organisations for creatives in integrated media and the claimed to be the first global creative collective of its kind, has announced the full international Interactive jury for the global ADC 91st Annual Awards. Read more >>

Jobs, Green, Pytka inducted into 2012 Creative Hall Of Fame

NEW YORK, US: More than 300 of America's leading advertising industry professionals gathered on the evening of 17 January 2012 to honour Apple's co-founder Steve Jobs, creative Paula Green and director/producer Joe Pytka, 2012 inductees in Creative Hall of Fame. The One Club for Art & Copy also bestowed honours on Robert Lawton, co-founder of Creative Circus/Atlanta, as the inaugural inductee in its new Educator Hall of Fame. Read more >>

Government agrees to meet Sanral's debts

The government has undertaken to meet the financial commitments and debt obligations of the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) after the e-tolling project was indefinitely suspended. Read more >>

Limpopo sabotaged service delivery says Gordhan

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has accused the Limpopo provincial government of sabotage because it advised its service providers not honour their contracts, as they might not be paid, according to Times Live. Read more >>

Wikipedia blackout mirrors SA's secrecy law

[Paul Vecchiatto] The blackout by an estimated 10 000 US internet companies including online encyclopaedia Wikipedia as an objection to proposed US anti-piracy laws mirrors the SA government's attempts to control the low of information through its Protection of State Information Bill (POIB), experts say. Read more >>

Used vehicle sales gain ground: TransUnion

Used vehicle sales gained ground in the last quarter of 2011 compared with new cars sales, boosted by price inflation which dropped to its lowest level in two years. Read more >>

MINI recalls 3350 cars for repairs

About 3 350 customers in SA would be affected by a worldwide technical recall of Mini Cooper S and Mini John Cooper Works models. Read more >>

Scorpion ready to sting

[Henrie Geyser: motoring editor] Bet there aren't many people out there who can brag about sharing a race track experience with famous Formula 1 racing drivers, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa... Well, I can because all three of us have driven the sizzling new limited edition 500 Abarth 695 Tributo Ferrari on a race track. Read more >>

Whatever your preference, Red Carnation will see to it

[Brian Berkman: contributing editor, travel] Red Carnation Hotels take their Guest Preference Forms seriously. Would you like foam or feather pillows; neck and back support pillows; an ironing board; a bed board; extra hangers or an extra bed? Would you like a yoga map and an instructive DVD or a fax/copier/printer? Then there's the menu of extras available at the tick of a box and the swipe of a credit card - rose petals and chocolate dipped strawberries? Check... Read more >>

Etihad Airways carries a record number of passengers and cargo in 2011

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, carried a record 8.29 million passengers in 2011, a 17% increase on the previous year. The jump represented an extra 1.197 million passengers on the carrier's global network covering 82 passenger and cargo destinations. Read more >>

Heavy rains flood Kruger routes

[Siphiwe Nyathi] The Kruger National Park has warned visitors not to use the Crocodile bridge entrance as heavy rains have caused the Crocodile River to overflow. Read more >>

Ban on use of Number Two jetty to remain?

The Department of Home Affairs is adamant that Cape Town's Victoria & Alfred Waterfront is not a "designated point of entry" and is standing by its decision that all cruise ships must berth in Duncan Dock, according to a report on Business Live. Read more >>

A getaway from the idiot box, try Duinepos

[Sindy Peters] You need a digital detox? I happen to know the perfect place to get away from your mobile, the Internet and the idiot box. Go to Duinepos! I spent two nights in one of their self-catering chalets and, while I spent the first of them trying to angle my phone towards the night sky in an attempt to "update my status", I quickly realised that Angry Birds was the only joy that I was going to get out of my tech appendage. Read more >>

The Sol sets...

Hotel and resort magnate Sol Kerzner has stepped down as CEO of Kerzner International. Read more >>

Glitz, glam and disco balls with The Abba Show

[Duan Wanty] I have the idea that whenever people of different ages, races and genders gather in a certain space, and ABBA's songs start playing, you will have a party. I am yet to be proven wrong. Read more >>

We are Beautiful Losers: when art meets music

[Sindy Peters] Art and music collided in Woodstock recently at We Are Beautiful Losers #2, hosted at /A Word of Art in Woodstock. Derelict Woodstock is still coined as "up and coming"; I'd like to think she's just about ready to be crowned a fully fledged member of the Cape Town creativity club; well, that's if Ricky-Lee Gordon, aka Freddy Sam, has anything to do with it. Read more >>

Punk at heart

[Ruth Cooper] Punk arises in times of strife, when the status quo needs a serious kick in the crotch and a spit in the face; not surprising then that there was a small, but dedicated, group of punk rockers playing in southern Africa at the height of the apartheid madness in the 70s and 80s. Daring life and "freedom" to question and protest the unjust system. Read more >>

Crazy puppets run rampant at Baxter

[Sindy Peters] I imagine being a ventriloquist takes hard work, dedication, a creative imagination, and some deep-seated psychosis. Conrad Koch's trio of puppets - Chester Missing, Hillary and Ronnie - are all indeed a little left of centre, reflecting a bit of madness in the puppeteer himself, which is fine as his comedic method is in his madness! Read more >>

Life on the edge in Margin Call

[Eugene Yiga: @eugeneyiga] "We are the 99 percent!" So screamed many a protester who "occupied" the world. Clearly, there's still a lot of anger following the 2008 financial crash. That probably explains why Inside Job won last year's Oscar for the best documentary (despite coming across as a manipulative vendetta a few too many times). But what about the other side? What do the bankers think and feel? And what was going through their minds while the mess was going on? Margin Call is here to answer these questions. Read more >>