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 According to Darryl Jacobson, MD of Burchmore's, the new megastore in Cape Town, located in Phumelela Park, Montague Drive, Montague Gardens offers a host of benefits for buyers and sellers alike. "We are offering a massive choice and therefore increased convenience for customers. Security is better than ever before and, with 6500m², all the cars can be housed under one roof," he comments. Read more >>Advertisement: The National Credit Regulator (NCR) has released the Consumer Credit Report, which details the South African credit market up to September 2009. Read more >> Carducci Woman has launched its inaugural ‘Face of Carducci Woman' competition, which closes on 6 April 2010. Designed to become an annual event, this competition is set to uncover the woman who represents the spirit and the dynamism of the brand. Read more >>[Kgomotso Mathe] Following a recent hefty fine imposed by the Competition Tribunal for anticompetitive behaviour, Pioneer Foods yesterday, 29 March 2010, announced new board members in a move that analysts said was not unexpected. Read more >>  In anticipation of a pick-up in consumer spending, restaurant franchisor Taste Holdings will be launching a jewellery brand, Davidowns, a premium jewellery division that will operate within selected Makro stores. Read more >>Brand news
 Bovlei Cellars in Wellington has released a new brand named after Thomas Kipling the celebrated South African war hero and humanitarian. The range comprises five wines the 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon, 2009 Merlot, 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot, non-vintage Dry Red and the 2009 Chenin Blanc/Sauvignon Blanc. Read more >>In the international Chardonnay du Monde competition in Burgundy, France recently, the Lourensford Winemaker's Selection Chardonnay 2009 was rated in the Top 10 overall as the only South African wine to do so. Of the 887 wines entered from 37 countries, only 65 received Gold, of which only two were South African. Read more >> "While Amarula Cream is well-established locally, as well as in Angola, Germany, Canada and Brazil, we have seen other markets with a strong interest in football record double-digit sales volume increases year-on-year for the 12 months to February, notably Nigeria, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, Argentina and Japan. Duty-free is another channel to benefit," states Werner Swanepoel, global brand spokesperson. Read more >>Clothing & Textiles
 The Advanced Photoshop T-shirt design competition closes on 20 April 2010 and online voting begins 22 April. Read more >> The Cape Clothing & Textile Cluster's AGM held recently in March 2010 awarded K-Way the ‘Best Practice Award' for showcasing excellence in world class manufacturing. Read more >>From the Easter weekend, Protea badges will be available to the public for the Bafana replica jersey. Read more >>[Nick Steen] The release of the second Industrial Policy Action Plan predictably drew bland support from industry and criticism from economists of the support measures for “sunset” industries. What has been lacking in the debate is the context of the plan in SA's socioeconomic environment. Read more >> Commercial property
[Thabang Mokopanele] Although the South African commercial real estate market delivered a total return of 8.7% last year, this was its second year running of decline following the boom years of 2004-07. Read more >> CRM
[Christopher J. Bucholtz] While CRM has always been "social," it's now starting to get "Social" - in other words, it's starting to tap into the ways customers have seized control of their relationships with the people they buy from through technology, participation and the ability to reach more people - and more-important people, as they see it - than they ever could in the past. Read more >> Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) held the first meeting of the Special Committee for Global Quality in Tokyo on Tuesday 30 March 2010. The committee members include newly appointed chief quality officers for North America, Europe, China, Asia and Oceania, and the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, who will represent concerns of customers. In addition, representatives from TMC's business operations and others attended. Read more >>[Peter Gilbert] It is now a business truism that products and services are becoming commoditised more rapidly than ever before, and margins of most industrial businesses are under increasing pressure. Winning companies are, however, discovering that if you cannot differentiate yourself by what you sell, and you cannot differentiate yourself by how you sell, you will, by default, have to differentiate yourself by how much you sell it for. Read more >> [Christopher J. Bucholtz] An astonishingly large percentage of companies build the CRM selection team around the people least likely to use the system on a daily basis - the IT director, the CMO, the CIO, and perhaps the vice president or director of sales. While the input of these players is critical, it's also vital to have input from the rank-and-file sales, marketing and service staff. Read more >> Hospitality
 A month-long accommodation pricing survey, commissioned by the Minister of Tourism, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, to establish a clear picture of prices throughout the country, has found that Cape Town is set to offer the best value for money during the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The survey was carried out by Grant Thornton South Africa. Read more >> FootballNights.co.za (FNA), a full-service accommodation and services website in South Africa for 2010, is breaking records in terms of its numbers, processing over 500 000 bed nights and expecting to reach the million mark in the next few weeks. Read more >>[Michael Bleby] McDonald's, the fast-food chain that uses a clown and a yellow M to sell burgers, will not exercise its rights as a Fifa World Cup sponsor to provide food at the stadiums or official fan parks. Read more >> Import/Export
Retailer Mr Price Group on Wednesday, 31 March 2010, said that it had brought to an end its involvement in export partnerships. Read more >>Instore media
 Kellogg's is currently running a nationwide in-store and intersection sampling campaign to promote the launch of its Coco Rocks Cereal Bars and the improved versions of Coco Pops Cereal and Milk Bars. Read more >>Packaging
 BRUSSELS: The 2010 Pentawards, the online competition exclusively for packaging design, was official opened for entries yesterday, 5 April 2010 until the deadline date of 21 May. The awards ceremony will be presented on 30 September 2010 in the European Pavilion of the Expo Shanghai 2010. Read more >>Regulatory
[Sasha Planting] Three companies face steep fines, while two have been granted immunity as the Competition Commission exposes cartel behaviour in the milling industry. Read more >> PARIS, FRANCE: France's top administrative body advised the government on Tuesday, 30 March 2010, against slapping a complete ban on the full Islamic veil but said outlawing the burqa in some places was justified for security reasons. Read more >>TAIPEI, TAIWAN: A Taiwanese company said on Tuesday, 30 March 2010, it had filed a complaint against Apple urging the US to prevent the electronics giant from selling touchscreen products such as the iPhone, iPod and the new iPad. Read more >>Retail marketing
As if further evidence were needed of the battle brewing in SA's changed beer landscape, local giant SAB and deep pocketed foreign challenger Brandhouse have filed official complaints about each other's advertisements. Read more >>Safari Easter competition for Western Cape Safari is giving away R25 000 in Shoprite Checkers shopping vouchers to consumers purchasing a packet of hot cross buns. The Safari Easter competition ends 8 April 2010 and is currently only running in the Western Cape. Customers must SMS Safari and their till slip number to 33103.  Nature's Garden, a local frozen food manufacturer, is increasing its brand awareness through television commercials highlighting ordinary South African's, in quirky, vibrant and brilliantly colourful settings, each enjoying a mouthful of vegetables whilst trying to convey in words how tasty each mouthful is. For the benefit of the viewer, subtitles are at the bottom of the screen. The commercial ends with a cheerful South African voice saying that: “No matter how you say it, we're big on taste.” Read more >>[Andile Ndlovu] Marketer and advertisers will leave women and children off their target lists this June and July, as men flood the country for the 2010 World Cup. Read more >> Retail services
The Pam Golding Property (PGP) group has just launched what it reports is an industry first with 'SMS 34440' - where information on houses on show in an area can be sent straight to prospective buyer's cellphone, instantly. This new service to buyers has already been launched in the Cape Town metropolitan area and is about to be rolled out nationally to phones that are enabled for internet access. Read more >> Ernst & Young, currently present in 26 African countries, has announced the launch of its Africa Business Centre (ABC). The ABC's aim is to coordinate its resources across Africa and provide its clients with a single point of contact. Read more >>Retailers
Retail chain Clicks Group advised on Tuesday, 30 March 2010, that the group's diluted headline earnings per share for the six month period ended 28 February 2010 are expected to be between 20% and 25% higher than the corresponding period last year. Read more >>Security
"Already we can see evidence of 'FIFA-related' spam and this is expected to increase as we near the event,” says Costin Raiu, chief security expert, EEMEA, global research & analytics team at Kaspersky Lab, one of the largest antivirus companies in Europe. Read more >>Shipping & Transport
 Motorists, still feeling the pinch of the February fuel price increase, will endure another price hike next Wednesday, 7 April 2010, the Energy Department has announced. Read more >>Supply chain
 The Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing (CoE) on the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University (NWU) has recently opened a laboratory, which specialises in extrusion, a processing process used in the food, feed, plastic and powder paint industries. Read more >>Supplychainforesight, the industry research study sponsored and initiated by Barloworld Logistics, has produced its 2010 annual survey with a focus on how the FMCG and retail sectors intend to deploy supply chains for growth. The following extracts are from the report, which is available free online. Read more >>Technology
WASHINGTON, USA: Microsoft plans to unveil a new line of cellphones next week with social-networking capabilities aimed at young consumers, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, 5 April 2010. Read more >> [Issa Sikiti da Silva] Samsung Electronics has launched its first full HD 3D active LED TV, 3D Blu-ray players, home theatre systems and a full line-up of home entertainment, and in the process ‘turned on tomorrow' to reach a new dimension in television not only in South Africa, but in Africa in general. Read more >>New conference phone for VOIPPolycom has launched its SoundStation IP 5000 conference phone offers robust SIP-based VoIP interoperability. It features HD Voice and is designed specifically for the needs of private offices and small meeting rooms, as its voice quality reportedly surpasses that of traditional desktop speakerphones. It is expected to begin shipping in April throughout North America and Europe and in other select countries worldwide.  Gerome Plaatjies, founder and MD of the business, has launched Kazam, a website offering SMMES an opportunity to source and sell products and services. It will enable South African businesses to find what they need at a single online location, thereby saving time and money. Read more >>Brand news
 You can win great prices every month with Sasko Bakeries! For more details watch e.tv, SABC 1, 2, 3 and DStv or see the in-store leaflet for more details. Read more >>Franchising
 Recently Tiger Wheel & Tyre was named the leading retailer in the Tyre Supplier Category of Beeld's Your Choice Awards, and was also ranked number one by readers of the Diamond Fields Advertiser. Read more >>
 
More Van Coke Kartel Album launch
 
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 [Ruth Cooper] Francois as Oorlog Frankenstein is a god in a panda suit with a golden halo and everyone wants to get a stroke of his furry belly. Hopping and head slamming his way around the stage he spews Penis is my lewe and Dans dans dans ek will fokken fokken dans. This is his stage, this is his alter, these are his fans, these are “His People”. I'm sure the His People Centre where the album launch for VCK, as part of the Toffie Popular Culture festival, was held is not virgin to seeing signs of worship and musical celebration, (His People are the happy clappy types right?) but perhaps not quite like the way it was manifested on Saturday night.
 [Zeenat Ebrahim] This is a gripping documentary coupled with investigative journalism which explores the amazing true story of a sleepy lagoon off the coast of Japan known as The Cove. What's supposed to be an ordinary ‘catch of the day' amongst the fishermen of Taiji, turns out to be a little more deadly and shocking to the rest of the world.
 [Sindy Peters] “Last Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy” is the latest album from The Sick Leaves. It seems like Eksteen Jacobsz found his gusto on this third instalment from the one-man band. The album delivers track after track of medium- to fast-tempo tracks - a distinct move away from the harder indie rock of “Stone the Crow”.
 [Ilva Pieterse] I caught up with The Sick Leaves front man Eksteen Jacobsz last week to chat about the new album; what's in store for 2010; playing live, and the process of song writing. Here is what he had to say.
Hands On Communications gains Volvo Car South Africa account - more infoZOOM Advertising wins Shoprite account - more info
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