Media Moves: COMvergence rates MediaCom SA’s top agency, new business managers for SABC Radio, Briefly News joins UN SDG media compact

The Media Online’s weekly round up of people, account and business moves in media.

This week’s BIG move: MediaCom rated as
SA’s top agency in COMvergence rankings

After assessing 3 582 media account moves and
retentions across 46 countries, COMvergence has named MediaCom as the number
one new business agency for 2020. This honour applies to both MediaCom Global
and MediaCom South Africa, who has had an extremely successful year despite the
challenges and ever-changing landscape brought on by the pandemic.

Prioritising a purposeful talent strategy to realise
this big-picture goal was crucial, explained MediaCom SA CEO Ashish Williams,
as he shared how talent and technology paved the way to success – despite a
pandemic.

In
a 2017 interview, Ashish shared this bold vision: to make MediaCom the number
one media agency in South Africa.

“To
create and secure long-term growth for not only our company, but our clients as
well, required a purpose-driven path. Having a vision is only the start. This
is why MediaCom’s ethos is that we don’t just dream –
we do,” said Williams. “And without putting people first, which we see as our
talent and our clients, these achievements would never have been
realised.”

People moves

SABC Radio appoints four
radio business managers

The South African
Broadcasting Corporation has appointed four business managers to oversee six of
its radio stations. These critical appointments form part of the new structure
of the corporation’s radio portfolio that will ensure audience and revenue growth.
The public broadcaster congratulates the following Business Managers on their
respective appointments and wishes them well in their new roles:

Sbongi Ngcobo, business
manager – Ukhozi FM. Ngcobo began her career at the SABC as marketing manager for trufm.
Before this appointment, she was Ukhozi fm’s acting station manager, a position
she held from February 2018. Ngcobo holds a BA degree from the University of
Natal (now University of KwaZulu Natal) where she majored in English and Media
and Communication for her undergraduate degree and Cultural Media Studies in
her Honours Degree. Ngcobo has also studied a People Management Programme at GIBS
Business School.

JD Mostert, Business Manager: PCS Combo (5FM and Good Hope FM). Mostert, previously the station manager at 5FM, is a media enthusiast with more than 12 years’ experience in the media industry. He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Gordon Institute of Business Science Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), has a Post Graduate Diploma in General Management (PGDip) from Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), as well as a Bachelor of Commerce in Business Management (BCom) from the University of Pretoria.

Louise Jooste, business manager – RSG has
been with RSG (and the SABC) for just over 14 years, where she played an
integral part of the station’s strategy and illustrated through many successful
marketing campaigns how powerful the Afrikaans radio station and its audience
are. She has also been more involved in the daily operations of the radio
station as acting programme manager, working closely with the current station manager
to continue driving one of the top brands of the SABC. Jooste holds an Honours
Degree in Communications from North West University and complemented it with
Business Management studies at Wits Business School.

Madikana Matjila, business manager – Limpopo Combo (Munghana
Lonene FM, Thobela FM and Phalaphala FM). Matjila previously held the
position of Station Manager at Thobela FM since January 2020. Mr. Matjila is a
professional radio broadcasting manager, who possesses career experience and
formal training in radio production, community media and broadcast policy and
compliance. He holds a Master’s degree in Media Studies from the University of
Limpopo, an Advanced Radio certificate from the University of Witwatersrand and
a Performance Management certificate from the Turfloop Graduate School of
Leadership.

hoola Modern Agency elevates marketing offering with
appointment of new head of digital innovations

hoola Modern Agency recently welcomed their new head of digital innovations,
Esther McGeer, to elevate the dynamic digital solutions which the agency
offers.

McGeer, who comes with a wealth of experience after working in the media
and communications industry for 15 years, and who completed a degree in language
and communications at the University of Pretoria, said being part of a modern
agency not only meant aspiring to work differently by working more closely with
clients to develop solutions that significantly impact business goals, but also
meant staying agile and open to optimisation in all that they do.

“It really is about wanting to understand consumers and how they are
evolving, as well as tapping into insights around who they are and how to
present the brands we partner with to them,” she said.

She added that COVID-19 had created a bigger need for businesses to
advertise online and more businesses were pushing higher advertising spend into
the digital sphere, which has led to a “very noisy environment” for consumers,
causing them to fall into advertising paralysis.

Business moves

Wavemaker South Africa named 2020’s most successful
agency

In the just released report
from the independent research company, Wavemaker leads the agency ranking with
a new business result of $25m in new client wins.

Wavemaker’s leadership position
follows recent new business successes, including snapping up accounts for
Telkom Group, Huawei Mobile Services, Viacom, and Campari.

Lwandile Qokweni, CEO of
Wavemaker South Africa, said, “We’ve worked incredibly hard to consistently
build the scale and expertise it takes to provoke growth for all our clients in
a tough environment – and still win new business.”

In March of 2020 Wavemaker
relaunched with an evolved proposition, product and attitude to refocus the
agency for growth and global consistency. The new positioning, Positive
Provocation, focuses on creating growth for brands through bold change, enabled
by the agency’s new modular AI powered planning process.

“Our data-driven approach to
strategy, alongside our provocative planning proposition positioned Wavemaker
as the go-to partner for brands who are looking to grow fearlessly,” said
Qokweni

OFyt creates brand
collateral for newly launched Galaxy and Co.

Old Friends Young
Talent (OFyt) – that bunch of wise, very experienced advertising
people working with some very smart, younger, slightly better-looking people –
recently created the brand collateral for TFG (The Foschini Group) re imagined
pure play jewellery brand, Galaxy and Co.

The relationship between
TFG and OFyt started with the agency redesigning the American Swiss brand
identity in 2017 and delivering additional brand and design solutions across
their jewellery offerings which includes Sterns.

The current relationship
has grown to extend into group marketing and OFyt continues to build brand
driven solutions within the bigger ecosystem. The result is the latest work on
Galaxy and Co.

OFyt was handed the re
imagined brand identity which allowed the team to be completely objective about
the application and roll-out thereof into a digital space. in a way we have not
done before as an agency.

Contrary to Galaxy and
Co’s previous form and focus, the brand is wanting to connect with the younger,
fashion conscious consumer.

2AM Agency gets creative to
deliver innovative, accessible Old Mutual Alternative Investments
Sustainability Report

How do you present the
annual sustainability data of a large financial services company in a format
other than the traditional print or pdf report? This was the question for
2AM Agency when Old Mutual Alternative Investments (OMAI) tasked them with
devising a fresh, more effective format for the Sustainability Report. 

2AM’s solution came in the
form of a creative concept that speaks to the core values of OMAI, while
simultaneously highlighting the company’s commitment to sustainability, as well
as the unique way in which they draw on both data and cultural insight to
ensure they invest with significance. 

ESG – short for
Environmental, Social and Governance – refers to a set of standards that
measure a company’s operations to ensure they’re acting as responsible corporate
citizens. As such, illustrating OMAI’s dual approach to ESG had to be at the
core of the creative concept. 

Rather than another sleek
book, 2AM opted to instead create a real-time online portal where new and
existing customers can access information about the company’s investment
performance in this area. 

Recognising that Old Mutual
has offices across the African continent, 2AM knew they had to marry the
cultural insights garnered from the men and women on the ground with the
analytics and data analysis capabilities, as well as the heritage that set Old
Mutual apart from their competitors. 

Facebook Paid Online Events enables local businesses and
content creators to monetise events  

Facebook has launched
their Paid Online Events tool in South Africa,
enabling content creators and businesses to earn money and thrive on the
platform. Paid Online Events is available in 20 countries and is expanding to 24
additional countries in the coming weeks, with South Africa being the first
country in Africa where the tool is launching. 

Said Jocelyne
Muhutu-Remy, head of strategic media partnerships, Sub-Saharan Africa: “Since
launching Paid Online Events in August 2020, it has grown tremendously,
providing creators and businesses another valuable way to earn money on
Facebook. Many conference organisers, musicians, trainers, theatre producers,
creators and businesses are losing revenue during the pandemic due to social
distancing measures. Paid online events will help them to reconnect with their
fans, monetize and reach larger audiences all around the world.”

With Paid Online Events,
your guests can watch your paid event through the Facebook event page on their
phone, tablet or computer, or through the Facebook TV app.  Paid Online
Events work with the live video method that works best for your needs, whether
that’s Facebook Live or a third-party site.  

Narratiive launches new
brand look and website

Narratiive has refreshed
its brand and visual identity across all its platforms. It has new logo and colors, reflecting its
mission to power conversations between marketers, publishers and providers with
insights and intelligence (the ii’s in Narratiive). There’s also a new site and blog section, to keep clients
up to date on the industry. And there’s an updated product suite, with a clearer segmentation by customer
types, showcasing what we have to offer and how it can benefit you.

Reed Exhibition’s
framework for safety

To reflect the essential
role that the exhibitions and events industry has in helping to protect the
health and well-being of customers and employees, Reed Exhibitions Africa has
established a robust programme of measures for Covid-19 safety and compliance.

“While no organisation or
industry sector can guarantee complete safety from an ever-changing virus, Reed
Exhibitions Africa has already implemented the framework for a consistent and
coherent programme of enhanced measures to ensure our shows and events have
human health and well-being as our number one priority when next we meet in
organised gatherings,” said managing direct Carol Weaving.

The enhanced health and
well-being protocols include the precautions and preventive measures for
organised industry gatherings that will emerge post Covid-19 are encompassed in
a five-point plan covering collaboration and engagement with the relevant authorities; risk management by working closely
with relevant partners to conduct dynamic risk assessments leading up to the
show; early planning and
collaboration with venue owners, partners and the relevant authorities; continued
communications with all stakeholders and attendees through a variety of
channels and platforms to ensure optimal safety of all; and precautionary
measures, controls and counter-measures that will deliver – as far as reasonably practicable and in line with
all best-practice directions – a safe and secure show setting and visitor
experience.

Moving Walls Group
launches dedicated VideOOH portal

Moving Walls group, a provider
of location-based and out of home (OOH) media technology in Asia, has launched
VideOOH.Deals, an e-commerce platform that connects all advertisers to curated
audience-based deals for real-world video advertising on Out-of-Home (OOH)
media. 

OOH advertising is
expensive. It cannot be measured. It is a luxury brand awareness medium
available to those with hefty budgets. These are just some of the feelings
around OOH. The medium has not been helped by the uncertainty around people
movement that has seen marketers shift to digital. In fact, OOH and other
traditional media experienced the biggest declines in media spends.

The VideOOH Deals
platform has been built to address some of these barriers. It presents
affordable deals based on real-time inventory information and makes it
accessible to any business regardless of their size or stage of growth.
Finally, the deals are all audience-based and come with a guarantee of
delivery.

The platform is powered
by Location Media Xchange (LMX), the group’s independent supply-focused arm.

Making moves

Briefly
News the first SA media company to join the UN Sustainable Development Goals
media compact

Briefly.co.za has reached another major
milestone by joining the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals
(SDG) Media Compact. Briefly News will now play a critical role in raising
awareness about the SDG.

Briefly.co.za is the only South African media
company on the United Nation’s SDG Media Compact list at present.

It is a special privilege that the UN extends
to leading media organisations around the world to partake in the collective
responsibility of making the world a safer and better place, as envisioned in
the SDG agenda.

“This gives Briefly News the chance to
engage with the United Nations while highlighting issues pertaining to
Sustainable Development Goals,” said Briefly.co.za’s managing director,
Rianette Cluley.

Before joining the UN’s SDG Media Compact,
Briefly.co.za had already contributed to the SDG through its consistent
coverage of life-changing human-interest stories, alongside Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) programmes that have positively impacted the lives of many
to date.

Ster-Kinekor’s
CSI flagship programme, Vision Mission, screened learners for a #Back2School
campaign

Ster-Kinekor’s
longstanding CSI project, Vision Mission, provides eye care for children in
underprivileged areas – this also includes corneal transplants sponsored by
reputable donors and partners. Vision Mission screened leaners from Soweto in
partnership with Coca Cola SA, Meals on Wheels, and Shoes 4 Soul for the KayaFM
#Back2School campaign.

“Due
to the COVID 19 pandemic, we made sure that all health and safety regulations
were adhered. Learners were screened and sanitised on entering the school.
Masks for the learners and sanitizers were handed out to everybody in
attendance,” Ster Kinekor said in a press release.

Over
the years all the Ster Kinekor’s Vision Mission campaigns main purpose were to
identify learners in disadvantaged schools who had challenges with their
eyesight and failed to comprehend the teachings on the board. In view of this,
the #BacktoSchool campaign will be one of the many focus areas in 2021 for Ster
Kinekor’s Vision Mission. We will use campaigns such as this one to detect
early eye challenges of learners.

SA’s biggest board meeting,
The Directors Event, will focus on reimagining South Africa

Now in its seventh year and billed as ‘SA’s biggest board meeting,’ The Directors Event – futured by BCX, and presented in association with the Institute of Directors South Africa (IoDSA) – is part of the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies profile that will focus on the myriad of opportunities that the Covid-19 crisis has created for the country to reimagine, innovate and do things differently.

This year’s event takes
place online on 11 June and is themed Reimagining
South Africa.  Three expertly moderated panel discussions will aim
to deliver a greater understanding of what can be learnt from the past months
in terms of building a leading digital economy to support SA’s economic
revival; the necessity for investment in affordable, high quality technology
and skills development; and reviewing a healthcare system that has been stretched
beyond capacity.

S’thembiso Msomi, editor of
the Sunday Times, believes it
is crucial for the country to address the socio-economic hardships that have
been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic but says: “It is also time for
South Africans to prove their mettle in rising above adversity with an attitude
of innovation and progress, to ensure we do not remain on the backfoot in years
to come. We need to learn and adapt at speed, and do everything we can to let
this experience drive our determination to overcome and thrive. As the editor
of South Africa’s biggest-selling English newspaper, it’s a privilege to drive
the impact of The Directors Event.”

KFM and premium fresh-fruit brand Tru-Cape launch fitness challenge

The Tru-Cape
Fitness Challenge, in conjunction with radio KFM 94.7, runs until 29 March.
Runners, cyclists, spinners, swimmers, joggers or those just starting their
fitness journey are all invited to get involved by logging kilometres and
calories burnt via an @KFM link.

The largest exporter of
South African apples and pears is entirely owned by its growers. Tru-Cape Fruit
Marketing growers produce apples and pears sold throughout South Africa and in
105 countries around the globe. As eating fresh fruit and vegetables is a
proven part of a healthy and immune-system boosting diet, Tru-Cape focuses its
sponsorship efforts on healthy pursuits in which the whole family can
participate. 

Rotary International
invites organisations to exhibit initiatives to further expand impactful
socio-economic change in Africa

Uniting people from all
continents and cultures and taking action to deliver real, long-term solutions
to some of the world’s most persistent issues, is the cornerstone of what this
global network is all about. 2021 sees Rotary International celebrate 100 years
in Africa – a century of doing good and facilitating impactful socio-economic
change on the continent. 

Their 1.2 million members
take action to create lasting change, pouring their passion and integrity into
completing projects that have a lasting impact.

This year’s Zone 22 Rotary
Africa Centennial International Conference is taking place on the 24 and 25
April and will see delegates from around the world gather online to hear from
and network with leading visionaries, pioneers, leaders and icons.

Because real-life humanitarian service happens when business and professional leaders partner for good, this African House of Friendship Virtual Projects Fair will unpack the latest trends, challenges and innovations in the local and international socio-economic, impact investing and volunteering space.

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