The ten best read stories on MarkLives during the month of June.
WPP buys NATIVE, joins agency to VML network
Digital agency NATIVE, one of the last major independent digital agencies in South Africa, has been bought by WPP. VML, one of WPP’s digital marketing agencies and part of the Y&R network, has acquired 76% of NATIVE for an undisclosed amount. NATIVE will be rebranded NATIVE VML. Its current management team stays in place.
Ogilvy Cape Town MD to leave agency, country
Ogilvy Cape Town MD Gavin Levinsohn is resigning his position at the end of the year to emigrate to Australia, MarkLives has confirmed. The news was announced to Cape Town staff earlier this week.
Ramsay shapes up to sell
Ramsay Media is being whipped into shape in preparation for the sale of shares currently held by the Ramsay family (mostly through a family trust).
Die Burger’s excellent front-page design pushes visual journalism
There is one consistently excellent stand-out newspaper when it comes to front-page design among South Africa’s dailies – and that is Die Burger in Cape Town. So my ears pricked up when I read that the title’s chief sub, Johnn-Grant Munro, picked up the Standard Bank Sikuvile journalism award recently for lay-out and design.
Time For Sorrell To Go
There is a small group of men who have ruined the advertising industry. They have made it leaner and meaner. They have made it more efficient. They have made it more productive. They have squeezed all the fat out of it. They have also squeezed all the life out of it.
Ad of the Week with Oresti Patricios – Nando’s Hot Old Spice Spoof
Nando’s is renowned for its in-your-face ads that elicit a guffaw, because the brand often rips off popular culture icons and, delightfully, other ads.
New CT shop grabs World Design Capital Cape Town 2014 ATL account
MetropolitanRepublic (Cape Town) has won the Design Capital Cape Town 2014 ATL and branding account beating both FoxP2 and M&CSaatchi 2014 World Design Capital Cape TownAbel. Quirk won the digital business beating Infestation and Gloo.
The agency Gen Y built
It’s the tale of many a start-up. A strat guys meets a creative and they see synergies in the services they offer, so they launch a business together. Usually it’s people that have done their time in the corporate world, spent some time in an agency, and have a pretty good relationship with somebody on client side. A bit of wink-wink and nudge-nudge later they are in business with, presto, a launch client (ever notice how often that clients sits on a booze brand?).
Exposing ‘& Anonymous’
There’s a new idea in town. And it’s been rounded up by a balaclava-cladded trio, who would prefer to remain anonymous. By Kim Penstone
Hermaneutics: 24.com closes down Afrikaans news portal to save paywall strategy
Media24 owned 24.com has decided to close down Nuus24 – the Afrikaans edition of news24.com – strating July 1. The group recently announced that it would be rolling out paywalls on the websites of its Afrikaans language newspaper sites (for Die Burger, Beeld and Volksblad).
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