by Herman Manson (@marklives) The Bookmarks Awards, the digital-centric advertising and publishing awards show, is reaching a tipping point, one that will either see it evolve away from its digi-only roots into something covering more integrated work, or see it link up with another award show to focus on a digital niche within more mainstream work.
Category archives: Tech
Tech Law: Digital strategists’ glaring blindspot
by Paul Jacobson (@pauljacobson) Strategy in the digital marketing space fascinates me and what I’ve noticed is that digital marketing strategists have a glaring blindspot — they don’t factor structured legal and compliance risks into their planning and modelling. I imagine there are many reasons for this, which likely include strategists’ ignorance of what these risks are and that they may even find the frameworks designed to address them intimidating or downright inscrutable.
Waytag — the location service that solves real-world business problems
by Herman Manson (@marklives) Waytag aims to solve several modern business problems in one go. For businesses set up in a bricks-and-mortar environment (that would be shops and offices), moving from one premises to another remains a major headache. If you move shop, will waytagyour customers be able to find you? Will they climb onto Google to find you, then onto your website, then navigate to your contact page with your location information, just to climb back onto Google maps to find your new store? Didn’t think so.
Waytag offers a location tag linked to a person, business, object, place or event. You update your Waytag, and clients will be able to find you on a mobile- or PC-friendly map.
It also offers a solution to those mobile warriors setting up office in coffee shop after coffee shop. Clients can now find you wherever your coffee urges take you, if they have permission from you to do so. Since Waytags are owner-managed the location is precise (well, accurate to one metre), much more so than, for example, Google Maps.
Tech Law: How POPI will change your direct marketing activities
by Paul Jacobson (@pauljacobson) The Protection of Personal Information Act has particular interest for direct marketers because of the likely substantial impact the legislation will have on consumer-facing initiatives when it goes into effect. POPI has a section that deals specifically with and introduces a consent model designed for direct marketing. It is an interesting model and I’ll explain why in a moment.
Media Future: Mobile money transforming Africa
A new study reveals just how different e-commerce is in Africa compared to global trends, writes Arthur Goldstuck (@art2gee).
Media Future: Acer opens new front in tech wars
by Arthur Goldstuck (@art2gee) A partnership with Intel may help give Acer an edge in bringing educational technology to Africa.
Tech Law: Yes, you can be sued for sharing a defamatory Facebook post or tweet
by Paul Jacobson (@pauljacobson) In the recent Isparta v Richter and Another case, Acting Judge Hiemstra found that the first defendant’s comments were defamatory. Reading the judgment, you may be forgiven for forgetting to ask whether the second defendant is also liable, particularly given that the second defendant was only tagged in the offending Facebook posts. Hiemstra’s finding on this question was very brief and, at the same time, pretty profound:
[35] The second defendant is not the author of the postings. However, he knew about them and allowed his name to be coupled with that of the first defendant He is as liable as the first defendant.
This is a pretty powerful finding. In the context of Facebook it means that, if you are tagged in defamatory content and you don’t do anything about being tagged (or perhaps even mentioned), you could be liable, too. This argument likely extends to other platforms such as LinkedIn, Google+ and perhaps even Twitter.
In the case of Facebook, you can control who can tag you (you can choose to approve any tags before the posts become public). As with Facebook, you can mention LinkedIn users, although it’s not clear whether you can control this and remove tags. It’s the same issue with Google+ mentions.
[Digital Grandad] Will QR codes ever take off here?
by Mr QR Just-maybe. Dear Digital Grandad, we are a SME and been around for decades selling products B2C. But my MD has just asked me to consider using QR Codes in our Marketing, as his son (graduate from overseas), think’s it is so cool and thinks we are so behind to the rest of the world and not seeing the trend or being innovative! Firstly I am not too sure what it is and if it any good? Please help Grandpa
Regards
Mr QR Just-maybe
There’s nothing like a back-seat marketer in every company. Ask your MD to give me a call and I am more than happy to speak to his graduate son and tell him a few things about marketing, life in general, and the birds and bees before he starts throwing around one-liners to egg on his dad. Before his dad gets egg on his face!
Let’s get local
So, Mr QR Just-maybe, let’s get to the basics and firstly understand that South Africa is not like the rest of the world. Just take our smartphone penetration — 80:20, the other way around.
[Digital Grandad] The Social CEO
by TTBT-CEO. Dear Digital Grandad, I’m the CEO of a major company listed on the JSE. Looking at the changes I’ve spearheaded in our marketing, I think I can safely say that we’ve embraced the digital revolution. We have a great website, mobisite and our social media’s being expertly managed by an external agency.
So how does that equate back to you, as a CEO, using social media?
Media Future: MicroNokia — who is saving whom?
by Arthur Goldstuck (@art2gee) Microsoft’s US$7-billion dollar purchase of Nokia should come as no surprise. However, there may be a twist in this tale of high-tech romance.