Immature or wild at heart? Either one could describe the third annual Bookmarks awards evening, where the digital marketing and publishing evening took the opportunity last night, Thursday, 18 November 2010, to pat one another on the back – albeit cautiously.
Category archives: Media
Magazine summit no crystal ball on media future
Journalism and marketing will continue to move ever closer, with the wall once separating them being steadily dismantled. By publishers. And that’s a good thing. Read on.
Seeking to answer questions around magazine strategy in the information age, publishers from across the country gathered at the Cape Town International Convention Centre for the first annual SAPPI MPASA (Magazine Publishers Association of South Africa) Media Summit. A prelude to the day’s main draw, the PICA awards (the magazine publishing industry’s annual award show), the summit was meant to explore what the magazine landscape will look like five years from now. There seemed to be few answers.
PICA awards evening shows Media24’s dominance
Here is a reminder how powerful a force Media24 is in the South African magazine world. At the 2010 MPASA PICA Awards held late last week in Cape Town, its associate companies, including New Media Publishing and Touchline Media, picked up an incredible 22 awards. Out of 29.
Mercury retrenches third of staff following GCIS move
Media placement house Mercury has had to retrench 10 staff members following a decision by the Government Communication and Information Service (GCIS) to centralise control of Government’s R1.7 billion annual advertising budget (including departmental). The GCIS was a long-standing client of Mercury, which has had considerable success in attracting business from government departments and parastatals over the years.
Kenny vs. Spenny lands another broadcaster in trouble
The adventures of Canadian comedic duo Kenny and Spenny with a rather unfortunate goat has landed a second South African broadcaster in hot water with the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA).
Jock goes to Hollywood
Jock of the Bushveld is leaving for Hollywood, literally, as film director Duncan MacNeillie takes his 3D animated remake of the classic tale to American movie studios in a bid to gain distribution in markets outside South Africa.
Satire wasted on BCCSA, Vlismas ruling shows
Right on the heels of a judgement that would potentially complicate South Africa’s television content rating system by adding additional warnings to shows containing strong language (traditionally and recognisably marked with an L), the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) has now taken up the mighty task of establishing the “bounds of humour” in a ruling that effectively finds stand-up comedian John Vlismas guilty of hate speech.
When a click doesn’t pay
South African publishers are facing increasing pressure from advertisers to adopt a pricing model based on the clickthrough rate on banner ads, rather than the more traditional CPM (cost per mille or cost per thousand), pricing model, which is based on a fixed price for every 1000 impressions served.
CPC, or cost per click, is a performance-based pricing model, in which the advertiser is charged only for the number of clicks an ad delivers. The model was popularised by search engines such as Google.
Refocused 24.com: good news for newspaper brands?
24.com, the largest and one of the most important South African digital media players, earlier this week announced a significant strategic move that will see it restructured and refocused. It will, in effect, move from being standalone to a division integrated with Media24 Newspapers.
With apologies to Cell C
Cell C CEO Lars Reichelt published a second full page apology this past weekend after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that Cell C must stop using the term “4Gs” in its advertising material. Cell C earlier this year punk’d consumers and commentators with an ad apologising to comedian Trevor Noah for lapses in service in what later turned out to be part of a marketing campaign involving the positioning of Noah as Cell-Cs ‘chief experience officer’. Lars (not the real one this time) seems to be at it again, as I explain on BizCommunity.com, rather cheekily.