Young, Gifted & Killing It! 2019 in review

by Veli Ngubane (@TheNduna) Young, Gifted & Killing It! 2019 has been a celebration of talent, excellence and of growth, and their hard-earned lessons and sage advice have made their interviews some of the best over the four years of this column. Here’s our recap, along with their advice for young creatives wanting to get into the business.

January: Ernest Nkosi

Director, filmmaker, creative director & promoter

Ernest Nkosi

Multitalented Ernest Nkosi (@ernestnkosi) is a filmmaker, creative director and promoter, and the director behind Brand South Africa’s #OneAfricaOnePeople for Africa Day.

VN: What advice can you give to young creatives wanting to get into the business?
Ernest Nkosi: Trust the process of your journey and punch the first person that tells you to get a real job in the throat when things don’t seem to be going well.

 

February: Sibu Mabena

Creative communications head at Duma Collective

Sibu Mabena

Multitalented Sibu Mabena (@sibumabena) is still running Duma Collective, a creative communications agency. She’s currently working on #FriendsOfAmstelSA and the 2020 #FeesForAllMegaConcert.*

VN: What advice can you give to young women wanting to get into the business?
Sibu Mabena: Start today!! Right now. With whatever you have, start today. Waiting for whatever you are waiting for is only going to eat away at your opportunity to do what you want to do! Start!!!!

 

March: Nkululeko “Legend” Manqele

CEO of The Bar Group

Legend Manqele

Nkululeko “Legend” Manqele (@legendmanqele) has seen an addition to his stable with the acquisition of Ndalo Media, which means that he is the new owner of Destiny and Destiny Man magazines. 2019 has indeed been a year of growth and opportunities for the Pietermaritzburg-born entrepreneur.

VN: What advice can you give to young creatives wanting to get into the business?
Legend Manqele: The industry today is not what it was when I started in it 11 years ago. Then, I had to physically be in the presence of industry structures — production houses, people, sets etc. Today all it takes is a smartphone, great wifi and some inspiration for young creatives to produce, launch, share and promote their own content. Nollywood films made off of smartphones rake in millions. The advice is really to showcase your talent and the industry will be here to receive it — we’re all on our phones, anyway, so you’re more likely to get a response from work submitted via a tweet than a physical CV. Social media is your biggest opportunity as a launchpad, so use it. Also, remain hungry, remain interested and connected. We need young creatives to drive the newness of the industry and not wait to just replicate what happens abroad. Through digital, we have all become globally accessible so abroad is as much “here” as “here” is “here”. You never know who is looking for an idea you may have and would want to collaborate with you.

 

April: Amahle “Jaxx” Jaxa

Chief of operations at Until Until

Amahle Jaxa

Queenstown-born Amahle “Jaxx” Jaxa (@Jaxx_Amahle) is currently chief of operations at Until Until while studying towards a BA in politics, philosophy and economics through UNISA. The 25-year-old shares her opinions on how the industry is doing in terms of transformation and how women are portrayed in the media.

VN: What advice would you give someone completing their high-school education this year and looking to follow a career in the creative industry?
Amahle Jaxx: Any young person should know that, without an education, life is harder. Patience is needed in the creative industry because there are so many moving parts; it’s not like working in a bank where every day is the same. You have to be extremely reliable because the creative industry works a lot on referrals. You are easily replaceable; therefore ,you have to work hard — as you would in any job, I guess.

 

May: David Tshabalala

Co-founder of & creative director at Suketchi

David Tshabalala

Free State-born David Tshabalala (@SlayingGoliath) is co-founder and creative director of branding and design agency, Suketchi. As a graphic designer and illustrator, he’s been busy we featured him in May — he was involved in the limited-edition branding of Danone Yogi Sip and the launch of the new Audi Q3.

VN: What advice would you give someone completing their high-school education this year and looking to follow a career in the creative industry?
David Tshabalala T: The internet and social media is such an ideal resource! There hasn’t been an easier time in our recent history where you could directly communicate with the powers that be, for advice and insight. I would encourage that person to use these outlets to spark conversations with people and companies that they would like to work for.

 

June: Mashudu Modau

Lutcha founder/Yoco community & partnerships manager

Mashudu Modau

Mashudu Modau (@mashstartup), entrepreneur and founder of podcast network Lutcha, shares with us his entrepreneurship journey, as well as insights into the future of African media.

VN: What advice would you give someone completing their high-school education this year and looking to follow a career in the creative industry or starting their own business?
Mashudu Modau: Sign up to any experiences that empower, enable and educate you. Not just those that involve your interests or desired career paths but those that offer personal growth. Oh, and of course, patient with yourself.

 

July: Nomaswazi Phumo

Strategist at M&C Saatchi Abel

Nomaswazi Phumo

Soweto-born and -raised strategist Nomaswazi Phumo (@NomaswaziPhumo) shares with us her routine for solving some complex brand problems through her kickass strategy.

VN: What advice would you give someone completing their high-school education this year and looking to follow a career in the creative industry?
Nomaswazi Phumo: Be interested. Always ask why. Read anything and everything.

 

August: Farah Fortune

Founder & CEO of African Star Communications

Farah Fortune

Farah Fortune (@fcfortune), African Star Communications founder and CEO, shares with us her life journey, from being born in Cape Town and being raised in Europe to working on the Oscar-winning movie, Tsotsi, and also running a women-empowered agency in South Africa.

VN: What advice would you give someone completing their high-school education this year and looking to follow a career in the PR or creative industry?
Farah Fortune: Look at the digital side of the PR and creative industry. Make sure the institution you wish to study at is progressive and already adapting [its] coursework to the current technological climate. Look for good mentors, too, preferably ones who are able to guide you into your chosen profession.

 

September: Tshepo Tumahole

Copywriter at Joe Public

Tshepo Tumahole

Now an award-winning copywriter currently at Joe Public, Tshepo Tumahole’s career kicked off after winning a copywriting bursary he’d heard about on YFM and being given a break by Ahmed Tilly (then at Black River FC). He hopes to share credits with an astronaut, zookeeper, mine worker and Doctor Khumalo one day.

VN: What advice would you give someone completing their high-school education this year and looking to follow a career in the creative industry or starting their own business?
Tshepo Tumahole: Never stop learning and never think of yourself as too young to do something. Whatever you set your sights on, you can achieve, especially in the creative industry. There are so many amazing people in this industry who will not only inspire you but will catapult your career.

 

October: Mimi Kalinda

GCEO & co-founder of Africa Communications Media Group

Mimi Kalinda

Mimi Kalinda (@MKalinda), group CEO and co-founder of Africa Communications Media Group (ACG), has juggled crisis comms in Nigeria, airline work in Ethiopia and B2B work in Zambia; she’s also an author and has led workshops on telling stories and narrative in leadership locally and internationally. Get a taste of this powerhouse storyteller here.

VN: What advice would you give someone completing their high-school education this year and looking to follow a career in the PR or creative industry?
Mimi Kalinda: Find a great mentor who will teach you the ropes and push you to your limits. You will hate the process sometimes, but it will be worth it if you stick it through. Also, you don’t know much. Be comfortable with and humble enough to seize every opportunity to learn. Finally, be flexible. You don’t need to have a plan for every single step of the journey. It’s perfectly fine to go with the flow, as long as you let excellence be the guiding value of everything you do.

 

November: Ayandamantombazane Mhlongo

Senior integrated marketing manager at MTV & MTV Base

Ayandamantombazane Mhlongo

Soweto-born, Thohoyandou- and Hillbrow-raised marketing superwoman Ayandamantombazane “Ayanda” Mhlongo (@KINGAya_) shares her insights on youth culture and her career highlights.

VN: What advice would you give someone completing their high-school education this year and looking to follow a creative industry?
Ayanda Mhlongo: Don’t stop learning. Learning doesn’t have to be going to school every day; learn from your environment, learn from your peers, job-shadow a person in the industry you want to work in. Work experience is key in this industry. In order to thrive in this industry, you need to be up to date with the latest trends, have knowledge on your industry and be able to provide key insights from your environment.

 

*Correction published at 9.04am on 6 December 2019. We incorrectly reported Sibu Mabena’s involvement with the #KFCWeddingProposal and a Toni Braxton concert. We regret the error.

 

Veli NgubaneVeli Ngubane (@TheNduna) entered the world of advertising with a passion after completing his BSocSci (law, politics and economics) at UCT and a post-graduate marketing diploma at Red & Yellow, where he’s currently advisory board chairman. He also sits on the IAB’s Transformation & Education Council, is a DMA board member and Loeries, APEX, Pendoring, Bookmarks and AdFocus. He is the group MD of AVATAR and co-founder of M&N Brands, which is building an African network of agencies to rival the global giants. In his monthly column “Young, Gifted & Killing It”, he profiles award-winning, kick-ass black creative talent in South Africa.

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Individualisation as a marketing strategy

by Jay Thomson. Once upon a long time ago, a piece of creative would be sent into the world and thumbs were held tightly in the hope that the generalist messaging would resonate with their broader audience. Today, however, as consumers are ever more sophisticated and discerning, they not only expect personalised messaging and communication from brands but are soon frustrated by those that don’t.

Personalisation, hyper-personalisation and individualisation are all terms that speak to customers’ growing preference for online content and solutions that place the individual at the centre of the strategy.

Central to success

Today, personalisation is central to the success of a digital marketing campaign, irrespective of the platform. It’s about shifting the focus away from the brand to placing the consumer at the centre of the strategy. It’s not enough to insert a name into an email newsletter; it’s about strategically, smartly and creatively mining the data to present a message that speaks to the customer’s interests and preferences, all while reaching them in the online space of their choosing.

A prime example of the power of personalisation is the impact of the now-famous “Share a Coke” campaign Coca-Cola first launched in Australia in 2011. The campaign, which simply put individual names in the place of the traditional brand logo on the soft drink can, captured the popular imagination, encouraging people to search far and wide for their own names, and those of friends and family. Despite a growing global awareness of the negative health effects of sugary drinks such as Coca-Cola, the brand witnessed growth in sales for the first time in a decade.

Such is the power of personalisation, and further sources reveal that consumers actually prefer communication and messaging tailored to their needs and preferences. Significantly, 90% of consumers are willing to share their behavioural data in exchange for additional benefits such as discounts or an easier shopping experience, according to research by behavioural marketing platform, SmarterHQ. The platform has also established that 70% of millennials prefer personalised marketing emails and are frustrated by irrelevant batch communication blasts. In fact, millennials are happy for retailers to track their browsing and online shopping behaviour in exchange for an enhanced shopping experience.

Central to efficacy

One only has to look to the proven benefits of dynamic personalisation to understand why it’s no longer a “nice touch” but central to the efficacy of a marketing campaign. Personalised videos increase click-through rates (CTRs) and open rates but also ensure that all your mailers don’t go unread.

Dynamic personalisation draws on historical and current data, intelligent creative and strategic, hyper-personalised messaging to reach customers at scale and to reach them online, offline and through-the-line.

In the online space, performance is measured by results, where results are the culmination of content relevance multiplied by brand reach multiplied by prospect reaction. But in order for personalisation to be successful, it needs to happen at all stages of the customer lifecycle, and across all channels, as per the example below:

  • Personalisation in the acquisition phase: Brand recall and higher CTRs are the result of early personalisation, with dynamic video ads on Facebook known to beat all legacy video formats.
  • Personalisation to drive sales: Use the information and insights garnered from the data available to you to offer customers customised offers of products and services that are relevant to them. Leveraging the data may help to do this at the right place and time, and in a non-intrusive way.
  • Personalisation with onboarding: It pays to wow your customers from the get-go with a personalised (video) message to welcome or thank them for their patronage. This sets the tone for the relationship going forward.
  • Personalisation to ensure retention: Engaging customers at key points during their lifecycle is crucial. Renewals, special occasions or loyalty programmes all present great opportunities to delight your customers with a personalised video, for example.

Reprieve for brands

The online space is a crowded one, with more content, more videos, more messages and more options being added to the mix every minute. Personalisation offers a reprieve for brands — a way to cut through the clutter — by offering their customers more of what’s important to them, what’s relevant to them, and giving them more of what they want, when and where they want it.

 

Jay ThomsonJay Thomson is co-founder and chief digital officer of Hoorah Digital, a digital media and marketing performance consultancy. Jay is a digital marketing pioneer, entrepreneur, awards juror, and speaker.

“Motive” is a by-invitation-only column on MarkLives.com. Contributors are picked by the editors but generally don’t form part of our regular columnist lineup, unless the topic is off-column.

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Inside Look: Charlie Mathews’ Agency Leaders 2018 poster design

by MarkLives (@marklives) MarkLives has been polling South African ad agency leaders since 2012 to nominate those among their peers whom they most admire. Beginning in 2014, we commissioned some of SA’s best illustrators and graphic designers for the accompanying posters. This time, we did something different: we asked a former agency owner, who has been winning increasing respect for their art, to create a work to celebrate the 2018 results announced earlier this year.

The outcome is Charlie Mathews’ vibrant piece that honours diversity, thinking, collaboration and connection.

Note: The 2019 poll results start running on Monday, 27 January 2020.

The fine art of leadership

Everything we’re reading about leadership lately reinforces how crucial thinking and intelligence are to the future of the industry. So, it comes as no surprise that the 2018 poster looks so much like the neural networks that exist in our heads. We asked the artist a few questions.

Agency Leaders Inside Look 2018 collage

MarkLives logoWhat was your inspiration?
Charlie Mathews: Data and the infinitely beautiful patterns that data makes when it is visualised. Leadership, so much these days, is about emotional maturity. Research is increasingly linking business success with intellectual diversity and EQ. I’m fascinated by the neural part of being human. The thought that a small piece of fatty tissue creates this remarkable experience of what it is to be alive is profound. And, if you look at brain imagery and data networks, it is astounding to see the similarity between our firing neurons and a schema of the connections of clusters of influence in social networks.

MarkLives logoPlease tell us about yourself.
CM: I’m a marketing polymath who has been an investigative journalist, an agency boss, a researcher and an entrepreneur. However, these days I’m more of a consultant, researcher and author who loves to draw.

MarkLives logoWhat is your statement about the piece of art?
CM: Ultimately, leadership is all about becoming better versions of ourselves, all the time. It is a humbling exercise of experimentation and iteration. Leadership is a journey. A verb. A doing thing. Thankfully so, because as humans we learn by watching and emulating. We are social creatures, and the greatest leaders are those who inspire others to improve.

Agency Leaders Inside Look 2018 collage

  • Look out for the 2019 Agency Leaders’ Most Admired poll results, kicking off on Monday, 27 January 2020!

See also

 

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SA TV Ratings: SABC 1 — primetime top 20 for Oct 2019

by MarkLives (@marklives) The hottest primetime shows on SABC 1 in South Africa revealed: TV ratings for October 2019.

SABC 1 logoSABC 1, October 2019

Top 20 Programmes All Adults 15+
October 2019 Prime Time 5.30pm—10pm
Adults 15+ years U:35830 S:8557

Source: BRCSA October 2019

Day

Date

From

To

Station

Programme title

Genre

AR

Viewers

Share
Mon 14/10/2019 2029 2058 S1 Uzalo Dram 29.04 10 403 773 71.2
Tue 22/10/2019 2000 2030 S1 Generations the Legacy Soap 25.77 9 234 837 65.4
Tue 22/10/2019 1829 1859 S1 Skeem Saam Dram 19.63 7 033 971 56.7
Wed 02/10/2019 1900 1928 S1 Zulu News News 12.09 4 330 271 33.8
Tue 22/10/2019 1900 1930 S1 Xhosa News News 12.01 4 303 006 31.8
Wed 09/10/2019 1930 1959 S1 Makoti Movi 12 4 300 239 31.5
Mon 21/10/2019 1930 2001 S1 Sabc/Nfvf Female Only Filmmaker Project Dram 10.99 3 936 784 28.4
Tue 29/10/2019 1931 2001 S1 Selimathunzi Vari 10.39 3 740 218 28.5
Sat 12/10/2019 1600 1829 S1 Shell Helix Ultra Cup 2018:Kaizer Chiefs Spor 10.28 3 682 623 43.9
Fri 11/10/2019 1930 1959 S1 Live Amp Musi 10.23 3 665 469 28.5
Mon 28/10/2019 1930 2001 S1 Umphefumlo Dram 9.84 3 544 845 26.9
Tue 22/10/2019 1759 1829 S1 Nyan Nyan Real 9.8 3 510 252 34.5
Sat 12/10/2019 1829 1927 S1 Friends Like These -R Vari 9.41 3 370 997 33.7
Sun 27/10/2019 1801 2118 S1 The Road to Indoni Miss Cultural SA 2019 Real 9.36 3 354 738 31.6
Thur 31/10/2019 1930 2001 S1 Verified Quiz 8.89 3 200 992 24.5
Tue 01/10/2019 1930 1958 S1 Selimathunzi-R Vari 8.71 3 122 318 24.3
Sun 27/10/2019 1546 1800 S1 Absa Premiership Mamelodi Sundowns vs Ka Spor 8.71 3 121 369 36
Mon 07/10/2019 1929 2001 S1 Streaks Vari 8.45 3 026 285 23.8
Sun 06/10/2019 1929 2105 S1 Hard to Get Movi 7.7 2 760 205 24.4
Wed 09/10/2019 1800 1829 S1 Reno-Race Vari 7.21 2 584 742 26.2

 

Broadcast Research Council of South AfricaThe Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRCSA) is a non-profit, industry body that was incorporated in 2015 to cater to the audience research needs of the radio and television industry in South Africa. In 2016, it changed its policy about giving away TAMS and now only monthly reports, highlighting the top 20 or 30 primetime shows on several popular channels, are available.

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Extracts: Dawn Rowlands on the need for mentoring women in business

by MarkLives (@marklives) Hear Her Voice SSA, a newly released research report by iProspect, sheds light on the challenges faced by female entrepreneurs within emerging markets in Africa. Hear Her Voice is the research aspect of Female Foundry, an initiative developed by iProspect and powered by Dentsu Aegis Network to drive diversity and inclusion in business. Here is an extract from the African report’s introduction.

Dawn Rowlands

Dawn RowlandsDawn Rowlands (@dawnrow) is the CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Sub-Saharan Africa, which has owned offices in South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and has affiliate partnerships in another 32 markets across sub-Saharan Africa.

by Dawn Rowlands (@dawnrow) I am so fortunate to have had the support of my father growing up. He left an incredible mark on my attitude to life as a woman. The majority of women do not, and will not, receive this support from their families and friends. I believe that I am here to take what my father taught me and pay it forward. My parents, whilst supportive, made me finance my studies. They just could not afford it and I had a job at Spur, calling on and off burgers. My studies completed, I started my career, like most young rebellious women, in a field of my own choice. I believe having the opportunity to choose is critical for career success.

How did I choose?

How did I choose advertising and media? I scanned the Sunday Times and career sites religiously. I read the job descriptions, the skills required and the remuneration packages on offer. I liked the commercial and creative combination that this industry could offer me — it was forward thinking, innovative and brave. I fell in love. I was teased a great deal by my family in the beginning, “Hmm, sounds like fun but when are you going to get a real career?” After I sold my shares in my first company at 28, they stopped teasing me.

To be perfectly honest, I have never seen my gender as a disadvantage. I always looked past the fact that men overlooked me at first. All the bosses were men; that was just how it was. As soon as I thoroughly proved myself, it was difficult to ignore my achievements. Good men and women supported me because I would deliver. I did, however, get a great deal of negative feedback from other young women. “You are too ambitious.” “Oh, it is easy for you; you are pretty.”

Did they believe I was sleeping my way to the top? Or that my achievements were based on limited effort? I removed myself from the lives of these negative people and surrounded myself with people who inspired, motivated and supported me. I sought them out, invested in the relationships and over-delivered at every opportunity. So what if it was easier for men?

So damn what!

So damn what! It just made my victories all the more satisfying. Over time I forgot about the limitations and saw the potential. “It is all about power,” a very wise woman once told me.

Many women hand their power over to their fathers, husbands, boyfriends, bosses and their so-called friends. They hand the responsibility of their own happiness over to others so easily, needlessly. Along with this responsibility goes their ability to create a balanced life filled with self-respect. Sometimes it is just easier to complain.

In Africa there are so many women who have not had access to people who can nurture and mentor them. My heart goes out to them. My son asked me a few years ago, “Mom, the world is so messed up. Why do people suffer? How can you stand to watch it happen?”

More needs to be done

Besides congratulating myself for bringing up an amazing young man, it stopped me in my tracks. I realised encouraging other women, being honest about the hard work and dedication required for success, and setting a good example were not enough. More needs to be done.

See also

 

Hear Her Voice SSA coverHear Her Voice SSA takes an in-depth look at how women in sub-Saharan Africa are leveraging technological advancements to enhance their businesses. It was conducted in Kenya, Ghana, Namibia, Nigeria and South Africa to further understand female entrepreneurship across the region. The primary approach consisted of a qualitative convenience sampling method over a one-month period, where 2 903 female respondents from multiple sectors (finance, banking, media, FMCG, etc) were interviewed via online business radio station ebizradio.com. The research discovered that the overarching motivational driver for female entrepreneurs to start their own businesses is born out of necessity, not opportunity. In this paper, the key findings are unpacked extensively regarding the lack of mentorship, shortage of personal and business skills, and deficit of networking and business expansion opportunities among female entrepreneurs across SSA. Download the full report here (registration required).

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Zeitgeist of Now: Post-perfection — SuperPower Me

by Jason Stewart (@HaveYouHeard_SA) Society has reached a period in which it has access to more material wealth than ever before. This material wealth is not equally shared, and this has given rise to a segment of society in which everyone’s basic needs have been met, yet their list of desires grows unabated. Chief among these desires today is to keep progressing forward to become more than before. We call this SuperPower Me, and it definitely plays into the zeitgeist of now.

Obsession

Driving this cultural shift is an obsession with success and unlimited progress. It’s influenced predominantly by technology with a 100% belief in science, with the aim for a person to become the most-extreme, high-performance version of oneself.

In many cases, however, these consumers are buying hope and a dream of superiority. As their focus is on doing whatever is necessary to improve performance, they’re not risk-averse and open to experimentation (no matter the potential health consequences). You will hear them talking about bodyhacking, biohacking, cyborgs, cold immersive therapy and even faecal transplants.

Biohacking as a lifestyle has exploded since 2010, growing into an almost religious cult of global enthusiasts looking for anyway to improve themselves and their abilities. The three most-popular types of biohacking are nutrigenomics (focuses on how the food you eat interacts with your genes), DIY biology (conducting structured experiments on yourself outside of a controlled experimental environment) and grinders (seeking to optimise your body with a combination of gadgets, chemical injections, implants, etc).

Perfect combination

The lifestyle is seeping into mainstream culture, because it offers the hope of improved performance and is also hype-ably exciting and interesting. The perfect combination.

The reasons for the SuperPower Me trend are numerous. To quote Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, it’s a definite part of achieving or progressing past self-actualisation, that state in which all needs are already met, and now we are searching to past what we need.

There is also a level of innocent narcissism. People have more freedom and time than ever before to think about only themselves and less about others. Starting families much later and having more economic wealth allows them to become more obsessive about their reaching new higher heights.

In the beginning

Initially, SuperPower Me was driven by the ‘analogue’, for example, by the likes of a Tim Ferris who promised you could build a life of your dreams by working effectively for four hours a week. Or by the plethora of click-bait content list-icle type articles promising you seven ways to a better/11 steps to a faster/four ways to build bigger etc. Back then, achieving SuperPower Me wasn’t truly possibly, but now it is, thanks to digital or technological advancements.

Consider this: there’s been a major evolution of our physical appearance over the past 20 years. Male sex symbols of the ’80s who represented what a ‘good body’ looked like would be considered underdeveloped today, compared to your average Joe.

The increased accessibility of high-performance gyms and workouts, combined with the use of supplements (natural, chemical and illegal), as well as the attitudinal focus on becoming ‘ripped’, spurred on through social media and its influencers, is literally reshaping the human form. In addition, women (and men) are now able to enhance their looks through non-plastic surgery additions such as lashes, and plastic surgery including fillers, boobs, bums and botox. It’s much easier for the average person to look like the sex bombshell of the previous generations.

Technology

And then technology has allowed for us to understand and know our bodies better. Through wearables (Apple watch, for example) we can gain enormous insight into how our bodies are functioning. Not only are we able to quantify performance (data point), we can access information, assistance and tech to directly improve that performance.

Technology also promotes engagement through gamification and rankings that have led to an addiction-level type of focus on performance.

Where are the brands? They are moving from helping us perform better (education or simple tools) to providing services and platforms (artificial intelligence, advanced tech) to perform better, to being biologically part of us (Crissper and others playing within the singularity theme).

Brand takeouts

  1. Post-perfection is deemed a realistic goal, with consumers searching for that edge; however, there is less room for “fakesters”, and performance needs to be proven, consistent and of value
  2. Data offers an opportunity for enhance performance and there’s a plethora of opportunities to provide service, platforms or ecosystems to enhance people’s abilities
  3. Whether consumers want to SuperPower themselves or not, they are always looking to progress and brands can assist in small but positive ways
  4. Counter trend: The pressure for post-perfection will have a rebellious counterswing as we have seen in beauty with the increasing drive towards ‘ugly and flawed’; however, this will always be in the minority.

 

Jason StewartJason Stewart is co-founder of HaveYouHeard (@HaveYouHeard_SA), a full-service agency. Zeitgeist of Now, his new column on MarkLives, is inspired by the agency’s proprietary tool developed to understand the invisible but powerful forces that influence people, products, culture and societies. If we appreciate these, he argues, we become more-effective marketers.

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Press Pass: Spotong — talking to township traders

by Carey Finn (@carey_finn) “I would love brands in South Africa to start seeing — if they don’t already — township entrepreneurs as dynamic community leaders, which they are: self-funded, self-educated, driving the economy, employing people.” The perception of business owners in townships as any less entrepreneurial to their peers elsewhere is a bugbear for Sean Press, CEO of Contact Media & Communications, the publishers of quarterly trade title, Spotong (@spotongmagazine). It’s something he hopes to change as the magazine reaches more readers — which it’s on its way to doing.

Spotong Facebook cover image accessed 2 December 2019

“Tabizine”

Launched in 2012, Spotong positions itself as the only exclusive township trade publication in SA. Expanding its print run from 11 500 to 15 000 copies in November 2019, the free magazine has an estimated readership of between 50 000 and 70 000, according to Press. The majority of readers are in Gauteng but the magazine is starting to reach hands in the Eastern Cape, Durban and the Free State, and he hopes to further extend its footprint. The magazine size has also been expanded to what he calls a “tabizine”, a combination of a tabloid and magazine, to make room for more content.

These changes were driven by increased demand, says Press. Spotong is currently published with three endorsing partners: the Gauteng Liquor Forum (GLF), South African Liquor Traders Association (SALTA), and the National Tourism Hospitality Association (NTHA), with interest expressed by other business associations. He is currently in negotiations with a potential fourth partner. The endorsing partners represent a number of other bodies through which the magazine is distributed to members.

The partnerships are exclusive, and each of the three core associations receives a column through which they can communicate to their members, as well as the opportunity to showcase member success stories. He says that this content takes up about 6–8 pages of the 64-page magazine, which works on a 40:24 editorial and advertising split, page-wise.

Editorial focus

The editorial focus is three-fold, says Press: educate, inform, empower. “We aim to educate readers on best business practice, responsible trade and so on, provide information around new business products and things like point of sale, how cocktails can improve revenue if you run a bar, health and safety, etc. Through education and information, that creates empowerment — and the empowerment stories are the success stories of traders.

“What a lot of South Africa doesn’t know is that there are hundreds of thousands of township traders,” he says. “A lot of people associate township trade with just taverns and shebeens, and maybe spaza shops. But there are thriving industries in the townships — from funeral parlours to hair salons and informal traders.”

The niche that Spotong fills, he explains, is in being a trade magazine very specifically aimed at township business entrepreneurs. “Other publications may speak to these business owners from a consumer point of view but not trade,” he says. Though these business owners might not bring in millions of rands, they service millions of consumers; by the sheer numbers, it’s a very exciting market, he says.

Community involvement

Spotong gives brands the opportunity to speak directly to these business owners, in a format and forum they appreciate, says Press. He comments that township businesses are keenly aware of the appeal they hold to corporates but successful engagement requires a level of trust not easily attained without groundwork and giving back. This is where Spotong is strong: the magazine has built up trust with its readers through engagement and consultation from its inception, something that he highlights as a key factor in its success: “When we launched, we got the community involved. We got the business associations involved. We strategised with them; we conceptualised with them. That’s why there’s this sense of ownership that they have in the magazine.”

As a result, Spotong’s stable of advertisers is diverse, with many regulars. Among these, Press names Masscash (division of Massmart), Philip Morris International, Japan Tobacco International, Tiger Brands and Pioneer Foods. “It’s across the board, anything from alcohol brands to food brands,” he says. “Anything that’s associated with the township trade market and, more specifically, the stokvel market. Most township traders, if not all, are members of stokvels.”

Press takes pains to define Spotong as more than just a magazine. “We build platforms,” he says, “and those platforms have many touch points — print, social, digital and events.” As part of this, Spotong hosts a Township Entrepreneur Summit once a year, with the November 2019 edition in Soweto having attracted over 1 000 township traders. All suppliers at the event are sourced from the community — a decision that contributes to the success of both the event itself, and that of the trade magazine brand, he says.

Future plans

Going forward into 2020, the Spotong team will be working on “some quite exciting digital properties with strategic partners,” he says. Previously, an app was attempted, but it was perceived as requiring too much data to download and flopped as a result. The team is now working on a digital offering that rewards interaction, keeping details to a minimum for the time being. A digital version of Spotong is already available online.

 

Carey FinnCarey Finn (@carey_finn) is a writer and editor with a decade and a half of industry experience, having covered everything from ethical sushi in Japan to the technicalities of roofing, agriculture, medical stuff and more. She’s also taught English and journalism, and dabbled in various other communications ventures along the way, including risk reporting. As a contributing writer to MarkLives.com, her column, “Press Pass”, is a monthly feature spotlighting media leaders and their responses to the trends and tribulations in the industry.

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FieldNotes: When brands are brave enough

by Marguerite Coetzee. With a young democracy, South Africa is in a state of transition, and rugby has been used as a tool before to unite a divided country. Since then, youth have questioned the breadth and depth of change. We find ourselves at this threshold again.

Rugby World Cup

I thought it fitting that South Africa (a former British colony) and England would be battling it out in a modern-day form of war: rugby. These two nations are not unfamiliar opponents — in sport and in actual war.

Walking through the Saturday market in Franschhoek on the day of the 2019 Rugby World Cup final, it was easy to spot the tourists. They stood in stark contrast to a sea of gold and green jerseys. Dutch conversations and German accents were drowned out by South African music blaring from phones and cars hooting as they drove by with flags flailing from open windows. I found a table in a small restaurant with a TV. Behind me, an elderly couple proudly displayed their British identity and, to my left, a larger family also from England were making their presence known. Their confidence didn’t last long, as the Springboks won, and the British tourists snuck out of the restaurant, avoiding eye contact.

Conversations and media headlines that followed emphasised how ‘desperately’ South Africa needed this win: to instil a sense of national pride, to create non-political cohesion, and to enforce some kind of social transformation.

Lesson 1: Pick a side

It’s easy — particularly in the media, marketing and advertising industries — to want to tell feel-good stories, especially if surrounded by chaos and catastrophe. Many brands tend to avoid risk and play it safe by avoiding stories that might alienate them among particular markets; look at the polarised responses received by Gillette recently when it made noise. Alberto Brea identifies three types of brands: passive (sticking to the way things have always been done), active (encouraging engagement and co-creation with consumers), and neutral (lacking edge and purpose as they follow a linear journey).

“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” —Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor & activist.

Lesson 2: Stand your ground

Having a clearly defined brand purpose or positioning requires consistency in communication and behaviour. Knowing what we stand for, and where we want to be, helps us figure out how to get there. Whether it is providing a platform, creating opportunities, or crafting solutions, brands and businesses have the power to influence, shape, and change the course we are on.

“Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter” —Chinua Achebe, novelist.

Lesson 3: Share the glory

Many brands have access to exclusive resources and a large audience. They have the opportunity — and social responsibility — to create positive, long-term transformation. Just as the Springboks returned home and toured the country to share their victory and to recognise the role we all played, so too could brands and businesses distribute the glory.

“What we do is more important than what we say or what we say we believe.” —bell hooks, activist.

 

Marguerite de Villiers Marguerite Coetzee is a senior strategist at Instant Grass International and an anthropologist, artist and futurist who provides research and insight services through Omniology. FieldNotes, the latest series in her regular column on MarkLives, captures experiences from the field, shares the cultural lessons learned, and advises on qualitative tools, methodologies and frameworks when exploring the world of the consumer.

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#BrandFocus: Mutually assured caring & creativity with AvBob

by Sabrina Forbes. After 101 years, AvBob Mutual Assurance Society has become a household name in South Africa. While its primary approach has been to service policyholders in person, it realises the importance of having a strong digital presence and is working towards an omnichannel communications approach without losing its strong on-the-ground footprint.

Brand positioning

AvBob logoWith a brand positioning that every funeral starts with a call and then it will take care of the rest, AvBob’s main focus is on providing funeral insurance and burial services but it also offers life policies and long-term savings plans. It has a nationwide network of over 380 branches, providing high accessibility to clients.

According to Natasha Mienie, AvBob brand and advertising manager, its key market differentiator is that it’s a mutual assurance society, a concept many find hard to understand: the company doesn’t have shareholders who receive dividends or profits, and all surplus profits that the society makes goes back to the policyholders in the form of additional benefits. She says that brands often abuse words such as “free”, promising customers something that often ends up too good to be true.

AvBob also has a strong CSI arm which focuses primarily on education and the upliftment of local communities; it recently donated its 50th fully stocked library to an underprivileged school and is committing R150m to the Schools Infrastructure Project in partnership with government.

Creative and strategy

Mienie has worked on the AvBob brand for 19 years, initially while at The Agency for Advertising and Marketing, since liquidated. In 2014, she joined the brand inhouse and has no plans on leaving; that same year, she appointed Brand et al, part of The et al Group, as AvBob’s strategic and creative partner. “I think that has been a key strength for AvBob in terms of laying down a very strong marketing strategy that is aligned to the strategic objectives of the business. And now AvBob as a brand has really made an impression in the market in terms of its advertising,” she says.

“My view is that, if you have a strong strategic team, everything else just follows. It just works. We are over the moon with our agency and our intention is to continue a long-term relationship with them. They have really engrossed themselves in the brand and the strategic direction value that we get from them has been exceptional. We have the awareness and engagement levels increase significantly in the last four years. Even the quality of our advertising is completely different to what it was five years ago,” she says.

The latest funeral-focused TVC speaks to the cultural diversity of the country, something that’s important for the brand. Mienie says it constantly asks itself how it is going to show that it, as a brand and a company, embraces and understands all South African cultures. For her, the TVC does just this without relying on something too staged or scripted.

Poetry Project

Another campaign Mienie believes shows this cultural sensitivity is the AvBob Poetry Project that is open to all 11 official South African languages. The Poetry Project is going into its third year, with a 50% rise in entries from year one to year two and, at the time of this interview, a steady flow of entries about to exceed year two’s results.

“This is really something that has stood out for the brand and is something quite unorthodox. One wouldn’t have thought that’s a typical campaign but, as we’ve progressed with this, it’s become such a logical part of our brand. It’s a great resource for our customers and that’s what it’s about at the end of the day. AvBob is positioned as a family brand and that goes back to our utilitarian routes. We give back to our policyholders; we care for them; we give back to them. We make sure that, in times of loss, there are tools to help people cope with that grieving process. This is all part of the family positioning we have as a brand,” she says.

Investing in tech

In the past 12 months, AvBob hasn’t focused heavily in developing new marketing campaigns. Instead, it has looked into investing in new technologies, one of which the brand is hoping to launch before the end of 2019: an online memorial platform. According to Mienie, this service isn’t something new but AvBob will have a different take. Most funeral providers use global tech that simply plugs into their system but this doesn’t take into account the proportion of the South African market that’s still heavily reliant on USSD. Instead, AvBob is creating a progressive web app (PWA) that users may interact with to create a video montage of a person’s life through downloading it, on mobile, as well as through USSD prompts.

Daily operations for Mienie includes her spending close on 40% of her time at Brand et al; she has an inhouse staff complement of 11 people. She believes relationships are vital and will continue to work on a brand she loves alongside people who understand what she’s trying to achieve.

“The fundamental thing is: have a relationship with you brand agency, be open to what your agency has, share information, realise that you’re partners because, if you have a client/agency relationship, it will show in your marketing efforts; it will show in the passion and commitment; and it will show in the value that you get out of your agency. It’s also important to know and understand each other as individuals and know how to get the best out of every person. We’re like a family. To me, that’s key,” she concludes.

 

Sabrina Forbes“BrandFocus” is a monthly series looking at brand performance and innovation, consumer trends and sector insight through in-depth interviews with senior marketers.

Sabrina Forbes (IG) is an experienced writer covering the food, health, lifestyle, beverage, marketing and media industries. She runs her own full-stack web/app development and digital-first content creation company. For more, go to moonwrench.com. She is a contributing writer to MarkLives.com.

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SA TV Ratings: e.tv — primetime top 20 for Oct 2019

by MarkLives (@marklives) The hottest primetime shows on e.tv in South Africa revealed: TV ratings for October 2019.

e.tv logo for SA TV Ratingse.tv, October 2019

Top 20 Programmes All Adults 15+
October 2019 Prime Time 5.30pm—10pm
Adults 15+ years U:35830 S:8557

Source: BRCSA October 2019

Day

Date

From

To

Station

Programme title

Genre

AR
Mon 14/10/2019 1930 1958 e.tv Scandal Soap 16.56
Thur 10/10/2019 1900 1926 e.tv Rhythm City Dram 11.91
Thur 03/10/2019 2129 2158 e.tv Imbewu: the Seed Dram 10.9
Sun 20/10/2019 2000 2236 e.tv Furious Seven Movi 10.09
Sun 13/10/2019 2000 2221 e.tv Mad Max Fury Road Movi 10.01
Sun 27/10/2019 2000 2247 e.tv The Fate of the Furious Movi 9.18
Sat 12/10/2019 1929 2122 e.tv Despicable Me 2 Movi 7.89
Sun 06/10/2019 2000 2206 e.tv The Mummy (Movie) Movi 7.83
Sat 26/10/2019 1930 2116 e.tv Epk:Despicable Me 3 Movi 7.71
Sat 19/10/2019 1929 2114 e.tv Minions Movi 7.69
Sat 05/10/2019 1930 2122 e.tv Despicable Me Movi 6.82
Mon 14/10/2019 2158 2159 e.tv Scoop Entertainment Docu 5.79
Sun 20/10/2019 1700 1844 e.tv America’s Got Talent Real 5.51
Sun 20/10/2019 1930 1956 e.tv The Carmichael Show Dram 5.34
Sun 13/10/2019 1800 1855 e.tv Showtime at the Apollo 2018 Real 4.95
Sun 06/10/2019 1930 1958 e.tv Blackish Sitc 4.72
Sun 20/10/2019 1900 1929 e.tv News Night News 4.49
Tue 08/10/2019 2159 2229 e.tv Checkpoint (News) News 4
Sun 06/10/2019 1700 1753 e.tv Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Ranch Challe Real 3.98
Sat 05/10/2019 2123 2128 e.tv Scoop Network Docu 3.88

 

Broadcast Research Council of South AfricaThe Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRCSA) is a non-profit, industry body that was incorporated in 2015 to cater to the audience research needs of the radio and television industry in South Africa. In 2016, it changed its policy about giving away TAMS and now only monthly reports, highlighting the top 20 or 30 primetime shows on several popular channels, are available.

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