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Smart Africa TV: Setting up a $100 million record label in Nigeria

by Russell Southwood (@BalancingActAfr) Piriye Isokrari, Executive VP and Head of Operations, 960Music talks about why he has set up a major record label and why it’s so needed in Nigeria.

The interview covers:

how he has bought together three record labels and the kind artists they have;
the type of services the company will offer both labels and artists;
its investment from Verad Capital;
and the digital distribution opportunity.

Russell Southwood is the founder of Balancing Act and the web TV channel Smart Monkey TV, and has been an analyst in telecoms, internet and broadcast in Africa for the last 14 years. Smart Monkey TV aims to capture the energy at the crossroads between African culture and technology. MarkLives is syndicating content from Smart Monkey TV on a weekly basis for the column “Smart Africa TV”.

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SABC: DA ad ’cause for incitement to action against the police services’

The DA has received notice from the SABC that it is removing the DA’s ‘ANC Ayisafani’ television commercial from the airwaves. The SABC has now released a statement outlining their reasons for pulling the DA’s ad.

Statement from the SABC:

‘We advise the DA that we are not able to continue broadcasting these advertisements for the following reasons:

1) The ICASA Regulations on Political Advertising state clearly that there may not be incitements to violence. It is our view that the reference in your television advertisement to police killing our people is cause for incitement to action against the police services*. In addition, the Electoral Code of Conduct signed at the IEC by political parties (which we understand included the Democratic Alliance) states that the Code is part of the Electoral Act (73 of 1998) and contains a list of prohibited conduct, including using language which provokes violence.

2) The Electoral Code of Conduct includes a clause prohibiting the publication of false information about other candidates or parties. We believe this can also be extended to information that has not yet been tested and confirmed in a court of law, such as the allegations in your advertisement regarding the Nkandla matter.

3) As you are no doubt aware, the Code of Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) does not permit attacking another product to promote your own. The ASA does not have jurisdiction over political advertising permitted during the Election Period, but it is our view that the Complaints and Compliance Committee of ICASA, which then assumes jurisdiction, is most likely to apply the same principle.

4) We are also of the view that the SABC will not permit personal attacks on any party member or leader by any other party, as is being done in your advertisement in respect of President Jacob Zuma. We do not have any concern about generic statements regarding matters such as corruption or lack of service delivery, but do not believe that it is correct to pin such issues on any specific person, whether the President or anyone else.

We have also informed them that they are entitled to submit an amended version of the said advert.’

Ends.

* Bold text ours.

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AdForum Worldwide Summit: Emerging advertising for emerging markets

by Johanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) Sao Paulo: Day 2 of the 2014 AdForum Worldwide Summit started at R/GA – one of the leading “pure play” digital agencies in the world and, as always, ahead of the curve. R/GA never disappoints us – and their presence in Brazil and Argentina is already formidable with more than 83 people in the Sao Paulo office and 102 in Buenos Aires.

Barry Wacksman, Chief Growth Officer worldwide for R/GA, gave an update on the agency network and one of its newest initiatives – the R/GA Accelerator – which provides services to start up companies and adds value to the agency offering.

IRIS Worldwide – demonstrated their activation, eventing and sustainable below line brand work and they did not disappoint us. “ Participation branding” is the name of the game and IRIS have developed five rules for brands to make this happen.

Material quality

Habituality

Practical magic

Tribal identity &

Social currency.

IRIS is now 15 years old as an agency with hubs in London, New York and Sao Paulo and plans for Asia. Independent and entrepreneurially driven, they are an agency to watch. No plans yet to come to Africa but it is not ruled out.

Peralta – one of the most awarded creatives in Brazil started this agency in 2007 and has no plans to sell to a big network – though he is often approached. Wanting to build an agency like Droga 5 or Wieden and Kennedy, Peralta is succeeding with large clients and competes at top level with the leading Brazil agencies. “ Emerging advertising for emerging markets” is Peralta’s clear positioning and their intentions are to collaborate with agencies in South Africa and China as part of their planned growth.

Saatchi & Saatchi – Brazil and worldwide Worldwide CEO, Kevin Roberts, had flown in for the Summit and gave us a comprehensive update on the entire network including the five ways in which they have transformed this world famous agency. As always Lovemarks are predominant and this has moved forward to Loveworks. Their mission: to deliver the most loved work that is shared. Saatchi recognizes that consumers are sharing content as soon as they see it, participating in that content and adapting it. Winning significant business like Walmart, has strengthened Saatchi’s shopper marketing expertise along with its 85 year old relationship with Procter.

HAVAS World Wide We ended the day and night with Havas who are 5^th largest agency in Brazil and very significant on the Latin American continent. Havas is committed to keeping media, creative and digital all under one roof and it is working very successfully for them in their network. A return to the 70’s is how they see it but with all the modernity of technology.

Best
Johanna
@jomcdowell
#adforumsummit

Currently MD of the Independent Agency Search and Selection Company (IAS), Johanna McDowell has been in marketing and advertising since 1974, with experience both on the agency and client side of the fence. She held directorships in South African and British ad agencies until being appointed MD of Grey Phillips Advertising in 1988; and built Integrated Communications, a PR-driven marketing communications company that went from zero base in 1991 to an R8-million-fee turnover by December 2004.

After graduating in marketing and business studies, Johanna’s experience spanned large corporates, including UK and SA banking, manufacturing and retail, along with a 15-year stint in two of the largest ad agencies in SA and in a medium-sized agency in the UK. As such, she is well-placed to offer commentary on marketing and advertising from a local and international perspective. Follow her on Twitter at @jomcdowell.

SABC bans DA ad

The DA has received notice from the SABC that it is removing the DA’s ‘ANC Ayisafani’ television commercial from the airwaves, according to a statement issued by the party. [Click here for a response from the SABC.]

The ad takes aim at ‘President Jacob Zuma’s ANC,’ corruption, police brutality, jobs lost during his administration and the Nkandla scandal.

“The reasons advanced by the SABC are spurious, and almost certainly illegal. This is a transparent attempt by the SABC to protect Jacob Zuma from any public accountability for the Nkandla scandal,” claims the DA. “The unavoidable conclusion is that the SABC has bowed to pressure from the ANC to remove the commercial. We know that the ANC is worried about the hugely positive response that the advert has generated.”

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Grubstreet – latest AMPS stats out

by Gill Moodie (@grubstreetSA) There is not enough time to do or embark on a new establishment survey before the National Association of Broadcasters’ (NAB) resignation from the South African Audience Research Foundation (Saarf) kicks in at the end of year, Saarf’s interim CEO, Ettiene van den Berg, said in Durban today.

At the end of year, the NAB will go its own way and do its own TV and radio market research in South Africa. This follows the walk-out last year of the NAB from Saarf, prompted by frustration that it only had two places on the Saarf board that consists of representatives of the media owners, advertisers, media planners and marketers.

The broadcasters contribute the majority of funding to Saarf (78% of the total, according to the NAB) and they were unhappy with how the TAMS television audience research was being conducted.

Van den Berg said today at the Durban release of the AMPS research for 2013 that discussions between the stakeholders were still on the go and that the NAB has agreed in principle to stick with Amps or an establishment survey in some form – and to move forward with Saarf on this issue next year.

“Everyone agrees that we need to change and the decision will be issued in a joint press release,” said Van den Berg, who is Saarf CEO for this year in its transition period after the former head, Paul Haupt, retired recently. “The elephants in the room are ownership – Saarf would be prefer to have an independent body – and funding. Saarf sits in the middle of the marketers and the broadcasters (on this issue).”

There is no new agreement in place at the moment, he said, and at the end of the year – as things stand – Amps officially ceases to exist and Saarf’s contract with Nielsen (which does the survey on behalf of Saarf) will come to an end.

Meanwhile, the release of the Amps figures for 2013 shows a picture of general stability for media. The main trends (bearing in mind that this for the large urban areas and only the last half of 2013 is comparable to the last half of 2012 – and not full year – because of the SA population adjustment made last year after the national 2011 Census):

There was no significant change in any individual newspaper while the same was true for most magazine titles (Drum, Bona and Kuier were all up).
TV was similarly stable while both DStv and community TV (particularly Soweto TV, Bay TV and 1KZNTV) were up significantly.
There was little change in radio audiences although commercial radio was up in both Durban (especially Vuma FM and Ukhozi) and Gauteng while community radio was down in these markets.
Internet usage was up but online media access was still very low. Tablets in homes were up but the percentage (3.7% of the sample size) was still very low.
Cellphone usage was up – as was radio listenership on cellphones.

The sample size was 25 444 people aged 15 years and older and, the survey found, there was a slight increase in the LSM 8-10 top-earning group and a significant increase in people earning more than R20 000 a month.

The main news and sports events in the survey period include various strikes, the arrest of Oscar Pistorius, the Boston Marathon bombings, Nkandlagate, the Nairobi Mall attack, Nelson Mandela’s death and the ICC Champions Trophy and 2014 Soccer World Cup qualifier.

On the one hand, the stability of the Amps readership and audience figures is welcome news – especially for newspapers, which have been suffering sustained circulation declines in recent years. On the other hand, my thoughts last year on the release of the 2012 Amps figures may still be relevant:

What clouds our assessment of ABC v Amps is the fact that there is debate around how many people are reading a single copy of a paper (many say the Amps estimates are too high). On the other hand, we also know that in times of economic hardship, more people – especially in low LSM-groups – do share a single copy so this is consistent with what we see in the Daily Sun – where circulation is in decline and its readership is stable…

…While some say that comparing and bringing together Amps and ABC figures is a game with numbers that can be shaped to suit any publisher’s purpose, I think we can discern some big trends here:

– That buying newspapers is certainly in decline;
– But that the attitudes to reading traditionally (on paper) have not shifted as dramatically as in other more developed markets. South Africans are still largely happy to get their news on paper!
– If this is true – and, as Amps says, those people reading online and mobile are still reading traditionally – we have to question the supposition that South – Africans are buying fewer newspapers because they are getting their news digitally?
– Which leads us to two really scary questions: a). Are South Africans perhaps abandoning buying newspapers because the content is irrelevant and uninteresting to them rather than preferring to get it digitally?; and b). Are those that are abandoning buying newspapers perhaps not replacing this with a digital platform? Perhaps their appetite for local news is less.

South Africa’s leading media commentator Gill Moodie (@grubstreetSA) offers intelligence on media, old and new. Reprinted from her site Grubstreet. This piece was published first on Journalism.co.za, the website of Wits University’s journalism school.

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The Ad Contrarian: Branding For Dummies

by Bob Hoffman (@adcontrarian), San Francisco Bay Among the topics that marketing and advertising people can bore you to death with, perhaps the most annoying is “brands.”

On one side we have brand maniacs (often, agency creative directors) who think that all advertising has to do is get “the brand” right and everything else will fall into place. On the other end of the spectrum we have brand deniers (lately, online advertising zealots) who think brands are “dead.” Both sides invariably overstate their case.

Let’s start with first principles.

At the most basic level, what a brand helps us do is identify things. Just like we give ourselves names, we give products brands so we can distinguish them from each other.

At the next level, brands help us build value into our product. If all products were generic, why invest in making ours better? Anyone who lived in a communist state can tell you all about that.

At the third level a brand helps us differentiate our product and build consumer preference. There is a reason why people prefer Coke to Pepsi, and it has very little to do with what’s in the can. In fact, if we took every Coke can in the world and filled it with Pepsi, and took every Pepsi can in the world and filled it with Coke, I doubt there would be very much change in the relative success of the brands.

At the highest level is brand love – the theory is that people love certain brands. This is where the brand ideologues runs into big trouble.

While we all have a handful of brands we’re attached to, for the most part our attachments are paper thin. We have preferences and habits, but we have very little love.

We participate in hundreds of product categories and there are probably somewhere between five and ten brands that we actually feel strongly about.

We will gladly change airlines if it will save us a few bucks. We will happily move to a new bank if it’s more convenient. We will change cell phone carriers and cable companies in a heartbeat for a better rate.

The Apples and Nikes of this world — brands that people truly feel stubbornly loyal to — are very few and very far between. And even these brands will find that under certain circumstances a strong product will trump their brand.

A good policy is to ignore the irresponsible yakking of both agency brand babblers and digital data dweebs. The brand maniacs and the brand deniers are both wrong.

Brand power is real, but it is highly contingent.

The Ad Contrarian is Bob Hoffman (@adcontrarian), the author of The Ad Contrarian and 101 Contrarian Ideas About Advertising.

This column has been republished from his blog The Ad Contrarian.

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MagLove: Retro Fab Typography!

by MediaSlut (@MediaSlut) My choice of the best international and local covers in MagLove this week:

INTERNATIONAL

GQ Style UK, Spring/Summer 2014

Retro Fab Typography is featured on this GQ Style UK issue. Compared to its normal fashionable covers, sometimes featuring A-list personalities, I love this!

Boston, April 2014

You might recall the Boston Bombing, and the very memorable Boston magazine cover that followed it. With the lead-up to the 2014 Boston Marathon, the tekkie makes a return with beautiful typography created with the laces.

TRIP, March 2014

Only spotted this cover now, and as a travel-lover, it immediately spoke to me. Look at all those passport stamps from(you guessed it) Brazil. Great idea for an in-flight magazine…

Esquire Philippines, April 2014

Esquire Philippines is covering the message of its April 2014 issue split over two covers. The issue covers “God, Sex, Death, Power, Love, Pain”, with “God, Sex, Death” on the one cover, and “Power, Love, Pain” on the other. Even though it’s really done very well, I do think the full message might get lost if you don’t know about both covers!

Find a cover we should know about? Tweet us at @Marklives and @MediaSlut. Want to view all the covers at a glance? See our MagLove Pinboard!

MagLove by @MediaSlut is a regular slot featuring the best local and international magazine covers every week, recognising well thought-out, powerful and interesting (and hopefully all three-in-one) covers and celebrating the mix of pragmatism, creativity and personal taste that created each of them. The (for now anonymous) blogger behind MediaSlut knows way too much for his own good about media in South Africa, magazines in particular. His mission is to show when SA magazines fail but, most importantly, also when they succeed. If you’re looking for a library about SA magazines and news, this is your one-stop pitstop.

— MarkLives’ round-up of top ad and media industry news and opinion in your mailbox every three work days. Sign up here!

AdForum Worldwide Summit: The agency that doesn’t pitch or do govt work

by Johanna McDowell (@jomcdowell) Sao Paulo: The city is huge, vast, goes on for miles and miles. One of my advertising colleagues in Mozambique refers to it as the “crazy cement city” – it is a good description.

Lots of high rise buildings, lots of street poverty. It is a classic South American city – although so far I have not seen any beautiful historical buildings – such as they have in Lima, Peru.

I’m here for the the 2014 AdForum Worldwide Summit, a “by-invitation-only” programme for agency search and management consultants and global agency CEOs.

Sao Paulo is multi-cultural and quite fascinating. The traffic is chaotic – but the people are charming and welcoming – that makes a huge difference. There are a huge number of TV channels and radio channels, all commercial. Billboards are everywhere. Clearly advertising has a big role to play here.

It will be great to meet all of the international consultants again including some intermediaries from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico. Other than that, representatives from France, Germany, Spain, UK and the USA as well as, of course, South Africa, will all be here.

What is really important is that the worldwide CEO’s of these groups have flown in for the Summit – which tells us how important it is.

DAY 1

Grupo Consultores – a specialist research company who collect data on agencies, media and clients – provided us with a comprehensive overview of the ad industry in South America/Latin America. They really set the scene for the Summit. The big learnings of the day:

Brazil is the predominant player with 200 million population
· 80% of the ad industry/turnover is focused in Sao Paulo
· The law does not allow media-only agencies to operate
· All media is bought via the full service agencies – so it is like stepping back 20 years in South Africa when media was planned and bought this way too.
· Agencies are truly full service as a result and agencies have to have media planning and buying skills
· Media is dominated by TV. TV has seen enormous growth in the last 20 years – very like South Africa – as there are now people who were too poor for TV who now have a TV.
· 130 TV channels
· Biggest TV media owner dominates with 60% of the market – the rest are much smaller players but growing
· Brazil has many similarities with our country as it is an emerging market
· Brazil won 115 Cannes Lions in 2013 – it is a national record for them and they are enormously proud of it
· Low inflation around 5%

Colombia – 48 million people
· One of the fastest growing countries in the world
· Inflation 5%

Mexico – second largest population in Latam
· 118 million people
· Ad industry dominated by TV
· Inflation around 6%

Argentina
· Economy is a bit of a basket case
· Inflation currently around 40%
· Every ten years a dramatic event affects them
· High levels of creativity in the industry – and they are very proud of the fact that several of the leading global creative directors are from Argentina
· It is creativity that saves them – they say.

Chile – small, stable economy – steady growth in media and advertising

The rest of the countries in South America have smaller ad industries and a lot them are linked into the major players in a hub and spoke pattern much like we have in Africa. All of the major ad networks are present in Brazil.

BETC
· Opened in Brazil six weeks ago – led by two highly awarded people – one a leader in digital and the other the leading creative in the country ( started Lowe here)
· International network with offices in Paris (700 people) , London and now Brazil
· Part of Havas Group but very independent
· Came to Brazil as it is a growth market
· Highly creative and fully integrated – major clients are Evian, Peugeot
· Looking at Africa for future development – after New York next year

ALMAP/BBDO
· The leading agency in Brazil in terms of creativity
· A world leader
· Does not pitch competitively or creatively
· But will approach clients directly
· Never does speculative creative work
· Do not re pitch on existing clients – if they want to leave ALMAP it is normally because of price and ALMAP does not lower its prices
· They do not handle government work

TV GLOBO
· Dominant media player in Brazil
· TV viewership has increased over the last 20 years as mentioned before
· Better quality TV, more programmes to watch
· Newspaper readership seems to have declined in favour of TV

Globo produces 90% of its own content. The top 30 programmes watched on TV in Brazil are made by Globo. All media space is booked through the agencies. No clients go directly to the media. All negotiation is done through the agencies. Surprisingly – TV GLOBO is privately owned – not government owned. Strong focus on editorial independence.

Catch you later.

Best
Johanna
@jomcdowell
#adforumsummit

SAARF/MarkLives #Top40TVratings: Isibaya jumps to 2nd place on DStv ratings chart

by SAARF & MarkLives (@marklives) The week of 31 March — 6 April 2014 saw isiZulu telenovela Isibaya on Mzansi Magic climb into the second spot on the SAARF/MarkLives #Top40TVratings DStv chart. It has gradually been gaining momentum and now has 1 218 746 viewers (see How to read the chart below). Generations retained the top slot with a viewership of 1 699 781.

News in IsiXhosa (SABC 1) was the most-watched news broadcast on our national chart, followed by news broadcast in IsiZulu (SABC 1), News Headlines (SABC 1) the News on e.tv. The Metro FM Music Awards also made it onto our Top 20 listing.

This weekly roundup of South Africa’s TV audience viewership, a collaboration between the South African Audience Research Foundation (SAARF) and MarkLives, reveals the best-watched shows of the week before, where it ran and how many South Africans tuned in to watch.

We offer two tables, the first covering all households — free-to-air viewing (the various SABC channels and e.tv) as well as the DStv platform — and the second charting the best-watched shows on the DStv network of channels only.

SAARF/MarkLives #Top40TVratings Chart: 31 March — 6 April 2014

National (include all households — free-to-air viewing and DStv platform)

Market	Target	Activity
National	Total Indv (incl guests)	Live + VOSDAL
Counter	Description (grouped)	Channel	Level 1	_{Level 2}\^Variable	(r) AMR %	AMR	SHR %
1	GENERATIONS	SABC 1	Soap opera	LOCAL	18.0	7 710 407	57.27%
2	AMAZA	SABC 1	Drama	Drama	16.1	6 911 571	49.73%
3	NGEMPELA	SABC 1	Drama	Drama	15.8	6 767 113	50.41%
4	LOXION LYRIC	SABC 1	Drama	Drama	14.2	6 072 890	44.56%
5	MUVHANGO	SABC 2	Drama	Drama	11.5	4 929 309	43.20%
6	INTERSEXTIONS	SABC 1	Drama	Drama	10.8	4 614 176	36.12%
7	XHOSA NEWS	SABC 1	News	News	10.5	4 496 409	34.09%
8	FRIENDS LIKE THESE	SABC 1	Variety	Variety	10.4	4 469 996	36.82%
9	FAMILY BONDS	SABC 1	Drama	Drama	10.2	4 358 155	35.85%
10	ZULU NEWS	SABC 1	News	News	10.0	4 281 595	31.60%
11	ABSA PREMIERSHIP KAIZER CHIEFS VS MAMELODI SUNDOWNS LIVE	SABC 1	Sport	FOOTBALL (SOCCER)	10.0	4 279 777	37.20%
12	SCANDAL	e.tv	Drama	Drama	9.7	4 166 573	30.73%
13	TASK FORCE(DRAMA)	SABC 1	Drama	Drama	9.4	4 018 665	31.51%
14	RHYTHM CITY	e.tv	Drama	Drama	9.1	3 916 627	33.58%
15	SINGLE GALZ	SABC 1	Sitcom	Sitcom	9.1	3 913 316	29.73%
16	THE PERFECT SISHEBO SHOW	SABC 1	Magazine	Magazine	9.1	3 908 950	29.73%
17	POWERBALL	SABC 2	Variety	Variety	9.1	3 907 746	36.13%
18	ZAZIWA	SABC 1	Variety	Variety	8.8	3 756 179	28.75%
19	SELIMATHUNZI	SABC 1	Variety	Variety	8.7	3 747 305	29.81%
20	METRO FM MUSIC AWARDS	SABC 1	Variety	Variety	7.7	3 320 649	38.67%
21	NEWS HEADLINES	SABC 1	News	News	7.1	3 062 020	24.89%
22	SPEAK OUT	SABC 2	Actuality	Actuality	6.7	2 894 966	29.64%
23	MUVHANGO -R	SABC 1	Drama	Drama	6.7	2 853 086	43.82%
24	NEWS	e.tv	News	News	6.6	2 851 958	22.52%
25	EKASI OUR STORIES:MUPOROFITA	e.tv	Drama	Drama	6.6	2 810 434	24.74%
26	EMZINI WEZINSIZWA -R	SABC 1	Sitcom	Sitcom	6.4	2 729 798	42.32%
27	WWE WRESTLING RAW	e.tv	Sport	WRESTLING	6.3	2 705 088	28.34%
28	GENERATIONS -R	SABC 1	Soap opera	LOCAL	6.2	2 658 506	43.05%
29	STOKVEL	SABC 2	Sitcom	Sitcom	6.0	2 587 098	26.47%
30	REAL GOBOZA	SABC 1	Magazine	Magazine	6.0	2 576 401	27.38%
31	FAN BASE	SABC 1	Music	Music	6.0	2 558 699	26.60%
32	NYAN NYAN	SABC 1	Reality	Reality	6.0	2 558 118	27.28%
33	DI WELE MAKGOLELA	SABC 2	Variety	Variety	5.9	2 542 914	26.65%
34	GENERATIONS RETRO	SABC 1	Soap opera	LOCAL	5.4	2 316 148	20.11%
35	7DE LAAN	SABC 2	Soap opera	LOCAL	5.4	2 312 939	19.85%
36	90 PLEIN STREET	SABC 2	Drama	Drama	5.2	2 227 972	24.93%
37	DOCTOR DOLITTLE	e.tv	Movies	COMEDY	5.1	2 192 292	17.23%
38	ISIDINGO -R	SABC 1	Soap opera	LOCAL	4.8	2 059 130	38.16%
39	ELECTION DEBATE	SABC 1	Reality	Reality	4.7	2 024 671	18.62%
40	MUVHANGO -R	SABC 2	Drama	Drama	4.6	1 972 252	28.31%

DStv platform only

Market	Target	Activity
DStv	Total Indv (incl guests)	Live + VOSDAL
Counter	Description (grouped)	Channel	Level 1	_{Level 2}\^Variable	(r) AMR %	AMR	SHR %
1	GENERATIONS	SABC 1	Soap opera	LOCAL	12.6	1 699 781	37.85%
2	ISIBAYA	Mzansi Magic	Variety	Variety	9.0	1 218 746	26.35%
3	MUVHANGO	SABC 2	Drama	Drama	8.6	1 168 735	29.32%
4	RHYTHM CITY	e.tv	Drama	Drama	6.7	908 636	22.35%
5	SCANDAL	e.tv	Drama	Drama	6.1	826 905	18.42%
6	ZULU NEWS	SABC 1	News	News	6.1	821 386	17.86%
7	POWERBALL	SABC 2	Variety	Variety	6.1	818 719	21.08%
8	NGEMPELA	SABC 1	Drama	Drama	5.8	789 474	16.52%
9	AMAZA	SABC 1	Drama	Drama	5.8	782 358	16.69%
10	XHOSA NEWS	SABC 1	News	News	5.7	768 976	17.56%
11	SPEAK OUT	SABC 2	Actuality	Actuality	5.2	700 965	20.12%
12	METRO FM MUSIC AWARDS	SABC 1	Variety	Variety	4.9	657 718	20.01%
13	FAMILY BONDS	SABC 1	Drama	Drama	4.8	653 923	15.61%
14	NEWS	e.tv	News	News	4.8	642 899	14.78%
15	FRIENDS LIKE THESE	SABC 1	Variety	Variety	4.3	576 706	13.28%
16	ABSA PREMIERSHIP KAIZER CHIEFS VS MAMELODI SUNDOWNS LIVE	SABC 1	Sport	FOOTBALL (SOCCER)	4.1	553 218	13.95%
17	SELIMATHUNZI	SABC 1	Variety	Variety	4.1	553 191	12.89%
18	LOXION LYRIC	SABC 1	Drama	Drama	3.8	519 696	11.26%
19	7DE LAAN	SABC 2	Soap opera	LOCAL	3.8	514 115	12.65%
20	SINGLE GALZ	SABC 1	Sitcom	Sitcom	3.6	483 842	10.50%
21	ABSA PREMIERSHIP KAIZER CHIEFS VS MAMELODI SUNDOWNS	SuperSport 4	Sport	FOOTBALL (SOCCER)	3.5	477 554	12.43%
22	TASK FORCE(DRAMA)	SABC 1	Drama	Drama	3.5	475 978	10.71%
23	DI WELE MAKGOLELA	SABC 2	Variety	Variety	3.3	444 660	13.48%
24	GENERATIONS -R	SABC 1	Soap opera	LOCAL	3.3	444 552	20.04%
25	KHUMBUL’ EKHAYA	SABC 1	Magazine	Magazine	3.3	442 532	11.38%
26	MUVHANGO -R	SABC 1	Drama	Drama	3.1	420 503	18.01%
27	INTERSEXTIONS	SABC 1	Drama	Drama	3.1	418 813	9.61%
28	NOOT VIR NOOT	SABC 2	Music	Music	3.0	404 178	9.05%
29	BIG BROTHER MZANSI	Mzansi Magic	Variety	Variety	3.0	401 051	10.33%
30	ZAZIWA	SABC 1	Variety	Variety	3.0	398 627	8.94%
31	STOKVEL	SABC 2	Sitcom	Sitcom	2.9	396 404	11.14%
32	WWE WRESTLING RAW	e.tv	Sport	WRESTLING	2.9	392 944	10.46%
33	NEWS HEADLINES	SABC 1	News	News	2.8	383 626	8.99%
34	THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL	SABC 3	Soap opera	INTERNATIONAL	2.7	368 841	9.89%
35	EKASI OUR STORIES:MUPOROFITA	e.tv	Drama	Drama	2.7	368 752	9.55%
36	VODACOM SUPER RUGBY 2014 STOMERS VS WARATAHS	SuperSport 1	Sport	RUGBY (ALL)	2.7	368 732	8.54%
37	NUUS	SABC 2	News	News	2.7	368 071	8.75%
38	ROCKVILLE (DRAMA)	Mzansi Magic	Drama	Drama	2.7	359 066	10.01%
39	THE PERFECT SISHEBO SHOW	SABC 1	Magazine	Magazine	2.6	354 956	8.45%
40	VODACOM SUPER RUGBY 2014 LIONS VS CRUSADERS	SuperSport 1	Sport	RUGBY (ALL)	2.6	348 966	9.71%

How to read the tables:

AMR% refers to the number of people in a target market who were watching an event ie programme, expressed as a percentage of the population for that demographic: “On average, 16.3% of adults aged 15+ who watched TV from 28 Jan-3 Feb 2014 watched Society on SABC 1”.

AMR is the number of people in a target market watching a specific event ie programme per minute, expressed in absolute figures: “On average, 1, 541, 066 adults aged 15+ who watched TV from from28 Jan-3 Feb 2014 watched Society on SABC 1”.

Share % (SHR %) is the share or proportion of the available audience (people watching TV at that time) that a specific channel/programme has achieved at that time: “Society achieved a share % of 52.59% from 28 Jan- 3 Feb 2014 on SABC 1″.

SAARF is the name by which the South African Audience Research Foundation is familiarly known. SAARF’s main objective is to direct and publish media audience and product/brand research for the benefit of its stake-holders, thereby providing data for target marketing and a common currency for the buying and selling of media space and time. SAARF has thus the responsibility to measure the audiences of all traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, radio, television, cinema and out of home media.

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Shelf Life: Imagine … Zilema

Louise Marsland (@Louise_Marsland)’s weekly pick of recent product, packaging and design launches:

Imagine… Zille & Malema embracing
Provantage relaunches media group
Brandcraft refreshes Fuseware
Pernod brews new comms strat

Challenging political posing

Election time comes with a little silliness as brands get in on the action – and quite right too – or we’d all be totally depressed at the state of South Africa after all the slagging off and finger-pointing the political parties do in the name of winning votes.

Ricoh SA, a global tech company specialising in office imaging equipment, document management systems and IT, decided to remind South Africans of the positive of potential change, with a billboard and print ads asking people to “imagine change” accompanied by a rather good caricature of DA leader Helen Zille and EFF commissar Julius Malema, embracing.

Ricoh SA head of marketing Esti Kilian, explains: “This campaign invites people to imagine a world of possibility and opportunity in a lighter spirit that takes the edge off the political manoeuvrings. Let’s face it – at times even the most hardened politically aware citizen can find the deluge to be a bit much.”

The campaign consists of radio, outdoor billboards and print national press.

And, despite the media drop of red berets to publicise the campaign (let me take a selfie… nope, I don’t think red is my colour!), and an effort not to be seen as too political, it still managed to send out the cartoon with Malema’s beret emblazoned with his EFF party acronym (it was removed from the billboard).

The PR company sent out a retraction to the media: “We are extremely sorry to discover that we erroneously sent an image of a caricature of two high profile political figures, one wearing a red beret with the letters EFF emblazoned on it, accompanying a press release about our new advertising campaign. Ricoh does not wish to be associated with any political party over individuals. People, public characters, are at the heart of the campaign as opposed to any organisation.”

Whoopsie!

But well done to Ricoh SA for trying to inject some levity into the current political debate and at least this new cartoon image might help Zille erase her ill-timed smooch with Ramphele Mamphela!

Provantage’s new identity

Provantage has a new corporate structure and name, leading to a new brand identity unveiled this week. It will now be known as Provantage Media Group (PMG).

The rebrand was driven by a new vision and expansion strategy aimed at delivering “focus, innovation and specialisation in selected sectors within the southern African media landscape”.

Under the newly launched Provantage Media Group brand, three strong identities – ProActive; Provantage Out of Home Media; and Airport Ads – will ensure a “more focused, yet integrated, methodology”, the group states. Africa, research and digital platforms are key growth areas in the imminent future.

Fuseware refreshes brand

Engage Brandcraft recently undertook a complete brand refresh for Fuseware, a company specialising in social media measurement across Africa.

Its brief was to ensure brand consistency across all mediums and to provide a more accurate perception of Fuseware in the marketplace. Fuseware aims to provide clients with a precise understanding of their digital footprint, online market and competitive climate in social media.

Mike Wronski, Fuseware’s MD, said they required a complete rejuvenation and refresh of their brand and corporate identity: “While this was needed for greater professionalism across all communications moving forward, it was essential to enable a more accurate perception of Fuseware in the marketplace.”

Brandcraft focused on the origination and renovation of the brand across logo creation, digital, packaging design and print.

New web showcase for Pernod

Pernod Ricard South Africa has launched a new website to increase brand awareness and as a tool to communicate company and brand messages.

The new site will provide browsers with a lot more information about the company as a whole, encompassing their tagline: ‘Authentic Brands. Authentic People’, outlining its global reach and showcasing all premium brands.

“This is very important to us as transparency is one of our key brand attributes, we believe in an open and honest dialogue with our various stakeholders,” explained Maria Sehlstrom, communications manager.

The website was designed by Native and can be viewed at: www.pernod-ricard.co.za.

Another reason for the upgrade was to create a space where potential talent could get a feel for the Pernod Ricard brand and its organisational structure.

Shelf Life by Louise Marsland is a weekly column on MarkLives. Tweet new product, packaging and design launches to @louise_marsland or email her at louise.marsland at gmail.com. Want to sponsor Shelf Life? Contact us here.

Louise has written about the FMCG, media, marketing and advertising industry for 19 of her more-than-25-year career as a former editor of magazines AdVantage, Marketing Mix and Progressive Retailing, as well as websites Bizcommunity.com and FMCGFiles. She currently edits the weekly Wednesday Media & Marketing Page for The New Age newspaper and is the publishing editor of industry trendwatching portal, TRENDAFRiCA, for consumer insight, research and trends in Africa.

— MarkLives’ round-up of top ad and media industry news and opinion in your mailbox every three work days. Sign up here!