MetropolitanRepublic Cape Town means business

by Herman Manson (@marklives) MetropolitanRepublic recently launched its new Cape Town office under the leadership of Josie Fisher. The agency is renting an impressively large open plan office space in trendy De Waterkant. Still mostly empty of people Fisher and her team sees the office as an expression of confidence in their ability to scale quickly an win new business.

Mike Beukes, who has spent the past 10 years in the UK, at his own agency Warp and Woof and then HMX, returned to South Africa as the new Creative Director.

In the six months since her appointment, Fischer’s team has grown from zero to fifteen people. The office recently won the Design Capital Cape Town 2014 ATL and branding account beating both FoxP2 and M&C Saatchi Abel.

MetropolitanRepublic launched the new Cape Town office in part to assist in servicing the Sanlam business, which it won in Feb/March. The business is being serviced primarily through Johannesburg but support staff was required in Cape Town as well. The new Cape Town office is also expected to win its own business.

MetropolitanRepublic has adapted a one agency, two offices approach, meaning Cape Town and Johannesburg will be closely aligned. In fact, the agency rents a house in the city to host staffers down from Johannesburg. The new office, once completed, will feature a video wall streaming insight from the research division based in Johannesburg. A high tech boardroom with state of the art video conferencing capabilities will further tie the two teams together in spite of them being geographically remote.

Cape Town is set up so staff work outside set departments in an open plan office environment. It’s part of a strategy to ensure an integrated approach to work, says Beukes. As many as ten Joburg staffers can be in the local office at any time – numbers ebb and flow as requirements change.

The Cape Town office isn’t only about winning new business and serving existing clients, it’s also about retaining people, says Beukes, who adds that staff in Johannesburg who had thought of leaving the agency because they wanted to move to Cape Town, can now just be transferred. South Africans wanting to return to Cape Town but not necessarily excited about job prospects in the city now have another door to knock on – and have already started to do so. Beukes hopes the Cape Town office will bring South Africans with international experience back to SA and specifically to MetropolitanRepublic.

Fischer describes the agency culture as high energy and quite demanding but young, connected and diverse. She is looking for people who think differently and already do interesting things – the agency already employs three published authors. Beukes adds that they are looking for people with an entrepreneurial spirit and with a wide world view.

Fisher says she would be happy to run an agency with three major brands. She is confident it will achieve this target and have found no barriers to getting onto pitch lists in Cape Town. She says that based on what she has experienced so far clients are more than happy to try the new kid in town.

At the same time she is careful not to over reach and to manage growth – especially in terms of hiring the right people – and to bed down current business.

Inside the new MetropolitanRepublic (Cape Tow) offices:

[Digital Grandad] ‘Word of Mouth’ replaced with ‘Word by Click’

MarkLives’ digital agony uncle @DigitalGrandad1 is now taking questions on all issues digital. Tweet them to him or email DigitalGrandad@marklives.com.

Dear Digital Grandad

My company has built up a great reputation over 50 years, supported by great staff, products and services. But like any brand, we makes mistakes, but have one disgruntle customer who just doesn’t like us. I have tried to resolve her complaint even thou I don’t think it is our fault and feels like she has a vendetta. To make things worse, I have now just heard from a friend that there is a lady on twitter slating our brand? Please grandpa! What do I do, as I have been told she has a huge following… arghhh technology and online don’t you just hate it.
Regards
Mr Tweet-not

Dear Tweet-not

You may have been around for years just like me kiddo, but time has moved on. The new kids on the block love technology and digital like never before! They have now been armed with something a little more special than ‘word of mouth’.

Just as in our real life where a customer walks away from your company with an opinion they’re likely to share with friends and family, the increasing digitisation of South Africa now means that they’re also likely to share that opinion on their digital platform like Twitter, Facebook, blogs, forums and more.

‘Word of Mouth’ replaced with ‘Word by Click’

So unfortunately for you, where you thought this complaint was likely to be a one-on-one exchange, this customer now on social media is tarnishing your business’ name to a wider audience much faster than most people realise. The traditional term ‘Word of Mouth’ has now been replaced with ‘Word of Click’ and it goes like this… click, click, tweet, tweet, share, share and repeat ….and potentially heard by hundreds (not 100’s as cool), but 100’s of people in seconds – just like that! Damn that’s pretty powerful.

So my friend – I think you have just been the latest victim of having no Online Reputation Management (ORM) crisis. So you maybe an old brand, but your first step seriously is to think about the ORM damn quickly.

Did you know that my friend Nielsens recently found that “63% of consumers say they trust the recommendation of other consumers above (that of an) advertisement,” and, as all business owners can vouchsafe, not all negative reviews are deserved. Like in your case.

“You need to get armed with the latest weapon”

ORM, essentially, is about protecting your businesses reputation, which you’ve always done in the real world (right). All ORM does is shift this online. Simple hey. So if you had this in place you would have picked up her rants and been able to respond to it instantly. However, just as with traditional marketing, social media marketing needs a strategy. ORM must be taken as part-and-parcel of your strategy.

Simply put – the social media component of ORM is an online extension of traditional customer relationship management. So lets get you started and thinking about connecting with your ranter head on.

Digital Grandad Tips #

Grandad Tip #1 – firstly get yourself an ORM tool that helps you monitor what is being said about your band. There are hundreds of tools out there that will allow you to do this from free ones to paid ones, advanced ones to basic ones. Email me if you can’t find anything by using Google. Or if you are bigger enough, hire an ORM Social Media agency to set you up and/or manage it for you.

Grandad Tip #2 – However it is critically important that whoever runs your social media presences (in-house or externally), is fully aware of what to do when facing customer complaints or negative comments about your business (governance policy).

Grandads Tip #3 – But there are some basic steps when addressing a negative post:

Don’t try hide offending news or deny something occurred if it did;
Research whether there’s merit to the complaint. If not, show the facts you’ve uncovered and ask for a correction.
If there is merit, try to take the discussion private or offline (i.e. email, telephone or private messages on social networks).
Chronicle what you’re doing to fix the situation; transparency and honesty are always a positive in a negative situation.
Should the negative post escalate into an online uproar fuelled by numerous posts from multiple people, be ready to write a post responding to the case.
As with all social media marketing, listen and be honest.

ORM may seem to entirely deal with the negative, but there are positives. Just as complaints travel at the speed of a person’s internet connection, so do compliments and resolutions to complaints OR even cheeky ones likes I saw this week, where one brand was trying to resolve an issue and another brand hijacked the situation to welcome an unhappy customer. Nothing like healthy ORM…

Whatever other goals you may have in venturing into social media, one that must be primary — building long-lasting and effective relationships with your target market. Do that, and you will have fulfilled the most basic component of a good social media ORM strategy. But remember this space is 24/7 and ensure you have someone who is monitoring your brand continuously and tell Mrs Rant, you have got her number. I mean tweet and respond positively.

Happy Tweeting and Caring through clicks

Happy building and moving-in.

@digitalgrandad1

– DigitalGrandad is a Marketing Professional with over 140 dog years of practical digital experience working with both global and local brands. From SME’s through to Multinational’s and across industry sectors he has seen and embraced the changes technology has given to us to better our lives. Yes he remembers the old days, but is now a firm traDigitalist born through traditional marketing.

If you have a digital dilemma and are too afraid to ask your boss or your agency, but feel you need to ask for some straight no-nonsense advice, please email me at DigitalGrandad@marklives.com with your question, or better still tweet to @digitalgrandad1. I’ll answer one every week on MarkLives.com.

MagLove: Is it Hype?

MarkLives.com runs a regular slot featuring the best local and international magazine covers every week. We recognise well thought out, powerful and interesting (and hopefully all three in one) magazine covers and celebrate the mix of pragmatism, creativity and personal taste that created each of them. By media blogger MediaSlut.

See our archive of previous MagLove cover selections

INTERNATIONAL

Esquire (Spain), September 2013

Let’s face it, when you look at the history of cover models on most of our magazines, Peter Dinklage normally would not be included on the list of names that jump to mind. That is a rather sad reflection on the magazine industry. He’s an amazing actor, and quite attractive, so I think it’s great that Esquire (Spain), is giving him the recognition and cover position he deserves, with this beautiful cover.

Interview (US), September 2013

For their September 2013 “Model Issue”, Interview (US) seems to pull out all the stops (and used up all their budget…) to get some of the top models to pose for their very own Interview cover. 7 different covers in total. The models appearing on the covers, are Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Amber Valetta, Daria Werbowy and Stephanie Seymour.

Thursday Magazine, 29 August 2013

You can probably read the main cover line(s) in a few different ways; “My kid is Hyperactive – Is it Hype?” or “Is my kid Hyperactive?” or “Is it Hype? – My kid is Hyperactive”. I’m not sure what the correct way is, but I think it’s a clever concept (even though a bit difficult to understand how to read it), but I’m sure it gets the message across…

LOCAL

My Tyd (Rapport), 25 August 2013

In celebration of Neil Sandilands’ new movie “Die Ballade van Robbie de Wee” that launched on Wednesday night at the kykNET Silwerskermfees, My Tyd (Rapport) published a cover with Neil the past Sunday that looks pretty iconic to me! All the elements, from the lighting, photography, and of course the ‘moment’ that was captured, just all comes together in this cover, with a great actor like Neil Sandilands.

OBJEKT (South Africa), Issue 4, Spring 2013

OBJEKT International (South African version) is in its 4^th issue, and its latest cover is their best so far! It’s a simple and relatively clean image, but with strong lines everywhere you look, and with a great focus point…smack-bang in the middle of the cover.

– 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 South African magazines might fail, but most importantly, succeed. If you’re looking for a library about South African magazines and news, your one-stop pitstop is MediaSlut. #MagazinesForTheWin

– Find a cover we should know about? Tweet us @marklives and @mediaslut
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Shelf Life: Redesigned Sodastream so hot we need a soda

Louise Marsland’s (@Louise_Marsland) pick of new product, packaging and design launches.

Olli Organic is back on the shelves; McCann launches Allsome new rice brand; Checkers is on a roll with its new cheesy TVC; Whiskas’ purrfect shelf stoppers; and remember Sodastream?

Olli Organic rebrands

If you’ve noticed the Olli Oganic baby food range has been missing off shelves, it’s because the brand partnered with ForeBaby and has undergone a rebrand to help educate parents about the benefits of organic food and to comply with new guidelines in the SA Infant Feeding Regulations.

Locally produced, Olli Organic baby food is certified organic and offers a range of jarred purees and cereals, made from organically certified ingredients.

Olli Organic does not contain sugar, salt or starch and is free from preservatives, colourants and genetically modified organisms (GMO’s). It also contains no egg, gluten, dairy or wheat, making it suitable for babies with dietary allergies.

The ready-to-eat jars of baby food are colour coded according to age groups. The range is also both Halaal and Kosher.

“The demand for locally produced organic baby food in South Africa is set to grow. In the UK, organic baby food is growing at an average of 10% year-on-year, which means that local retailers can expect to see growth within this category in the near future,” predicts Loren Young, managing director of ForeBaby.

Olli Organic is available at Baby City, Pick ‘n Pay, Checkers, Dis-Chem and Toys R Us stores nationwide.

New rice brand from Allsome

A new South African rice product, Allsome Rice, from Allsome Brands, has been introduced onto retail shelves by McCann.

Allsome Brands is a consumer goods company based in Pietermaritzburg, and a joint venture of the Willowton Group, South Africa’s largest sunflower seed crusher, and Louis Dreyfus Commodities, a global merchandiser of commodities and a processer of agricultural goods.

The agency described it as an “epic” task to launch a new rice product in a market dominated by existing brand leaders.

Its strategy was to show the audience ‘The Beginning of a Good Thing’ – the campaign’s tag line, as Pierre Odendaal, McCann chief creative officer explains: “With plenty of strong competitors to contend with, Allsome needed to stand apart from the rest. With a fresh name and a bold new look in the bag, a humorous touch ensured the brand’s debut was something to smile about.”

The launch TVC features a love-struck supermarket security guard trying to win over the heart of his feisty female counterpart as they patrol a supermarket at night. “It’s a new brand story to climb into and chuckle at, with characters you’ll root for! Not only is Allsome the beginning of a new mealtime staple, we trust it is the beginning of a long and rewarding brand relationship,” adds Odendaal.

Allsome sales and marketing director, Shoaib Moosa, comments: “We feel that in a very generically marketed category we have created something that is completely different and will leave a lasting impression with the target audience.”

Whiskas shelf stopper

Cat-egory marketing… Whiskas has launched innovative shelf stoppers in store to entice cat slaves (otherwise known as cat owners) to buy the brand. A loud purring greets passers-by or shoppers who lean into the shelves stocking cat food at retailers such as Pick n Pay. A sensor is triggered in the shelf stopper with Whiskas branding as a shopper passes close by. Purrrrrfect!

Dotty over Sodastream design

That brand from our childhood has modernised to the extent that it’s winning international design awards: Sodastream just won the international ‘Red Dot design award’ within the product design category for 2013, for its Sodastream Source product.

Jury members are made up of 37 experts from 24 countries – all of whom are independent, qualified designers, university professors or specialist journalists – including, for the first time, design star Jimmy Choo.

Designing the Source was a collaborative process between Sodastream home carbonation systems and Yves Béhar and his team at fuseproject, an international design firm with a reputation for sustainable design.

The Sodastream Source was painstakingly developed to result in simplified aesthetics and functionality. Béhar ensured the sleek, minimalist design made the user experience as intuitive as possible – from the Snap-Lock mechanism and the refined mechanics making the entire top surface responsive to touch, to the LED display providing instant feedback on carbonation. Powered by a CO2 canister and featuring high gloss surfaces, brushed aluminium and polished stainless steel details, the machine has an all-over refined feel.

Using water direct from the tap, the Sodastream Source instantly creates sparkling water, and carbonated flavoured beverages.

The Sodastream Source is available from DionWired nationally and online at Yuppiechef.

Checkers’ cheesed off

You’ve seen the commercial, now sample the wine and cheese. Checkers has launched its new cheese range, led by the top cheddar brand from Wyke Farms in the UK, as well as South Africa’s own Fairview blue-veined Roquefort, along with new wines from eight of the world’s top wine producing countries.

New wines, including French Bordeaux blends and Italian Chiantis have been launched by the retailer which is emphasising its quality food ranges.

As Neil Schreuder, Checkers marketing director says: “We’ve sourced best-in-class, world-renowned cheeses from artisanal and other specialty producers to bring the pleasure of the delicatessen back to the supermarket, giving more South Africans a true taste of local and international flavours. The same goes for our wines that we’ve selected, not only from South Africa’s best, but also from top-flight European winemakers and those from New Zealand and Chile.”

And if you haven’t seen the ads yet, featuring celeb chef Gordon Ramsay and SA artiste, Nataniel, you must have been hiding under a rock. They went viral before launch and are probably among the most talked about retail chain ads ever flighted in SA. The first one featured the duo and Checkers’ new meant range.

– 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 Marsland has written about the FMCG, media, marketing and advertising industry for 18 years of her 25 year media 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 co-founder and Publishing Editor of SA’s newly launched industry trendwatching portal, TREND. at www.trendlives.info, in partnership with MarkLives.com.

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Media Future: LG is back

LG has long lagged behind Samsung in the smartphone market, but the new G Pro marks a convincing return, writes Arthur Goldstuck (@art2gee)

Do you remember LG? If you do, it’s possibly because you have a TV set, washing machine or air conditioning unit carrying that brand. And then you’d know that it goes hand in hand with the slogan, “Life’s good”.

That’s not really what LG stands for, of course; it began life as a merger of the Lucky and GoldStar brands, and the Life’s Good handle is what’s known as a backronym.

Now LG wants to go back to the future it had envisaged for itself before its Korean compatriot at Samsung became the behemoth of cellphones.

Consider these numbers, compiled by market commentator Tomi Ahonen from an average of the world’s major analyst houses: In 2010, Samsung had an 8% share of the global smartphone market, selling just 24-million units. In 2011, it sold 90,9-million units in a fast-rising market, to take its share to 18,7%. Last year, the sales figure exploded to 215-million, and Samsung took a market-leading 30,8% share.

In the same period, LG at first flattered to deceive, rising from 2.4% in 2010 to 4.8% in 2011, with sales of 7-million and 23,3-million respectively. That put it precisely a year behind Samsung in unit sales, but several years further back in market share. In 2012 sales were almost stagnant, at 26,5-million. But, in a rising market, that meant share fell, to 3,8%.

This year, things are looking up for LG. According to the most recent IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, for the second quarter of this year, LG sold 12,1-million smartphones, more than double the 5,8-million it sold in the same period last year. It’s 108% growth compares to 51% growth for the smartphone market as a whole.

It does the brand no harm that its latest devices are on a par with the best in the world. This month, the G Pro arrived in South Africa to bring real competition to the market for 5.5” phones, a category pioneered by Samsung with its 5.3” Galaxy Note, released in October 2011. Last year’s Note 2 took the screen size to 5.5”, which was then matched by Lenovo’s K900.

Samsung is expected to unveil the Note 3 in the next two weeks but, meanwhile, the LG G Pro stands out above the crowd. It has one of the best screens ever seen on a smartphone, with a sharp 1080p display, compared to 720p on the Note 2. A 13MP camera, compared to the Note 2’s 8MP, will appeal to a specs-driven market. However, the greatest appeal comes from its enhanced ability to multitask, with the large screen allowing two apps to be viewed simultaneously.

It’s achieved through sleight of screen, with LG’s proprietary QSlide feature. This allows two apps to be viewed simultaneously, with the one not in active use becoming translucent, so that each app does not have to be viewed in a reduced space, as on the Note.

The G Pro may have come too late to compete with the last crop of 5.5” phones, but it reveals a competitor that intends to be a contender.

* Arthur Goldstuck heads up World Wide Worx (www.worldwideworx.com) and is editor-in-chief of Gadget. He is a Consulting Editor to MarkLives and our media tech columnist. Follow him on Twitter on @art2gee. Reprinted from Gadget.

Green Sky Thinking: Know your foodprint

by Colwyn Elder (@colwynelder) Nearly half the world’s food production never makes a plate. That’s two billion tons of food wasted, every year. Perversely, nearly one billion of the world’s population are malnourished. Put these two facts together and there’s clearly a distribution problem at the crux of the global food crisis.

[pullquote]In a nutshell, all the world’s nearly one billion hungry people could be lifted out of malnourishment on less than a quarter of the food that is wasted in the US, UK and Europe.[/pullquote]

The facts are astonishing: the UK, US and Europe have almost twice as much food as is required by the nutritional needs of their populations – up to half the entire food supply is wasted between the farm and the fork. And if crops wastefully fed to livestock are included, European countries have over three times more food than they need, while the US has around four times more food than is needed. In a nutshell, all the world’s nearly one billion hungry people could be lifted out of malnourishment on less than a quarter of the food that is wasted in the US, UK and Europe.

So how and why does this happen? Unnecessarily strict sell-by dates, buy-one-get-one free offers and consumer demand for cosmetically perfect food are three big reasons why. What’s more, these are factors that – unlike agricultural or infrastructural issues – we as customers can actually do something about.

Firstly, don’t take use-by dates at face value. Supermarkets obviously err on the side of caution, as they can’t afford for their customers to get sick. In his book, Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal, Tristram Stuart tells us how these dates are calculated to accommodate people who leave their shopping in hot cars for lengths of time and store it in poorly working fridges. Most food can be safely eaten well after these dates and a far more reliable way to know if something has gone bad or not is to follow your nose.

[pullquote]Don’t be put off by ‘ugly’ looking fresh produce. In the UK, up to 40% of fruit and vegetables are rejected before they even reach the shops, mostly because they do not match the supermarkets’ excessively strict cosmetic standards.[/pullquote]

Secondly, don’t be put off by ‘ugly’ looking fresh produce. In the UK, up to 40% of fruit and vegetables are rejected before they even reach the shops, mostly because they do not match the supermarkets’ excessively strict cosmetic standards. Once again, follow your nose – your sense of smell is the closest you can get to taste test produce before you buy. Tomatoes should smell like tomatoes, whereas those that look visually perfect are often quite flavourless.

The “Think.Eat.Save Reduce your Foodprint” campaign suggests further simple actions for both customers and food retailers to help reduce waste. From meal plans and shopping lists to freezing leftovers and fresh produce before it goes bad. In addition “Love Food Hate Waste” (@LFHW_UK) is a WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) initiative that also aims to raise awareness of the need to reduce food waste and help us take action by sharing some easy, practical, everyday things we can do at home, including recipes and storage tips. Not only will these daily actions reduce your foodprint, but also your food bill.

As customers we can each do our bit, but to affect behaviour-change across society, business also needs to pitch in. Supermarket giant, Tesco recently did just that by setting out a series of targets, pledging to use its scale and clout to reduce the amount of food wasted by both customers and its international supply chain. Chief executive Philip Clarke said: “It may sound counter intuitive for Tesco to help our customers reduce the amount of food they waste, because it is likely to involve reducing the volume of food they buy. And I understand some people might be sceptical hearing it from a supermarket CEO, but the issue we are trying to solve is a long-term risk.” WRAP welcomed Tesco’s pledge: “Supermarkets and big brands are uniquely placed to help reduce food waste across the whole food cycle from manufacturing and sales, through to assisting consumers to make the most of the food they’ve bought.”

In South Africa, up to 10 million tons of food is being wasted annually, though a key difference here is that “a large proportion of wastage happens in the handling and storage phases, where vulnerable food sources like fruit and vegetables are damaged”, says waste researcher Dr Suzan Oelofse. This “aesthetically displeasing food with spots or marks is then often thrown out, which in a country facing food insecurity is unacceptable”.

Despite the differences in how it happens, the problem persists. And in a country where so many people are food-poor, we should arguably be even more aware of our foodprint. Rather blemished food than no food at all.

Y&R strategy director Colwyn Elder (@colwynelder) has 17 years of experience in strategic planning, together with specific credentials in sustainability communications, social marketing, corporate social responsibility and cause-related marketing. She contributes the monthly “Green Sky Thinking” column on sustainability issues to MarkLives.

Ad of the Week with Oresti Patricios – Mnandi-licious

Ad of the Week with Oresti Patricios – Mnandi-licious

A no-nonsense fast food product that caters to the Everyman, the King Pie brand could retain its crown with a new ad that is fun, watchable and plays strongly to local culture. In terms of advertising, King Pie has been absent from television screens for quite a while.

A part of the South African fast food landscape since the dawn of democracy (which makes the brand 20 years old), King Pie’s ads haven’t always been this great. Previous attempts included a few “candid camera” style scenarios that didn’t quite hit the mark. But I think that this television ad is right on the money: it’s funny, it’s relevant, and it has a clever twist.

It’s no secret that we South Africans aren’t afraid of laughing at ourselves, and of course one of the issues that we still have to deal with is race and getting to cross cultural boundaries. In other words ‘whities’ have a lot of catching up to do in terms of learning the languages of the people who live in this great country of ours.

This is in part what sets up the punchline for the new ad, which inverts stereotypes with a hilarious outcome. Let’s face it, when it comes to race, language and culture – which can be sensitive issues – it’s great to be able to take a step back and look at these issues with a collective smile on our face. We’ve come a long way in South Africa – but we’ve still got a long way to go.

The latest King Pie TVC is shot very simply. It features a queue of people waiting at a typical King Pie outlet. The lady in front is a blonde, blue-eyed kugel-type (a real stereotype), and she’s having a problem making up her mind about what to buy: “I’ll have the steak-and-kidney or ummm…” she says.

The customer who is next-in-line is clearly irritated, and this lady turns to the guy behind the counter and addresses him in isiZulu. The subtitles read: “Oh, my friend, Miss Classy here doesn’t know what she wants.” To her shock and surprise, the blonde replies, in perfect isiZulu: “Excuse me sister… are you talking about me? Look how many flavours there are to choose from.”

The look of surprise on the Zulu lady’s face is priceless, and makes for a great comedic moment. The ad continues with a beautifully-shot montage of crispy-crusted pies oozing with rich fillings, with steamy text-effects floating about – very appetising.

The ad cuts back to the King Pie outlet, and by this stage everyone in the queue is watching the exchange.

“Oh, so you like King Pie?” asks the black lady, in English.

“I’ve been buying King Pies forever,” replies Blondie, in isiZulu. I have to say, this lady is very well-cast – even her body language is authentic, her use of slang, her facial expressions – it all comes together in a very convincing performance

The payoff line is: “Value-for-money meals that are Mnandi-licious!”

On a more serious note the ad makes a wonderful point about South Africa some twenty years into our democracy. Imagine if we could all speak two or three or more of our country’s languages. Our land would be all the richer for it, because language is a key to understanding other people and other culture. Knowing other languages is the first step in breaking down barriers to knowing people, and I think that this would go a long way towards to helping to cultivate understanding.

The King Pie brand is well-established, but in a crowded fast-food market even being the best pie outlet isn’t enough: it has to stand out from the burger and fried chicken joints. It also has to make sure it appeals to a broad spectrum of people, so this ad also serves—on a subliminal level—to ensure that it is associated with most population and income groups.

And let’s not forget the power of humour: by making the audience laugh, the brand is associating itself with fun and happiness, and ensuring that the ad stands up to repeated viewing.

Ad of the Week is published on MarkLives every Wednesday. See past selections here.
Oresti Patricios is the CEO of brand and reputation analysis company Ornico.

Tech Law: ANN7 sings the Streisand Effect blues

by Paul Jacobson (@pauljacobson) News channel ANN7 has been the object of both considerable ridicule and controversy lately. On the one hand, the 24 hour news channel launched by the similarly controversial Gupta family has been criticised for poor production values and content and, on the other hand, an Indian company known as Aiplex Software has been filing take down notices with YouTube in an effort to remove a growing number of satirical videos targeting the fledgling station.

In the meantime, ANN7 has become the latest victim of the Streisand Effect and the storm Aiplex Software has kicked up has probably exacerbated the situation for ANN7 considerably instead of what it likely expected, namely, suppressing the criticism.

What Aiplex Software seems to have done is lodge take down notices with YouTube under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act. YouTube is practically required to remove the offending content if it wishes to benefit from a liability shield extended by the DMCA (unless it takes the view the take down notice has no basis and YouTube resists it). Given the volume of content published to YouTube, the take down process was probably automated although it remains open to the users who published the videos to file counter take down notices calling on YouTube to reinstate the videos. I understand from one report that one user has done just this.

The basis for the take down notices is that the offending videos have infringed ANN7’s copyright in its materials (the videos largely include footage from ANN7). The South African Copyright Act (which likely doesn’t apply directly but may be useful comparatively) recognises copyright in what it defines as cinematographic films but also includes specific exceptions for some content uses. The section of the Act that introduces this idea is section 12 which refers to grounds on which content may be used and where those uses will not infringe copyright. Section 16 of the Copyright Act deals with exceptions to copyright infringement specifically relating to cinematographic films and includes these two exceptions:

for the purposes of criticism or review of that work or of another work; and

for the purpose of reporting current events―

in a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical; or

by means of broadcasting or in a cinematograph film

This is subject to the proviso that, in the case of the first exception and the first part of the second exception (dealing with “newspaper, magazine or similar periodical”), “the source shall be mentioned, as well as the name of the author if it appears on the work”. Without going much further in the Act, it allows for critical reproductions of the footage provided there is proper attribution required by the proviso or, where the footage is being reproduced for the purposes of reporting on the story, there must be proper attribution in a “newspaper, magazine or similar periodical”.

Bearing in mind that the proviso requires attribution of the source of the footage and the author’s name “if it appears on the work”, including footage which clearly originates from ANN7 may be sufficient to invoke the exception to copyright infringement on the basis of criticism or a review of the footage where the author’s name doesn’t appear in the footage.

American copyright law has a broad set of copyright infringement exceptions known, collectively, as “fair use” which include exceptions based on criticism. It also includes protections for parody which may also apply to videos targeted for removal by Aiplex Software. The end result is that these videos may well be reinstated once users’ counter take down notices are reviewed.

In the meantime, Aiplex Software’s campaign to remove these videos and target other critical materials is only heightening public interest in ANN7’s content and quality and, quite possibly, attracting even more attention that it would have had otherwise. This is the hallmark of the Streisand Effect and the phenomenon doesn’t draw a distinction between legitimate efforts to protect rights and less legitimate efforts.

Of course there has been considerable attention and debate on Twitter and one question I have been asked is whether Aiplex Software could target Twitter users for criticising ANN7 or the increasing number of parody accounts. Unfortunately, Aiplex Software may not find Twitter to be very accommodating. Twitter’s various policies include a fairly clear Parody, commentary and fan account policy which could well protect parody profiles:

If an account is engaged in parody and follows all of the above recommendations, it will generally be free to continue in its parody so long as it doesn’t mislead or deceive others. These are considered best practices for clearly marking accounts as one that is engaging in non-impersonation parody/commentary.

Twitter has a pretty robust approach to free expression and Aiplex Software may not be too well received. Any potential prejudice caused by copyright infringement will almost certainly be dwarfed by the reputational harm magnified by the Streisand Effect thanks, to a large degree, to the campaign to suppress criticism and ridicule. It’s not clear that Aiplex Software has a valid basis to require these videos to be taken offline and that doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that members of the public are fascinated with this story and they are sharing their opinions widely and rapidly.

Paul Jacobson is founder and director of Web•Tech•Law. Web•Tech•Law / CC BY-SA 2.5

Design Annotator: Shield and Spear

Design Annotator with Uno de Waal is a column featuring the top design work from South Africa’s biggest online creative showcase, Between 10 and 5, curated by Publisher Uno de Waal @Unodewaal.

We are in full swing with our Creative Women series – our way to profile women in creativity who are breaking new ground in their respective fields. We have a chat to one of the most respected ECD’s in South Africa, Kerry Friend, who has been working at HelloComputer to merge the traditional advertising world with digital. We like her approach and the projects she has been head of recently. On the other side of the spectrum we also interview the duo behind Supernatural Floral Design – Emma Frost and Jessica Ellis – who have been behind some of the more creative floral designs we’ve seen in a while. Be sure not to miss our Black and White Film Photography Exhibition happening this week in Cape Town, as part of the Open Design Cape Town Festival.

Creative Women: Kerry Friend

Kerry Friend is an Executive Creative Director at digital agency, Hellocomputer. This is the same agency that’s behind all the recent ‘world firsts’, like Joburg Zoo’s live tweeting honey badger and Toyota’s Outdoor Website, as well as the fun Etios Tweets for Sweets Smile Machine, and Hack-a-Thon events. These activations move outside of the conventional digital space to create new kinds of experiences for consumers, with technology becoming the (increasingly) seamless bridges between real-life and online experiences. These kinds of activations reflect a new approach in advertising that focuses on creating memorable (and potentially even meaningful) brand encounters for consumers.

Read the full interview with Kerry Friend from Hello Computer

Creative Women: Bee Diamondhead

Bee Diamondhead is the ever-fabulous, say it like it is, junior fashion editor at Marie Claire SA. We love her bold styling and the fresh imagery she produces both for the pages of ‘the glossy with brains’ and as a freelance stylist. We spent two days observing her making fashion magic in pre-prod and on set for an upcoming fashion editorial. And then asked her to spill about her beginnings, her job, and her picks of the SA fashion designers to watch out for.

Read the full interview with Bee Diamondhead.

Creative Women: Supernatural Floral Design

Both Knysna-bred now Cape Town-based, Emma Frost and Jessica Ellis joined forces in early 2013 to launch Supernatural Floral Design; an outlet for their shared passion for all things natural, wild and a little bit extraordinary.

See more pictures and read the rest of the interview with the Supernatural Floral Design Duo.

The New B&W Photography | A 10and5 Exhibition with This Is Film + Orms

10and5 has teamed up with This Is Film and Orms to bring you a film photography exhibition which opens next Thursday and is titled The New B&W Photography. The group show will feature photographs by ten up and coming photographers from Johannesburg and Cape Town, all shot in black & white and all shot on film.

Have a look at some of the amazing work by this young set of photographers.

Shield and Spear – A Film about Art, Music and Freedom in South Africa

The atmosphere after South Africa’s first democratic election in 1994 was one of jubilation, as the nation celebrated their newly won freedom. Soon though, the real complexities of being a “Rainbow Nation” started to emerge, and it was unclear what came next. Shield and Spear, a documentary film directed by Petter Ringbom, seeks to explore this. A story about what comes after, Shield and Spear documents what it’s like to live and work as an artist in this new democracy.

Find out more about the Shield and Spear film.

Captain Morgan Rescues Jack Parow | Oppikoppi Publicity Stunt

In the spirit of this year’s Oppikoppi theme “Bewilderbeast,” event sponsors Captain Morgan were challenged with the task of creating a stunt that would have attendees talking long after the festivities were over.Wanting to showcase the daring and adventurous Captain Morgan himself (who in fact was a real buccaneer) – the team came up with the idea to create an opportunity for him to rescue a crew mate. The scheming began, as the brand team (including FoxP2, Eclipse PR, Urbian and BrandsRock) partnered with legendary South African performer Jack Parow to create the buzz-worthy campaign.

Out of Office: Latitude 33

Long-time friends Gareth and Charles opened Latitude 33 in January 2013. The idea was to create a space inspired by laid-back surf culture, and some of their travels. They found the double storey building in Bree street, and turned it into an interesting hybrid between coffee, food, fashion and art. It falls on Latitude 33 (33 degrees north of the Earth’s equatorial plane) hence the name.

Find more wi-fi hotspots for creative people in our Out-Of-Office guide.

– Uno de Waal is a social strategist and the publisher of creative showcase 10and5.com.

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KZN’s Vuma FM: breaking new ground for vernacular media

by Gill Moodie (@GrubstreetSA) Of the three new FM stations to hit the air waves in the past year, Vuma 103 FM in KwaZulu-Natal is the least talked about in media circles – and yet in many ways, it is the most interesting.

Both Smile FM in Cape Town and the Johannesburg-based Power FM got a lot of buzz when they launched (in March and June respectively) but Vuma FM has been on the air since November last year, quietly gaining audience. According to the latest RAMS figures from the South African Audience Research Foundation, out last week, Vuma FM was at 93 000 listeners (past seven days) – and that was only its urban audience.

Based in Durban but reaching most of KwaZulu-Natal, the station goes out in 90% isiZulu with 70% music – most of which is gospel and also more broadly inspirational.

Owned by KNI, a consortium led by Revered Abe Sibiya who also heads the One Gospel satellite TV station, Vuma is unusual in the South African media landscape because it is a vernacular product that targets upper LSM groups.

Most vernacular media offerings, such as the very successful Isolezwe newspaper, target the lower LSMs.

“Our listeners are very proud to be Zulu and are very sophisticated as well,” station manager Phindi Gule told Grubstreet. “They want to talk about their health and finances… They have disposable income. They send their kids to Crawford and Durban Girls’ (College) and Kearsney.”

Gule, who has worked at YFM and Metro FM in Johannesburg and Gagasi FM and East Coast Radio in Durban, is aiming for Vuma FM to get to more than 1-million listeners after a year to 18 months on air.

Bearing in mind that the biggest radio station in the country, public-service broadcaster Ukhozi FM, is based in Durban and goes out to 7.4-million listeners, Gule does not see the vernacular market as overtraded.

“When we go do presentations to the trade, we are often asked where our listeners are going to come from,” she says. “They’re going to come from all three radio station (in KZN): Ukhozi FM, East Coast Radio and Gagasi.”

Regarding the giant Ukhozi, Gule says that it talks mostly to LSM 1-5 while Vuma is targeting middle class African families to whom Christians value are important and who are proud of their culture and heritage.

“We’re not only a radio station. We want to be a lifestyle that people should aspire to. Our Christian values resonate with who we are as a brand.

“84% of people who live in KZN speak isiZulu,” says Gule. “When we speak isiZulu on air, we make sure we do it without mixing it with English. Zulu people are very, very passionate about their language and it’s important that we respect that.”

One of the biggest challenges in setting up the new station was finding the right talent, says Gule.

“We had to decide: ‘How are we going to do this? Is it going to be a question of going to existing radio stations and stealing their presenters or are we going to start from scratch?’ My approach was to go for the more difficult route – and it really paid off: getting raw talent and getting the young people of KwaZulu-Natal to come in and audition. We also identified a few other people who resonated with the brand – people who are popular in this province. Leleti Khumalo is one them and we also have Felix Hlophe, the comedian.

“We started with five or six people and now I look around and there are 50 or 60 people. The team has grown. It has been challenging but also a very heart-warming journey. Slowly, you collect all the piece and even the place has its own culture now. We started with white walls and now we have pictures up everywhere.”

Advertising was a struggle in the beginning , says Gule, as was the timing of their launch.

“When we started in November, we didn’t make a big noise. Nobody was interested in listening to us. People were wrapping up the year and going on holiday.

“But it was a good thing for us because it allowed us to make mistakes and allowed us to find ourselves as Vuma FM… We made sure that when people were back at work (after the December break), we were able to do trade visits and that we were sure of who we were as a brand.”

A key turning point was when the first client, Game, committed to Vuma FM for a campaign for the retailer’s birthday.

The two-week campaign that involved a call to action – for listeners to say what mades them “a big deal” – blew Vuma FM and Game away, says Gule.

“We had 4 800 SMS-es,” Gule says. “Algoa (in Port Elizabeth) had about 1 300. OFM (in Bloemfontein) had just over 2000 and Kaya (in Jo’burg) had just over 1 100.

“And the stories that we got from our listeners were really heart-warming. It wasn’t people boasting but about people who came from a very basic background and didn’t let that stand in their way. They worked hard and now they are able to take care of their siblings; they are working; they are responsible. They were really inspirational stories.”

What is key to Gule is that the Vuma presenters remain humble and authentic.

“In South Africa we put presenters on a pedestal and they become celebrities,” she says. “They are always having a beautiful day. Everything is always rosy and that’s not true.

“I always say to my presenters: ‘The one thing that will make you a successful radio presenter is to stay true to who you are. People will make a fuss around you and make you feel special. Respect that and honour that but don’t let that go to your head. Be simple. Be normal. Remain humble and stay true to yourself.”

– SA’s leading media commentator, Gill Moodie, offers intelligence on media – old and new. Reprinted from her site Grubstreet.