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2012 Year of reinvention for tech brands

Five of the world’s great hi-tech brands – Nokia, Sony, Ericsson, Huawei and HP – made announcements in the last three weeks that point to their reinvention in 2012, writes ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK.

In just three short weeks, at least five of the world’s great hi-tech brands have made announcements that will profoundly change the way they do business – and the options available to consumers.

Most prominent among them is the biggest cellphone brand in the world outside the USA, Nokia. Not long ago it was written off by the media, especially when it announced in February it would abandon its own smartphone operating system (OS) and embrace the Windows Phone OS from Microsoft. Last month it unveiled the fruit of that decision: the new Lumia range of phones for high-end users, and the Asha range of Internet-enabled for the lower end where Nokia tends to be dominant.

The real message sent out by Nokia was: “We’re back”. Considering how many phone users in the developing world cut their teeth on Nokia devices, it’s a brand that will enter 2012 on new legs.

The same can be said for Sony and Ericsson, who were joined at the hi-tech hip with their Sony-Ericsson mobile phone brand. A few weeks ago they announced that Sony would buy out Ericsson’s share, and would rebrand their range.

But it’s not only Sony that is being reinvented as a result. Ericsson too, will be reborn. Its technology already plays a role on most other cellphone brands, but what it could offer rival manufacturers was always constrained by the very fact that they were rivals.

“When the business started, the most important thing was the need to make handsets accessible to consumers, because the cost of handsets was very high,” said Magnus Mchunguzi, managing director of Ericsson in South and East Africa, speaking at the Ericsson stand at the AfricaCom congress in Cape Town last week. “What is crucial now is how to combine the different technologies available and make that work to the benefit of society.”

In short, rather than going away, Ericsson will become more of a mobile role-player than ever before.

Another big – and changing – presence at the frenzied AfricaCom event was Huawei, better known for providing infrastructure to mobile operators, as well as almost all the 3G modems sold in South Africa.

For the past three years, the company had been focused on co-branding phones with major network operators like Vodafone and Verizon, so that their own brand was almost invisible. The availability of the Android and Windows Phone operating systems is changing that.

Last week they unveiled two new high-end devices, the Vision and the Honour. The former has 3D-style interface, while the latter’s large battery tries to reverse the outgoing tide of low battery life in smartphones.

“It’s a huge opportunity for Huawei,” said Leo Wang, managing director, devices, of Huawei Eastern and Southern Africa, chatting over a hastily sipped cup of coffee at AfricaCom. “Now we need to set up our own brand, because our market share and market opportunity is getting bigger and bigger, and we need customers to understand the value of our brand and service.”

Huawei also entered the tablet market this year with their Slim 7”, which costs almost half that of most of its rivals producing the same sized devices – albeit with a poorer quality screen. They will shortly release a more advanced successor, also at a lower price.

One after the other, brands are reinventing themselves – PC market leader HP more than most. Shortly after former CEO Leo Apotheker declared in August that HP would can their tablet brand and get rid of their PC division, the company’s board of directors fired him. This month, new CEO Meg Whitman announced they would hold onto their PCs, and re-enter the tablet market.

All these announcements and launches have one thing in common: they acknowledge that the ordinary consumer has become the heart of the hi-tech industry. Even companies focused on the largest enterprises now have to gear themselves to the needs of the lowliest customer. In 2012, this re-invention will be visible everywhere gadgets are sold.

* Arthur Goldstuck heads up World Wide Worx (www.worldwideworx.com) and is editor-in-chief of Gadget. Follow him on Twitter on @art2gee. Reprinted from Gadget.

Howzit MSN a template for successful localisation, says Microsoft

Following its recent upgrade, Howzit MSN, the South African version of Microsoft’s MSN portal run by Kagiso Media, is being held up as a template for the successful localisation of the global portal.

At the Microsoft Advertising Imagine Istanbul 2011 conference that took place last week in Istanbul, Turkey, the local portal’s success in localising content and in becoming more than a passive content destination (MSN is the default home page for millions of Internet Explorer users and is promoted via Hotmail and Window Live Messenger) was praised by Salwa Smaoui, regional director, advertising and online Middle East & Africa at Microsoft Advertising.

Microsoft tasked Kagiso with managing the property in 2010, with Kagiso taking responsibility for marketing, sales and content on the site.

Apart from managing MSN in South Africa, Kagiso is also sales partner for all Microsoft’s Windows Live properties (including Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger) in sub-Saharan Africa through its sales arm digitalmark.

Globally, MSN has 500 million users and is adding around 50 million a year. It is published in 28 languages and serves 20 billion page views every month. Alexandre Michelin (@alexanmic), GM for MSN Europe and executive producer for MSN EMEA, told delegates at the Imagine Istanbul 2011 conference that MSN is moving beyond the passive phase to one where consumers are actively choosing to visit the portal.

As part of its new strategy, MSN will exploit its global and local scale, leverage its technological resources and innovations, claim new territories (such as Arabia) and work towards further innovating its current content offer.

Craig Corte (@craigcorte), CEO digital media at Kagiso Media, says his team regularly taps into the resources and tools available through Microsoft Advertising. It is bringing recently adapted IAB banner sizes, innovated by Microsoft Advertising, to the local portal and accesses international case studies and best practice for local clients.

Microsoft Advertising (@MSAdvertising) is a US$4 billion business and makes up 10% of Microsoft’s revenues. Smaoui says the division is experiencing double-digit growth. Its success means Microsoft now sees not only consumers and businesses as core audiences but also advertisers as part of its primary market.

The MEA (Middle East and Africa) region, while a relatively small part of the global Advertising operation, has been getting better at monetising its properties, says Smaoui, who also says that she sees the SA operation driving MSN deeper into Africa.

It’s a success shared by Kagiso, with its “beyond FM” growth strategy, as Corte calls it, which took digital from a 0% contribution to Kagiso’s revenue to nearly 9% today, in just over two years (it also owns stakes in Gloo and Acceleration Media).

The local MSN team currently consists of 26 people, including 10 in editorial. Kagiso has been focused on building management, content and sales competencies and is finally ready to crow about its achievements. The portal has launched 13 local content channels over the past year.

Smaoui says SA ranks high on Microsoft Advertising’s deployment schedule. SA was the first country to get the Xbox Live in the MEA region and Skype and search engine Bing will also be making its way to SA over the next 2-3 years. The challenge for Microsoft is scaling products for global growth and sometimes this delays rollouts, says Smaoui.

In terms of taking MSN into Africa outside of SA, Corte says MSN will be expanding into East and West Africa relatively soon, with local portals for these regions. MSN has also launched a mobile site, which is currently still in beta.

According to Smaoui, Microsoft is taking its responsibility for developing ICT in Africa seriously, as it believes this will contribute to social, people and economic development in the region.

This story is one of several filed from Imagine Istanbul 2011 for Bizcommunity.com. Microsoft Advertising sponsored the flights, accommodation, meals and transport during the duration of the conference.

Originally published on Bizcommunity.com Marketing & Media | South Africa – click to see more comments.

The geeks have the floor

The fourth annual Bookmarks Awards, the digital industries awards evening and back-slap, was a vast improvement over last year’s chaotic event (read Award-show behaving badly), when several hundred hangers-on crashed the awards evening and the MC Don Packett lost control and his cool.

Not that anybody noticed; we’d had to turn to Twitter to find out what he thought, so noisy was the small and crowded venue.

Packett couldn’t resist another barb at the awards evening crowd, tweeting, “‘How To Be A #Bookmarks2011 Attendee: 1- Be quiet. 2- Listen. 3- Applaud winners.’ Now you try.”

They didn’t. But we will get to that later.

MCs Simon Dingle (@simondingle) and Anele Mdoda (@anele) (from 5FM) were smart and capable, engaging the crowd and often joining in

Quirk celebrates its Best in Show at the 2011 Bookmarks.

the general rebelliousness that is one of the more endearing traits of geekdom, while joking about the buzz of on-going conversation that competed with the sound system.

Like last year the event, which lasted nearly four hours from arrival till the end of the award ceremony (I skipped the after party), was mostly standing room only, or translated for the rest of us, ideal for networking, flirting, exchanging blog URLs and, quite likely, putting some last minute deals to bed.

Entries were up to 453 this year, from 120 entries at its launch in 2008, 229 in 2009 and 400 in 2010. The event cost roughly a R1 million with FNB stepping forward as the main sponsor. It was also encouraging to see an agency such as M&C Saatchi Abel stepping forth to engage with the digital industry as a sponsor this year.

In total, 95 awards were handed out in a rather exhausting 38 sub-categories (a handful more saw no awards being given out or receiving no finalists). It’s not quite a one-in-four award/entry ratio, but it’s close.

The agency crowd finally got some Gold Pixels handed out, unlike last year, when not one was given to anybody but publishers.

Ogilvy Interactive Cape Town grabbed the first for its VW Golf R Campaign in the Display Advertising sub-category. Social Code won Gold for its paid search campaign for ORMS Direct, as did DigiVOX for BMW. Synergize Online scooped Gold in the Organic Search Campaign category for Cash Crusaders. In Email Marketing, Quirk took Gold for its infographic newsletter for Capitec Bank, which would go on to also take ‘Best in Show.’

Ogilvy Interactive Cape Town took two Golds in the Integrated Digital Marketing/Campaigns category, for its SAB Carling Black Label – Be the Coach Campaign and for the VW Polo GTI Date Drive Campaign. Gloo Digital Design/Pixel Project took Gold for their Indaba 2011 Touch Table (for South African Tourism) in the Tech Innovation category. That makes eight Golds in total.

Ogilvy Interactive Cape Town seemed to take an endless stream of Bronzes and Silvers, as well as its three Golds, but didn’t get the Best Agency nod, which went to Quirk.

Prezence Digital did dominate the mobile categories but here the judges also stuck to handing out Bronzes and Silvers. Gloo popped up for a respectable two Bronzes (one shared with FoxP2), a Silver and the Gold it won with Pixel Project. HelloComputer won the Grand Prix for its Musica Flo browser at the Loeries this year but the same campaign only resulted in Bronzes and Silvers for them at the Bookmarks. Native grabbed two Bronzes and a Silver.

Quirk won its Gold for Capitec and a Silver for its Quirk Education Videos entry in the Pod/Videocasts category but only came into its own in the final half hour of the ceremony, when Andre Britz won Best Media Planner and Sarah Manners (@sarahmanners) won Best Copywriter/Content Writer for the agency. Of course, it then also walked away with Best Agency and Best on Show.

Publishers didn’t do as well as last year in the award stakes, with no Golds being handed out, but as with last year, Naspers-controlled companies dominated this section of the award categories – 24.com and other Media24 associates such as New Media and DStv Online.

Avusa Media Live picked up a Bronze for Times Live in the Publisher category and another for Sowetan Live in Editorial; The Daily Maverick took a silver for its First Thing Newsletter in the Email Publication category and another in Editorial, while ZANews got a Bronze in the Pod/Videocasts category and a silver in Editorial. The Mail & Guardian took a Bronze, as did Studio 83 – both in Editorial. Everywhere else insert 24.com, New Media and DStv Online. 24.com also won Best Publishing House.

Jason Xenopoulos (@JasonXenopoulos), CEO of Native, was awarded Best Individual Contribution to South African Digital Media & Marketing. Melissa Attree (@melattree) won Best Social Media Marketer, HelloComputer would be happy with Simon Spreckley (@king-si) for being selected as Best Creative Director and Stephen Grootes (@stephengrootes), who has been called the hardest working political reporter in the country, won Best Digital Editorial Individual.

Categories that saw no awards given out included Retail – Large Enterprise (turnover < R100m+), Retail – Small/Medium Enterprise (turnover < R100m), Reputation/Crisis Management, Best Editorial Team (incredibly), Best Digital Advertising Sales Team (what – they were all equally poor- surely somebody stood out?), Best Creative and Best Paid Search Marketer.

All these sub-categories had listed finalists by the way – and the judges really felt those listed were good enough to be called finalists but not good enough to receive an accolade? It’s embarrassing for everybody involved.

Categories that didn’t list any finalists included Best Client (which I really don’t buy), Music/Sound Design, Brand/Company Identity – Large Enterprise (turnover: R100m+), Brand/Company Identity – Small/Medium Enterprise (turnover: < R100m), Government & Public Service and Civil Society.

The Bookmarks 2011 felt very much like a Cape Town affair and needs to broaden its support base and influence outside this city and the Western Cape. It also needs to be careful not to be overly ambitious in the number of sub-categories it gives awards out in, especially when those categories often only produce one or two finalists.

A bit of consolidation is in order, with fewer categories and more finalists per category, and this would also resolve the finalists-but-no-awards-in-certain-categories dilemma. If organisers want to reduce the noise levels inside the venue, a standing room mostly (it’s not quite only) event doesn’t lend itself to this; sit people down, or make your peace.

The geeks owned the floor last night, literally, and overall it was a happy affair. Credit goes to the organisers for learning some hard lessons last year and to the MCs for endearing themselves to the crowd.

Finally, to Bookmarks chairperson Nikki Cockcroft (@nikkicockcroft), who lead me to the chair right in front of the podium and the booming sound system, so as to ensure no stupid green strobe lights or bobbing heads obstructed my view, and that I heard every word (and then some) of what was being said: apologies for sneaking to back of the room during the second half of the event. The buzz was hard to resist. And I had some URLs to give out.

For all the full list of winners in table format, go to Digital excellence recognised as the winners of the 2011 Bookmarks (powered by FNB) are announced.

The Bookmarks Awards took place on Thursday evening, 10 November.

Originally published on Bizcommunity.com Marketing & Media | South Africa – click to see more comments.

Africa finally gets to tell its story – Africa.com founder Teresa Clark

Teresa Clarke recently visited South Africa as an international judge at the Bookmarks Awards. The Bookmarks, an initiative of the Digital Media and Marketing Association (DMMA), awards local digital marketing and publishing efforts.

Clarke, a former MD in the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs & Co, is the chairman and CEO of Africa.com, the company she launched in 2010. The media play already serves nearly three million page views per month.

Clarke received a bachelor’s degree in economics, cum laude, from Harvard College, an MBA from Harvard Business School and a JD from

Teresa Clarke, chairman and CEO of Africa.com and 2011 international Bookmarks judge

Harvard Law School. Africa.com is headquartered in New York and has offices in Johannesburg, Lagos and Nairobi.

Herman Manson: How do you see the Internet/mobile Internet contributing to the human and democratic development in Africa?
Teresa Clarke: Information is power. As we have seen during the Arab Spring events in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, Africans are using the power of the internet to tell their stories to the outside world in real time and thereby put pressure on repressive regimes to change. SaharaReporters.com – a Web site devoted to rooting out corruption in Nigeria – is another example of the internet driving change. The founder of SaharaReporters.com, Omoyele Sowore, has organised an army of citizen journalists who are tracking the activities of corrupt political and business leaders. His widely-read reports have led to trials and jail terms for some officials and his influence has helped create a number of other similar organisations. 100Reporters.com, for example, was launched on October 31st by several former New York Times reporters, who are attempting to emulate Sowore’s techniques and success at rooting out corruption all around the world.

Manson: Most of the users on Africa.com live outside the continent – what is drawing your readership to content relating to the continent?
Clarke: Africa.com is creating compelling original content and aggregating the content of a growing number of best-in-class partners.

Africa.com has created the first online listing of all the museums on the African continent. Our daily blogs cover a range of topics, from President Obama meeting with young African leaders in the White House to an analysis of reasons why so many African countries celebrated a half-century of independence in 2010 to the excellent work that a number of foundations and NGOs are doing on the African continent.

Recently, for example, Africa.com posted three pieces about the work that the Voss Foundation is doing in Liberia and DRC, digging wells and bringing fresh, clean water, better sanitation and dignity to large numbers of people.

Africa.com has partnered with Harvard University’s Committee on African Studies, McKinsey & Company, the Brookings Institution’s Africa Growth Initiative, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Council on Foreign Relations, Foreign Affairs Magazine, Freedom House, Foreign Policy and Hand/Eye Magazines, as well as CNBC in Africa and Africa Style Daily. Our goal is to provide one-stop shopping for readers around the world who are interested in the latest business, political, cultural and travel news about the 54 countries on the African continent.

Manson: You have a deals aspect to your site – do you source a lot of products from Africa and, if so, how do you go about finding these and ensuring capacity and consistent quality?
Clarke: Africa.comDEALS is a new venture. The current DEAL offers a … 68% discount on a case of wine produced by indigenous people in South Africa. The wine has been imported by Heritage Link Brands. Our first deal was for heavily discounted tickets on Arik Air, a Nigerian-based airline. Future deals will offer discounts on goods produced by women in Rwanda.

We find these deals through our network of business and philanthropic contacts. Our specific goal is to tap into the African diaspora marketplace by offering products created by Africans for Africans and anyone who’s passionate about Africa. We carefully vet our vendors and only work with partners whose quality and brand we know will serve our users well.

Manson: Do you source local content or is it mostly produced from the States?
Clarke: Africa.com ranks first, after Wikipedia, on Google searches for the search term “Africa.” If you think about who would go to Google and search for the word “Africa,” it is not likely to be an African. For this reason, in these first 18 months or so of our operations, we have developed a site to serve the needs of our organic users who come primarily from the US, and to some degree, Europe and Asia.

As we look ahead, we will have to work hard to get African visitors, and will have to develop relevant and compelling content for Africans. We plan to extend our presence on the continent, and will be setting up operations on the ground in Africa in 2012. We look forward to sourcing more African content as we move forward and expect that, in five years, almost all of our content will be created in, or sourced from, Africa.

Manson: How concerned are you about media regulation around Africa and how it is used against especially investigative journalists?
Clarke: The Africa.com staff is well aware of the attacks on journalists in various African countries and routinely publishes pieces produced by the Africa programme officer of the Committee to Protect Journalists. As I said in the first answer about the hugely important role of the media, especially online media, in driving democratic change, information is power. Access to such information should never be impeded by government regulations.

Manson: Your model relies in part on advertising revenue. How are brands responding to Africa.com?
Clarke: Africa.com increasingly offers brands a one-stop shop for speaking to an African-oriented digital audience. The market is highly fragmented and, in general, global brands seeking a pan-African audience must work with East African, West African, Southern African, and Northern African sites. Africa.com makes it easy to speak to the continent.

Manson: What is your initial impression of the quality of the Bookmarks 2011 entries?
Clarke: The South African digital community is very sophisticated and especially creative. Choosing the winners in each category has been a hard job, because there were so many compelling entries for each category. One of the entries, a SA help site for an internationally manufactured product, has found followers from several other countries in Europe and Asia, because the users of the product in those countries find the SA site to be more informative.

Manson: Did you notice any specific trends that stood out for you in the entries you judged?
Clarke: One trend we noticed, among the publisher entries, was the increasing number and importance of mobile sites. As more Africans come online, they do so on mobile devices to a great extent, and we expect to see much more growth in mobile Internet connectivity in the future, and hence more and more content being developed for mobile applications.

The Bookmarks Awards took place on Thursday evening, 10 November.

Originally published on Bizcommunity.com Marketing & Media | South Africa – click to see more comments.

Cover S’Hot: Magazine covers we love (this week)

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 MediaSlutZA.

INTERNATIONAL
ELLE UK, December 2011

It’s normal that most magazines have a touch of red on their cover for the Christmas season but there are few that do it right. Not only is this one of the most simple, elegant and beautiful ELLE covers that I’ve ever seen, but the general lack of cover lines, and the added layer of the logo just makes it “wow”. The only cover line “Kiss from a rose” is perfect with the dress covered with lipstick kisses.

FRONT, Issue 162

I’ve seen this magazine with its funky covers pop-up ever so often. And every time I think “what a funny and sexy magazine”, only to find out later that their tagline is “The funniest, sexiest magazine on Earth”. The way they use art/graphics on all their covers, hiding jst the right bits, is just awesome, quirky and very smart.

Visionaire, #61

When I saw this cover of the “Art Magazine” Visionaire with Lady Gaga on it I didn’t think too much about it. “Lady Gaga drenched in Oil. Nothing new.” But the cover line “LARGER THAN LIFE” means quite literally that…

This issue of Visionaire is currently holding a Guiness World Record as “The Largest Magazine in the World”. It’s 2.13 x 1.52 meters (more information click here).

If you love publishing then you’ll be fascinated by the various products Visionaire have produced. There are only 250 copies printed of this issue, and it retails for (only) $1 500. Do yourself a favour and go to the Visionaire website, and watch the video on how they produced/printed it, and how people will read it…

LOCAL
There were no new South African covers this week that have impressed me. Keep an eye out next week!

– The (for now anonymous) blogger behind MediaSlutZA 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 MediaSlutZA. #MagazinesForTheWin

– Find a cover we should know about? Tweet us @marklives and @mediaslutza

Human dev should top corporate agenda, says corp VP at Microsoft

The revolutions that have been sparked in the Middle East since the start of the year may have faded in the minds of many Western media consumers but it was still very much on the minds of local speakers at the MEA (Middle East and Africa) region Microsoft Advertising Imagine Istanbul 2011 conference that took place last week in Istanbul, Turkey.

Here, they are still living the change as the region transforms, often bloodily, with protests on-going in several countries, and democratic elections taking place in others, often for the first time in decades.

As a reminder that regional politics and crises can affect global organisations in unexpected ways, and that a world connected by information still doesn’t mean those connections cross the lines we draw on maps, Israeli delegates did not attend the conference (Israel and Turkey aren’t getting along on the diplomatic front at the moment) but present were representatives from throughout North Africa and the Middle East, as well as South Africa.

With a population of 1.54 billion, a combined GDP of US$3.567 billion and IT spend totalling US$56.8 billion, the MEA region is emerging as an increasingly important market for multinationals as Western economies continue to struggle to escape the effects of the Great Recession. Internet penetration in the region stands at around 13% and bandwidth penetration at 7.7%, says Ali Faramawy, corporate VP at Microsoft and president of Microsoft Middle East and Africa.

Microsoft (@MSAdvertising) has become a serious player in the online content and marketing space through Microsoft Advertising (the conference host), a division that already generates of 10% of Microsoft’s revenue, and which is positioned to manage and monetise Microsoft’s content and media platforms.

In the MEA region, this includes Skype, with 170 million users grabbing 20% of all international call traffic. Other Live assets includes the Xbox, Windows phone and search engine Bing, as well as the MSN portal.

Skype aims to become the communications choice for a billion people every day. Microsoft hopes the better integration between Skype and Windows to ensure it remains the best platform from which to use Skype. In the US, Microsoft Advertising is already selling advertising on Skype. Video already takes up 43% of all Skype-Skype minutes, says Faramawy.

The Xbox is another of the properties it sells advertising on, and it’s available in SA, heading for the Gulf and will arrive in Turkey soon. Windows phone is Microsoft’s attempt to re-enter the competitive cellular market in partnership with Nokia.

Bing, the search engine, has just moved from third to second position in the US search rankings, says Faramawy, and is expected to roll out in new markets soon (including MEA over the next three years). Faramawy says Microsoft aims to have substantial Bing product offerings in around 70 markets.

Alexandre Michelin, GM for MSN Europe and executive producer for MSN EMEA, says the MSN portal now has 500 million users and is adding 50 million a year, generating 20 billion page views a month. MSN is developing and implementing a new strategy to move the portal beyond passive engagement with consumers to become a destination of choice for online consumers. MSN is currently the number-one portal in 26 markets.

In his opening remarks at the Imagine 2011 conference, Faramawy described how a couple of years ago he was interviewed on Egyptian TV and he was asked about the Egyptian government’s performance. He noted that, while economic growth was positive, he didn’t see it trickle down to people on the ground as quickly as one would expect.

Of course, Egyptians, empowered with information, and tired of the political abuse they suffered without the conventional pay-off of economic security, overthrew the political establishment.

Looking back at events of the past year, with regimes falling across the region and unrest continuing in others, Faramawy says his initial thoughts on what it would take for countries to remain politically stable during the current extended economic crises – which he listed as delivering on education, public healthcare and justice – has expanded to include human development and freedom.

The mission of IT, Faramawy says, is much bigger than he ever expected, and relates to all five fields mentioned above, including, of course, helping secure freedom from political oppression. IT has become an enabler to realise the potential of the MEA region and what its people wants it to be. Switch on any news channel and what people want is abundantly clear.

The revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa aren’t simply about overthrowing authoritarian and corrupt political regimes; their demands also extends to the economic elite, as the Occupy Wall Street movement and continued protests at G8 and G20 conferences prove. Business would do well to listen and adapt with more agility than their political peers.

“What is good for people is ultimately good for business,” says Faramawy, who promises Microsoft MEA is committed to ensuring it lives up to its human development goals and not focusing solely on financial goals.

Originally published on Bizcommunity.com Marketing & Media | South Africa – click to see more comments.

Look beyond digital campaigns to long-term goals – Antti Kupila

The Bookmarks award judging is done and dusted, and by Thursday evening (yeah tonight), 10 November 2011, ad land will know who has won what in the only award show dedicated to rewarding creativity and effectiveness in South Africa’s digital marketing and publishing industries.

This year Antti Kupila (@akupila), the technical director at Sid Lee in Amsterdam, was invited as an international representative on the panel judging advertising entries. He spoke to us about the standards of SA work, emerging trends in digital marketing and the lack of a global reputation in our digital sector.

Herman Manson: What is your initial impression of the Bookmarks 2011 entries?
Antti Kupila: Very mixed. Certain things stand out in terms of creativity but, especially in craft, I think [you are] still slightly behind Europe and the US. That said, focusing on ROI, some entries did an exceptional job, looking at the brief as a problem to solve and came up with a good idea to make it happen.

The budgets in SA are generally smaller than in Europe but I was pleased to see how far people were able to take their ideas. In the end, it’s all about good ideas anyway, not money.

Manson: Did you notice any specific trends that stood out for you in the entries you judged?
Kupila: I think the market in SA is still thinking a lot about campaigns instead of longer-term goals for clients. It might create short-term wins but the real value is in building something longer-lasting.

In terms of trends, it’s very similar to other places with using Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to create social interactions and discussion but deeper integration could be better, creating more conversation around the brand. Content is still king and simply putting a ‘like’ button on the site won’t check the social checkmark.

Another big part was mobile and using USSD and SMS for maximising reach while giving good value to the user. As mobile is so prevalent in Africa in general, I would like to see people utilise this even more, instead of following trends that are present in other markets.

Manson: Why do you think SA doesn’t really feature in the digital categories of the international award shows?
Kupila: As mentioned above, the craft is still lacking a bit over here. Creative ideas are good, design is ok but especially the technical side is a bit behind. Focusing on using technology as part of the creative idea – instead of simply as a way to execute it – could take the ideas forward a lot.

From what I’ve seen, collaboration doesn’t seem to be a problem here; people listen to each other and together do a great job. For interactive media, though, technology is such a big part of this and following a traditional model which has been present in other markets for a long time won’t take it to the next level.

Instead, I would see the fact that the industry is so new here as a good thing; create the industry instead of following dinosaurs from Europe! For interactive projects, include people with technical expertise from day one!

Manson: What is SA digital shops’ reputation like in Amsterdam?
Kupila: Unfortunately, SA digital shops aren’t really known in Amsterdam. That said, we’re currently doing some work with an SA agency and everybody has been very happy so far. I would imagine that other agencies could easily enter these markets, too; don’t be shy to show your work!

Manson: In terms of the tech we use, would you say it’s world-class?
Kupila: Tech is a bit of a tricky topic to compare as the market is very different. Smartphones and bandwidth are widely available in Europe so using the technology from Europe 1:1 in SA would be a very bad idea.

In addition, consumers here are very aware of cost, which often is more important to minimise, compared to maximising the experience. iPads etc are nice but it’s pretty bad idea to introduce something only a handful of people can see.

I would say technology in general, though, is not quite world-class. In fact, especially on the web, I think there’s a lot of improvement that can be done there.

Manson: What are the major digital marketing trends in Europe at the moment?
Kupila: Social has been an on-going topic for a while but I rarely see good ways people are using it. It’s still in the baby-steps [phase] and slowly moving to something where content is customised to the user, based on who they are.

From a technical point of view, Apple did a good job in their attempt to kill Flash and a lot of agencies and clients are doing HTML for the sake of not doing flash. This, of course, doesn’t always make sense but it is what it is. Still pretty much everything that’s done now should work on both the web but also on iOS devices and other mobile phones and tablets.

Responsive design is where it’s going, though – doing something that works from a big 24″ screen down to a small screen on a mobile device. The sites resize so that they fit the user, not the other way around, and leave out big assets in order to optimise performance on slower networks on mobile phones.

Manson: Has judging the Bookmarks changed any of your perceptions about SA’s digital capabilities?
Kupila: Definitely. And I was very pleased to see some of the entries… can easily be compared to work coming from Europe. I will be following the market much more closely from now on.

The Bookmarks Awards takes place on Thursday evening, 10 November.

Originally published on Bizcommunity.com Marketing & Media | South Africa – click to see more comments.

Nook vs Kindle – tablet war widens

Barely weeks after Amazon’s own groundbreaking move into tablet computers, their deadliest rival, books chain Barnes & Noble, attacked on three fronts – led by a formidable tablet. ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK previews the device.

The Nook was never going to be a serious threat to the Kindle. Amazon had turned the latter into a byword for electronic books. Barnes & Noble, makers of the Nook, were regarded as also-rans who would soon be has-beens.

Then came November 7 and the new Nook. Or rather, the new Nook army. Barnes & Noble yesterday announced not only two new e-readers that would directly take on Amazon’s new Kindle readers announced at the end of September, but also a tablet that would compare well in features, and not badly on price. And backing up its army, it would rope in its massive store network as a support mechanism.

Significantly, the new Nooks will hit the shelves by November 18, almost simultaneously with the new Kindles announced six weeks earlier – and due to be released on 15 November. It may well be that the launch was brought forward to tackle the Kindle head-on, but the devices will also benefit from the enormous e-reader awareness that will be created by the Kindle launch.

That the Kindle is the target is not even a question. Comparing the two devices was at the heart of yesterday’s launch.

“The Kindle Fire is deficient for a media tablet,” said Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch. “With the Nook Tablet we are delivering the best media device ever created in a portable form factor.”

He argued that the 512MB of RAM (active memory) on Amazon’s tablet, the Kindle Fire, was not enough to play a game while reading a magazine. The Nook Tablet has 1GB of RAM. The Kindle Fire’s 8GB of storage, he said, was not enough for the media library users would want to access when not connected to the Internet. The Nook Tablet offers 16GB of storage space, and an SD slot that allows for another 32GB to be added.

“You’re not always going to be connected to the cloud,” said, Lynch stating one of those obvious facts that has tended to be glossed over by the likes of Amazon, Apple and Google, who are all pushing their cloud offerings as major competitive advantages.

Like the Kindle Fire, the Nook Tablet has a 7” display, and runs on Android 2.3. However, it doesn’t give access to the entire Android Market, only allowing nook-optimised apps and others that are carefully selected. This is likely to be its biggest weakness, and one it intends to address with apps from third-party developers. However, there is as yet no developer army waiting in the wings as with other operating systems.

Pre-loaded apps include the obligatory Angry Birds, along with Netflix and Hulu Plus, suggesting a strong focus on entertainment content beyond the world of books.

Demonstrating its high-definition video capability, Lynch declared: “Judge for yourself, but we think content will look and render better on the Nook than on Kindle Fire.”

He promised eight hours battery life for movie viewing, and 11.5 hours for normal use.

The Nook Tablet will retail at $249, compared to the Kindle Fire’s $199, but with twice the memory and storage capacity, that does not appear to be a major disadvantage.

And the rest of the army? Amazon.com also unveiled two new e-readers, didn’t it?

Nook had an answer for both, without any of the associated R&D costs: it dropped the price of its previous flagship device, the Nook Color – a tablet in its own right – from $249 to $199. It offers touchscreen, books, magazines, interactive kids’ books, apps, music, e-mail, and web browsing. It will soon also integrate Netflix and Hulu Plus.

The company’s basic e-reader, the Nook Simple Touch, has been cut from $139 to $99, taking on the most basic Kindle readers head-on. Like the Kindle, it features a 6” screen, e-ink technology – and no less than two months’ battery life.

Barnes & Noble are not going down without a massive fight: already it claims a quarter of the digital books market.

It believes its chain of hundreds of physical stores will be a big competitive advantage, giving customers a familiar environment in which to get comfortable with the device.

However, this may prove to be an illusion. Customers are already becoming familiar with the Kindle e-readers at thousands of electronics stores that stock the devices. Since they no longer need bookstores to buy books, they certainly don’t need them to buy book-reading devices.

* Arthur Goldstuck heads up World Wide Worx (www.worldwideworx.com) and is editor-in-chief of Gadget. Follow him on Twitter on @art2gee. Reprinted from Gadget.

“If you want loyalty, buy a dog”

By Mike Abel. Grant Fairley may have been right when he bluntly stated, “If you want loyalty, buy a dog”.

I include close family, trusted colleagues and clients and other true friends into this little equation (no offense to any of them) but pure transactional customers…mmm, not so sure.

Loyalty is defined as “a feeling of devoted attachment and affection”. Now if we are to believe this of customers that come into our stores and swipe with our cards, then we are largely delusional and will be lulled into a dangerous space of overstating our role in their lives and complacency.

If you are responsible for the retention strategy for a large customer base, then you would immediately need to confront the reality that there is very little loyalty when it comes to customers. And looking at most “Loyalty” schemes, why should there be?

Don’t confuse loyalty with:
a) The well-ingrained and intended hassle factors associated with switching accounts (telco’s, insurance companies and banks raise your hands here).
b) The repurchasing of the same product, as you can’t get a decent trade-in or will lose your warranty on your product by going elsewhere (car industry, your turn to raise those hands).
c) A points programme that you’re locked into with your airline and you cannot transfer those hard-earned miles to another carrier (airline industry – over to you here…).
d) Your customers getting points every time they swipe their card when buying groceries at your store – your customers didn’t ask for this, you gave it to them in the hope of locking them in for more purchases and to one day to understand their personal data better so as to sell more to them (supermarkets, your turn…).

Now there is nothing really wrong with any of the above as low-end, short to medium term customer “retention” strategies (although it would be quite handy not to have to discount my air miles by 50% every time I want to use them…) but the relationships defined above are often more akin to Stockholm Syndrome than to any possible form of Loyalty – in fact most of them breed anger and disloyalty.

Loyalty is not a transactional relationship, it is as described above, a “feeling of devotion” that very few brands are able to create via their current “Loyalty programme”.

In fact, good old fashioned brand advertising can often yield a much higher level of emotional connection as deftly done, you are using powerful emotional cues to associate the brand with e.g. their childhood, their mother’s baking, doing the best for their kids etc. etc.

And then certainly the lived experience in-store and in follow-up service is all-important: where one has the greatest opportunity to build an engaged, real and human connection that can lead to a sense of being loyal. I remember Michael Francis, the CMO of Target (America) telling me that he doesn’t allow his sales team to even refer to people coming into their store as customers. They are looked at and referred to as “guests”. Think about it, you’d sure treat a guest a whole lot better than you would a potential customer – as you’d be the host. It wouldn’t be purely transactional. You’d care, you’d listen, you’d offer advice, and you’d be helpful…and then they’d buy (versus you selling)…

You want people to buy their next car from you because they received outstanding service and the product delivered functionally and emotionally, not because of a trade-in price. This can be applied to telco’s, banks, supermarkets, airlines etc. The minute we believe we have devoted customers because of a card and point-related system, we’ll be on the slippery slope towards losing them.

Sure, use these cards as part of a retention strategy and then actively look at other ways of enhancing the relationship. Just delivering brilliantly on the functional basics will get you 95% there alone.

Some tips towards transactional “loyalty”:
a) Don’t underestimate the enormous power of getting it right first time.
b) Make the transactional behaviour as quick, simple and easy as is possible.
c) Say sorry if you’ve made a mistake and fix it quickly.
d) Fess-up if you have a product issue ahead of the customer raising it.
e) Don’t argue as the first step – if the customer has a problem, unless they are delusional, they genuinely have a problem – real or perceived.
f) If a customer wants to move their account, use human dynamics and “deal-sweeteners” (added value) to retain them – not enumerable hassle-related tactics. If you are helpful, kind, considerate and understanding, chances are the customer will think twice about switching (versus being aggressive or defensive).

The card swipe is valuable in the information it gives you to enhance the relationship, to offer better and more relevant deals, to cross shop the customer, to be helpful or useful with better tips, advice etc. but it can’t replace the value of exceptional service and the lived and human dynamic. So, reconsider your supposed “Loyalty” programme as your Customer Retention Strategy and your pencil around keeping these customers will begin to start sharpening itself.

Reprinted from the blog of Mike Abel. Mike Abel is the Chief Executive Partner at M&C Saatchi Abel.

Data now 14% of Vodacom income as smartphone use surge

Vodacom has 4.1-million smartphones in use in the South African market – each averaging 80MB data per month. That has grown data to 14% of revenue, writes ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK.

The data revolution continues apace, with Vodacom’s latest interim results revealing dramatic growth, fueled by smartphones.

Vodacom has announced that data revenue was up 31% for the six months to the end of September 2011, compared to the same period in 2010. Data revenue for the period was R3.9bn, now making up 14% of revenue.

At the interim results presentation in Midrand, CEO Pieter Uys revealed that 70% of Vodacom’s 4700 base stations are now HSPA+ enabled, meaning that they support speeds of (theoretically) up to 21Mbps. More than half the base stations support dual carrier access, which allows for theoretical speeds of up to 43Mbps.

Overall revenue is up 6%, indicating the accelerating importance of data in the revenue equation.

“The Internet and data is so central, we are integrating it into everything we do,” Uys said. “If we can put the Internet into everyone’s hands, we will turn not only the country, but the continent, around.”

The data demand is driven to a large extent by the accelerating penetration of smartphones. Uys said that 30-40% of all data use came from smartphones.

In the six months to the end of September, Vodacom sold 870 000 smartphones, taking the total to 4.1 million smartphones in use on the Vodacom network. And smartphones, said Uys, averaged 80MB data use per day. Total data growth on smartphones was no less than 150% over the past year.

Vodacom has seen a 38% increase in “Group active data customers” to 12.4 million. This does not necessarily equate to mobile Internet users, as downloads of games, ringtones, wallpaper and the like would be included in those numbers.

At Gadget’s request, Uys and outgoing Chief Financial Officer Rob Shuter broke down the data customer base in more detail at the results presentation. Approximately 3.5-million customers were purchasers of data bundles. Of these, around 1-million were using 3G dongles or data devices; while the rest were using smartphones.

Vodacom’s goal is to reach 25-million data customers by March 2014. This, said Uys, would be strongly driven by sub-R1000 smartphones.

Consequently, the group is investing heavily for data growth, with capital expenditure of R3.5-billion in the past six months, geared towards expansion of 3G and fibre networks, and a “focus on network stability and improved customer experience”.

On average, data prices had come down 22% during this period, while the cost of voice calls had been reduced by an average of 24% per minute. Number of customers in South Africa had increased 21.1% to 28.9 million. Outgoing voice traffic was up 34.1%, showing that data growth was having no impact on voice calls.

* Arthur Goldstuck heads up World Wide Worx (www.worldwideworx.com) and is editor-in-chief of Gadget. Follow him on Twitter on @art2gee. Reprinted from Gadget.