by Herman Manson • Tags • Page 10 of 17 •

The growing digital footprint of Huisgenoot, YOU and Drum

by Herman Manson (@marklives) In the world of print publishing the three sister magazines of Huisgenoot, YOU and Drum make for a formidable powerhouse – they are the three biggest circulating consumer magazines in the country.

Until recently that offline brand and circulation power hasn’t been effectively utilised online, but it’s changing, and quickly, according to Wilmer Müller, Head of Digital at Huisgenoot, YOU and Drum.

The three brands started rolling out digital strategies at the beginning of 2010 and soon found success on Facebook, especially in the case of Huisgenoot, whose community of Afrikaans speaking readers were looking for a safe online space in which to engage with one another in their home language. . Growth has been organic says Müller and on Facebook the number of Huisgenoot fans currently stands at over 205 000.

The Facebook presence of Drum is growing at the same breakneck pace as that of Huisgenoot in 2010, but Twitter has really been its success story, as the channel is well suited for breaking news on black celebrity culture – a key point of interest to Drum readers.

Talking of Twitter, Huisgenoot hasn’t seen as much success here as on Facebook. Müller suggests that this is due to slower take-up amongst Afrikaans speakers – English seems to be the default language South Africans use on Twitter. The Oscar Pistorius story, first broken on Twitter by Beeld, has changed this, and Huisgenoot has seen a substantial take-up of its various social media platforms, including Twitter, over the past two months. This was mostly tied to the Pistorius story, says Müller.

YOU has been tougher to grow digitally since it competes with a wider range of English language sites, many of them international, but its numbers are far from insubstantial.

EXCLUSIVE: Sekunjalo Group company buys digital agency World Wide Creative

Saratoga Software, a subsidiary of JSE listed Sekunjalo Investments Limited, has acquired a majority shareholding in Cape Town digital agency World Wide Creative.

Sekunjalo is lead by Dr Iqbal Survé, who recently made headlines thanks to the successful bid (still subject to approval from shareholders and authorities) by the Sekunjalo Independent Media Consortium to acquire the South African division of Irish owned Independent Newspapers in a R2 billion deal.

Independent titles include The Star, Cape Times, The Mercury and Isolezwe amongst others as well as the online news portal IOL.

(A recent SENS statement by the company points out that Sekunjalo Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd is a party to the Sekunjalo Independent Media Consortium and not the JSE Listed company, Sekunjalo Investments Limited. Sekunjalo Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd (part of the consortium) “will work closely with the technology business of Sekunjalo Investments Limited (which owns Saratoga Software) to ensure that thereis synergistic benefits for Sekunjalo Investments Limited.”

Survé recently told media journalist Gill Moodie that innovation and digital transformation was key to make Independent newspapers competitive and to take on arch newspaper rival Media24. He had hinted in that interview that the imminent acquisition of digital assets to help achieve these goals were on the cards.

World Wide Creative is known for its expertise in the production and development of digital assets. Current clients include Hyundai, The Foschini Group and Virgin Mobile. World Wide Creative was launched in 2003 by business partners Fred Roed and Mike Perk.

Design Indaba 2013: Daan Roosegaarde – hacking technology to personalise our environments

by Herman Manson (@marklives) Well before Daan Roosegaarde ever set foot in this country South Africans were already lining up to see if there might be opportunities to collaborate with the Dutch born artist and innovator.

Roosegaarde is known for exploring the relationships between technology, architecture and people, as with his Smart Highway project, which aims to create interactive and sustainable roads as part of our future landscapes.

Vehicles generating light through wind technology, dynamic lanes, using photoluminescent paint (that charges with sunlight) to create glow in the dark traffic lanes without the need for street lighting, induction priority lanes that charges electric cars as they drive. Roosegaarde wants roads to be more interactive and poetic as they form an essential aspect of our physical environment but has seen little innovation in the past century.

Design Indaba 2013: Masashi Kawamura on merging storytelling with technology

By Herman Manson (@marklives) Design Indaba 2013 Masashi Kawamura (@masakawa), one of Fast Company’s “100 most creative people in business 2012,” is visiting Cape Town as a guest speaker at the annual Design Indaba conference. The nod from Fast Company is just one of many – Kawamura seem to have won a near endless stream …

Continue reading “Design Indaba 2013: Masashi Kawamura on merging storytelling with technology”

Design Indaba 2013: Oscar Diaz on our innate understanding of objects

By Herman Manson (@marklives) Design Indaba 2013 London based product designer Oscar Diaz (@OscarDiazStudio) has made a name for himself thanks to his innovative and creative work in on a broad range of products and services including furniture, shop window installations (see Alphabet shoes for Terra Plana below) and limited edition objects like his widely lauded RGB vases.

Diaz studied design at the Ecole des Beaux Arts of Bordeaux in France and took an MA in product design at the Royal College of Art in London. Diaz has worked in Japan and the UK.

This week Diaz is in Cape Town to give a talk at the annual Design Indaba Conference (running from Feb 27 – March 1). We tracked him down before his arrival to ask him what draws him to product design.

MarkLives: You started studying fine art but ended up with a Master’s in Product Design at the Royal College of Art in London. What about product design grabbed you?

Diaz: I discovered that people have an innate understanding of objects that they don’t necessarily have when it comes to art. Art is much more hermetic and needs a bit of knowledge to be appreciated.

It was the accessibility of design, which made me want to change field.

What you need to know about POPI

by Herman Manson (@marklives) The Protection of Personal Information Bill (POPI), which will probably be signed into law in the next few months, will have a significant impact on how marketers may obtain and handle customer information.

Elizabeth de Stadler, a senior associate at Esselaar Attorneys, will be speaking at Content 2013, the content marketing conference taking place on the 25th and 26th February 2013 at the Fugard Theatre in Cape Town, on the impact of POPI on especially content marketers.

Her talk will cover what the implications and legal obligations are when it comes to the data content marketers collect, what security requirements are required to protect user information, what is required for consent and how the limitations of usage have changed. MarkLives asked her for some insight into the Protection of Personal Information Bill in advance of her talk at Content 2013.

Q: When will POPI come into effect and what timeline does it give content marketers to comply with regulations?

Elizabeth de Stadler: The Protection of Personal Information Bill has not been signed into law yet. This will probably happen in the first quarter of 2013. Even then businesses will be given a year to comply. This means that there is still time to reflect on the real implications of the Bill and implement solutions. It does not mean that you must ignore the Bill – it has very real implications and it will take time to become compliant.

M&C Saatchi launches new kind of media agency in South Africa

by Herman Manson (@marklives) UK based agency network M&C Saatchi has launched a new media agency in South Africa called M&C Saatchi Connect. The new agency will be lead by Martin MacGregor and share offices with M&C Saatchi’s South African agency M&C Saatchi Abel.

MacGregor was the MD at Nota Bene MEC Cape Town before he joined M&C Saatchi Abel as a managing partner in early 2012.

M&C Saatchi Connect is a homegrown agency – MacGregor isn’t launching an existing M&C Saatchi agency into the country. MacGregor believes the new agency will challenge the status quo in terms of the relationship between media and creative agencies.

EXCLUSIVE: Rob McLennan and Graeme Jenner leaving Net#work BBDO

by Herman Manson (@marklives) Net#work BBDO is losing both its Executive Creative Director Rob McLennan and Deputy Executive Creative Director Graeme Jenner.

Mike Schalit, Chief Creative Officer and co-founder of Net#work BBDO South Africa, confirmed that their resignations have been received by the agency. According to Schalit the creative partners are leaving to set up a new hot shop. They will remain with the agency for several months to ensure a smooth transition.

Schalit says Net#work BBDO has always spawned creative break-aways, some of which have become highly successful agencies in their own right, like Ireland-Davenport and Joe Public. According the Schalit the agency has always attracted creative entrepreneurs and eventually they do leave but not before contributing to the legacy of Net#work BBDO

EXCLUSIVE: RamsayMedia and Highbury Safika Media in talks on possible merger

by Herman Manson (@marklives) Publishing houses RamsayMedia and Highbury Safika Media (HMS) are in due diligence with the prospect of a possible merger between the two companies.

Ramsay Media Chairperson Alan T Ramsay has confirmed the authenticity of an email penned by him to RamsayMedia staff earlier today and seen by MarkLives that addresses internal speculation on the possible merger. In it he advises RamsayMedia staff of the state of negotiations between his board and HSM’s chief executive, Kevin Ferguson, their managing director, Tony Walker, and their financial director, Lindsey Allen.

Ramsay confirmed to MarkLives that no deal had yet been signed off on. Because of the due diligence process he was unable to reveal any information on the state of negotiations between RamsayMedia and HSM.

Louise Marsland & MarkLives launches TREND.

MarkLives and well respected marketing and media commentator and editor Louise Marsland have teamed up to launch an exciting new market intelligence resource to the advertising, media and marketing communications industry in Southern Africa.

TREND. brings together the research savvy of Marsland with MarkLives’ cool and sexy take on the modern advertising world. TREND. launched this morning at trendlives.info and will focus on trend forecasting, in-depth reports, insight and analysis relevant to the broader marketing industry.

The site will serve as a central curated resource for local and international marketing and media research as well as create its own unique in-depth reports that sources and charts influential modern trends marketers and their agencies need to note.

As with MarkLives, TREND. will will offer its content free of charge, and will be supported by site and report sponsors. Ornico, Quirk, Machine Agency, 60layersofcake Cape Town and John Brown Media are the founding landing page sponsors for the site.

The first in-depth Dissect report to be published on TREND. focuses on socialising the enterprise. Compiled by Marsland and sponsored by Quirk, the report, which runs to over 11 000 words, sets forth the effects of a socialised consumer base on the modern enterprise. Content is broken in readily digestible pieces for the busy executive.

Social media is not about a suite of social networks and tools writes Marsland. “It is now about the social enterprise, the brand that integrates social across all platforms of engagement. It is about living social.”