by Arthur Goldstuck (@art2gee) It makes some of the best phones in the world. Yet HTC imploded as a brand this year. Now it’s back in South Africa.
Tag archives: south africa
ABC Analysis Q3 2013: The biggest-circulating consumer magazines in SA
by Herman Manson (@marklives) We reveal the biggest circulating consumer magazines in the South African market.
ABC Analysis Q2 2013: MarkLives’ Big Newspaper List
The ABC has released circulation statistics for the period April 2013 to June 2013. Here are a couple of numbers that stood out in terms of newspaper circulations.
Note: We compare the current figures with the same figures for this time last year and not with the previous quarter.
ABC member circulation totals:
Daily Newspapers: down to 1,494,023 from 1,599,299 for the previous corresponding period
Weekly papers: down to 619,400 from 668,954
Weekend papers: down to 2,205,462 from 2,396,355
Local papers: down to 437,815 from 465,158
‘Hydrid’ papers: down to 165,641 from 166,951
SA wins Design, Press & Radio Lions, takes first gold #canneslions
The Design, Press, Radio and Cyber Lions category winners have been announced at the annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
SA wins Media and Outdoor Lions #canneslions
The Innovation, Media, Mobile and Outdoor Lions category winners have been announced at the annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. See also SA Cannes Lions winners Day 1.
Creative Effectiveness, Direct Lions, Promo & Activation and PR Winners Announced #canneslions
The Creative Effectiveness, Direct, PR and Promo & Activation Lions category winners have been announced at the annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
McCann Melbourne, Australia, took both the PR and Direct Grands Prix for their entry ‘Dumb Ways to Die’ for Metro Trains. The Promo & Activation Grand Prix was taken by Ogilvy Brasil, for their entry ‘Immortal Fans’, created for football club Sport Club Recife. Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam took the Grand Prix for ‘Heineken’s Legendary Journey: Justifying a Premium the World Over’ in the Creative Effectiveness category.
ABC Analysis Q1 2013: Newspaper circulation decline continues
The ABC has released circulation statistics for the period January 2013 – March 2013. Here are a couple of numbers that stood out in terms of newspaper circulations.
Daily newspapers
Beeld declined to 67,700 from 75,019 in the previous corresponding period. Pretoria News fell to 18,775 from 21,406. Sowetan held steady at 98,258 (compared to 98,128). The Star fell to 106,484 from 124,641.
The Cape Argus fell to 33,247 from 35,493, The Cape Times fell to 35,616 from 39,519. Die Burger (Eastern & Western Cape editions combined) rose sligtly to 62,237 from 61,980.
Daily News fell to 32,002 from 34,173. Isolezwe declined slightly to 116,186 from 117,266. The Witness fell to 19,001 from 20,222 and The Mercury fell to 31,025 from 32,098.
Business Day fell to 33,690 from 35,897. The Citizen fell to 63,854 from 68,632. The Times declined slightly to 142,117 from 142,111.
On the tabloid front the Daily Sun fell from 375,185 to 296,489 (it stood at 322,324 in Q4 2012). Son fell to 92,213 from 104,696
Ad of the Week with Oresti Patricios – a ‘secret gardener’ & the guy who installed swings all over his city, just for the heck of it
In a time when everything revolves around profit, corporate growth and return on investment, it’s good to see a campaign that goes beyond the obligatory corporate social responsibility gambit. But that’s exactly what Coca-Cola’s ‘Crazy for Good’ campaign seems to do.
And thank goodness this agency, Draftfcb, refrains from ‘talking down’ to its market – yes, it’s predominantly a youth market, but gladly they didn’t spell it “kraz-E 4 gud” or some other form of text-speak.
The campaign is all about ‘passing it on’ – people who perform random acts of kindness for the good of society. It’s not a centralised, coordinated effort – rather it revolves around real-life stories that feature people doing a wide range of thingsto benefit their fellow human beings. This is what is so cool about this campaign – it is just about ordinary Joes and Janes with a passion which they use to beneficially impact on the people around them.
This global campaign, which was developed at Ogilvy Brazil, Sao Paulo, highlights these special, giving people, like Zainab Imran, the Pakistani musician who sings and plays at her local children’s ward… despite the fact that she’s visually impaired. What motivates her to give up four days a week to perform for children? “When I sing,” she says, “I feel that the children forget that they are unwell. When they sing and clap their hands, I forget that I’m unable to see.”
Then there’s San Franciscan Jeff Waldman, who installed swings all over his city, just for the heck of it. He was given a $1000 grant by the city of Los Angeles to do the same there; then he ran a Kickstarter fund to hang swings all over Bolivia. They hung them from trees, buildings, rocky outcrops, and even in the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt pan in the world.
South Africa Top 4 revenue growth region for WPP
WPP has released its First Quarter Trading Statement for the three months ended 31 March 2013. Revenues in sterling up almost 6% at £2.532 billion. First quarter profits and operating margin were reported as above budget and well ahead of last year. Average net debt increased by £331m (-12%) to £3.015 billion. Net new business of $1.504 billion was acquired in the first quarter, compared to $1.855 billion in the first quarter last year.
Q1 2013 showed “a similar pattern to the final quarter of 2012 with strong like-for-like growth in Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East and Central and Eastern Europe and advertising and media investment management and sub-sector direct, digital and interactive,” the group reports.
In terms of revenue growth by country Argentina grew by more than 20% followed by Brazil, South Africa and Thailand, all of whom achieved revenue growth of between 15-20%.
South African team behind the Mars One film
by Herman Manson. MarkLives caught up with James Yeats Smith, and Daniel Siegle to talk about the Mars One global online campaign to find potential ‘astronauts’ willing to join the production/project.