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Media laughs on April Fools

by Herman Manson (@marklives) April 1, a day in which the mainstream media plays tricks on readers by publishing/broadcasting stories that ranges from the plausible but untrue to the improbable, and disguises fiction as news, is always an interesting alternative measure of media zeitgeist. Of course, post WMD and the Iraq war and Rupert Murdoch’s incarnation of The Galactic Empire, the more cynical amongst us could be excused for feeling many news days offer little more than Ground Hog Day meeting April Fools.

So what are on the media’s radar this year? Oscar Pistorius and North Korea, increasingly desperate measures by the treasury to dig into your pocket as the political class empty out the cookie jar and technology and its impact on language/habits/life all made an appearance. Julius Malema, deposed from his soapbox and stripped of his assets, was less fun to make fun off, although Times Live gave it a shot.

Here are some April Fools highlights from around the web.

Media Future: Here comes the tablet killer

by Arthur Goldstuck (@art2gee) A new entrant in the ultra-low-cost tablet market is also a global brand name at the high end. That could make all the difference.

While the world watches the battle for the high-end tablet market being waged between Apple and Samsung, a surprise attack is being mounted on the low end of the market.

Acer is best known for quality notebook computers, but late last year announced a series of tablets and Ultrabooks that positioned it alongside the equivalent high-end devices from Apple and Samsung. However, its pricing was so out of kilter with the competition at that level, it in effect wiped out the rest of its differentiating factors.

It seems that Acer won’t make the same mistake again. This week, it announced the imminent arrival of a tablet targeting the entry-level. That’s the arena dominated by no-name generic 7” tablets running the free Android operating system, imported from the East and given local branding. Prices range from R1000 to R3000 but, at the low end of that range, devices are barely functional for high-speed or interactive use.

Most quality name-brand tablets competing at this level, such as the Huawei Ideos, came in at around R3500. Its successor, the Mediapad, ran to R4300. However Apple shook up that market segment with the 7.9” iPad mini, starting here at R3400 – cheaper than buying the device in Europe.

That left Asus as the last international brand standing at the entry level, with the 7” MeMO Pad. It carries a reported R2000 price tag on a tablet running the Android Jelly bean operating system, weighing 358g, sporting a single-core 1GHz processor, 1GB of memory, 8GB or 16GB storage, and the option to expand storage via a microSD slot. A microUSB port also offers easy escape for files.

Weekly Top 10: Fastest rising search terms from South Africans on Google

With the help of Google Trends we are publishing the top 10 searched for phrases (minus the sexy stuff of course) by South Africans on Google over the previous seven days.

The US presidential elections, and the win for President Obama, dominates the fastest rising Google web searches list from last week. The Linkin Park concert tragedy in Cape Town, test cricket and a search for alternatives to the now stranded budget airline 1time also makes the list.
Fast rising searches
us elections +900%
linkin park +650%
barack obama +600%
obama +600%
cricinfo +250%
cricket +100%
psl +60%
speed test +60%
british airways +40%
discovery health +40%

Weekly Top 10: Fastest rising search terms from South Africans on Google

With the help of Google Trends we are publishing the top 10 searched for phrases (minus the sexy stuff of course) by South Africans on Google over the previous seven days.

News on Hurricane Sandy which hit the US East Coast last week dominates the list of fast rising searches for last week. The end of 1time also makes a local news break-through.
Fast rising searches
hurricane sandy latest Breakout
new york hurricane Breakout
sandy hurricane update Breakout
hurricane sandy +4,350%
sandy +2,950%
movember +850%
cnn +350%
new york +350%
1time +110%
arsenal +80%

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.”

Design Times eyes a digital future

by Herman Manson (@marklives) Mark Rosenberg was flipping through Wallpaper magazine when he saw a feature on newspaper design. It was sometime in 2004 and he had just getting started in the ad biz, with a background in the arts. Rosenberg went home and designed his first newspaper. It was called Design Times. He was 20.

Rosenberg knew that students with a design interest could hardly afford the international design glossies imported into the country. He also struggled to find design orientated publications that spoke to him as a consumer. With this in mind the first print run of Design Times would sell at R2 a copy. He printed 500 four pagers and was selling ads at R500 a pop. It just covered his production costs. He sold his first ad to a reseller of Adobe and Apple products.

Overheads were low – he was staying with his folks and putting the newspaper out from his bedroom – with only a limited amount of exposure to the publishing business (the agency he was working for had a travel client and was producing their in-house magazine).

Initially Design Times, which covered graphic design and photography initially, was less about content and more about layout and design admits Rosenberg but this has gradually been changing. It has also expanded its editorial coverage to touch on multiple facets of design including fashion, interior architecture and product design.

Lack of innovation means newspapers failing visual journalism

by Herman Manson. Judges of the recently held Sikuvile Standard Bank Newspaper Journalism Award were critical of the limited visual innovation they saw in entries this year.

SA EXCLUSIVE: Euro RSCG network rebrands as Havas Worldwide

Havas is rebranding its Euro RSCG network, including its agency in South Africa, as Havas Worldwide.

The Havas group will now operate under two primary brands, Havas Media for its global media agencies, and Havas Creative for its communications agencies.

The 316 Euro RSCG offices are all renamed Havas Worldwide. Euro RSCG South Africa will now become Havas Worldwide Johannesburg, Euro RSCG 4D South Africa will become Havas Worldwide Digital Johannesburg and Euro RSCG Worldwide PR becomes Havas PR.

Daily Maverick, iMaverick turns the corner

by Herman Manson. Fast emerging as South Africa’s most influential website, the Daily Maverick has turned a financial corner, alongside its sister tablet publication iMaverick, according to publisher Styli Charalambous

Weekly Top 10: Fastest rising search terms from South Africans on Google

With the help of Google Insights for Research we are publishing the top 10 searched for phrases (minus the sexy stuff of course) by South Africans on Google over the previous seven days.

News that Lance Armstrong are to be stripped of his seven Tour de France wins and banned for life by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency caused a massive spike in searches from the cycling mad public in Western Cape. A butt naked Prince Harry and the site that published the photos, TMZ, also spiked. Not sure why the surge for Dischem unless the country is coming down with flu.