Master your business; deliver above expectation; control the flow of information about you or your company; never forget that everything you do is in public. Four simple tenets that apply to marketers as much today as they did in the Napoleonic era. Napoleon was just 26 in 1796 when France’s rulers sent him to take [...]

One of the frequent criticisms that marketers have in relation to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is that it has become too legalistic. While a certain amount of legal process and even jargon is necessary to protect the rights of the parties (including the marketer!), there are areas where this criticism is arguably valid. One [...]

CLIENT: DUNLOP TYRES AGENCY: O’DONOGHUE & ASSOCIATES The television commercial sees a host of yellow Dunlop Tyre clad cars converging on the city of Cape Town to perform a series of impressive high-tech precision driving stunts that ultimately enable the cars to form the word ‘Dunlop’. The client says it was confident that the concept [...]

CLIENT: STIMOROL CHEWING GUM AGENCY: OGILVY CAPE TOWN Hip Hop Pantsula’s new music video for his hit single “All I need” officially launched Stimorol’s new 3-piece range and saw the brand teaming up with HHP to scour the nation for the hottest talent to star in his music video. The collaboration offered young talented individuals [...]

After just two years, Zoopy has become a major player in South Africa’s social media space – and, with telecommunications giant Vodacom acquiring a stake in the company last year, that status is set to grow. So, what’s in store for Zoopy users? Zoopy CEO Jason Elk explains that when the site was launched on [...]

I never understood Twitter when I first discovered it through a post on leading Web 2.0 blog Tech Crunch (www.techcrunch.com) a few years ago, but being a self-proclaimed early adopter I set up an account regardless, trusting Tech Crunch’s opinion that “[it] will be big”. That was almost two years ago – 7 March 2007. [...]

While most newspapers face declining circulation during the economic downturn, the oft-derided Saturday press seems to be holding its own – some are even growing. Many years ago the newly appointed editor of a Durban Saturday paper told me proudly that it had been redesigned as an “11-minute quick gloss”. Those days are long gone [...]

A shapely pair of thong-clad female buttocks sporting the words “bigger” and” “sexier” stare brazenly down at you from a billboard on a busy Joburg road – naughty but nice, or pushing the envelope a touch too far? Last year’s banning of the saucy Sexpo billboard, and the current Joburg court case in which a [...]

To avoid the small likelihood that this could turn into a history lesson, for the sake of posterity as far as memories go, let’s bypass the what, where, who, when, and how of AM frequency. This is, after all, about looking forward. As with all good things, and how they tend to come to an [...]

Coca-Cola has used music events to build connections and gain kudos among young people for years. And now it’s upping the ante in terms of interacting with its own fans. “The experience used to be the event. Now we’re offering a range of experiences with the brand in the build up,”says strategic marketing manager Zayd [...]