Entry for 2010 AdFocus awards is open

Finally! It’s time to get rid of false modesty, dust off your calculators and enter the 2010 AdFocus awards.

Questionnaires for the premier marketing and communications industry awards, which will be presented in Johannesburg on November 24, are attached at the end of the article in Word and PDF format.
 
There are six sets of questionnaires, in the following categories:
 
Advertising Agency of the Year 
Media Agency of the Year 
Branding & Design Agency of the Year 
Digital Agency of the Year 
African Advertising Agency Network of the Year 
Specialist Agency of the Year Read more »

Will IDC be Bushy-tailed?

Has Johannesburg agency Chillibush won the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) advertising account? Though founding director Dale Hefer said Wednesday evening there had been no word from the IDC, sources say the 12-year-old agency is favourite for the account, worth an estimated R20m annually. The IDC says 37 agencies originally pitched. The IDC is due to officially announce its decision at the end of the month. If Chillibush is confirmed, it will take over the account from fellow Jo’burg agency Ebony+Ivory. The account was previously held by Draftfcb.

When experience counts

Whether it’s creating an African experience for 1,5bn international TV viewers or recreating foreign city centres in downtown Johannesburg for a few hundred local guests, experiential marketing has come of age in SA, says VWV agency MD Abey Mokgwatsane.

Read more »

Topsy tops for Ogilvy

Selinah, the Aids patient filmed in a TV advertisement being rescued from the brink of death through the use of antiretrovirals, is not the only one to benefit from her remarkable experience. Read more »

Publicis consolidates in SA

The French-based Publicis media and communications group has restructured its SA operations under the banner of MMS Communications. The new structure will include media agencies Starcom, MediaVest and ZenithOptimedia, plus MS&L, Leo Burnett and Publicis advertising. Read more »

Ogilvy, Y&R, Hunts win Cannes gold

Ogilvy Johannesburg, Young & Rubicam (Y&R) SA and TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris Johannesburg led the SA charge at the 2010 Cannes international advertising festival. Ogilvy’s Gold Lion for its Aids awareness campaign on behalf of the Topsy Foundation was one of only three film awards for SA agencies. It was SA’s first film gold for 11 years. Read more »

Why consumers don’t own brands

 By Velma Botha, head of Oil, Cape Town

For as long as I have been in the branding business, I have questioned the notion that “companies don’t own brands, consumers do.” So it was refreshing to read a recent piece by Andrew Harrison in which he dismisses this view as a “load of bullocks”. Read more »

How not to waste communications spend

 By John Little

SA marketers will this year spend R20bn-R25bn on communications campaigns in measured media (TV, newspapers, radio, internet etc) and at least as much on unmeasured channels such as sponsorship, public relations, customer relationship management and experiential. But what sort of investment will be made in time and effort to make sure that only the best ideas and executions are deployed? Not nearly enough. Read more »