By Buyi Mafoko  While transformation is undoubtedly a key priority for every South African business leader today, focusing on it is not enough to achieve robust and sustainable growth. Particularly given the tough local market conditions, with South Africa having now entered a technical recession, you have to be business ready to succeed in both the short and long term. Indeed, there are multiple factors now at play, in addition to the transformation agenda, which savvy business leaders must take into account. There is the constant pressure of digital disruption, the steady slew of new competitors entering every industry, and an exceedingly pressurized macro economic...

Posted By: TMO Reporter on: November 01, 2018 The IAB SA has invited the advertising industry to submit their feedback on the Advertising Code of Practice Social Media guidelines. This addition to the Advertising code promises to give the industry a clear code of conduct regarding the use of paid social media to advertise products and services. “The fundamental objective of the code is to protect the consumer by encouraging brands to exercise ethical constraints on all paid social media communications. As always, we as an industry body felt passionate about working on this as an industry collective. I encourage all our members to carefully...

by Veli Ngubane (@TheNduna) We struck gold this year, and we didn’t have to dig too deep to find the shining nuggets in our industry. Just scratch the surface, and there they are: young and gifted creatives who’re killing it! as copy- and scriptwriters, creative, art and film directors, executive producers and more. As we discovered when we interviewed them during the year, they’re adding lustre and rich diversity to our industry. We look back on their stories. January: Nganga Dlanga Now copywriter at Avatar Inspired by his talented older brother, Khaya, Nganga Dlanga (@babydlanga) is clearly gifted and killing it! in the creative industry...

by Veli Ngubane (@TheNduna) The creative space has witnessed YouTube’s meteoric rise as a platform for creative content. It has grown as a tool that content creatives such as Sibu Mpanza (@Sibu_MpanzaSA) have used and made a successful career out of. In this interview, he shares his dreams of shooting a documentary, how he has made money from YouTube and why he sleeps with a notepad and pen next to his bed. Sibu Mpanza Veli Ngubane: Tell us more about yourself: where did you grow up and what did you want to be when you were growing up? Sibu Mpanza: I was born in Mpumalanga, in a little...

BY PHATHU LUVHENGO  Luyanda Peter always wanted to start his own business and be his own boss, but was uncertain about which sector would best suit him After spending almost two decades in the corporate sector, this entrepreneur founded an advertising agency and is planning to expand it throughout Africa. Established in 2015 and already operating in Botswana and South Africa, Harambee Communications is a 100% black-owned and managed integrated communications agency, with a special focus on activations, events, promotions and sponsorships. “I only worked in the corporate sector for 17 years,” he said. Peter started his career at SAB (Now AB-InBev) in 1999 as a...

BY: LEIGH ANDREWS It's a touchy subject for some, but completely necessary to explore: Here's how Fort Review is amplifying the need to truly hear the black voices in advertising and stop being creative Jekyll and Hydes. Makongoza behind the decks at the Fort Review second edition VIP launch event, at Rockets' rooftop in Bryanston on 16 February. It’s no secret that the SA ad industry is in drastic need of transformation. It’s not necessarily that there aren’t enough black voices in the industry, more that those voices are not being heard, and those truths are not being well told. That’s what I call...

Posted By: Michael Bratt Ahead of a talk that he is giving at the Loeries Creative Week, Google Africa chief marketing officer Mzamo Masito spoke to The Media Online. The chat centred on creativity and its role in both advertising and marketing and the world as a whole. “I love creativity that rhymes with functional design, that is beautiful but is also useful. This is when it helps answer and solve a few questions,” says Masito. He punts creativity that assists in two ways. Firstly, creativity that is used to create solutions to ending the world’s problems, including poverty, racism, prejudice and ignorance. Or creativity that...

BY: SORIA HAY The Department of Trade and Industry's (dti) proposed amendments to its Codes of Good Practice on broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) focus on ownership and skills development. Soria Hay, head of corporate finance at Bravura Proposed amendments include, for example, stricter requirements for the enhancement status of small and emerging black-owned businesses yet a surprising enhancement status for black-owned generic entities. There is an innovative new skills development indicator which will incentivise businesses to increase their BEE levels while supporting long-term economic growth possibilities. Unexpectedly, no amendments are proposed for broad-based schemes despite criticism levelled at these by the dti¹s minister, Rob Davies,...

by Carey Finn (@carey_finn) Johannesburg-based full-service communications agency, Riverbed, has set high targets for 2018, in a bid to take the business to what CEO Monalisa Sibongile Zwambila calls “the next level”. Emerging from what was a challenging year for many in the industry, Riverbed is leveraging new wins and hires to bolster both its creativity and position in the market. Monalisa Zwambila Advertising added on “We started very much as an activation and PR agency, and then we added on our advertising competency,” she says. “What we really want to be in a position to do is make a difference in terms of creativity.” Zwambila is confident...