Monday, January 30, 2006

A1 Grand Prix

It was a little foggy this morning at 5.30am on my way to work, and it's overcast now. As long as it doesn't provide us with a similar Highveld storm as yesterday, I'll be happy - need to play tennis urgently and bored of the courts being soaked.
Anyway, I watched the A1 Grand Prix www.A1gp.com yesterday live and direct from sunny Durban on SABC 3. Well, I watched most of it as above mentioned storm took out the satellite feed at various points during the race - most annoying.
I have to say, I was quite impressed with the coverage, it didn't always go to plan with two diffrent commentaries occasionally boradcast over the top of one another, and some dropped commentary, but it was much better than the diasater I imagined might happen. Sorry to the SABC, but its programming quality isn't always the best, but then neither is SuperSport - the commentators for the F1 are dreadful and I'm praying that when the season starts again shortly, they've fired the lot of them.
Here's me going off the topic as usual. What I really want to chat about is the opportunity that A1 brings to South Africa. I noticed that Absa took the lion's share of the sponsorship, I spied Telkom there somewhere, SABC was all over the place, and Emirates airlines has banners in promient positions - not too shabby.
However, I think that more local brands should have jumped on the brandwagon after all, it was a globallly televised event, it's gaining huge support from fans, involves nations competing against one another as oppose to brands, and is guranteed to only get bigger and better with the support of Sheikh Maktoum and Tokyo Sexwale (the SA version of Donald Trump).
If only the SA brands would see this opportunity. They could even brand Stephen, he's a fairly good-looking guy, good natured in front of the camera, and by all accounts, the country has got itself a new hero to support. What a great opportunity.
PS, the last race of the season is in China - what a branding opportunity that is.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Mildly annoyed

Yuk. It's pouring down in Joburg this morning. It's dull, grey, miserable. I detest this weather.
I've just been reading brandchannel's most influential brands results for 2005.
I'm not surprised that Google came out top overall, followed by Apple. If ever two companies were changing the face of the earth, it's them. What's also interesting is that I'm currently working on a Design feature, and when chatting to some of SA's best design companies, Apple's iPod is always mentioned as the icon of design. As for Google, what can you say. It's my homepage, I have Google Earth, Video Player, and I'm a Google addict. I check every so often to see what cool new products they've added, and I often spend hours just typing in words to see what's out there. Sad, I know.
It would be nice to see a South African brand on the list someday but the top three Europe and African results were: Nokia, Ikea and Skype - more Euro-centric than Afro-centric me thinks. It would also be nice to see Africa finally treated as a category on its own, instead of always being lunped with Europe or the Middle East, or both.
Anyway, visit http://www.brandchannel.com/features_effect.asp?pf_id=298#more for the full survey results.

Friday, January 20, 2006

Fat Kids

It's overcast today, but still warm. Just hope it doesn't rain as it causes chaos on the roads. South Africans can't drive at the best of times, but pour water on the road and the rainbeast takes over and they drive ten times worse than normal - still haven't don't understand this. Plus, all the traffic lights (robots) go out and giant potholes magically appear in the road where there was tarmac just a few minutes before.
Just finished reading my daily news emails, and the big story this morning seems to be about Kelloggs and Viacom (its Nickelodeon channel) being sued (only in the US) for freedom of choice and health issues ie junk food advertising.
I can see the point, and I know all the why's and what's..but... personally, the parents should be the ones being sued, or at least made to go to some form of 'stand up to your bratty kids and learn to say NO'. There, said it. Parents must be made to take responsiblility for their kids and stop feeding them junk food. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Kellogg's shouldn't be made more aware and have their advertising watched very carefully, but people are free thinkers, have freedom of choice and willpower too.
In SA, Kellogg's is having to deal wtih a complaint, this time a competitor complaint from rival, Bokomo Foods. Bokomo argues that Kellogg's should be made to retract its TV campaign that features 'healthy' claims in the ads.
A great explanation of the US$2 billion lawsuit in the US can be found on http://adage.com/news.cms?newsId=47513 or visit www.asasa.org.za/ResultDetail.aspx?Ruling=2893 for the South African complaint.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

It's a beautiful morning in Joburg and I've got a busy day as usual including an interview with the Dti regarding business tourism and a visit to Sappi regarding a project for later in the year. The visit to Sappi means I get to go into town/city (Joburg CBD for those not familiar), which I always love. Despite the fact there is still a lot to do in the area, it has such a buzz about it. I'm there tomorrow morning as well at Home Affairs, so not quite sure what time the blog will go up tomorrow.
Just reading through all my international emails that are waiting for me in my inbox every morning, and there's a story that Ad Age is going to podcast its columnists www.minionline.com/topstory.htm , and this gem comes from the fabulous www.iwantmedia.com email that I get. Has some of the best media stories around in this daily email. Subscribe to it now if you haven't already.
Maybe I should think about setting up podcasts for my columnists - after I get a website of course. You see, South Africa is waaaaay behind the US and Europe when it comes to media and marketing. Our magazine industry is still seeing loads of launches, newspapers are still increasing in circulation, and because of the Telkom (telecomms company) monopoly, broadband is still very expensive and hampering Internet growth. This is ignoring the fact that most of the country still lives in poverty, without electricity and running water. So, the growth in SA can only continue for traditional media for quite some time. And new media is simply going to take much longer.
But, I live in hope that I can maybe help push things forward through Marketing Mix. Oh, and if you didnt know this, Marketing Mix is a magazine. Just thought I'd let you know that. And it's about the marketing mix - clever huh!

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

The Persuaders

I watched an excellent DVD last night given to me by Marthinus from FCB Impact (on loan) of course, called The Persuaders. A Frontline production for PBS, it's over an hour long and filled with interesting snippets from the US advertising industry. Cynical, no bullshit, tell it like it is interviews and research on how the ad industry is desperately trying to break through the clutter. It's starts in NYC, naturally, with night time shots of Times Square - which let's face it, the amazing flashing neon glare of the ad boards is the reason why we all go there - with two guerrilla guys looking for a building upon which to project an addidas ad. The addidas ad looked great by the way. This is followed by an in-depth look at the launch of Song and exploring hte depths of our mind with a mad Frenchman who lives in a mansion!
For anyone who hasn't seen this, order it, and put more pieces of the advertising puzzle together. Definitely worth watching.


www.shoppbs.org