Month: March 2019

The MediaShop says “Goodbye” to Richard John Raddon Reed, who only wanted to be called Dick, and who was the founder of The MediaShop.

 “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Dick Reed on 5 March 2019 in Cape Town, where he lived for many years,” says Chris Botha, Group MD at Park Advertising.

Dick served the advertising industry for many years and was regarded as a doyen by many in the marketing and media industry. He broke new ground for the advertising industry by creating The MediaShop in 1987 and then as a media independent in 1988. The company has since become an internationally awarded agency, based on many of the values that Dick instilled in the business during those early days.

“All those years ago Dick had a vision for the future of advertising in this country and created the amazing The MediaShop as a result,” says Sean Clarke, Operations Director. “I’m sure that you are proud of your achievements, the company that you founded and what it has become. We continue to grow, a force to be reckoned with, adhering to the key values that you deemed non-negotiable.

Thank you for the opportunity that you gave me and for being a friend, not just a business partner.”

“Rest in peace Dick, your legacy lives on in this company and the industry and from each and every person (past and present) at The MediaShop we offer our condolences to Margaret his wife, Marion, Tessa and Carrie, his three children and several grandchildren,” concludes Kgaugelo Maphai, Managing Director for The MediaShop.

Join The MediaShop on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn or visit www.themediashop.co.za

Yvette Gengan, Digital Media Manager at The MediaShop

If you are anything like me then blogging is no Friday night ‘Netflix and chill’ for you either. I over think the whole process. In fact, I pondered for days for a blog topic I felt had real purpose.

After a while, I realized that in my endless search I actually came across a handful of popular things to write about. These things are bound to be beneficial to someone out there who is also crawling online spaces for valuable topics. So in my attempt to save you from ever ending up in the deep dark holes of online searching, here are a few types of possible articles and topics that seem to be successful in the blogging space.

In no order of importance:

Politics! Oh the angles you could take. I mean this stuff literally writes itself. You could be serious, funny, meme driven or even more political (elections and all that) but just be prepared for some serious engagement and opinions. When I say load, you say shedding…

How-to guides – this is one of the highest search queries on Google. There is so much content and a lot of it offers so much value. This type of blog would work for most industries. Finance (how to plan), Banking (how to save), Media (how to spend all the money) – these are just some examples of where this type of blog could go.

Recipes – okay this one sent me into deep hunger and an hour and a half of video time… If you are lucky enough to ride the recipe wagon go for it. You can focus on health, different types of diets, grease (is it good, is it bad), POTATOES, and other equally important ingredients like BACON. It turns out Huffington Post has a whole section dedicated to bacon! Oh, the fun we could have.

Thank You, Next. Blogging about the personal stuff, and sharing things from your personal life in the form of storytelling would fall into this category. Now, being in digital media I have had to do my share of content calendars over the years and the one thing that was always a challenge for me was finding an emotional connection with an audience. It is hard and rare to find. Coca Cola and Nandos are examples of brands that have achieved this really well.

However, the focus is not just on big brands anymore but rather the smaller more personal brands. This would include people that have done exceptionally well in sharing their personal life with others online. Think sharing journeys of motherhood, fatherhood, cooking, baking, fitness, recovery, depression etc.

The main idea here is to evoke some sort of emotion. Joy, anger, sorrow, sympathy – it’s entirely up to you. Whatever the emotion chosen, make sure that it ‘gets people going’.

Reviews – this is the type of blog that I personally love. I value a review from a fellow neighbour, shopper, traveller, or driver. I think the important thing is ensuring you set yourself up as credible first, earn trust and credibility and then have at it. This is one of the biggest revenue streams for most bloggers and great for driving traffic to your blog.

Historic things – this came up a lot. I personally just love history. There is something so mysterious about a time and place or person that has lived and had so many memories before you. There are blogs dedicated to never before seen pictures, and about people never heard of before. My personal best are the weird types of practices that existed decades ago.

Travel – this one needs no explanation. There is so much material filled with beauty that evokes exhilaration for a great blog. I seriously need to get out more. For a second I thought of starting a blog of all the places I have NOT visited. Here I will leave you to venture into the travel blogger sphere on your own without me giving away too much. Seriously! The Norway Mountains await you…

Happy Blogging!

The MediaShop has once again been acknowledged as the top media agency in South Africa, this time by international evaluation agency RECMA (Research Company Evaluating the Media Agency Industry).

RECMA is the only global research company that evaluates media agencies worldwide. The company delivers a qualitative evaluation of media agencies based on 18 criteria in 45 countries. Overall, The MediaShop ranked number one in the South African market with a ‘High Profile’ classification. The agency also ranked top in terms of ‘Vitality’ scores.

Some of the criteria that RECMA investigates are: participation in pitches, resources of staff and their specialities, new business growth, quality of clients and long term relationships.

Kgaugelo Maphai, Managing Director for The MediaShop said: “We are humbled at being named the best media agency in South Africa based on the interrogation of such a credible and internationally recognised body like RECMA. This, on the back of our 30 years in existence is all the more appreciated. We are an agency constantly reinventing and evolving ourselves and this latest accolade proves that.”

Chris Botha, Group MD at Park Advertising lends his congratulations to the agency. “We’re very fortunate in this industry to have several means of evaluating our media agency standards, and being held to account – RECMA being one of these. It’s full credit to The MediaShop staff and management that consistently pour their hearts into this business. We’re blessed with amazing people, partners and clients.”

Join The MediaShop on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn or visit www.themediashop.co.za