Month: February 2020

Good Things Guy has just been named the Best Blog in South Africa for the third year in a row and also came in tops as the Best Lifestyle Blog in the country for 2019.

Brent Lindeque, the founder of GoodThingsGuy, launched the blog almost five years ago to change the national conversation and give South Africans a balance to the news in South Africa.

The South African Blog Awards is the official showcase and recognition platform for the very best of South African blogs. They endeavour to bring South African bloggers to the forefront of people’s attention, both locally and internationally, increasing exposure for South Africa’s great bloggers around the globe.

“Through the recognition process of current South African Bloggers and the publicity created around the awards, blogs and bloggers, the platform looks to encourage people who are outside the realm of blogging to discover the fantastic world of blogging.”

The South African Blog Awards has evolved since its inception in 2010 through a process of public opinion, blogger opinion and social media expert’s opinion. Entries were open in 16 main categories, including Best Business Blog, Best Environmental Blog, Best Food and Wine Blog and Best Lifestyle Blog.

Lindeque maintains that all he wants to do is change the national conversation and give South Africans a balance to the news in our country.

A personal crusader on a mission to empower through the power of positive thinking, Brent has achieved global recognition for his forward-thinking approach and has inspired a nation. Recognised as one of the Mail and Guardian’s Top 200 Young South African’s as well as a Primedia LeadSA Hero, and one of the GQ Men of the year for 2019, South Africa’s Good Things Guy is just thankful for the continued support of the readers.

“I am so incredibly humbled and thankful for both the awards and to be named South Africa’s Blog of the Year again is just mind-blowing.

The platform has become one of the top good news sites in South Africa & has grown from a simple idea to share a few good stories on Facebook to a full team that bring good news to South Africans every day.

I have to give a massive shout-out to all our readers who regularly tune in and catch up with the good things. You make us what we are today, and this award is actually yours for all the support you give us.”

This is Good Things Guy’s 14th award since it was launched! The site was selected as one of the Top 25 African Blogs to follow, as well as one of the 100 most interesting websites in the world!

The platform is nearly five years old (it was launched on the 1st of August 2015) and is on a mission to change what the world pays attention to. The team behind Good Things Guy believe that there is good news all around us and over 1,5 million readers a month agree with them.

Good Things Guy also recently launched an app for both Apple and Google for readers to get the good news on the go, while their out-of-home offering has grown to over 150 screens around the country that show all the good news, all the time.

To see the full list of categories and winners here http://www.sablogawards.com/Home.aspx

At the end of last year, SPARK Media released its first media and advertising industry focused Get It magazine, modelled on the current popular localised national magazines.   

Containing profiles of successful captains of the industry, social pages, suggested reading material for progressive marketers, competitions and a round-up of SPARK Media news, the publication offers a fun and informal look into the people and events that drive our industry while still offering the reader valuable information.

“Our media focused launch issue has been shared among our media agency and client partners and we’re very encouraged with the feedback we’ve received so far,” says SPARK Media CEO Gill Randall. “Our next issue will be released mid-year with a third iteration being shared towards the end of the year.”

ROOTS research shows that consumers like the feel of their favourite magazine in their hands and the opportunity to put it down and reread at a later stage. There’s just something about that tactile experience. Readers really enjoy taking their time and lingering when reading print.

“As the local Get It magazines prove to be highly valued and respected publications that build a sense of community among local consumers, so too will our trade Get It, as it did in the past, foster this local media and advertising community of ours,” concludes Randall.

SPARK Media

Established in 2015, SPARK Media, a division of CTP Ltd, are experts in retail and location-based marketing solutions. The company owns and represents an arsenal of print products that deliver locally relevant, effective audiences for advertising clients. SPARK Media are Strategic Partners in Audience Research and Knowledge and offer ‘Insights that Ignite’.

Spectrum, Caxton’s exciting new locally produced video-on-demand platform, has been successfully launched across 73 Caxton-owned local news websites. Spectrum aims to provide relevant content to connected individuals, on a hyper local level; ensuring that South African advertising spend stays within our borders and funds locally produced programming and journalism.

Spectrum’s stats already prove that the demand for local video is abundant. Between its launch in December 2018 and January 2020, the platform has seen almost 9.2 million plays, over 2.5 million unique browsers, and enjoys an outstanding average dwell time of 3 minutes and 47 seconds.  Spectrum’s dwell time speaks to its value as an advertising platform, indeed according to thinkwithgoogle, 90 percent of people say they discover new brands or products on video platforms. And 2019 saw “Near Me” searches top trending search behaviour in South Africa. Now South African consumers can discover local content in a brand safe, contextualised and non-intrusive video environment.

In terms of Spectrum’s usages clients can:

• Reuse and amplify already existing content assets
• Drive brand awareness
• Sponsor branded content within a channel
• Sponsor a full channel
• Run pre-roll, mid-roll and post-roll ads
• Run in-stream ads
• Obtain in-depth and on-going reporting on campaign performance

Designed and built by local tech company Tysflo (Spectrum’s software development partner) the data compression technology used by the platform ensures a maximum data consumption rate of 1.2mb/s, 40% less than competitors. This ensures that a diverse range of viewers can access its HD channels and video-on-demand content in an exceptionally data-friendly way.

All content on Spectrum has been curated, and advertisers have power over the context in which their communications will appear.

Speaking to the importance of brand safety, Alan Shenton, COO of Tysflo, says: “Caxton enjoys high levels of trust owing to its accountability, and the trustworthiness of its sites grows confidence in clients’ brands. Essentially, the integrity of Caxton’s content lends credibility to clients’ products and services. This isn’t only brand safety; it’s leveraging a reputation built over many years.”

The many commercial opportunities afforded by Spectrum are overseen by a collaborative partnership between Caxton’s digital marketing wing, Hive Digital Media, and radio broadcasting media sales house, United Stations.

Regarding the commercial opportunities for Spectrum, Hive Digital’s CRO, Parmeshan Moodliar, notes: “The platform offers clients the opportunity to use professionally produced, relevant video content to create meaningful connections with Caxton’s large and varied audience – segmented at a hyperlocal level.

Being South Africa’s undisputed leader in community news, Caxton’s ability to target viewers at a finely grained geographical area is a key differentiator and a key value proposition.”

Be a part of the Spectrum video revolution that offers you effective brand awareness, brand safety and ensures that South African media in all parts of the value chain benefit equally. Contact Hive Digital Media’s Team on info@hivedigital.media/ +27 10 492 8391.  For further insight

For the third consecutive year, BONA is celebrating South African love with an incredible issue. Themed #BONALove, the February issue features two variations of couples on its English, isiXhosa, seSotho and isiZulu covers. “The first cover version is a more mature couple who have been together for eleven years and just announced their new pregnancy, Salamina (36) and Tshepo ‘Howza’ Mosese. The other covers feature newlyweds; Senzo ‘Kwesta’ Vilakazi and Yolanda,” says Editor Bongiwe Tshiqi.

The brand has received quite a lot of applause on social media for featuring two prominent same sex couples this year. Engaged couple, Moshe Ndiki and Phelo Bala as well as actresses Mandisa Nduna and Thishiwe Ziqubu.

“Representation is incredibly important to us, and a brand like BONA has to give an honest reflection of South Africa and the people who live in it. In keeping with that, we wanted to make sure that we were fully representative of all sexual orientations,” she says. She further goes on to explain how strongly she feels about love being represented regardless of age or gender. As such, the first issue of this series in 2018 featured the legendary Caiphus Semenya and Letta Mbulu on the cover. “I feel that we’re sadly deprived of seeing couples over the age of 70 openly being affectionate with each other. Too often, the stories we tell are only of the youth, but love truly has no boundaries.”

The featured couples share their stories including how they met, their first date experiences and also dish out advice on how to navigate the tough times based on their own experiences.

“The February issue of love is traditionally one of our highest selling each year,” says Bongiwe. “My team and I are thrilled at how beautiful the issue is and we’re so grateful for all the positive feedback we’ve received so far. The issue is on shelves now.”

Anton Botes, General Manager at Caxton Magazines adds: “We applaud Bongiwe and her team on an extremely raw look at love at every stage and every orientation. It’s a remarkable issue that has generated very welcome conversation.”

Caxton Magazines DNA

Storytelling is our business. Content is our currency. Caxton Magazines is a division of Caxton CTP Printers & Publishers and houses 12 brands in print and digital formats, primarily aimed at the women’s lifestyle segment across life stages, lifestyles and income groups. These brands are: Vrouekeur; Woman & Home; Bona; Living & Loving; People; Food & Home Entertaining; Your Family; Garden & Home; Farmer’s Weekly; Essentials; Rooi Rose and SA Country Life. Visit www.caxtonmags.co.za