Category: The MediaShop

Gareth Grant, Business Unit Manager at The MediaShop says that we’re looking at our smartphones every 12 minutes, but is it making us smarter?

In today’s hyper connected ‘smart’ world, we find ourselves operating at an increasing and ever demanding pace. To help facilitate this are the likes of laptops, smartphones, Google, YouTube, smart watches, Google Home, SIRI and numerous apps to name just a few. But as a society, how smart are we actually becoming?

I reflected on a recent holiday I took with my wife and in-laws to the remote Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, a mere 1 096 kilometers from Johannesburg. A great place to get away from the hustle and bustle of Johannesburg and the demanding times we find ourselves in.

After about a week in the bush with no cellphone signal, I recall our last night in the park, where we happened to have some signal, albeit as strong as the Springboks backline. As we settled in for our last night in the park, I can remember those annoying notification sounds that came through on all of our phones, and just like that we had all fallen victim to the “head down” societal norm that we so often see these days. In that moment, our relaxing time in the bush had been taken away. Taken away not because it has the power to, but because we chose to give it away.

The above is true for our everyday lives, whether it is at home, at the office, in a meeting or even at a restaurant or dinner table. How have these devices taken such control? Or, are we actually starring in the third instalment of The Truman Show?

There is new research that says that we look at our smartphones every 12 minutes, equating to burying our faces into these devices 80 times a day. Yes, we find ourselves in an extremely fast paced world that demands so much of us. Our time. Our energy. Being always on. And that go-go-go society in which today’s business world operates. However, at what cost?

Surely we can go more than 12 minutes without looking down? Or is the “head down” culture that strong that it cannot be broken?

Yes, attention spans are changing. But surely we have some kind of control? I encourage you to read Sean Sullivan’s Blog article from 25 October:http://www.mediashop.co.za/blog/technology/item/273-evolution-of-a-goldfish

Glance around a boardroom table and you will see the same behaviour I experienced in the tranquillity of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. People have their heads buried in their smartphones or their laptops, with very little engagement. For me, personally, it comes down to respect or a lack thereof. A lack of respect for ourselves, our colleagues, our clients and our partners.

If you are too busy being consumed by your smartphone or laptop, why be present in that meeting?

I think we owe it to ourselves, our clients and our colleagues to show each other respect, put those devices away and be present.

As 2018 draws to a close, take stock of the year that was, and how you can be present and show up in 2019, ensuring we add value in every aspect of our lives.

Craig Wallis, Business Unit Manager at The MediaShop

We are all aware of the fact that we get bombarded with hundreds of advertisements every day courtesy of our exposure to numerous media.

Just this morning I was on Pinterest reading a post on, “How to trim your dog’s nails.” (Yup, a real first world issue). Scrolling through it, I was amazed at the number of ads that literally “infested” the article.

I counted 16 ads that were in the 834 word article, which was three A4 pages long (yes, I checked – I copied the article to Word and came up with those stats). If I used this blog as an example, it means that you would have been exposed to two full adverts by the time you get to the end of this sentence.

To me, this is clutter of the highest order.

Little wonder that I gloss over mobile ads every day of my life.

I had to have a giggle at the re-targeting I got from an online retailer recently. I bought a heart rate monitor (thanks Discovery Miles!) and lo and behold the same retailer peppered me over the next few days with heart rate monitor ads… were they hoping that I would buy a second one as I have two wrists?

What a waste of ad spend.

Having spoken about the advertising clutter that I encounter, I need to highlight two gems that CAPTIVATED me. And I mean that literally…

I always rant (and lament) about how many advertisers just do not get creative right for Digital Out Of Home screens.

Every morning on the school run, I drive past a large roadside digital screen. As I am invariably stationary at the traffic light, I have time to critique the ads that are being flighted. I must admit that it is not often that I am impressed by the quality of the creative.

BUT THEN IT HAPPENED!!!

I was amazed (AND totally captivated) by a Woolworths ad on this screen. They were promoting their rotisserie chickens.

Why was I captivated by it? Firstly, the videography was exceptional. The HD visuals of the roast chicken just oozed succulence. Barely had my cereal gone “snap, crackle, and pop” in my gut and here I was ready to eat some clearly delicious chicken.

The second thing that Woolies got right, is that all the while the chicken visuals and messaging mesmerised me, they PERMANENTLY had their “W” logo as well as “Woolworths” in the top corners of the screen. So few advertisers do not utilise this essential awareness tactic on their DOOH ads. If I have a two second glance up at the screen whilst driving past, I immediately know that I can buy that chicken at Woolies.

So, in two seconds Woolies would have pulled the ultimate “advertising job” on me. Kudos

My other venue where I do my best to “skip this ad,” is my go-to source of entertainment, namely YouTube. I go to great lengths to ensure that my remote’s cursor is over the “Skip Ad” button so that I can do just that. I am mostly very successful in only being exposed to the ad for a few seconds before my next Jonathan Pie/Trevor Noah/John Oliver episode captures my attention.

I was on YouTube a couple of nights ago, AND THEN IT HAPPENED!!!

I was immediately taken by the content in the pre-roll for a Pratley’s ad. Just like Woolies did, they piqued my interest in a flash with their content and visuals. I was fascinated by their new product called Frogz Eggz. This name, in relation to Pratley’s (Putty) jarred with me, so I was immediately interested in finding out the connection. They also showed the unique properties of the “eggs,” and this too had me riveted to the screen.

What a fascinating DIY product. I watched the whole ad very willingly as I was really being educated. And, imagine to my surprise, the very next ad served to me was a different Frogz Eggz ad which showed me another practical use for this product. (FYI it is a hand mouldable plastic product).

I watched three of their ads. Well done PratleySA!!!

I even went on to their website to learn more about this interesting product. I was not disappointed with their website either. Lots of info and tips were easily accessible. I will definitely be buying some Eggz on my next trip to Builders Warehouse. I guarantee you that very soon it will solve a few DIY issues around my home.

You will thank me… and as John Robbie always used to say, “tell them I sent ya.”

So, just as I have become rather jaded with digital ads; I discovered two gems (at last!).

So the motto of the story is that if you want to get someone’s attention in this day and age, then you HAVE to make sure that your ad is relevant, creative, intriguing, entertaining and informative. If not, then it is meaningless, and will not break through the clutter.

Jarred Mailer-Lyons Digital Media Strategist at The MediaShop investigates how 8 million gaming South Africans spend their time.

I recently attended the Business of Gaming Forum (BOGF) in association with Comic Con South Africa, which hosted over 40,000 fans of comic related superheroes, sidekicks and villains.

Comic Con SA featured a large range of pop culture and entertainment stands at the venue that featured virtually all genres, including animation, toys, gadgets, clothing, collectible card games, table-top games, anime, video games and fantasy novels.

While Comic Con SA brought in an array of people to enjoy the festivities, the BOGF conference also brought together like-minded gamers, marketers and research analysts to discuss aspects of gaming that brands could tap into to further monetise their media investments. The line-up of speakers included both local and international experts on all matters relating to the business of gaming and ranged from Executive Director and CEO – David Sidenberg of BMI sport info, right the way through to our very own SA gaming YouTuber and Streaming influencer Grant Hinds. While gaming is still on a growth trajectory, there hasn’t been much data available to advertisers around audiences in SA and while all the keynote speakers at the BOGF were great in delivering key aspects of their presentations around gaming, BMI Sport keynote speaker – David Sidenberg captured my attention from the start.

He drew our attention to their latest research report, which highlighted that the South African gaming population totals a staggering 8 million unique users across console, mobile and desktop. These numbers are starting to become comparable to global players like YouTube, which is currently sitting at 8.74 million users in SA. That’s an increase in Esports / gaming growth of 579.1% compared to the previous year, whereas other sporting codes like gym fitness accounted for 18% growth and road running / jogging at 17.8%.

However when looking at mainstream sports in SA, soccer is showing a decline in growth by -3.5% and rugby at -3.7%. What’s even more interesting is that when comparing the growth from 2016 through to 2017, Esports now ranks as the 6^th most popular participation sport amongst adults 19 years and older in South Africa.

What really resonated was when one of the speakers, Gareth Woods from Good Game Well Played, noted in his address to the audience that calling yourself a gamer is just like identifying yourself by your hobby and not many people do this – especially when it comes to light users. When speaking to light / casual players who engage in bubble popping or word puzzle games on their mobile devices, I had noticed that these users don’t realise that their 20 minutes a day is actually considered gaming. While it may be considered light gaming, they are still classified as a gamer and that is why it is important to note the differences between people who casually play for entertainment purposes vs more ‘hardcore’ type avid gamers.

So what is the difference – yes it may be quite subjective as there is no real literary article or piece of research that differentiates these users based on hours played, levels achieved or even budget spent on devices. Yet the best possible way I could describe it would be to note that the difference between an avid and casual gamer is passion, an avid gamer does not necessarily invest a longer amount of time into that hobby but certainly invests a lot of passion into it. A casual gamer plays games in much the same way a casual soccer fan really just watches the replay of the highlights from the latest soccer match and can engage in conversation with his friends. They don’t really watch the match for its sporting complexity or for the emotions it evokes but rather to keep up to date with events.

The avid gamer on the other hand is much like the soccer fan who watches soccer on TV but also enjoys going to live matches with his friends, following local and international games, knowing the names and history of each of the players on the team and of course following their scores, stats, news, fixtures and results. There is no game you can play that will automatically make you an “avid” or “casual” gamer, it all comes down to the level of passion you have for gaming.

Based on the BMI Sport research in SA, there are some key Esports fan behavioural differences when it comes to avid gamers and casual gamers on various devices. PC and console gamers share a similarity in that a higher proportion of their audiences are avid gamers with 58% on console and 65% on PC whereas casual gamers on console accounted for 34% and on PC just a mere 14%. However when looking at mobile, the causal gamer takes the lead at 51% whilst the avid gamer only accounts for 10%.

When it comes to gamers there are many misconceptions about the people who play them. These misconceptions have prevented advertisers from including gaming as part of their media mix, tending to favour social networks, messaging apps, and other, more “mainstream” digital media channels instead. However, budgets have been steadily shifting, and brands and agencies are beginning to re-think how they can align their strategy by tapping into consumers’ favourite pastime – gaming. With more than 8 million consumers in SA playing games, the array of platforms and channels within the gaming arena presents an enormous opportunity for brands and advertisers to connect with highly engaged audiences.

Esports over the years has definitely emerged as a force on the entertainment and media landscape and as a media business; it has a compelling set of attributes. In the era of distraction and short attention spans, Esports commands the focus of the youth market who are otherwise shifting away from established modes of media consumption. Given the demographic, Esports has traditionally reached a digitally native audience and is currently the only sport in South Africa in which TV is trumped by another medium.

Although there has been a hope of greater engagement from digital content via social media platforms, both sporting codes and sponsors need to remain cognizant of the most efficient and effective mediums to reach and engage with their loyal fan base. Soccer is a prime example of this, with close to 20% of loyal fans still regularly turning to radio and / or print for coverage of their favourite teams, players and competitions. The fact remains that the majority of the population still have limited, if at all any access to such digital channels, and therefore still remain dependant on the more traditional mediums to get their sports fix.

Jedd Cokayne, Business Unit Manager at The MediaShop.

As consumers start to think about their Christmas purchases and where they’re going to find the additional money to buy those presents the kids wrote to Father Christmas about, retailers start to realise that this is their last ditch effort to make target for the year. That is surely a daunting task in the current economy – stuff nightmares are made of.

However, strong brands with strong brand equity will tend to have the upper hand over this period as consumers habitually turn to brands they know and love. Over time these brands have laid a solid foundation from which to trade so no matter what they promote at this time of the year it will give them a numerical advantage over their competitors. It’s like having starting blocks at a 100m race in primary school.

Let’s talk a bit more about what brand equity is actually about. It is the value a consumer attributes to a brand. Here we must not get confused with brand value, this refers to the financial asset the company records on its balance sheet whereas brand equity is the importance of the brand to a customer. Brand value can be worked out by asking other companies what price they would be willing to pay to purchase that brand.Equity relies on consumer beliefs, beliefs based around convenience, service, value and product experience which acts as a framework to understand the power of consumer’s emotions in relation to the actual purchase of the brand.

Three questions you need to ask yourself as we head into the last quarter of the year are: who are you, what are you and what makes you different?

Who you are refers to the prominence of the brand in the consumers mind and whether or not the brand stands out. The ‘what’ is often determined by the communication derived for the brand and delivers on what the brand means and stands for. All these things are a learnt behaviour over time so that when consumers are presented with a new product or special offer from the brand the decision making process is so much easier.

Connections with consumers are the hardest to make but once there is active engagement, sharing of stories and connections with other consumers it should lead to repeat purchases and new ones from customers that are newly influenced.

Getting all these things right makes brands less vulnerable to competitor marketing, price and value wars, all part and parcel of what Christmas brings.

As we know, advertising and consumer spending is going to increase dramatically over the last quarter driving mass awareness of offerings, services and goods. This awareness will serve as an anchor for brand association, perceived quality and ultimately brand loyalty which will drive the decision making process.

The final push however, which is key in a struggling economy, is emotional capital. This is the glue that attracts consumers and converts them into loyal brand advocates.

I am going to be very interested to see what the bigger advertisers bring to the party this year, sometimes the best thinking happens in times like this.

 

Sean Sullivan – Business Unit Manager at The MediaShop. Attention spans are not shrinking, rather they are evolving to be more selective, according to new research.

If someone invited you to watch a day-long movie you’d probably be pretty quick to decline. It’s hard to imagine dedicating brainspace to a single thing for so long, but that’s exactly what bingeing on an entire television show, dozens of YouTube videos, or seemingly endless loops of

Facebook Live is. And it’s become commonplace behaviour.

Where attention goes, value flows. The articles we choose to read, the websites we view, the links we click on, the advertisements we respond to, and even the emails we read.

Attention is earned, valued, and spent. In short, attention is the real currency at work in our internet age.

The 2018 State of Attention Report released from UK presentation platform Prezi, looks at how practices such as multitasking impacts people’s ability to retain information and what marketers can do to create more engaging material.

The study has revealed a number of key findings that will help marketers boost their ability to cut through distractions and engage with modern audiences.

According to the survey, respondents felt their ability to maintain focus has actually improvedover time, despite an ever-growing mountain of available content. This demonstrates that the attention of business professionals can be captured for long periods of time with compelling content that includes great stories and interesting, gripping visuals.

More than two thousand business professionals across the UK participated in the study, conducted by Censuswide. Key findings include:

1. Respondents reported that they have increased attention spans, but have become more selective in the content they choose to consume:

• Six out of ten (58%) professionals say they can give a piece of content their undivided attention without getting distracted, more now than they could one year ago.
• 42% admit they’ve become more selective about the content they consume.

1. The key to engaging content is a compelling story and visuals :

• Nearly 9 in 10 respondents said a strong narrative (85%) or the story (81%) behind what’s being presented is critical in maintaining the engagement of their audience.
• Over a third (34%) of business professionals say a great story captures their focus and keeps them engaged with content.
• In regards to presentations, 73% of business professionals said the use of animated visuals in presentations is effective in keeping the audience engaged.

Attention is critical. Without the ability to narrow our focus, we can’t be expected to learn new things, to retain information, or to do our jobs to the best of our ability. And, as content creators, not being able to engage people means nobody is going to truly hear what it is that we’re trying to say. If we as business folk hope to maintain and grow our successes, creating content that reflects the way people consume information is absolutely crucial.

Our attention spans being shorter than a goldfish’s is a grossly inaccurate rumour. These days it’s common to binge-watch a series for six or more hours, so there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to pay attention to an ad. You just need to couple your content with a compelling story and great visuals. Attention spans aren’t shrinking — they’re simply evolving, and the time to cater to new preferences isn’t tomorrow; it’s now.

The human brain is amazing but it’s not perfect

 While psychologists and neuroscientists continue to work on understanding our brains better, there is a lot of evidence to show that we’re naturally curious and easily distracted.

The Distracted Mind, an award-winning book written by Adam Gazzaley and Larry D. Rosen,  a cognitive neuroscientist and a psychologist respectively — do a great job of explaining why our brains aren’t built for multitasking.

According to them, the human brain is limited in its ability to pay attention and we don’t really multitask but rather switch rapidly between tasks.

Is technology to blame for our short attention spans?

Unsurprisingly, it is easy to blame technology for our short attention spans, dwindling or otherwise. At first, we blamed cellular phones for distractions, then the internet boom, and later social media became our brains’ nemesis.

In The Distracted Mind, Adam Gazzaley and Larry D. Rosen share a few words of wisdom about technology and its impact on human cognitive ability:

 We have come to believe that the human brain is a master navigator of the river of information that rages steadily all around us. And yet we often feel challenged when trying to fulfill even fairly simple goals. This is the result of interference — both distraction from irrelevant information and interruptions by our attempts to simultaneously pursue multiple goals. Many of you may now be glancing accusingly at your mobile phone. But before we place any blame on this potential culprit, it is critical to understand that our sensitivity to interference was not born out of technology. Rather, it is a fundamental vulnerability of our brain. Our brains are designed to always be seeking new information. In fact, the same system in your grey matter that keeps you on the lookout for food and water actually rewards you for discovering novel information. Our brains are constantly on the lookout for information — relevant, irrelevant and everything in between.

 Top tips to improve our focus :

• Stop multitasking: You wouldn’t try to lift 5 tons. Your body can’t do that. Don’t try to do your best work while checking email, texting, and posting to Instagram. Your brain can’t do that.
• Exercise: You know it’s good for your body. Guess what? Your brain’s part of your body. (Shocking, I know.)
• Meditate: Simply put, meditation is attention training.
• Call your mother nature: Looking at a picture of a tree is like a deep tissue massage for your brain.
• Reduce interference: Remove anything from your environment that might distract you. Batch email and social media. Extend the time between breaks to build your attention muscles.

Source: http://www.netimperative.com

2018 State of Attention Report, Prezi

https://medium.com/flock-chat/the-simple-truth-about-technology-and-human-attention-spans

https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2018/03/attention-span/

Belinda Kayton, Media Strategist at The MediaShop looks at the differences between Xers and Millennials and highlights quite a few differences

I often get asked “Who is Gen X?” and “What is the difference between a Millennial and a Gen X?” I find that there is a lot of confusion as to which generation is called what. Let’s try and make this as simple as possible……

First of all – What is the definition of a generation?

• A generation is a group of people born around the same time and raised around the same place.
• People in this “birth cohort” exhibit similar characteristics, preferences and values over their lifetime.
• Generations are not a box – instead, they are powerful clues showing where to begin connecting with and influencing people of different ages.
• There are big differences between the generations.

What makes generations consistent at a high level?

• Generations exhibit similar characteristics – such as communication, shopping and motivational preferences.
• This is because they experienced similar trends at approximately the same life stage and through similar channels (TV, radio, online etc.).
• Generation-shaping trends are most influential as people come of age, which means that members of a particular generation will develop and share similar values, beliefs and expectations.
• It is important to remember that at an individual level, everyone is different. But looking at people through a generational lens offers useful predictability for those trying to reach, inform, or persuade a large cross-section of a population.

Who are the different generations?

These are the primary generations today:

 

 

What are the key trends that shape generations?

• The 3 key trends that shape generations are:
  • Parenting
  • Technology
  • Economics

Who are Baby Boomers?

• Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964 and grew up during the American-dream, white-picket-fence era of post WWII.
• As their younger counterparts have taught boomers how to use technology, this generation is slowly embracing it.
• According to Pew Research, by 2014, 65% of adults aged 50-64 used social networking sites, with the vast majority engaging with Facebook to revive “dormant” relationships.
• The Boomers are the most likely to misunderstand Facebook remarketing ads clogging up their newsfeeds, but still be receptive to direct marketing/sales tactics; they like to talk to real people.
• Boomers have the highest value as consumers in the market today!
• They spend the most money on each shopping trip, and as they are hitting retirement, they are more likely to splurge on items that aren’t on the grocery list. Surprisingly, this generation even spends the most on technology—everything from premium cable to the latest smartphone. (Silver Surfers).

Who are Generation Xers?

• The neglected middle child.
• Gen X is the smallest generation, born between 1965 and 1980 and often referred to as the bridge between Millennials and Baby Boomers.
• Gen Xers are now juggling child care, homeownership, and reaching the peak of their careers.
• Think of the 40-year-old who went to high school in the 80’s and hated the first Bush era, and is now working in green energy and has little kids to contend with.
• This generation remembers how video killed the radio star and are more pessimistic about having enough money to retire.
• Gen Xers are busy! They’re dealing with children, paying mortgages and tuition, and working a LOT.
• They’re also on online—more than 80% of this generation reports that they are on Facebook, MySpace (what?!) and Twitter.
• They are more on par with technology adoption and use with millennials, and are more likely to be politically loyal throughout their lives than either of the other generations.
• Gen Xers claim to be the most dedicated to lists while shopping, but also fessed up to making the most unplanned purchases on their shopping excursions. This generation is our true hybrid when it comes to marketing. They grew up without the online shopping experience, so they still enjoy a trip in-store, but have fully embraced online shopping as well.

Who are Millennials?

• The generation that is slowly taking over the workforce and out-numbering Baby Boomers.
• Millennials were born between 1980 and 1995 and came of age during the early 2000’s.
• This generation is most widely talked to and about on social media and in pop culture.
• Millennials began entering the workforce as the economy crashed, and as a result, are the largest generation of entrepreneurs. They are notoriously soft-hearted and soft-shelled, valuing social issues far ahead of economics.
• That said, Millennials are an economic force! With $200B in annual buying power, smart marketers are turning to new channels to hook this generation.
• They are the least frequent in-store shoppers (USA data).
• This generation is the most responsive to online shopping opportunities, recommendations from friends and family, and are motivated by shopping ease.
• Millennials are reshaping the way that goods and services are being marketed by staying unresponsive to traditional marketing tactics.
• This generation decides where to eat based on Instagram pictures, chooses hair stylists from Facebook and has their groceries delivered to their door.

THIS IS A QUICK BREAKDOWN:

Sources:

The Centre for Generational Kinetics

Wordstream

Mercia Lampen, Digital Media Strategist, The MediaShop

Online advertising fraud is a huge problem globally in the digital industry, with cyber criminals stealing $3 – $5 million per day from advertisers. This issue was raised in 2004 by Google’s CFO, George Reyes as a major problem stating that fraud is the biggest threat to the internet economy. But what does the situation look like in South Africa?

Ad fraud is simply when a publisher, website, network, or influencer charges an advertiser for impressions, clicks, views, or leads that are not real. It can take many forms, including ad farms, pixel stuffing, botnets, ad stacking etc. All of these forms of ad fraud make advertisers pay for ads that are effectively worthless to them as they are never actually seen by a consumer.

Awareness about ad fraud in South Africa is growing and more clients are starting to take note, but it is still a big problem globally, where ad fraud is estimated to cost advertisers about $7 billion annually…but both publishers and agencies are starting to take more decisive steps.

The IAB’s (Interactive Advertising Bureau) focus is to create a “better internet”. They’ve developed Ads.txt to assist publishers in the fight against ad fraud, to receive the revenue owed to them and to increase market transparency. Ads.txt is an acronym for Authorised Digital Sellers. This piece of technology was introduced in an effort to eliminate the ability to profit from counterfeit or spoofed inventory in the open digital advertising ecosystem supply chain. Ads.txt allows publishers and content owners the ability to authorise and publicly declare who is allowed to sell their inventory.

Agencies are partnering with global inventory sources, technologies, and third parties to tackle the problem head on. Through the use of black lists that ban sites, networks and publishers that are known to engage in ad fraud, to third party verification technology that can identify, during the bidding process, whether a site is fraudulent (and if it is, ad impressions will be disqualified from appearing on that website), agencies are working hard to ensure that ad fraud is eliminated for their brands, before it happens!

Ad fraud should not be confused with brand safety, which is a different problem altogether. Brand safety is the process of ensuring that advertisers’ ads don’t appear next to any objectionable content that the brand would not want to be associated with.

This is also something that is gaining awareness amongst advertisers, and that agencies are taking very seriously. But the reality is that brand safety is not just a digital problem. There are plenty of examples and instances of print, TV, radio and OOH ads appearing next to content that would be deemed harmful to the brand.

Overall, as digital becomes a bigger and bigger part of client’s media mixes, we will increasingly see more and more industry stakeholders addressing ad fraud, brand safety, and viewability in their scope of work and client contracts.

At the end of the day, it is important that clients are getting what they are paying for!

At The MediaShop we take issues such as ad fraud, brand safety, and ad verification very seriously. We employ a number of technologies and tools to ensure that our client’s ads don’t fall victim to fraud, only appear in brand safe environments, and we use third party verification services such as MOAT and IAS to ensure that our clients are getting what they’re paying for!

With help from the SABC commercial enterprises, The MediaShop held a fantastic immersion recently with their long-standing client, Tiger Brands to round off Heritage month. The objective of the day was to demonstrate the differences in each of the provinces in South Africa.

The event was well attended by marketers from Tiger Brands, who took the time to get a better understanding of consumers living in the different provinces within South Africa and how the relevant SABC radio stations serve the communities within each of those geographic areas.

“We wanted to highlight the nuances of each of the provinces and the role that radio stations play in connecting with those audiences, which essentially make up the majority of Tiger Brands’ target market,” says Kgaugelo Maphai, Managing Director of The MediaShop Johannesburg.

SABC radio demonstrated that they broadcast to their audiences in the vernacular languages that their listeners speak in and understand, in the respective provinces. “The key learning was that as marketers we often view the rest of the country with a “Johannesburg lens”, even though each province has its own economic drivers and their own consumer profile,” says Maphai.

“We therefore need to have a deeper understanding of these nuances in each respective province because it affects how we communicate effectively with consumers.  The reality is that the top three languages in SA are IsiZulu, IsiXhosa and Afrikaans and yet the majority of adverts are produced in English and then translated.  In there lies a potential risk of the meaning being lost if the translation is not well interpreted.” Kgaugelo adds: “We hope that this immersion will be an annual event and we would like to extend this invite to more of our clients.  Everyone, including the Tiger Brands marketing community, The MediaShop’s strategists and planners that participated, agree that this was a day well spent with many insights learned, and will definitely add to the strategic approach for the 2019 financial year.”

For more on The MediaShop visit www.mediashop.co.za, like them on Facebook: The MediaShop, follow them on Twitter @MediaShopZA or LinkedIn.

Margie Knap, Media Strategist, The MediaShop

My career in media started somewhere in the 80’s. Needless to say, what we do today in media and what we did ‘back in the day’ is poles apart, mostly due to media choices being extremely limited.

TV viewing was available for just a few hours a day, alternating English and Afrikaans news, and there was no real measurement of audiences. Completing Telmar runs was done through a dial up system using card, key and punch codes, with faxes as a means of confirmation. Adex was a manual system of thick manuals, rulers and highlighters. When we needed information on media owners, we used SARAD books and files – on actual paper! You are either nodding in agreement right now, or have a confused look on your face!

Media has evolved beyond anyone’s expectations. The 2002 movie, Minority Report (a neo-noir science fiction movie), quite prophetically depicted the role of media in a future state where technological advancements (AI) made a brand’s presence nearly boundless. The main character, Chief John Anderton was reminded of his favourite brand of beer as he walked past a billboard. We could say that right now we are all living in the Minority Report age, a virtual reality space.

Looking at online version of the thesaurus – of course not the actual tome – the adjectives and nouns for ‘virtual’ and ‘ reality’, helped crystallise this new world for me:

• Virtual (adj)
  • Near
  • Practical
  • Effective
  • Fundamental
  • Essential
• Reality (n)
  • Authenticity
  • Truth
  • Genuineness
  • Certainty
  • Representativeness

Having been fortunate enough to have a long break in the bush recently, I had a variety of apps that I could download that fell within the “virtual” space category. The apps were near (thumb length away), practical, effective, and in fact ticked all the “virtual” boxes.

I could identify a bird, a spoor, the best loops to take, the distance from one camp to another – it was amazing!

However the lack of internet coverage in the bush is exceptionally limited. We had to resort to paper. And it was a joy indeed – following a map instead of mindlessly listening to a disembodied voice telling us to take the third exit at the circle.

We also took great joy in hunting through the bird book to identify the variety of raptors and water birds with a mammal guide to help identify spoor. It was great! When I was putting this blog together and looking at my “material”, the smell of the bush was still on my maps in the form of a light coat of sand, and this immediately transported me back to the bush.

Our journey was documented on Facebook for our friends and family to be kept up to date with where we were, what close encounters we had and to share in our experience. These memories are out in the ether, and every year Facebook will send me a reminder of what a great time we had.

It is a relief that the written word isn’t dead. Each shop had a vast array of postcards, along with stamps and a post-box. Clearly there was a demand for written mementoes to be sent to loved ones, An email is great, but to actually receive a handwritten postcard is just that bit more personal and memorable.

When it comes to those photographs, yes they are safely downloaded onto a memory stick. The best ones however are going to be printed and framed.

Our virtual world needs to live alongside and to work with the printed world. Having a mix of a variety of apps and a variety of maps and book guides made our experience so worthwhile and memorable.

The MediaShop has done it again! At this year’s prestigious AMASA Awards, the agency walked away with three Gold Awards for clients Nando’s and Cell C. These accolades are hot on the heels of The MediaShop being crowned the inaugural Media Agency of the Decade, Full Service Media Agency of the Year and Overall Media Agency of the Year at the recent MOST Awards.

 The agency won Golds in the Best Integrated: Retail category for Nando’s #RightMyName and in the Best Online and Best Tactical Use of Media categories for Cell C’s Skip to the Best Bits campaign.The MediaShop was also awarded a Gold Loerie for the Nando’s #rightmyname campaign in the Media Innovation category.

“We could not be prouder of the teams involved,” says an elated Kgaugelo Maphai, Managing Director of The MediaShop Johannesburg. “This is really proving to be an incredible 30^th birthday year for us and we’re grateful that we continue to produce award-winning work for our clients!

We took a decision earlier in the year to put a greater focus on media creativity, and we are excited to see the results in such a short period of time,” he says.

“We are working on bigger things for 2019 and hope to make some announcements in the new year and build on what we have achieved this year.”

For more on The MediaShop visit www.mediashop.co.za, like them on Facebook: The MediaShop, follow them on Twitter @MediaShopZA or LinkedIn.