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South Africa’s Good Things Guy, Brent Lindeque is joining fellow panellists Happy MaKhumalo (Proudly South Africa), Jaun Pienaar (Apex Media) and Nwabisa Makunga (The Sowetan) on the topic of ‘Energising our biggest brand – South Africa’ on the 9^th July at 10am.

“Even though South Africa has its challenges, we have so many good stories to tell,” says Brent. “Over the past few months while we’ve been experiencing a global pandemic, the search for good news has increased exponentially. People want and I firmly believe, NEED, good news! There are so many stories to share that demonstrate that we as South Africans are more generous, more caring and more willing to assist people we’ve never even met before.

These are just some of the reasons that I believe that brand South Africa does have a good story to tell and we need to be telling it now.

This is a crucial conversation to have – despite the many challenges we face as a country on a daily basis. When we open our borders to tourists again, our guests need to feel welcome, excited to experience our diverse culture and importantly, want to return as soon as possible.”

Interested parties can register for the discussion here at no charge: https://arenaevents.africa/webinar-registrations/the-future-of-media-digitized-event-series-energising-our-biggest-brand-south-africa/

The Good Things Guy can also be found at www.goodthingsguy.com, on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

Prepared on behalf of:                  Good Things Guy

Brent Lindeque

info@goodthingsguy.com

Podcasts are not new as a medium. But some of these audio on demand files are making huge waves in the industry. Jacaranda’s JacPod series is seeing huge download numbers, with Brent Lindeque’s Good Things Guy podcast consistently being the number one most listened to file for the past several months.

Kevin Fine, Managing Director at Expedite (and former Jacaranda FM Managing Director) says: “Bringing Good Things Guy on to the platform was a strategic move to interrogate our hypothesis that firstly consumers are looking for familiarity in their content choices, and secondly they don’t know where to find it. By adding Brent’s content to the platform we were able to offer a wider audience some really quality content in an environment they could easily access and the results have been phenomenal.

Clearly, the more familiar the content, the name attached to it and the ease of finding it, the more downloads the podcasts will receive. In the past two years that Brent has been with the station his brand has truly blossomed. He’s a true leader in content adoption and he’s been a great prototype for consistent podcast consumption.”

Brent adds: “The past two years at Jacaranda have truly been incredible and I’m so overwhelmed with the amount of continued support The Good Things Guy podcast has received. To be among great company like my fellow Jacpod creators Elana Afrika and Martin Bester who also receive huge downloads on their content, is a great blessing.”

Brent’s channel has been under the coveted ‘featured’ section on Apple Podcasts for almost a year now, during which time his show has ranked regularly in the top 10 podcasts in South Africa, and peaked at number two across all genres countrywide and number one in the Society and Culture category. Good Things Guy on Jacaranda’s JacPod series is popular with both sexes, showing a 55% female, 45% male split. His listeners are primarily South African, however he also has keen followers in the US, UK, Israel, Kenya and Ghana among others.

“Everyone knows the Good Things Guy and Jacpod is pleased to have the content of the biggest blogger in the country that can be shared with digital and listening audiences,” says Fine.

As streaming or on-demand TV is making a big impact on the South African media scene, so are podcasts making the same splash for the “theatre of the mind”, and generally more successfully with a familiar name behind them.  Download or listen at https://www.jacarandafm.com/jacpod/good-things-guy/.

However, Fine adds that “Podcasts as a business on their own lack power and strong business models. Building these in to an omni-channel strategy is far more effective, commercially and for the content creator, and that’s something that radio brands such as Jacaranda FM and Brent do very well.”

The Good Things Guy can also be found at www.goodthingsguy.com, on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

Prepared on behalf of:   Good Things Guy

Brent Lindeque

info@goodthingsguy.com

In a bid to give local and national advertisers the most effective reach and a more effective solution for readers and brands, Caxton Local Media is evolving and adapting some of its local newspapers’ footprints.

The recent decision was made due to the current tough economic climate coupled with the company’s solution-driven response to these changes. By evolving the footprints of some of its local newspapers, the company is ensuring that it continues to produce top-quality, hyperlocal news for readers as well as delivering the right market at the right time and place to its advertisers.

Managing Director of Caxton Local Media and Commercial Printing, Jaco Koekemoer, explained, “Our industry, like so many others globally, has been hard hit by Covid-19 and its associated regulations and added to this, the company has incurred massive losses in advertising revenue since the beginning of the lockdown.”

It became very apparent to Caxton Local Media through recent, extensive and independent research that shopping patterns, buying behaviours and demographics of people living in some areas and communities have changed drastically in a very short time. Footprints of certain local newspapers in Gauteng metropolitan areas, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal needed to be adapted for the company to provide the best solutions for readers, customers and clients in these markets.

One example is in the North Eastern suburbs of Johannesburg where the North Eastern Tribune will no longer be published as an independent title. From 19 May, the footprint of the Tribune’s sister publication, the Rosebank Killarney Gazette, will be expanded to cover hyperlocal news in some North East Joburg suburbs and, therefore, the Gazette will also have an increased print order to accommodate these changes.

Just before the nationwide lockdown was implemented, Caxton Local Media bid farewell to its city-based publication, City Buzz, in Johannesburg’s CBD. This experimental publication to reach the student market in Braamfontein, Newtown, Maboneng and surrounds has not proven to be viable at this time.

“By streamlining our resources, we commit to deliver effective solutions for our customers by providing a better reach for local advertisers and national retailers,” concludes Koekemoer.

On behalf of:                           Caxton Local Media

Jaco Koekemoer

MD Local Media & Coldset Printing

+27 10 492 3366

After a tumultuous couple of weeks, SPARK Media and Caxton’s Local Media division has been hard at work to ensure that all its local publications are once again being delivered to South African homes.

“Our local editors, journalists and support staff have been working around the clock to cover the stories and source relevant Covid-19 information appropriate to each community,” says SPARK Media’s CEO Gill Randall.

“Community news is known to command high levels of engagement amongst the hundreds of thousands of different South African population clusters, with new evidence pointing to the fact that our readers are now paying even higher levels of attention to printed products, during these disastrous times.”

SPARK Media’s commercial printing factories were able to re-open on 1 May meaning that consumers have already started receiving their pre-printed retail shopping inserts.

“We know from our research that these shopping deals play an important part in helping us plan our shopping lists,” says Gill. “There has never been a more important time than now to look for good deals and savings.

“We’re happy to back in action and would like to take this opportunity to thank our media agencies and advertisers for their ongoing support as we continue to get stronger and stronger.”

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’.

The Marketing & Research Foundation (MRF) has had a busy few months recently with the appointment of a new CEO, Johann Koster, and ensuring that the launch of MAPS remains on track.

 In what is proving to be a very challenging period for the marketing industry, the MRF Board has quickly put processes in place to ensure the continuity it has built over the past few months, continues.

“There is no disputing that our world is rapidly changing at a level we’ve never seen before. The Covid-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown that came into effect on the 26th of March 2020 has brought with it great concern and uncertainty,” says Johann. “But on the flipside of this uncertainty we wish to assure our subscribers and the marketing industry that MAPS is alive and well and we are working closely, but virtually, with stakeholders and Plus 94 Research, our research partner, to maintain business continuity.”

The pilot fieldwork on MAPS began in December last year and was completed successfully by mid-February. After commencing the actual fieldwork in March, it became clear that COVID-19 would make it impossible to continue with face-to-face interviewing, halting the process for now.

“The MRF and its Technical Committee, supported by Plus 94 Research, are currently evaluating contingency plans and alternative solutions that will allow us to continue data collection during lockdown and the anticipated subsequent period of restricted mobility and social interaction,” says Johann. “The discussions are being guided by governmental regulations without jeopardising research quality and data integrity.”

Sifiso Falala CEO of PLUS 94 Research adds: “Research has always been there to help our customers deal with uncertainty. Covid-19 has exponentially increased uncertainties faced by businesses, and made any long term planning appear at best speculative. Consumers are being jump-started into making quick decisions, and for some, even into reviewing their value system. For this reason, a comprehensive tracking survey such as MAPS is more essential than ever before.

Unlike in past years when methodology, if chosen correctly, was pretty much background noise, we are seeing an evolution of the importance of methodological adaptation. The discussion of methods used to gather the data will be in the foreground and as exciting as the expected insights themselves.”

With the country currently in Level 4 of lockdown, it’s clear that the industry is going to be in a restricted environment for some time to come. Many businesses now more than ever, require sound research and consumer insights to guide their decision making.

“At the MRF, we believe that the need for MAPS is more critical than ever and we’re working tirelessly with our partners and members to make MAPS a reality. The industry will be kept appraised of any updates as we progress through these uncertain times,” says Johann.

Chris Botha, Group Managing Director, Park Advertising

Can you say ‘Corona mania?’

Audience = Income.

This equation has been true in the media game for years. In theory it all makes sense. Editors and producers are incentivised to make content that appeals to the pallet of the majority of the population. Media owners pay top dollar to get the best writers, producers and editors who have the closest feel for what works in the world out there. The scary thing in modern media though is “what works”, and what works is eliciting an emotional response from an audience.

We’re all familiar with the concept of “clickbait” (content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page, regardless of the accuracy of the content). I think we are moving into an era of “Emotional Clickbait” where media owners produce content that will shock / anger / upset readers – as it is the most likely to be viewed.

Emotional clickbait is all around us. All you have to do is go onto any major news or social platform, and you will see that the most commented on, most trending, hottest topics are the ones with the most emotional sting, and often very little substance.

The appeal in media is no longer necessarily what makes for good content – but what makes for content that attracts views / comments / likes. Emotive content.

The current Emotional clickbait topic in South Africa is the Corona Virus. It is the number one trending topic on Twitter today (and yesterday, and probably for the rest of the month and into April) and for good reason. I am not an expert so will completely refrain from commenting on the virus itself. As a media expert though, I am worried about the tone of the communication out there. Some media platforms are all of a sudden professing opinions ranging from “this is a common cold, ignore it” – to “It’s the end of the world, panic!!!”. These views are not backed up by science. Not backed up by statistics. They are typical of the extremism that emotional click bait is associated with. But because of the Emotional clickbait it is impacting markets, share values, and the price of oil!

The media do this the world over. I’ve been following the circus which is American politics with great interest over the past few months. Some of the Democratic Party debate has been taken up by candidates literally close to exploding and hanging campaign promises on being called by their “preferred pronoun”. This is a matter I would imagine is largely irrelevant to the majority of Democratic Party supporters, who actually only want to know how they can get President Trump out of the White House!

Emotional clickbait!

In South Africa, I would love to know how much air time the EFF receives relative to their political peers. I would guess far more (relatively speaking). Why? They ride the wave of Emotional clickbait. Whatever the issue is, big or small, the EFF are often there to turn it into a race related matter. And the media will report on it to their hearts content. Why – yep, Emotional clickbait.

The EFF have done very many great things for our country, and are an important stakeholder in the national narrative. At last count they received 1,8 million votes to the ANC’s 10 million, yet they play the online news game far better than anyone else. Kudos to them.

It’s a fact that consumers are more attracted to news that shocks or illicit an emotional response. So what do the media do? They try and outdo each other when it comes to news that shocks and illicit an emotional response.  Anyone remember a business called Bell Pottinger? There’s an organisation that was built on Emotional clickbait.

Each media knows its audience and what will and won’t work and correctly, adapts their editorial policy accordingly. A website called “The Edit” learnt an interesting lesson not too long ago. A junior journalist wrote an article on why she thinks the music of Beyoncé is “overrated AF”. The article became the most clicked on and commented one on the site. You can imagine how the publishers of the site are relooking their reviewing criteria right now.

I once read an interesting article about a book entitled The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. The book is among the many by the author stating that God doesn’t exist. Dawkins holds a strong atheistic angle throughout.

The author of the article postulated that the book will be most read by Christians. Why, because they disagree with it, and want to argue the point. Atheists who don’t believe in God are less likely to read a book that affirms what they already think to be true. So inadvertently Christians are often the ones funding the writings of Mr Dawkins. It’s the supreme irony of emotional click bait.

As South Africans we need to become more aware of Emotional clickbait and actively work to avoid it. It doesn’t give a real perspective of reality. It is a negative incentive for media owners and drags the fourth estate to the lowest common denominator. Let’s look at the facts and figures. Let’s crack a book open and do some of our own homework on a topic before being dragged down an emotional rabbit hole.

TransUnion reports that consumer credit extension in South Africa is currently around

R1.8 trillion, with approximately 9% of this debt at least three months in arrears. In addition,  around 45% of the approximately 22.5 million credit-active consumers have impaired credit records. This is a major obstacle to collections activities as it becomes increasingly difficult for credit providers to collect payments as the level of debt rises, with many collectors across multiple industries trying to solicit payments from the same consumers. “Business needs to think about these realities when preparing for the launch of DebiCheck,” states Andrew Springate, CEO of PAYM8, a leading technology and financial gateway services company for payments, collections and mobile commerce.

From 1 November 2019, South Africa became the first country in the world to implement a debit order system that requires banks to request electronic authorisation, directly from their clients. It’s called DebiCheck and it was instituted by the South African Reserve Bank and Payments Association South Africa (PASA), in response to an increase in fraudulent debit orders, while also protecting merchants and credit providers from a spike in disputed debit orders.

There is a lot of information being released about DebiCheck, most of it confusing. “I’m not sure debit order dependent companies have fully understood the implications,” warns Springate.

“The change will have a profound impact on any business that currently uses Non-Authenticated Early Debit Orders (NAEDO), and to a lesser degree those who use Authenticated Early Debit Orders. Both these debit orders sit under the EDO (early debit order stream). The EDO system will be replaced by DebiCheck,” Springate explains.

Many South African companies are highly reliant on debit orders as a payment channel and in a weak economy, no company can afford to put their payment processes at risk. Payments Association of South Africa (PASA) states that 48 million debit orders are processed monthly across all industries, totaling approximately R80 billion in revenue.

“Without the DebiCheck system, your company will have to use an EFT based debit order for all new client debit order payments”, says Springate, “This will mean you can no longer take advantage of the ‘early window’ and your debit orders will no longer be processed in the early morning but rather late in the evening. This will put your debit orders at the back of the payment queue. It will have the biggest effect on companies, like debt collectors, credit providers and many others, who rely on being able to ‘strike first’ when a customer’s salary hits their bank account. Currently EDO’s allow companies to track a customer’s account for up to 32 days for available funds. This benefit will also no longer be available to you without an approved DebiCheck.”

Springate also cautions businesses to think about how DebiCheck will affect their sales processes. “DebiCheck will add a new step to your current sales process. Before any sale or contract can be deemed final, your sales representatives will have to wait for confirmation of the payers authorisation of the mandate. The decision to accept or reject a DebiCheck lies with the consumer. It is sent by their bank, via an electronic platform. No bank will proceed with a debit order until they have received positive confirmation from your customer via DebiCheck.”  But, Springate adds that the positive change coming from this new regulation is that disputes will be almost impossible. “As long as you process the debit order exactly in line with the date and value loaded when the mandate was created and the payment matches the authorisation given to the bank, the payer will not be able to dispute or reverse a payment.”

Time is running out if your business relies heavily on the NAEDO early window – no new NAEDO’s will be processed from 1 May 2020, and, from 1 November 2020, DebiCheck will be the only early window debit. “There is a lot to think about,” explains Springate, “There are many variables that could derail your current payment system and affect your monthly cash flow and collection targets. It’s not a process that can be done in a rush and as time runs out for companies reliant on the early window and account tracking, you are going to need to make some strategic decisions”.

As the TransUnion figures show a low-growth economy is pushing more and more South Africans into a fiscal struggle, with more and more unable to pay their monthly bills. “If you need to be at the front of the payment queue,” states Springate, “you need to get on top of DebiCheck. It’s a risk many businesses haven’t seen coming”.

The DebiCheck system will replace the EDO system from November 2020 although the switchover could start as soon as May 2020.

For more information visit PAYM8.co.za

Citing a stalling economy and ongoing power shortages, ratings agency Moody’s has cut South Africa’s GDP growth forecast from 1.5% to 0.7% for 2020. As growth stagnates, businesses, both large and small, are struggling to find the additional revenue generation needed to meet shareholder expectations. 

It’s in times like this that business needs to adapt quickly by embracing advanced technology that can provide access to new business opportunities and previously unchartered markets.

 “The old way of finding new business opportunities has run its course,” says Ursula McDonald, Managing Director of women led and owned marketing and business innovations company ‘A Country For Jane’. “Cold calling, desk drops, trade shows and list brokers are not yielding the results they used to.” As South African businesses look for growth in an economy where job losses and budget cuts are the new norm, traditional marketing efforts, especially in the B2B arena are being pushed to innovate. “Costs attributed to a sales force with no pipeline of verified leads, are being questioned,” says McDonald. But the reality is that new business contacts are hard to reach, and the most influential decision-makers are protected by layers of gatekeepers whose job it is to keep out the ‘salesmen’. 

“The quality of sales pitches is also often shallow,” explains McDonald. “There is often no effort made to understand the potential client’s challenges in a specific industry, or how a product or service being pitched could alleviate their pain. It’s often just a ‘one pitch’ for all scenario, which leaves prospects feeling that sales representatives have no understanding of their business.” It’s a pain point being experienced by multiple companies across South Africa. “Business leaders will listen if a sales pitch takes into account their unique challenges,” says McDonald. But how does a company execute multiple pitches for multiple industries?

“Leads by Jane is our answer to stagnating business growth,” says McDonald. The advanced technology works off an intelligent LinkedIn platform, but that’s not where the innovation lies. “For businesses to succeed in a weak economy, they need to be able to forecast projected growth. This can’t be done with any accuracy unless there is a pipeline of new business prospects,” states McDonald. “Leads by Jane is a digital platform that links relevant content, in our case, highly researched content, that marries an understanding of macro-economic factors, causing industry pain points, with a product or service that can offer relief.” The platform developed internationally by Scott Cundill, Leads by Jane’s development partner, offers businesses the chance to engage one-on-one with business prospects. “It aims to get sales reps in front of the prospects most likely to purchase,” says Cundill. This is done through the use of a tracking system that measures content engagement. “We need more thought leaders in South Africa,” explains McDonald. “People who have a researched opinion, on how to kickstart growth and add value to the economy. We position sales reps as those thought leaders to give them a business opinion that is authentic and resonates with business leaders. This sets them up, with a differentiated view from their competitors, allowing them to make a standout impact in the market. We then track the reaction to their opinions and identify business prospects with whom the content resonated.” McDonald calls this ‘Idea Economics’. “Idea Economics was born out of our frustration, at the lack of business understanding inherent in many sales pitches. For our economy to grow, we need businesses to thrive”, says McDonald, “Idea Economics ensures every business is marketed from a business reality, not with a catchy slogan.” 

Can South Africa surprise its critics and finish 2020 with a higher GDP growth number than 0.7%? “Leads by Jane has been developed to create real business relationships based on a shared understanding of business realities. In the end, businesses have a solid pipeline of verified leads”, says McDonald. “Many companies are under pressure to meet sales targets,” continues Cundill. “But in the current economic climate, these targets aren’t being achieved. Leads by Jane pinpoints the sale cycle weaknesses and determines where in the process things are going wrong”. Having verified leads can quickly become a moot point when the sales team lacks the skills needed to turn them into sales. It’s why Leads by Jane has incorporated a sales training module that equips sales reps with the tools and confidence they will need to continue the relationships and close the deals. 

Leads by Jane has the potential to increase the chance of turning a business pipeline into business success. “Beating the growth forecasts, both as a country and as separate businesses is going to require new ideas. Leads by Jane closes the sales loop for companies who need to get traction in tough times,” states McDonald. 

For more information visit countryforjane.com 

rooi rose is proud to announce the commencement of season 3 of rrRADIO in February 2020!

rrRADIO, rooi rose and Caxton Magazine’s first, free Afrikaans podcast channel for women, is expanding its programming for a second time, since its launch in June 2019. rrRADIO offers clients a new innovative and cost-effective way to connect to the Afrikaans market and sought-after rooi rose audiences.  “Over the first 2 seasons, rrRADIO downloads and impressions have grown organically at an exponential rate and we foresee that, during season 3, it will rise to 40 000+ impressions per month”, says rrRADIO Executive Producer and rooi rose Deputy Editor, Hannelie Diedericks.

Some feedback & reviews from listeners from season 1 & 2:

• “Thank you for this enjoyable series.  I love every second of it!  At times I laugh out loud, and even cry a tear or two.  I only allow myself one episode each evening, so it will last longer.”
• “What a wonderful podcast series! I can’t believe it’s finished now.”
• “I adore this story immensely and have laughed and cried with the protagonist.  Elize Cawood is an excellent narrator.”
• “rrRADIO – at long last! Finally an Afrikaans podcast channel to listen to.”
• “rrRADIO is a stroke of genius. Thank you rooi rose, I love your podcasts.”

Season 3 will see the launch of two brand new series:

Lam in Wolfsklere

Lam in Wolfsklere is a new serial fiction series, which is based on the fun, light hearted novel written by popular Afrikaans author, Bernette Bergenthuin.  The story will be narrated by well-known actress and TV presenter Elma Postma (pictured).  New episodes will be released every Thursday morning from 27 February.

Ons diere & hul giere

Ons diere & hul giere is a new pet care series hosted by Ilse Salzwedel.  Pets are an integral part of our reader’s families’ and the show will focus on everything pet owners need to know about how to care for their pets.  We will interview various pet experts and veterinarians, and each episode will cover a pertinent topic for pet owners.  New episodes will be released every second Monday from 2 March.

The following popular series will return in season 3:

Tussen Ons 3

Tussen Ons 3 is a wellness programme hosted by rooi rose’s specialist journalist Mariette Snyman.  In this season we will focus on how people can help people close to them if they are experiencing a specific crisis, whether it’s divorce, death of loved one, terminal illness or any other life challenge.  New episodes will be released every Tuesday morning from 25 February.

Tee & Taai Toffies

This popular interview and advice series returns with a new cast of interesting celebrities who are interviewed by our veteran journalist and radio personality, Ilse Salzwedel.  In the second part of the interview, they attempt to give relationship advice to our listeners. We promise a listener’s experience filled with compassion and humour. New episodes will be released every second Wednesday morning from 2 March.

Ka-tjieng!

In the latest season of our financial advice series, specialist journalist Anet Schoeman, will talk to various experts in finance about everything you need to know and teach your child about finance. New episodes will be released every second Friday morning from 6 March.

rrRADIO can be streamed directly from rooirose.co.za and is also available wherever you listen to podcasts.  All the previous series from season 1 and 2 (Botox, Barbies & Bietse,  Dans met die rooi rok, Tussen Ons seasons 1 and 2) are still active. E-mail rrradio@caxton.co.za for more information.

 Photo credit Elma Postma: rooi rose