Event organiser Kinetic has confirmed that industry-giant Performanta has signed on as platinum sponsors for this year’s anticipated 6th edition of their successful flagship event; the IT Leaders Africa Summit.

The event, taking place from 18 - 19 March 2015 at The Maslow Hotel in Johannesburg, is set to go beyond your usual routine business conference, evolving to deliver on a more exciting, topical, trendy and current platform, utilising both the latest technologies coupled with the latest in conference trends internationally.

Together with Performanta, the event aims to deliver an expert-lead agenda that features an educational conference program backed by the latest in technology workshops and demonstrations. 

Performanta’s workshop; Safeguard your organisation now, your wallet will thank you later; focuses on measuring your organisation against the industry on 10 information security and privacy measures, derived from real-world assessments.

Performanta Consulting was established by Anthony Olivier 4 years ago, aligning information security consulting services to the Performanta Technology & Services stable. Performanta Consulting has provided services to primary South African banks, insurance companies, brokers, mining companies, service and retail organisations. Their key differentiator: senior, qualified, experienced consultants, integrated frameworks and fair pricing. Furthermore, the team has assisted in addressing security problems in seventeen African countries and has a thorough understanding of the continental landscape.

As thought-leaders in the industry, they are amongst the most active South African participants in industry conferences, blogs and podcasts.An expert-led advisory panel will lead the summit with industry giants Robert Sussman, co-founder and joint-CEO of Integr8; Hugo Timmerman, Head of IT Southern Africa at British American Tobacco; and Tunde Coker, MD of Rack Centre (A Jagal Group Company).

The event also features over 35 speakers, keynotes, panel discussions and numerous educational workshop sessions hosted by key industry providers, all sessions led by some of today’s most notable individuals who are shaping the IT landscape in South Africa and beyond.

Speakers, just to name a few, include; David Visser, CIO of Coca-Cola Southern Africa; Anthony Hlungwane, Group IT Director of Mr Price Group; Sal Laher, CIO Eskom; Rocky Gwewera, Global Head of Infrastructure Architecture at Sasol; Stephan Ekbergh, CEO and founder of Travelstart; and Sunil Joshi, MD and CEO of Neotel.

Some sponsors and partners include; Telkom Business, HP, Performanta and Blue Coat Systems, SITA, Airwatch, Kofax, Dimension Data, Neotel, Meso Systems, Sage Pastel Accounting and ERP Africa, and Blackberry.

For more information on the event to register to attend or to sponsor, visit www.itleaders.co.za or contact the event organisers Kinetic on +27 21 180 4700.Follow the event and stay up to date on Twitter. @ITLeadersAfrica and join in on the conversation using #ITLAfrica.

Summary: On the heels of SAA being named “Best Airline in Africa” by Skytrax for its 12th consecutive year, SAA has also been awarded “Best Airline in Africa” and “Best Business Class to Africa” by Business Traveler.  

Johannesburg. 15 January 2015 – South African Airways (SAA) is proud to receive, once again, both “Best Airline in Africa” and “Best Business Class to Africa” awards from top US travel magazine, Business Traveler.  

Readers of the US-based magazine are world-class experts in the business of travel who know quality when they experience it.  South African Airways were selected among a variety of top travel products and services.  The awards were presented to SAA at a ceremony held at the Loews Hollywood Hotel in Hollywood, CA on 8 January 2015. This recognition comes on top of Skytrax naming SAA “Best Airline in Africa” for the 12th consecutive year.  

"It is a distinguished honour to receive these awards and we thank all Business Traveler’s readers who chose us as their favourite airline in Africa,” says Nico Bezuidenhout, SAA Acting Chief Executive.  

“This further demonstrates SAA’s commitment to excellence and reinforces our belief, in keeping with our Long-Term Turnaround Strategy, that an outstanding customer experience is what makes a great airline.”  

South African Airways offers the most flights from the U.S. to South Africa with daily non-stop service from New York-JFK Airport and daily direct service from Washington, DC-Dulles Airport to Johannesburg, South Africa.  

About South African Airways (SAA) South African Airways[Link to http://www.flysaa.com] (SAA) is the leading carrier in Africa, serving 57 destinations, in partnership with SA Express, SA Airlink and its low cost carrier, Mango, within South Africa and across the continent, and ten intercontinental routes from its Johannesburg hub. It is a member of the largest international airline network, Star Alliance. SAA’s core business is the provision of passenger airline and cargo transport services together with related services, which are provided through SAA and its wholly owned subsidiaries: SAA Technical; Mango its low cost carrier; and Air Chefs, the catering entity of SAA. SAA is the winner of the 'Best Airline in Africa’ Award in the regional category for twelve consecutive years and the winner of ‘Service Excellence Africa’ for three years. Mango and SAA hold the number one and number two successive spots as South Africa’s most on - time airlines.  

For more information contact:

SAA Group Tlali Tlali, Spokesperson (Manager: Media Relations)

Tel: +27 11 978 2298 082 333 3880

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

On the dawn of Youth Dynamix’s 15th year anniversary next month, we reflect on how the youth market has transformed in this short space of time and how marketers have had to adapt to survive.  

There’s no doubt, the marketing of goods and services have undergone a profound transformation over the past 15 years. Regulatory advances, new technologies and increasingly open global markets have all played their part in changing how the youth react and interact with products and services.  

The information conundrum….

Children and young adults are more significant forces in the marketplace now. But, while new technologies offer more access to information overall, many young consumers today lack the necessary skills to cope with the increasingly complex, information-intensive marketplaces they’re faced with.  

With many companies struggling to differentiate themselves in a highly competitive open market, they’re forced to bundle related products and offerings, making it difficult for consumers to compare them. As a result, young consumers have had to learn more about markets in order to make good decisions.  

“Show me, don’t tell me”

The youth’s ability and willingness to trade with a company depends on their level of confidence in it. That’s why it’s so important you don’t ignore brand activations. There are very few marketing activities as powerful as brand activations. This because they involve experiential, interactive, emotive and sustainable involvements with the brand. Overall, brand activations offer a more holistic view of the product and allow for an emotive connection with the brand – you cannot offer using new technologies alone.

Be sure to get the most out of your budget…

All engagement and communication campaigns developed by Youth Dynamix (YDx) include an element of measurability.  This gives you the assurance that you’ve met your ROI and have made a relevant impact in the market.   YDx is a youth & family specialist research and marketing agency.

To activate your brand in the youth market, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 071 551 8200.

www.ydx.co.za

Mobile devices are more than mere communication tools today. Globally, smartphones and tablets are now contributing to roughly 25% of the user traffic on eCommerce and travel websites. Sales through smartphones and tablets contribute to around 15% of the total online sales. With the rapid adoption of smart phones and tablets across the globe, these numbers can only go north.

Online sales through mobile devices as a percentage of the total online sales globally Challenges in Mobile Web Marketing Mobile marketing is relatively new and advertisers face several challenges to run an effective mobile marketing campaign. Some of them are:
• Advertiser's and Publisher's mobile presence is fragmented between mobile web and mobile apps.
• Identification of a user across mobile web and mobile app and messaging across these two channels.
• Identification of users across multiple devices (such as mobile, desktop) and messaging across channels.
• Patchy support to cookie and other tracking mechanisms on mobile browsers and apps.

How does it work:

1. While the user is on the advertiser mobile website, products like Vizury MobiConvert, records anonymous user behaviour such as products viewed, duration of visit, drop off page etc.

2. This user behaviour data is then used to create and display customised ads for the mobile user across mobile internet.

3. However, unlike desktop, mobile uses a different technology for banners- HTML5, the one that works across mobile devices.

The need to go mobile is more imminent today more than ever. Mobile has taken centre stage in your users' purchase cycle and it's time to go mobile! More on 'Shades of Mobile Retargeting' coming soon.

Learn more about Vizury MobiConvert and other products by Vizury at their stand at the eCommerce Africa Confex. This exciting 2-day conference and exhibition takes place on the 3rd-4th February 2015 at the Cape Town International Centre.

Register as a delegate or find out more about sponsor and exhibitor opportunities by contacting Kirsten Pow Chong on 021 180 4700 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Ornico Launches The Media Report 2014  

Sandton, South Africa – Wednesday 26 November 2014. Brand Intelligence™ and media research company, Ornico, today launched its second annual edition of The Media Report. Aimed at helping brands, marketers, media companies and advertising agencies better understand the forces that shape the sub-Saharan media sector, The Media Report 2014 is an electronic magazine available free for download from MarkLives.com or Ornico.co.za 

With over a hundred pages of insights on Africa’s media and research industry, The Media Report 2014 includes contributions from amongst South Africa’s most influential editors and advertising personalities. Gareth Cliff, SA’s ‘enfant terrible’ of radio, talks about streaming media and the reinvention he and his team effected with CliffCentral.com.  

Undoubtedly the most influential and powerful woman in the media in South Africa, former Editor-in-Chief of Huisgenoot, You and Drum, Esmaré Weideman – the CEO of Media24 – speaks about her responsibility for the commercial success of Africa’s largest publishing group, and talks about freedom of expression, advertising, independence and media monopoly. 

Other contributors include Chris Roper, Editor-in-Chief of the Mail & Guardian, who answers questions about editorial independence and honest information. Herman Manson, founder and editor of Marklives.com, talks about the marketing site’s investigative approach to trade media. Anton Harber, Adjunct Professor of Journalism, writes on the fine balance that delivers autonomy in newsrooms and enables journalists to produce more interesting, impactful and useful journalism. 

The Eyewitness News Editor-in-Chief, Katy Katopodis, answers 15 questions on her life, her values, the hurly-burly of daily news, and media independence. But that’s not all. Paulo Dias of Primedia Broadcasting explains the difference between technology and trust in radio, while Lyn Jones, Marketing Manager of Continental Outdoor Media, explores effective out of home advertising in Africa. 

The theme of The Media Report 2014 is independence. “Despite the fact that media independence and open information are the hallmarks of democracy, what we’re seeing is that there is an ongoing attack on media freedoms both in Africa and across the globe,” says Oresti Patricios, CEO of Ornico. 

“The most recent findings of the World Press Freedom Index, which is undertaken by Reporters Without Borders annually, shows that media freedom is on the decline on all continents,” bar Asia. “Africa is one of the biggest culprits and the freedom index indicates that when it comes to media transparency, this continent is in real trouble,” he says.

“Independent media is critical to Africa’s growth, not only because the press can be a watchdog that reports on abuses of power, but also because it educates and informs. Media independence is important to Africa because the media sector plays such an important role in economic growth and social development. Which is in part why we’ve invested resources in creating this media annual,” says Patricios, who adds that this media annual will become a permanent feature of SA’s publishing landscape.

 

Download your free copy The Media Report here: http://website.ornico.co.za/newsletters/  

 

-ends-

 

ABOUT ORNICO:

 

Ornico provides Reputation, Media and Brand Intelligence™ research across the African continent, making sense of the tsunami of brand, advertising and media information flooding the media space. By collecting and analysing media data and brand publicity across many media channels, Ornico helps put marketing decision makers in the know about the most important strategic decisions they'll ever make regarding their brands. Ornico employs a dedicated team of over 120 people in offices in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana, and has clients that include many of Africa's top companies.

 

Ornico - Know how. To grow.

 

CONTACTS: Oresti Patricios – CEO

 

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Twitter: @orestaki  

 

Mongezi Mtati – Marketing Manager

Call: 011 884 5041

Ornico Head Office: Tel: +27 11 884-5041

Fax: +27 11 783-6931

 

Twitter: @OrnicoMedia

 

Web: www.ornico.co.za

Johannesburg – After the major success of the previous Loyalty and Rewards Conferences, held in both Johannesburg and Cape Town, this event will tackle new and revamped topics, featuring highly distinguished marketing executives addressing the conference.     

It will be highlighting the most important aspects regarding loyalty programmes such as customer service, customer retention, partnerships, implementation, technology, branding and measuring programmes, the event will bring marketing and other professionals the opportunity to successfully introduce and maintain loyalty programmes.

Speakers include the following loyalty and rewards experts:

* Louis Raubenheimer,  Head: Rewards VAS Support/Enablement,  ABSA Rewards

* Prof Mornay Roberts-Lombard, Deputy HOD & Head of Masters and Doctoral studies, University of Johannesburg

* Jainita Khatri, Director, Prana Business Solutions

* Andries Noeth, Chief Marketing Officer, Consulta Research

* Ros Siddle, Marketing & Loyalty Research Manager, Truth

* Preneshen Munian, Agency Director, TLC Marketing

* Magriet Leaper, Director, Voila Travel

* Paul Lange, Executive Director, WoW Marketing

* Deon Olivier, Executive Director, ValueplusNettwork

* Nick Evans,  Head of Digital & Rewards, Global Choices 

* Jide Kola-Banjo, EasyLoyalty

The conference and open-space exhibition will be held at Focus Rooms, Sunninghill, Johannesburg on 11 and 12 June 2014. To register please contact project manager Sian Wirth, on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 011 703 1553 to find out more about exhibiting and marketing deals.

{pp}Qeep and ZestADZ have signed an extensive partnership for mobile advertising in South Africa