IVAN ZIMMERMANN IN GONDER, ETHIOPIA – 3000km down, 9000km more to go!
Tonya Khoury, the MD of media monitoring company, ROi Africa, is happy to update you on the progress actor, Ivan Zimmermann, has made on the 12 000 km Tour d’Afrique.
“Yesterday it was one month since Ivan departed from Cairo on the Tour d’Afrique to raise 12 000 tins of food for Can-a-Kilo,” she says. “Ivan is set to arrive in Cape Town on 9 May as part of the Leaders Never Quit campaign, which is supported by ROi Africa, the South African Institute for Chartered Accountants (SAICA) and Sage Pastel,” she adds.
Ivan said yesterday, “I arrived two days ago in Gonder, Ethiopia, as a broken man. The first shower I had in eight days could not wash away any weary emotions. It could only wash away the dirt from my sticky skin. I have now covered more than 3 000km of the 12 000km journey and so far I happen to be in third place overall.”
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, a dream that has become a reality. A dream that will test me to my limits, but also a dream that will show the world that leaders never quit,” adds Ivan.
Ivan will be available for interviews on the following days:
12 Feb: Bahir Dar (Ethiopia)
18-19 Feb: Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)
25 Feb: Yabelo (Ethiopia)
2 Mar: Marsabit (Kenya)
8 Mar: Nairobi (Kenya)
11-13 Mar: Arusha (Tanzania)
21 Mar: Mbeya
24 Mar: Chitimba Beach
To book an interview, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / 012-643 0436.
For more information on Ivan’s quest, go to www.ivanzimmermann.com.
Tins can also be donated to Can-a-Kilo tab on Ivan's website.
NAME: Tonya Khoury
E-MAIL: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
CELL: 073 874 5377
WEBSITE: www.roiafrica.com
TWITTER: @tonyaroi / @roiafrica
FACEBOOK: /roiafrica
AVE and the Consumers turning against You – How do you measure the ‘damage’?
South African consumers, business people and politicians are standing in disbelief as two major South African business brands count the costs of underestimating the plight of the consumer. Contrary to popular personalities like Julius Malema and Steve Hofmeyr who have both had their fair share of negative publicity, but whose popularity seems largely unaffected, one can attempt only predict what the effect of the Cell-C billboard, Chester Missing on Steve Hofmeyr and the Woolworths boycotts will be.
The Woolworths boycott case has been reported on extensively in print, online, radio, television and social media. Social media for the Woolworths boycott accounts for 85% of the media attention.
If one removes social media from the equation, online news accounted for 42% of the press and broadcast a massive 40% for the Boycott Woolworths Campaign over the past month. The biggest peak was on 19 November and can be attributed to the shareholders supporting the boycott and the endorsement by Cosatu.
“This sounds very impressive,” says Tonya Khoury, MD of Media Monitoring and Intelligence Company, ROi Africa. “But the pressing issue at hand is how do we measure the real effect the publicity had on the brand image? This is an issue that has been widely contested in global PR circles, but no definite conclusion has ever been reached. One thing that authoritative bodies like PRISA (Public Relations Institute) agree on is that the traditional measurement using advertising value equivalent (AVE) might not be the most effective way in measuring media publicity,” she says.
Due to a lack of a definite alternative, the majority of public relations practitioners use the Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE) measurement method regardless of its lack of support by the authorities. This measure compares the cost of a paid advertisement with the same amount of space or airtime of an unpaid publicity item. Says Khoury: “Ironically, the ‘value’ of AVE is widely recognised as unreliable and invalid but many people still use it. It’s because they need to attribute a rand value to media coverage.”
With diminishing advertising prices and hard earned content, AVE has often resulted in exaggerations due with the use of multiplier factors based on prominence, image impact, prestige of the media channel and other criteria.
This aside though, markets have become increasingly unsure about how to add a rand value to the successful minimisation of negative publicity or bad news. “One cannot say that the fact that a clever PR strategy kept a brand out of the negative media spotlight is worthless in rand terms,” Khoury says.
“My stance on AVE: it is rubbish! It also does not take into consideration the monitoring of social media, which is an issue in itself. Social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc. are overflowing with new users that interact with and follow brand profiles. Just think what the Oscar Pistorius Trial would have been without Twitter! There are so many more reasons why AVE is absolutely pointless, let’s take some examples from the case studies we’ve been doing:
The Sunday Times published an article about Woolworths titled “Humble Pie for ‘arrogant’ Woolies” The article appeared on page 9 of the main body of the publication in black and white, resulting in an AVE of just under R80k – is it true to say that R80k is the level of damage the article made to Woolworths? Is it true to say that if Woolworths had managed to keep this article out of the press it was worth an extra R80k in advertising toward Woolworths? What exactly does R80k for the article mean? Nothing!
Social Media has been the primary vehicle for #boycottwoolworths, as there is no accurate measurement in terms of Rands for Twitter. Are we as a market saying that the hashtag campaign was worth no money at all? I believe Woolworths would beg to differ as would BDS SA.”
ROi Africa believes that each medium needs its own best measure and a host of other metrics that can ascertain the success or failure of your PR
Khoury adds, “Changing the Public Relations industry’s perception is more than a tough task and for that reason ROi Africa still offers AVE, and actually we offer rands and cents measurement on all media including social. We do, however, hope that the market will move to global measurement over time. We are using Source Rank, Moz Rank, Target Sections, Circulations, traffic and so much more than AVE to measure thus giving the brand a more accurate view of what the actual publicity value truly was.”
Oscar Wilde said “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about” and in some instances that is true. There is also positive bottom line value in some negative press. “Julius Malema is one controversial figure in the media space and he draws on negative qualities like fierce temperaments, controversial statements and much more and it works. Media loves Juju, that’s a fact. At ROi Africa we have often seen our charts and analytics painted EFF Red because of clever and largely negative PR.”
But how would you measure your PR? And that of your brand? This is a question we need to find an answer to, especially if the consumers turn against you or your brand. Not everybody is a Juju or a Steve Hofmeyr.
Website: www.roiafrica.com
SPUR FOUNDATION TOY DRIVE: THE SEASON OF GIVING
The festive season is the season for giving, while spending time with family, enjoying ample entertainment and receiving gifts galore. The sad thing is that there are so many children who will not be receiving gifts or love this festive season. In the spirit of generosity and the fact that children are such a huge focus of the Spur Group, Spur Foundation is coordinating a national toy collection drive to put a smile on some underprivileged children’s faces.
Between 1 December 2014 and 16 January 2015 collection boxes for new and pre-loved toys will be available at all Spur, John Dory’s and Panarottis restaurants countrywide. These boxes will be allocated to a Spur Foundation beneficiary per province. The beneficiaries are:
- Gauteng: ASHA Trust: A South African NGO that establishes and supports formal and home-based early childhood centres in economically challenged communities by providing daily pre-school care, meals and educational stimulation for less-fortunate children aged 2–6.
- Western Cape:
- Durbanville Children’s Home: A home providing a safe haven for children who have suffered from physical and emotional abuse.
- Umnqophiso Pre-primary: A nursery school and aftercare centre in the disadvantaged community of Lwandle in the Strand.
- House of Grace: Place of safety for abandoned and abused children who have been through tremendous hardship and previous neglect.
- KwaZulu-Natal: Durban Children’s Home: A home providing love, care and shelter to abandoned, neglected and orphaned children throughout KwaZulu-Natal since 1905.
- Free State: Botshelo Centre: A centre aimed to prevent HIV infection and distribute information relating to HIV/Aids.
- Eastern Cape: Inn Safe Hands: A safe-house and foster home that cares for vulnerable children brought to us from abused, abandoned or molestation backgrounds.
Spur Foundation runs this campaign on an annual basis, due to their commitment to the welfare of children in South Africa. The Toy Drive, supported by CourierIT, Longstreet Media and Nampak, collected 77 boxes filled with toys in the 2013 period.
“According to a 2014 National Adoption Coalition Report, there are 18.5 million children in South Africa. Orphans are estimated at about 5.2 million children. Over 13 000 live in residential care facilities and an estimated 10 000 live on the streets of South Africa. And that excludes the children that are with their families, but in such dire circumstances where they cannot afford basic necessities, never mind toys,” says Ronel van Dijk, Chairperson of the Spur Foundation.
The Spur Foundation was founded on Mandela Day in 2012, with an initial R670 000 donation from the Spur Group. Spur’s value of generosity and focus on family will be carried through to the Foundation’s various initiatives throughout the year, which are committed to Nourish, Nurture, Now!
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
NAME: Ronel van Dijk, Chairperson of the Spur Foundation and Chief Financial Officer of Spur Corporation Limited
TEL: 021-5555100
E-MAIL: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
WEBSITE: http://www.spurfoundation.co.za
TWITTER: @SpurRestaurant #SpurToyDrive #PanasToyDrive #JDsToyDrive
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/SpurSteakRanches
ROI Africa ‘pick of the crop’ on Drupal
One of South Africa’s foremost media intelligence service providers, ROiAfrica’s website www.roiafrica.com has just been listed on the Drupal Site, as “Editor’s Pick” for the ‘best looking” sites.
ROi Africa’s site was developed by Adappt UK, headed up by Jon Antony, combining technical expertise, creativity and passion. ROi Africa is a unique company with a unique site, which can inspire innovative use of the Drupal technology.
According to ROi Africa Managing Director, Tonya Khoury, “The ROi Africa site was developed specifically to drive traffic to start a sales conversation, but also to showcase the ability of the smart technology we provide.”
“We are honoured to be showcased by Drupal, and more importantly we are delighted at the ease of Drupal’s functionality to keep our content fresh and relevant,” she adds. Drupal, an open source content management platform, powers millions of websites and applications worldwide. Drupal is used as a back-end framework of at least 2.1% of sites worldwide.
Drupal allows non-technical users to add and edit content without knowing anything about web design. This is perfect for an organisation, like ROi Africa, which operates in the media industry, and need to constantly update their site to link back to main news and social media items.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
NAME: Tonya Khoury
TEL: 073 874 5377
E-MAIL: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
TWITTER: @tonyaroi / @roiafrica
FACEBOOK: /roiafrica
WEBSITE: www.roiafrica.com
A Teacher Changed My Life - NEW BOOK
Darren August takes us through a few of the experiences and relationships with his own teachers, growing up, which changed his life. He retells the stories of others too, and will surely awaken your school memories. As an experienced motivator, the book leaves not only teachers encouraged to inspire others, but everyone else will feel inspired to reach their potential and live their calling too.
This book offers a few giggles as we see things from the perspective of a child, but is mostly introspective of the role we play in the way in which children perceive themselves. Teachers and parents will find it particularly motivating – with practical ways you could change young lives, for good.
This book is a great resource. It’s a celebration of teachers, as instrumental parts of society – it will definitely have you thinking of the teachers that have impacted your life. Scheduled for release in October 2014 – this book is set to motivate every South African reader to once again restore the dignity of ‘The Noblest Profession”.
About the Author
Darren August is the Founder and CEO of Dazz Consulting – A dynamic training organisation committed to seeing people thrive and succeed.He is a Corporate Trainer, Motivational Speaker, Life Coach, Entrepreneur, Radio Host & former Lecturer.He is passionate about Life; People and Education and together with his wife – Arlene, they believe in maximizing every opportunity to impact the lives of others.
To order, for interview requests and other queries, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
