While 2007 was one of the most exciting years in the online marketing space internationally, I’ve been wondering what 2008 will hold in store for South Africa. Here are a few of my thoughts on what we can expect: 1. Watch out for Google South Africa. A local Google office will open in February 2008 […]
Media
Posted inLifestyle, Media, News/Politics, Sport
Generalisations of the year
Everybody knows generalisations are the heartbeat of truth. Leonard Cohen, the greatest living poet, said: “Everybody knows the dice are loaded, everybody rolls with their fingers crossed, everybody knows that the war is over, everybody knows that the good guys lost.” So the panel of pundits at TopEditor have put together the generalisations of 2007 […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
How to sell your soul in 10 easy steps
Assume I have no conscience or any morals. Assume I have a legitimately registered company or CC with hefty overdraft facilities. Here I am in South Africa just ready to make a buck from those most gullible of consumers — the worried (but wealthy) well, the health and wellness neurotics, the painted, dyed and cosmetic-dependent […]
Posted inMedia
With Facebook you get without asking
When a snot-nosed and wet-behind-the-ears 23-year-old tells the world at a media junket how the advertising industry needs to listen to him, you wonder what authority he has to do that. His grand message is that “the next hundred years will be different for advertising, and it starts today”.
Posted inBusiness, Media
An original idea? Beaten to it by 600 years
My friend Mike and I have been working on a plan for a new product. Mike likes to look me in the eye and say: “Arthur, we are not geniuses.” This is his way of reminding me that we need to get a move on, because somewhere, someone else has already thought of the same […]
Posted inMedia
Need a sticky marketing idea? Try offending someone
For many of us small-business owners, marketing is the hardest part of the job. At EBW, we’ve learned the hard way that none of our four members are much good at it. We’ve taken to hiring freelance publicists project by project, which is fine, though we’re yet to generate the kind of social epidemic we […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Zuma memes
In the US coverage of President Thabo Mbeki, you constantly bump into words such as “aloof”, “technocratic”, “professorial” and, with regard to Aids in particular, “eccentric”. These are strands of the DNA of the dominant memes about him over here. Jacob Zuma’s memes are still in flux, which means he still has some control over […]
Posted inMedia
Polokwane viewed from Washington
What does Jacob Zuma’s election as president of the ANC do for South Africa’s overall image in the United States? At first blush the answer has to be: “Not a lot.” The things he said at his rape trial, the machine-gun song and the possibility of him still being tried for corruption all figured prominently […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Hardcore music in the house
On Friday night I had the good fortune to attend a Brighton production of Handel’s Messiah. Subsequently I discovered that this is a customary event in the UK with a multitude of performances of the Messiah all over the country. It seems a strange bit of music to have such pride of place just before […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
World puzzled by support for Zuma
While South Africans anxiously await the beginning of Polokwane to see who will come out tops — Mbeki or Zuma — the rest of the world equally holds its breath. Especially the African continent is concerned about the outcome of the presidential battle. African countries know too well that their own political (and economical) fate […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, Tech
The cause of the Web 2.0 bubble
Web techies are lazy when it comes to considering the business aspects of their latest Web 2.0 ideas. They spend even less time developing creative revenue models when they see that web businesses with little real revenue can be valued at $15-billion. When Adwords, Google’s paid search-engine advertising program, launched at the beginning of 2003, […]
Posted inMedia
Editor’s choice
After the previous post on reporters’ mistakes, Tash Joseph dared me to file a post about slip-ups I have made in the editor’s chair. Editors making mistakes? Never. OK, this is an expensive blunder I made during my first month as Grocott’s editor. I could hear the presses whirring. I could smell the ink. As […]