Mandy de Waal's Blog

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Patriot games

The World Cup dream has arrived, but don't forget to return to the hard work of fighting corruption and nation building when the world packs up and goes home.

"I gotta feeling that tonight's gonna be a good night

That tonight's gonna be a good night

That tonight's gonna be a good good night"

Orlando Stadium in Soweto is rocking as The Black Eyed Peas infuse the crowd with Fifa fever for the opening ceremony of the 2010 Soccer World Cup. A beaming Fifa President Sepp Blatter and South African President Jacob Zuma were on the stage earlier, and soon the show will give way to Freshly Ground and Shakira singing “Waka Waka (this Time for Africa)”.

The flags, painted faces, open smiles and euphoria is reminiscent of 1995, South Africa's halcyon 'rainbow nation' days when SA's rugby captain Francois Pienaar and then President Nelson Mandela held the Rugby World Cup high in the air and our nation rejoiced. A pivotal moment that later became a book, and then a movie directed by Clint Eastwood; that memory of unity was deeply etched into South Africa's collective consciousness.

Small wonder then that current President Jacob Zuma dedicated the World Cup to Mandela. The 91-year-old elder statesman was pivotal in bringing Fifa's shindig to South Africa, but more so, he embodies a more carefree, hopeful, and less troubled time.

Bruised rainbow nation
It's been a difficult few years. From Polokwane to Zuma's election as president; to our first recession in 17 years; to the violent service delivery protests; to Malema; to Chancellor House; to the rolling electricity blackouts; to the murder of Eugene Terre'Blanche; back to Malema and the realisation that we are a nation divided with deep racial wounds; to strikes, more strikes and the threats of strikes; to corruption scandal after corruption scandal after corruption scandal.

Like a battered wife reeling from all those beatings and desperately hoping for a better life, the World Cup has come right on cue, offering a dream that is all too easy to believe in. It is the romance of the game, the seduction of being in the global view, of the world's celebrities landing at OR Tambo and kissing the African earth they call home. It is the advertisement that the 2010 Soccer World Cup unites us all under the banner of 1 Goal – the promise of delivering education for all in Africa. It is the dream that the 2010 Soccer World Cup will make South Africa a better nation. After all, it is our time, or as the song goes, “this time for Africa”.

The extent of the euphoria experienced by South Africa as the games begin is significant, but it speaks eloquently to our desperation to divert our gaze from government's lack of service delivery, mismanagement, greed and corruption. We have had such a hard time of it lately that we desperately need to let go, to party, to forget our collective troubles.

Sweet dreams
As Desmond Tutu said elatedly when he stepped towards the microphone at Orlando Stadium to speak at the opening concert before the kick off: “Can you feel it – can you touch it? It is unbelievable man. Wake me up, wake me up. What a lovely dream.” The World Cup has come right on cue, offering a dream that is all too easy to believe in.

Tutu has hit the nail on the head. The 2010 Soccer World Cup is a dream. It is a moment of fantasy that we can all retreat into for a brief period of time to escape the Selebi trial; the fact that the ANC Youth League is trying to make the Western Cape ungovernable; that the Blue IQ directors were milking the system blind; that we have a government that refuses to hold the criminal and unethical accountable for their actions.

It is a dream, and like all dreams it is not based on reality. Like all dreams, it will exist for a short period of time during which we will be able to get lost in it, until we have to wake up. And the end point of this dream will be the final whistle, and the world will pack up and go home.

That's when we'll be nursing a collective headache and will have to return to reality. That's when we'll realise that the benefit of the 2010 Soccer World Cup wasn't as widespread as we'd hope it would be.

It will also be about the time the Mail & Guardian will receive 1 700 arch lever files of tender documents that have until now been kept under lock and key by the Soccer World Cup Local Organising Committee (LOC). The Mail & Guardian recently won a legal battle to get access to the LOC's tender documents, and as the final games are being played, the investigative paper will likely be poring over the documents to uncover who tenders were awarded to, who the ultimate beneficiaries of those tenders were, and whether there was an impropriety with the tender process.

Given South Africa's corruption climate and Fifa's tarnished track record, it's likely that 2010 corruption stories will flow thick and fast after the end whistle, and many of these obviously will be broken by the Mail & Guardian.

So while it's fine to feel the Fifa fever, know that it's delusion and that a time will come to wake up and get back to the reality that is South Africa – the hard work of trying to make government accountable, and of fighting greed and corruption.

While we watch and get lost in the beautiful game, let's not completely take our eye off the ball.

Opinion editorial originally written for ITWeb.

The new world according to Dave Duarte

Never mind Raymond, the real truth is that everyone loves Dave Duarte. Rated as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Media and Advertising people in South Africa by Jeremy Maggs in “The Annual”, Duarte has just been appointed by advertising giant Ogilvy to integrate digital into the heart of the agency. This directive will realise the Ogilvy Digital Marketing Academy to ensure that Ogilvy “throbs with the pulse of social media”, as Duarte puts it.

What's unique about Duarte is his ability to straddle two worlds. At UCT's Graduate School of Business, he's the director of two executive education programmes driven by the need to decode social media, called Nomadic Marketing and Mobile Marketing. He's also the brains behind the consulting intelligence collective Huddlemind, public lead for Creative Commons South Africa and the co-founder of 27 Dinners and Muti.

Duarte's approach at the school of business is to use the space as pause for reflection and a place for engaging people who've excelled in business. “It's about sharing epic successes and failures, not for delving into academia. As academics, what we should do is facilitate expert business perspective rather than lecturing or telling. Like good coaching, the answers come from the practitioners and from the critical necessity for business to innovate, not from dry academic tomes.”

Sharing knowledge & experience

What's exciting is that this knowledge isn't being harboured by the business elite, but shared with emerging communities of learning. Through Duarte's role as Dean of the Digital Media Faculty at The Maharishi Institute of Management, best practice can be fed into the development of young minds previously denied access to social media smarts through bandwidth deprivation or economic circumstance. A Taddy Blecher inspired free university, the institute enables eager minds from impoverished communities to learn how to use social media to buoy start-ups, or how to create a viable business using social networks.

This is in line with Duarte's belief that social media is a radically transformative technology that is forcing a whole new way of working or being an entrepreneur. His belief is that the real work is for businesses to come to terms with it. “This is the first time in history that we have a medium that enables many-to-many connections, and it makes no sense to ignore this enhancement in communication. This isn't academes; it is fact. Think of it like this. If all our communication was face-to-face in the past, and then the telephone was invented and enabled remote speaking, wouldn't it make sense to use the telephone? Social media is the same level of revolution or evolution.”

Historic moment

This is the first time in history that we have a medium that enables many-to-many connections, and it makes no sense to ignore this enhancement in communication.
According to Duarte, globalisation is the bastard that's causing all the problems by demanding that locals innovate, muck in and get to grips with the revolution. “Globalisation brings more players in the market, increases competition, and drives the need for innovation. Instead of operating in a limited pool, 2010 has hurtled South Africa into a global marketplace. 2010 has presented a rare moment for the world to see our value, to drive investment to this country and to create opportunities for growth. This will be an event that will radically disrupt the South African marketplace.”

And the world, of course, communicates through social media. Ford is already spending 25% of its marketing budget on social media, and is one of the few US car companies that didn't need to be bailed out by the US government. When Ford launched the Fiesta in April 2009, it didn't hand a bunch of new models to journalists, but took a hell of a gamble by getting 100 ordinary online 'Joes' to tweet, blog and Facebook the experience.

“What brands and companies are coming to terms with is that people are no longer consumers to manipulate. They are people who demand authentic conversations. That the best way to reach these people is to communicate through social media in experiments of mass collaboration.” Duarte says the current consumer mood is about trust, transparency, long-term relationships, choice and alternatives. “Choice makes manipulation difficult if not impossible. Then the declarative nature of social media means people are publishers, so brands and companies can get away with a lot less than they used to.”

Let's collaborate

The biggest mistake companies are making is to view social networks as crisis response vehicles. “If you have a disaster and choose to be absent, consumers will work on assumptions, and populate social networks with these untruths. Then there's the release of built-up rage and the perpetuation of the thought that companies don't care. Being there quells the frustration. But social media shouldn't be seen as a crisis response channel. It should rather be seen as a means for collaboration to break down the barriers between consumers and the company.” Duarte says the net affect of these conversations is the creation of a whole new way of working, where new levels of respect for people are put into place.

Then don't be misled by thinking you can wait on the sidelines, because South Africa typically lags in terms of technology trends. Duarte says what business needs to consider is the 1/9/90 rule. “Only 1% of our community are active creators. Nine percent comment. And 90% are spectators. This means there is a small percentage of people who influence large online sectors. The power of social media lies with that top tranche of influencers, who have a lot of power concentrated in their hands. They are the advocates and influencers.”

The idea of advocates and influencers is nothing new in marketing, and the challenge in marketing now is for advertising managers and brand owners to understand how to influence the influencers. “It's about understanding the influence. The top 10 trafficked sites in South Africa are all user-generated content and include Facebook, Google and Gumtree. Then what's astounding is the power of Mxit, which is becoming a clear leader and is taking over from Google and Facebook in terms of local traffic.”

Internally, what's crucial for business to understand is how social media is creating new pockets of influence in worlds of work. “People who wield the power within an organisation are not necessarily those who wield the most influence,” says Duarte, who cites Dr Karen Stephenson. A corporate anthropologist, Stephenson is recognised as a "leader in the growing field of social network business consultants". In 2007, she was one of only three females recognised from a distinguished shortlist of 55 in Random House's Guide to the Management Gurus.

“Stephenson's work shows us that organised social media enables companies to identify and then influence key points of informal power. Within large organisations, these include social media role players who are 'gatekeepers' in that they control access to information or key points; 'hubs' who are the super connectors in businesses; and 'pulse takers' through whom one can get a strong sense of the general vibe or mood of an organisation.”

Back in power

Duarte maintains that if organisations are able to identify and influence these groups, then business will wield more authority, enjoy more credibility and retain some 'say so' in informal structures of influence. “These are informal, unpaid roles. Giving these key groups access to information could help business in amplifying messages or identifying emerging power players or groups that could aid their cause.

“A lot of the social interaction that happens around work isn't paid for; it isn't about monetary rewards, rather it is all about status and social currency.” Duarte advocates giving these communities or individuals special insights and nurturing them to stimulate innovation and drive change, rather than just ignoring them.

“This is where technology maps onto the real. With social media you can map relationships, social growth, and social networks. This is a key trend emerging in the use of social media internally, and understanding the more human and social aspects of business,” says Duarte.

Who are the local business leaders when it comes to social media? Duarte says Old Mutual represents one establishment that 'gets it'. “Old Mutual is engaging at a sincere level by getting some of the smartest minds to map out a systems approach that will drive organisational change through social media,” says Duarte. Think of it this way. Communication becomes increasingly difficult in a highly fragmented organisation, but social media offers new clues and paradigms for engagement.

“Old Mutual launched its new credit card with a major social media push. There was significant innovation in the way it communicated around the budget address in Parliament, which merged the use of Twitter with crowd sourcing. The result was a very engaging, collaborative and participative effort that repositioned financial planning as a lifestyle, not just insurance.”

Duarte says what's different about social media in 2010 is that business is taking it seriously for the first time. “We've been talking social media for a while, and it's been through the Gartner hype cycle, which speaks to hype, disillusionment, plateau and productivity. Yes, people are wary of technology fresh off a hype cycle, but they've watched pioneers riding the wave and getting benefit, and are now prepared to engage.” Social networks have arrived in the world of business by delivering real benefit.

*Have you seen our client's new blog?

*AKA: The Buzz Saw Slices into (rhymes with anecdotal but has only two syllables) Media... "Mmmmeeeeeeeooooooooowww!"

Ah. Just imagine THE SCENE: A chi chi office some where in the shadow of Table Mountain.

THE PLAYERS: Account executives scratching their heads about how to rationalise the big budget the client is paying for their services.

PR1: "Um. Laaaaik. Sheesh. Um."

PR2: "Cough. Cough."

PR3: "Why don't we just make them a blag site?"

PR1: "Nooit. Like a dinkum, full on interactive blag? Man, that's like revolutionary!"

PR2: "Holy shit PR3... a blag launch release could mean at least 20 billable hours."

PR3: "And we could charge them for creating and maintaining the blag at Wordpress.com."

PR1: "Nooit. You're a friggin' genius. We can now call ourselves us social networking media blagging experts and afford that holiday in Plett."

THE PUNCHLINE: The release. Below. Hold the presses folks...

PRESS RELEASE - BLOG SUSTAINS OUT OF HOME ADVERTISING CONVERSATION

Cape Town, 26 October 2009: Advertising professionals need to be on top of their game by being kept strategically informed on the likes of trends, tips and global campaigns in out of home advertising. xxxxxxxxxxx South Africa have done this with their interactive blog, www.oohsa.co.za , that not only inspires creative professionals by showcasing their latest work but gives insights to consumer responses to many of the 500 types of out of home advertising methods used in South Africa. 

Consumers spend over half of their days away from their homes according to OCS, the recent out of home consumer survey, thus entrenching the importance of out of home advertising, especially when it comes to getting it right first time.

“Much has been written about out of home advertising but the industry is dynamic and is constantly evolving,” said Ms Isigntheretainercheques Client, Managing Director, xxxxxxxxxxx South Africa, “Social media is a platform that everyone is using as a communication stream and this is by far the best source of current information that everyone can rely on. Our out of home advertising blog is an area where knowledge and learnings (sic) can be shared between marketing professionals.”

xxxxxxxxxxx South Africa is the leader in OOH in the country and has uniquely developed tools that add insight and value to the OOH industry. OOH includes billboards, digital networks, commuter media, brand activation, point of sale and sampling amongst others. It excludes TV, radio, print, online and cinema.

- ends -

For more information contact: PR1, PR2 or or PR 3 at rhymes with anecdotal but has only two syllables)Media.

Notes to Editors [MdW comment. Wow guys. You gotta love that optimisim. You really think a newspaper editor will read this far?]. xxxxxxxxxxx is the world’s largest out-of-home communications agency, with offices in 21 countries.  As a division of Xxxx Group PLC, the world’s leading marketing communications group, xxxxxxxxxxx is at the vanguard of cutting edge developments in out-of-home (OOH) such as digital, interactivity and experiential. In South Africa, xxxxxxxxxxx’s mission is to grow OOH to 10% market share of total advertising spend in the next 5 years (currently sitting at 4.6%). At present, the company has approximately 20% of South Africa’s OOH spend under its management, positioning xxxxxxxxxxx as an influential leader in this fast growing category. By helping clients understand what consumers are thinking and how they are spending their time, and by enabling them to communicate with consumers at the right moments and in the best way, xxxxxxxxxxx leads the way in enhancing the effectiveness of campaigns and increasing the media value that advertisers achieve. Furthermore, xxxxxxxxxxx has developed PRISM Benchmark, Forecast and Creative, a proprietary set of tools that ensures that xxxxxxxxxxx delivers the best price against tracked market movements gaining further advantage for their clients, whilst allowing them the opportunity of seeing their “Creative Design” in situ, pre-campaign. No one in this sector offers greater accountability than xxxxxxxxxxx.

Ms Isigntheretainercheques Client – Managing Director: Ms I. Client has unsurpassed experience and expertise in the marketing, advertising and media industries in South Africa. In 2003 she founded xxxxxxxxxxx – South Africa’s Out of Home communications agency – which she later sold to Xxxx, who own xxxxxxxxxxxe. Following xxxxxxxxxxx’s conversion to xxxxxxxxxxx South Africa, Isigntheretainercheques maintained her helm as the Managing Director. Prior to this, she was a founding partner in Big Name Agency (South Africa’s most successful strategy agency). Isigntheretainercheques’ other achievements include running the XYZ Media School in Cape Town, the role of Media Director of Another Big Name Agency South Africa, and the Head of Strategy for Biggest Name Agency Cape Town. Ms Client has continuously shown exceptional abilities as a leader in the OOH sector of the media industry and as one of South Africa’s top businesswomen, receiving numerous awards, which have further entrenched her prominence in the media/advertising trade.

Pooosh (brand = whoosh)

A new player threw their hat into the mobile instant messaging market (MIM) this week. Called Pooosh (yes that's no typo, it's a triple-o) the new brand seeks to muscle into territory firmly held by heavyweights MXit. Other players include MeeP and Nok-Nok.

Lessons from this launch? If you don't have first mover advantage you need a strong differentiator. You can learn from the first movers, so if you want to erode their market share you've got to give consumers a compelling reason to move. This can include clever branding, product innovation, better apps and technology. Price isn't a differentiator because it's so easily replicated. Pooosh made their first mistake by positioning on price (Talk is Cheap!). Although they have a distinctive, natty brand they haven't used their brand palate to full advantage on their site. Because of this their Web presence (like their offering) isn't clearly differentiated from competitors. Another mistake is the obvious absence of the Poosh brand on the site. The logo and the easy 4-step guide to using Poosh is hidden away at the bottom right hand side of the site, cut off in both my IE and FireFox browsers. If I didn't make an effort to scroll down I'd have missed the branding and quick "how to" guide completely. That's easy to fix, finding a strong and compelling reason for consumers to switch from MXit will be a lot tougher.

GTA4 Kicks Marketing Ass

Take a look around the office this morning. The people keeping their eyes open with matchsticks have probably been playing Grand Theft Auto Four (GTA4) through the night. Recently released, everyone from techies, new media pundits, programmers, business analysts, die hard gamers and CEOs were using Twitter, Facebook and other forums to find out where to get the block buster game during the game's block buster launch.

Whether you're an addict or think GTA4 is a violent moral travesty is irrelevant. The bottom line is that the launch of GTA4 was the biggest event in gaming history and could teach brands interesting lessons about publicity, pop culture, customer conversations and viral marketing. The hype machine that propelled GTA4 sales into overdrive, has realised a pleasing share price hike for Take-Two Interactive Software, the Nasdaq-listed company that publishes GTA under its subsidiary label Rockstar Games.

The big tease
Gaming is an addiction, and it appears nobody knows gamers better than Take-Two. What did it do in the run-up to the release of the most sought-after game of the century? Tease. Entice. Tantalise its market with the smell of the sizzle but not the steak.

The marketers at GTA were incredibly smart about putting out all the hype but none of the game detail. Gamers were teased with trailers, screen shots, viral posters, monstrous billboards and masses of media coverage.

Yet when D-Day arrived, gamers weren't any the wiser about the missions or game play. A very different approach to other big game title launches where gamers felt they already knew part or much of the play by the time the title hit the shelves.

The big tease is paying off for Take-Two, resulting in a huge rush by pundits to discover and experience the game first hand.

Hyper-drive marketing
Feminists campaigning the title, and Mothers Against Drunken Driving lobbying against the sale of the game, just add fuel to the media fire that sells, sells, sells. The extent of the GTA marketing campaign is massive and has been cleverly layered to take the conversation to the streets so that the media, gamers and other social influencers drive huge word of mouth. Classic marketing met ‘Clue Train' to engage communities in controversy, debate, reviews and a dynamic conversation about GTA.

People are talking GTA because of the clever use of wanted posters on New York street poles, the Chicago banning of public transport ads and that incredibly funny parody Dave Chappelle did on GTA. Chappelle is a US stand-up comedian, satirist, actor, writer, and television/film producer with huge street cred. He's a force to be reckoned with in American pop culture.

This makes a keen statement to marketers about understanding the juncture of branding, culture, media and Web 2.0. Once you're a credible part of pop culture, you've got it made.

All publicity is good publicity
Do yourself a favour and search the Google news for “GTA4”. The extent of the publicity is ridiculous, with thousands upon thousands of headlines ranging from reviews, controversy about the game's morality, the Take-Two/Chicago lawsuit, to demands for an adult name rating. That's not even considering citizen journalism and blogging where a headline search yields results that go into the millions.

Because of the nature of the brand, all publicity is good publicity for GTA. The more notorious the game, the more gamers and fans want to play it. That's because it's an interactive experience predicated on archetypal societal issues, with a strong narrative and cultural kudos.

In short, the game story is centred on Niko Bellic, an immigrant from Eastern Europe in search of the quintessential American dream. Obviously the game starts with him at the bottom rung of society and, of course, he has to be a bad ass to become a somebody.

Bad to the bone
It's a Soprano-styled story line that drives committing wanton acts of violence, paying for sexual encounters, driving under the influence, transporting drugs, jacking cars and generally causing mayhem. The game is all about notoriety. Doing what you'd never do in real life.

From a psychological perspective, it's about exploring the shadow element of the psyche. From a brand perspective, this means the more ‘bad ass' the game is, the more the target audience wants to own it. If that hausfrau of presidential candidate, Hilary Clinton, gets on her high horse, it just adds to the game's kudos.

Feminists campaigning the title, and Mothers Against Drunken Driving (MADD) lobbying against the sale of the game, just add fuel to the media fire that sells, sells, sells. In the case of GTA, every column inch, media broadcast and each new blog adds to the hype that's busy building the bottom line.

The bottom line
And what a bottom line it is. The launch week saw GTA4 becoming the biggest selling game in history, beating gaming sales records in the US and UK. And Microsoft believes its exclusive GTA4 content deal will make Xbox king of the consoles.

During a recent interview, Aaron Greenberg, director of product management for Xbox, claimed Microsoft was already outselling PS3 by a margin of two to one.

What does this mean for marketers? There are interesting lessons to be learnt from GTA4's phenomenal success. In short the takeaways:

• Produce a killer product.
• Get the fact that product marketing's part story.
• Know your audience and connect with your audience through their choice of medium.
• Understand that you don't own the brand.
• Respect that popular culture is a market driver.
• Engage in a conversation that drives word of mouth.
• Match the size of your marketing muscle with big ideas.