T
he Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) of
South Africa, formerly the DMMA, has col-
laborated with the AAA School of Advertising
to develop and offer the most comprehensive ac-
credited Digital Media Marketing course available
to South African digital marketing professionals
and students.
This part-time course includes 30 intensive,
two-hour lectures held at the Johannesburg cam-
pus of the AAA School of Advertising from the 21
July 2014 to the 1 November 2014. Top profes-
sionals in the digital marketing industry - who are
also members of the IAB - have been invited to
deliver the cutting-edge curriculum that will cover
the digital landscape, strategic factors that influ-
ence design, implementation and execution digital
marketing campaigns. Also covered are the tactics
available to leverage a range of platforms such as
Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Blogs, Search Engine
Marketing and Optimisation and Content Market-
ing. These invaluable industry insights will provide
a new appreciation of digital media marketing from
a strategic and tactical perspective.
The AAA’s extensive Digital Media Marketing
course is a milestone on the IAB’s path to pioneer-
ing accredited digital curricula that are tailored to
the African market, and which provide the means
to ensure the standardised certification of digital
professionals’ credentials.
The launch of this exciting initiative follows hot
on the heels of the IAB’s announcement that it has
appointed digital media specialist, media personal-
ity and business strategist, Astrid Ascar as Head
of the Education & Transformation portfolio for the
IAB. In her new role, she will pioneer more exciting
transformation initiatives including the partnership
with AAA to establish digital as a lucrative career
path. Said Chairman of the IAB, Jarred Cinman, ‘We
are excited to welcome Astrid on board. She has
a wealth of experience in digital education and in
the media industry. We believe she has the right
combination of industry knowledge and a passion-
ate commitment to skills development to make a
difference to an industry with a shortage of skills.’
Ascar’s successful career to-date has been
entirely devoted to the media industry, and has
spanned radio, television, print, mobile and digital
channels. She first appeared on South African tel-
evision and radio more than twenty years ago, and
now her on-air career has come full circle with her
daily presentation of Ballz Visual Radio’s ‘The Busi-
ness’ show. She began her career in radio work-
ing as a reporter and presenter on current affairs,
news, business and entertainment platforms. In
the late nineties, Astrid moved into media business
management when she joined the BDFM Group.
She made her mark breaking away from traditional
business model approaches to start-up two sus-
tainable media businesses that are still here today,
DSTV’s Summit, which is now known as BDTV and
The Home Channel. Ascar also gained significant
experience working with brands that include Carte
Blanche, Naspers, MultiChoice, M-Net, CNBC Af-
rica, DStv Mobile and the SABC.
‘In order to change the perception that digital
is an “add on” marketing and media platform, the
IAB needs to lay the foundation for truly integrated
marketing approaches that make the most sense to
clients,’ said Ascar. Heading up her new portfolio
she hopes to reach and educate young students
who may not have considered the vast opportuni-
ties and scope that the digital industry can offer
them in terms of future careers.
In her new role Astrid also hopes to achieve
collaboration and co-operation with the media and
marketing industry. According to Ascar, a lot of work
has to be done to give the industry an integrated
voice and approach, and to equip marketers with
the insight and skills to deliver business results to
their clients through digital media and marketing
solutions. She wants to begin the work that will
be required to establish an industry-acknowledged
and accepted educational and training framework,
whose end point would be a professionally sound
‘curriculum’.
Cinman added, ‘We have to look to young and
upcoming talent to urgently address the need to
transform our industry in line with national BEE tar-
gets. We have several exciting projects kicking off
that will position the IAB, and the digital industry
as a whole, as an exciting and compelling option
for young people.’
C
oca-Cola South Africa, winner of five Cannes
Lions in 2014, has joined forces with the Crea-
tive Circle in a bid to refresh the way the South
African business community views creativity.
The partnership, which was brokered by re-
cently-elected Creative Circle Chairperson Justin
Gomes of FoxP2 and Sharon Keith of Coca-Cola SA,
is significant because it marks the first time that a
non-media business entity in South Africa has so
publicly staked its flag to the mast of creativity.
‘This partnership is indicative of the worldwide
swing towards the acceptance of creativity as an
essential business tool,’ said Gomes. ‘Coca-Cola is
arguably the world’s most successful brand, a sta-
tus which the brand itself attributes to creativity.
It has also just been voted South Africa’s overall
favourite brand at the Sunday Times Top Brands
Awards. I couldn’t hope for a better partner to help
build the case for creativity in South Africa.’
Since taking on the role of Chairperson of the
Creative Circle, Gomes has committed to help shift
the perception of creativity in business circles -
from a prevailing local attitude that tends to range
from scorn to skepticism, to one that accepts and
acknowledges the powerful role that creative think-
ing can play in building brands and businesses.
In order to do so, he acknowledges the impor-
tance of being able to prove a return on creative
investment, and quotes a recent study which re-
veals that - without exception - all the Cannes Ad-
vertisers of the Year since 2000 have experienced a
record period of stock market growth at the time of
receiving the award, boasting an average 41 per-
cent stock value growth versus the S&P 500 aver-
age growth over the period of 0.5 percent.
‘The evidence is all around us, in brands just like
Coca-Cola, which prove everyday how consumers
respond positively to creativity,’ he said.
‘The task that lies ahead of us now is to dem-
onstrate to the business community that this posi-
tive response is directly translatable into Rands and
cents.’
Coca-Cola’s Sharon Keith is one of a small - but
growing - group of local marketers who believe
wholeheartedly in the power of creativity to create
real business value.
‘These days, it’s relatively easy to achieve parity
with your competitors from a functional or intrinsic
perspective; what really differentiates great brands
is their ability to innovate and stay fresh; to surprise
and delight their consumers. That’s where creativity
comes in.’
Coca-Cola is no stranger to creativity. Since
winning its first Cannes Lion in 1967, the brand has
amassed more than 120 awards for work spanning
multiple brands, creative disciplines and geogra-
phies. In 2013, it walked off with a massive 20 Li-
ons, including Advertiser of the Year. And this year,
our own FCB Johannesburg took home five Lions for
the heart-warming Rainbow Nation activation.
Global VP of advertising strategy and content
excellence Jonathan Mildenhall has been quoted
as saying that, ‘The correlation between winning at
Cannes and winning in the market place is compel-
ling … If Cannes has taught me one thing, it is that
creativity drives effectiveness. You cannot have one
without the other.’
It’s because of this, says Keith, that Coca-Cola
SA has partnered with the Creative Circle in a bid to
keep raising the creative bar.
‘South Africa is already recognised as a creative
powerhouse, punching above our weight in terms of
winning awards and exporting creative talent, but
this doesn’t just happen - it needs the structures
and the processes and the passion to keep pushing
for excellence. We all have to make a stand to fight
for better work in our industry.
‘The more we invest in our industry, the better
the outputs will be for everyone.’
Gomes concludes that one of the main objec-
tives of the partnership with Coca-Cola is to foster
better working relationships and understanding be-
tween advertising agencies and marketers, through
the creation of a common goal:
‘I’d like to see marketers and agencies working
together to create groundbreaking work that not
only permeates popular culture, but also grows lo-
cal brands and local industry. Creativity has incred-
ible power, we just need to learn how to harness it.’
The IAB and AAA School of Advertising launch new
accredited Digital Media Marketing curriculum
Coca-Cola adds fizz to Creative Circle
Astrid Ascar
60
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