NEWS & ANALYSIS

"Mars One: The South African connection" - MarkLives

And four other great media and marketing reads on the the website this week

South African team behind the Mars One film

Mars One, project to establish a human colony on Mars, which will be funded through merchandise, sponsorships and possibly a reality TV show, has launched a global online campaign to find potential ‘astronauts' willing to join the production/project. The short film calling for formal applications, which has just been released, was produced by South African ‘high-concept' creative agency Now&Partners who are also early investors in the project.

Men and guns. One of the most powerful covers we've seen this year.

MarkLives.com runs a regular slot featuring the best local and international magazine covers every week. ShortList magazine takes a closer look at the male fascination with guns and produces one of the best magazine covers of the year.

Media Future: The coming to SA of the Big 4 flagship phones

Four major new phones are about to be released in South Africa. Arthur Goldstuck (@art2gee) highlights the key differentiators in the devices from Samsung, Sony, HTC and BlackBerry.

TopTV gets go-ahead for three porn channels

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has approved an application by On Digital Media (operating as TopTV) to broadcast three adult content channels. They are Playboy TV, Desire TV and Private Spice.

Ad of the week with Oresti Patricios: Underdog love story meets So You Think You Can Dance

For many years now, Wimpy has opted for brand oriented campaigns that are highly visual with a strong feel-good factor. In these campaigns the burger people aren't selling the bun, the patty or the sizzle, they're selling a brand positioning that's all about fun.

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