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"The complex continent" - MarkLives

And other top advertising, media and marketing news, analysis and opinion on the website this week, including...

The complex continent

SA companies wanting to expand into the rest of the continent - beware: you can't simply transplant your existing, highly successful marketing strategy/campaign to a new territory in Africa. Some SA and global brands have learned the hard way that marketing in each new African territory demands a local approach.

Grubstreet: Tim du Plessis - immigrating to TV with an editor's passport

Tim du Plessis, Media24's head of Afrikaans newspapers, retired at the end of May 2014. He has had a remarkable career that has seen him edit three newspapers - Rapport, Beeld and The Citizen - as well as time as deputy editor of City Press. We spoke to Du Plessis about his plans for the future, the challenges of editing newspapers in a tough market and reporting on the Afrikaans community's move to the new South Africa.

Grey is back, and heading north

Volcano, an agency that this year entered its 21st year in operation the South African ad industry, has been resisting offers from the multinational networks for years. Either it would be force-fitted into an existing, already-successful operation, or it would have to take over a lesser agency with all the accompanying politics and, well, dead wood.

Smart Africa TV: WeChat Africa

Brett Loubser, Head of WeChat Africa talks about: how WeChat is a social communications platform;

the countries WeChat is focusing on growing in; how South African "shock jock" Gareth Cliff used it to launch an online radio station called Cliff Central; and its use as a second screen by the Big Brother series in South Africa.

On the radar:

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