The Switch: There IS place for the wise and old in adland

by Alistair Mokoena. All you ad execs who are 50 years and older, please stand up so I may come to you for wise counsel?! One of the things that strikesone when one joins the advertising industry is that it is full of young people, as well as a preponderance of women, just like a pride of lions.

Luca Gallarelli: ‘Ogilvy Cape Town has a lot of work to do'

by Herman Manson. Luca Gallarelli - who took over as MD of Ogilvy & Mather Cape Town in November 2013, following the departure of Gavin Levinsohn for Australia - believes there remains significant areas for growth and expansion at the agency, which employs 300 people and generates between R100-R120 million in annual revenue.

April 1: Punk'd by the media

by Herman Manson. It's 1 April 2014 and news sites, newspapers and broadcasters are out to get you. With elections just around the corner, April Fool's stories dealt with popular voter gripes: News24 announced Western Cape premier Helen Zille is moving to Khayelitsha; MyBroadband tackled Nkandla's 'but I never asked for it' telecommunications infrastructure; and TimesLive reported that you can dodge paying e-tolls by driving exactly 113 km/h.

Start building your ark

by Mike Abel. Now is the moment to develop and adopt aggressive market-share offensive strategies which are specifically ‘tough-time' friendly. These must provide customers with real value versus distress marketing tactics or margin erosion. So, rather create a calculated strategic plan that seeks sustainable business solutions through a protracted and unfriendly trading environment.

Fair Exchange: A highly functional trade between brands and consumers

by Erna George. The fair trade between just how much information brands want and how much consumers should provide is as important a consideration for me as any of the other more ‘creative' or ‘marketing' issues my previous columns have addressed.

Regular reads:

• Ad of the Week with Oresti Patricios: An epic ride for Tracker

• Heroes &Zeros with Andy Rice: Snickers - best and worst ads of the week

• Shelf Life with Louise Marsland: Functional foods category set to grow

• Design Annotator with Uno de Waal: "ABC's of Xhosa Names" and election TV ads

• MagLove with MediaSlut: Good enough to eat

• #Top40TVratings with SAARF &MarkLives: Family Bonds enter Top 10

On the radar:

• MathathaTsedu new SANEF executive director

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