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AARDFARQ
19 October 2009
McCann Worldwide has launched a small business initiative called "THE KILN", which Group CEO Reinher Behrens says is designed to foster the growth of small companies.
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11 August 2009
Mike Broom, a veteran in the research industry in South Africa, has launched Panel Services Africa, a research service operation that is designed to assist marketers who run their own consumer and CRM panels, as well as market research companies that offer consumer panel survey services.
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29 July 2009
The mystery about two competing agencies handling the FNB account has been solved: Metropolitan Republic will be handling brand/sponsorship, and DDB product/retail.
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23 July 2009
July 2009 has been a busy month for full service and media agencies, says John Farquhar.
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21 July 2009
In this issue of Chit-Chat, John looks at a campaign that managed to use radio effectively.
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16 July 2009
In this issue of Chit-Chat, John looks at agency dynamics, social media and free ad services. Quality insight on the latest industry happenings.
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14 July 2009
In this installment of Chit-Chat, feast on these hot topics: "Moving beyond communication"; "Service is a swear word"; "Truck advertising"; "Quote of the month"; "Online video makes progress" and "'Sunday World's' new image".
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09 July 2009
In this issue of Chit-Chat, John looks at the increase in illegally erected billboards as well as the application retailing business model which Apple is pioneering with its iPhone application store..
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07 July 2009
John looks at recent moves by Microsoft and Google to better educate the advertiser industry on the proper use of digital while also zoning in on the value of outdoor media.
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02 July 2009
John Farquhar looks at the need for new research in a recession and zooms in on some of the winners of Cannes awards this year.
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29 June 2009
In this issue of Chit-Chat, John focuses on the value of public relations as a tool with which to keep your brand on the consumer's radar.
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25 June 2009
In this issue of Chit-Chat, John turns his attention to creatives in South Africa and encourages those in the creative fields to be more cognisant of local dynamics as opposed to being Eurocentric cookie-cutters.
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23 June 2009
In this installment of Chit-Chat, John Farquhar ponders the demise of Youtube; the bombardment of the average consumer with advertiser messages and questions the viability of international advertising for popular websites.
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18 June 2009
In this week's installment of Chit-Chat, John has a look at retail consumer habits, the youth and a town called "Wanking".
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15 June 2009
In this week's Chit-Chat, John provides a smorgasbord of invaluable marketing and advertising nuggets to keep you up to date with the latest developments and insights in the industry.
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11 June 2009
In this installment of Chit-Chat, John looks at new legislation to criminalise cartels, the greed of some marketing execs who try to fleece consumers at every turn and how the coffee-shop industry is being hotly contested in the US.
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09 June 2009
John Farquhar has a look at Microsoft's new search engine as well as sharing his thoughts on opportunities in the game console market.
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02 June 2009
A lengthy recession creates a more cautious and frugal customer and, as a result, their confidence levels drop and remain low. John Farquhar investigates.
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28 May 2009
In this installment of Chit-Chat, John Farquhar looks at the booming sex industry, mobile marketing hype and trends on Youtube.
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26 May 2009
In this issue of Chit-Chat, John Farquhar briefly looks at the iconic Walkman brand and questions the logic that prompts companies to redesign perfectly functional and effective logos.
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21 May 2009
John zooms in on advertising's sugar-coating tendencies and lays some ground rules for advertisers.
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19 May 2009
In this issue of Chit-Chat, John shows that in SA, Twitter seems to be more for the birds as startling statistics reveal. Also, John takes aim at weak copywriting, the quality of magazines and new developments with Google.
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14 May 2009
In this installment of Chit-Chat, John has a look at the success of Spar in the retail space as well as newspapers in Africa.
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11 May 2009
In this issue of Chit-Chat, John Farquhar wonders if the free-lunch of Twitter, Facebook and Youtube can last for much longer? Also, John looks at personality profiling as a tool to assist market researchers in their analysis of trends.
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06 May 2009
In this issue of Chit-Chat, John Farquhar looks at SA retail marketing trends in comparison to the US and touches on the importance of advert timing as a factor in eliciting a more favourable response from the target audience.
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30 April 2009
In this issue of Chit-Chat, John Farquhar acknowledges the winners of the recent AdReview awards, the Roger Garlick award and looks at trends for the future of newspapers.
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28 April 2009
In this installment of Chit Chat, John Farquhar laments the state of some uninspired advertising in South Africa.
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23 April 2009
This week John looks at an interesting UK based marketing company and the need to be proactive in spotting trends and opportunities in the market.
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21 April 2009
The inimitable John Farquhar focuses on Youtube, the credibility of radio and the net in this week's installment of Chit-Chat.
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16 April 2009
John Farquhar expresses his dismay at the mediocre quality of some TV adverts currently on our screens.
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14 April 2009
John pats the first advertising personality in the country to be honoured by the South African Academy of Science & Arts on the back for a job well done. This and more in this issue of Chit-Chat.
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09 April 2009
In this issue of Chit-Chat, John Farquhar looks at redesigning logos; strange magazine covers and hypervigilant companies that aren't really listening to their consumers but rather to the noise.
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07 April 2009
In this week's Chit-Chat, John Farquhar takes a brief look at magazines, the Roger Garlicke awards and ICASA.
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02 April 2009
John Farquhar takes aim at newspapers and in-house publications in this week's Chit-Chat.
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31 March 2009
John Farquhar zones in on a noteworthy campaign launched recently in the US as well as taking a swipe at the quality of online creatives in this week's chit-chat.
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26 March 2009
John Farquhar takes a look at the loss of jobs in the international ad industry and ponders how this will affect the local ad industry.
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19 March 2009
Your dose of essential industry insight and commentary from the acclaimed commentator, John Farquhar.
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17 March 2009
A basic rule of brand building is consistency in terms of visual presentation, particularly when the brand essence is based on a “quality” platform. Every piece of promotional material associated with it should reflect an up-market image, especially the media advertising. The consumer should be left in no doubt that the brand is a quality product.
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12 March 2009
Get your dose of invaluable bite-size gems of analysis and information on the marketing and advertising industry from the industry's most seasoned commentator, John Farquhar. This issue looks at recent developments in domain name adjudications and also mobile advertising.
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05 March 2009
Worldwide publishers are talking gloom and doom about the future of print titles and pointing to the internet as the villain. To stem the decline in circulation, foreign publishers have been launching websites designed to interact with readers and bolster awareness of their products. These websites tend to feature current content, and items of interest. South African publishers are adopting a similar counter attack.
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24 February 2009
Nobody likes an economic recession. It brings heartache to the innocent, while the perpetrators go free. I very much doubt if the top bankers, Wallstreeters, and analysts in America – the greed clique who caused the collapse of the world's financial system – are particularly worried about having to search for the money to pay for an expensive latte at their nearest Starbucks, having lunch at the Four Seasons, or flying first class.
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23 February 2009
As the economic downturn bites deeper, the advertising and media industry needs to be more alert. But the current African disease is the scam. Right now the most notorious country on the African continent is Nigeria. I was not surprised, watching a BBC drama last night, to discover that the villain was . . . who? A Nigerian.
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17 February 2009
The current global economic crisis has marketers scratching their heads trying to figure out about how to generate sales volume and cut costs. The problem they face is the negative impact this crisis is having on consumers' behaviour.
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12 February 2009
The target market for Unilever's Axe deodorant is young males who have ambitions to bed as many nubile girls as possible before they have to behave themselves.
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10 February 2009
When I reviewed the early issues of The Times last year I was rather impressed by the content. It was an interesting read and, as a subscriber to the Sunday Times, I looked forward to my free copy. Fast forward to the issue dated 5 February 2009. What a disappointment. There is nothing in the newspaper of real interest to read. The content is wishy-washy with large photographs dominating each page.
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03 February 2009
The February 1 edition of the Sunday Times introduced readers to its new look which is now a collection of ten supplements, each devoted to a specific subject:
Review, a general overview of news; sport; Money; Business, Lifestyle, Travel/Food, Careers 1 & 2, a magazine devoted to Movies and TV programming, and Skillz which focuses on the youth. The first edition of the youth supplement was rather skimpy but this will increase in size over time.
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26 January 2009
Marketers are well aware that the best time to interact with consumers is to engage with them when the iron is hot – that is, talking to them when they are buying goods that satisfy their needs. But when they try to take advantage of the opportunity marketers have been stymied by a retail mind set which has its roots in the past.
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22 January 2009
The Aardfarq suggests a little humour doesn’t go amiss in advertising . . .
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20 January 2009
This week, venerable ad and marketing man John Farquhar wants to know just when product development, consumer communication and sales will start singing off the same song sheet . . .
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12 January 2009
Are South Africa's marketing and advertising gurus up to scratch in today's tough marketing environment? I doubt they are. They have had a favourable market for far too long, where growth was a given and the one-size-fit-all approach to communication generated enough interest to do the brand building and sales job.
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