Ornico - the brand, media and digital intelligence company - today launched a new, 100 plus page magazine called #TheFutureByDesign. A digital publication, #TheFutureByDesign can be read online at MarkLives.com - the exacting marketing site known for in-depth, investigative content - or at Issuu.com. #TheFutureByDesign is also available free for download in pdf format at Ornico.co.za, on iTunes and at MarkLives.com.
#TheFutureByDesign is a magazine published to stimulate discourse in the advertising and marketing sectors about smart design thinking; and about how intelligence can help create elegant solutions to the challenges and opportunities presented to tomorrow's Africa today.
Created by founding editor Mandy de Waal #TheFutureByDesign is wholly owned by Ornico, and was published by its CEO, Oresti Patricios, and edited by writer Jon Pienaar. The manifesto behind #TheFutureByDesign is that good growth and sustainable development means building better brands, contexts, societies and economies; and that this can only be done with imagination, creativity, innovation and intelligence.
"Ornico invested in #TheFutureByDesign because we believe that the marketing industry needs a point of contact to reimagine who we are and the role that we will play in creating a better future by design," says Oresti Patricios, CEO of Ornico. A company that provides reputation, media, advertising and brand research, as well as digital tracking and analytics, Ornico has a suite of products that include Brand Intelligence™ and Fuseware™. Ornico has offices in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana and enjoys partnerships with expert researchers that reach across the continent.
"To initiate this discussion about the future we've identified 'sherpas' or experts who we believe can help business owners and brand managers hack the future, or better engage the future through smart thinking," Patricios says. "It is our hope that #TheFutureByDesign will become a broader, collaborative, forward-looking movement that goes way beyond just this, Ornico's contribution of a custom annual, to this industry sector," he says.
The premier issue of #TheFutureByDesign 2015/6 includes insights from:
Andrew Miller - a poet and commercial writer who has guest lectured at Wits Business School and the University of Johannesburg on urban cultures. In May 2015, Miller won the 2015 Dinaane Debut Fiction Award for his novel Dub Steps.
Arthur Goldstuck - a pioneer in the South African market in the use of the Internet as a tool for productivity, Goldstuck developed the first South African benchmarks for web site usability and strategy. He has represented South Africa on judging panels for events ranging from the International Advertising Festival in Cannes to the Global Mobile Awards at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Goldstuck is also author of a range of books dealing with issues as diverse as business on the Internet and urban legends in southern Africa. Goldstuck is editor-in-chief of Gadget magazine, which also supplies the Tech & Gadgets content for the MSN portal in South Africa.
Azad Essa - A South African journalist working at the Al Jazeera Network, Essa came to prominence writing the Accidental Academic, a provocative and award winning Thought Leader blog that challenged the established assumptions of contemporary South African culture, politics and common sense. His first book Zuma's Bastard: Encounters with a desktop terrorist (Two Dogs Books) was published in late 2010. An adaptation of Zuma's Bastard, The Moslems are coming (Harper-Collins, India) was published in April 2012.
Charl Blignaut - A writer, journalist, and pop culture critic who in July 2014 was named South Africa's Arts Journalist of the Year for the second consecutive year by Business and Arts South Africa at the National Arts Festival held in Grahamstown.
Chike Maduegbuna - The founder and CEO of Afriolly, a mobile application (App) that enables Africa's lovers of entertainment to watch movies, documentaries and music videos on their mobile devices. A Nigerian entrepreneur, Maduegbuna is also the CEO of Fans Connect Online, a multi award-winning Nigerian Digital Marketing Agency.
Dave Duarte - A leading digital marketer turned educator, Dave Duarte's passion for learning saw him develop the first social media and mobile marketing courses for the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business. A Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, Duarte also founded the Ogilvy Digital Marketing Academy.
Dean Hutton - A photojournalist and artist who lives and works in Johannesburg, Hutton co-curated the "not gay as in happy, Queer as in fuck you Film Festival" launched in May 2015. Hutton's work was exhibited at the LISTE Art Fair (Basel) in June 2014 and The FNB Joburg Art Fair in August 2014. The artist also had a successful solo show at the Goethe Institut-Johannesburg from November 2014 to January 2015. In 2013, Hutton was featured in the collectable art publication Oodee's edition titled, POV Female, Johannesburg. Hutton is backed by a 17-year career as an award-winning photojournalist.
Dion Chang, the innovator, creative thinker, visionary and renowned trend analyst. Although his feet remain firmly planted on African soil, Chang uses a global perspective to source new ideas, gauge the zeitgeist and identify cutting edge trends. His trends analysis firm - Flux Trends - specializes in tracking shifting social dynamics and understanding consumer mind-set. The focus is translating global trends to ensure relevance for South African business.
Jimmy Manyi - President of Progressive Professionals Forum. A Harvard Alumnus, Manyi is the former CEO of Government Communications and Information Systems and Cabinet Spokesperson. Manyi also served as Director General at the Department of Labour.
Landor - As a global leader in brand consulting and design, Landor helps clients
create agile brands that thrive in today's dynamic, disruptive marketplace. Landor's work enables top brands-from Barclays to BMW and Tide to Taj-to stand for something while never standing still. Founded by Walter Landor in 1941, Landor pioneered many of the
research, design, and consulting methods that are now standard in the branding industry. Landor has 28 offices in 22 countries, and is a member of the Young & Rubicam Group network within WPP, the world's largest marketing and communications firm.
Lebo Motshegoa - A self-described 'lateral thinker', Motshegoa is a graduate from the AAA School of Advertising. Motshegoa honed his creative skills at some of the country's leading advertising agencies - including Ogilvy, Saatchi & Saatchi, Lowe Bull and Ogilvy - before founding of SA's specialist mass market research company, Foshizi.
Seth Godin - The author of 18 books that have been bestsellers around the world and have been translated into more than 35 languages. In addition to his writing and speaking, Godin founded both Yoyodyne and Squidoo. Godin's interview for #TheFutureByDesign was taken by Joe Lazauskas, who is Editor in Chief @ Contently.
Simon Dingle - A designer, writer and podcaster based in Cape Town. He is currently working with BitX on their web and mobile products, hosts (tech)5 on 5FM, co-hosts Take Back the Day and is an advisor to 22seven.
Veli Ngubane - the brand strategist who honed his skills at boutique advertising agency, Ireland/Davenport, before becoming @TheNduna and a founding partner at AVATAR Agency.
Xhanti Payi - the lead researcher and economist at Nascence Research Insights
Other contributors to #TheFutureByDesign include CEO of Customer Insight Focused Digital Consultancy 25AM, Andre Steenkamp; game designer and programmer, Cukia Kimane aka @sugboerie ; managing editor of LazyGamer.net, Geoffrey Tim @WobblyOnion; Managing Director at Native VML and chair of the Interactive Advertising Bureau of South Africa, Jarred Cinman; digital performance poet, Instagram phenomenon and emerging photographer, Lebz Skywalker; writer and former documentary maker, Jon Pienaar; the country director of Google South Africa, Luke Mckend; the MD of M&C Saatchi Connect, Martin McGregor; the Director of Content Strategy for @OgilvyCT, Melissa Attree; Mike Sharman who is a founder of digital specialist communications agency, Retroviral; CEO of Ornico, Oresti Patricios; designer, content expert and publisher, Phehello Mofokeng; Rachel Irvine, Managing Director of South Africa's premier strategic communications consultancy, Irvine Bartlett; freelance search guru, Web AddiCT, Marketing Technologist, and #tedfellow, Rafiq Phillips; Managing Director of RSAWEB and a Director of the RAMP Group Rob Gilmour; and Tim Bishop, a director at Deloitte Digital.
Themes covered in the inaugural issue of #TheFutureByDesign include megatrends; South Africa's crisis of inequality; the need to move from brand managers to content editors; how user experience will focus the future of branding; growth hacking; what the ad agency of the future will look like; The Internet of Everything; why search will soon be dead; the rise and rise of computer games; the future of news; why the future will not be binary; and why everything on your radar is pop culture.
