No more nitty-gritty![](https://biz-file.com/b/1002/40526.jpg?1) The focus these days seems to be solely on digital with innovations springing up every so often. The geniuses behind this technology seem to be always providing us with something bigger, better, but most of all...faster. The speed of internet access will eventually become far more convenient than stepping outside to purchase a newspaper or magazine. Sitting in front of my laptop, should disaster strike somewhere across the world, I won't have to wait till the evening's newspapers are circulated to read about it or wait for the prime time news. What's more, with the mobility of the internet on mobile phones, one can access info on just about anything from just about anywhere in the world. We're living in an extremely fast-paced society where the last hour's news becomes stale in the next - our attention spans have become so limited that we naturally skim for the important bits, the nitty-gritty has become irrelevant. Some say the feel of a book or magazine in your hands feels authentic and comforting, but there is a generation inching its way into adulthood that feels like a cell phone is a natural extension of their body. This is the generation that will one day be running the world, and this is the generation that will see in the death of print. When you walk into a library and see more computers than books, you will know that time has arrived. For now WAN-IFRA and the rest of the world's print press bodies engage in conference upon conference on how they too can benefit from the digital age. Rupert Murdoch has a few tricks up his sleeve, but I hope the same can be said for the rest of the print media industry for the time is nigh. Sindy Peters, content manager
Responses to this column welcomed in our online editor's column archive.
Send all your Africa marketing news to africanews@bizcommunity.com. Top stories
Marketing
[Walter Wafula] Finding contact information about businesses operating within the East African Community is set to ease following the publication of the East African Business Directory unveiled to the public yesterday, 9 February 2010, in Tanzania. Read more >>2010 FIFA World Cup
[Nthambeleni Gabara] PRETORIA: The FIFA World Cup Ticketing Sub-Committee will open a call centre today, 15 February 2010, to assist soccer fans who want to buy tickets for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Read more >> [Mary Alexander] World football body FIFA has reassured the South African and international media that the purpose of its terms and conditions for accreditation for reporting on the 2010 World Cup “is not, and has never been, to restrict press freedom.” Read more >>![](https://biz-file.com/c/1002/44331.jpg) The MTN Group, on Wednesday, 10 February 2010, launched a content portal that will make available 2010 FIFA World Cup-related content on mobile handsets, including near live match highlights. The portal, called MTN Play, is an interactive mobile access channel available to 21 countries in Africa and the Middle East. Read more >>![](https://biz-file.com/c/1002/44323.jpg) A research survey launched in January 2010 to establish accommodation booking and pricing trends for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, reveals that the majority of the Western Cape's accommodation establishments are charging responsible rates for accommodation during the event. Read more >>![](https://biz-file.com/c/1002/44247.jpg) PRETORIA: Two million 2010 FIFA World Cup tickets were sold in the first three sales phases, according to FIFA. Read more >>Advertising
![](https://biz-file.com/c/1002/44319.jpg) The Independent Agency Search and Selection Company (IAS) is expanding its services to include Mozambique, Angola, Nigeria, Ghana and Botswana. This follows a demand by agencies and clients to branch into Africa and provide its client/agency relationship management services. Read more >>![](https://biz-file.com/c/1002/44190.jpg) The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) will ask the company marketing stab-proof vests to visitors to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa to remove Unicef advertising from its website. Read more >>Branding
[Tami Blend] It's hard work building a big, recognisable brand. Unsurprisingly, once they've built one, most companies find it appealing to try and extend that brand affection to other products or services. Sometimes this is a good idea, but there are pitfalls in this innovation-by-extension strategy, none more outrageous, perhaps, than Hooters Airlines. Read more >>CSI
![](https://biz-file.com/c/1002/44107.jpg) The 2010 Jet Community Awards, which have opened for entries, will recognise community projects and grass roots organisations in four categories. With more than R1 million in prize money, the competition is open to entries from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland, with the proviso that winners are obliged to reinvest their winnings into their community building initiatives. Read more >>Digital
![](https://biz-file.com/c/1002/44434.jpg) The East Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) landed in Mtunzini, on the north coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa this weekend. The MTN Group, an operator investor in EASSy, has expressed its satisfaction with the progress being made in the construction of the cable. Read more >>Telma will use Ericsson's real-time Charging System for the launch of its fixed pre- and post-paid convergent system in Madagascar. Under the terms of the agreement, Ericsson will migrate 150 000 prepaid fixed subscribers, currently on a FERMA service node, to Ericsson's Charging System. Read more >>Eventing
[Janine Erasmus] Top global leaders and businesspeople, including those on the Time 100 and Fortune 500 lists, will head for Cape Town in June 2010 for the New Global Opportunity Conference, hosted by the powerful Time Warner group. Read more >>![](https://biz-file.com/c/1002/44283.jpg) The 2010 Cartier Women's Initiative Awards, now in it's fourth year, is calling for applications. The awards recognises entrepreneurs and aims to encourage female entrepreneurs who have recently started up their companies. Read more >>Media
NEW YORK: The Committee to Protect Journalists, on Friday, 12 February 2010, called on police and prosecutors in northern Nigeria to withdraw the threat of arrest and prosecution of Mallam Tukur, the editor-in-chief and publisher of the independent weekly, Desert Herald, based in Kaduna State. Read more >>NEW YORK: Security agents in Cameroon have detained two journalists since Friday, 5 February 2010, in an apparent effort to learn the source of a purported memo from the chairman of the state oil company about the purchase of a luxury boat, according to local journalists and news reports. Read more >>Mobile
[Walter Wafula] Various professionals in Uganda's mobile communications industry will gather at a meeting in Kampala today, 15 February 2010, to discuss the new trends and expected innovations in the mobile broadband segment of the industry, in preparation for new products and services. Read more >> [Issa Sikiti da Silva] There is a clear indication that the South African mobile advertising sector is headed towards a massive boom as the 2010 FIFA World Cup draws near - thanks to the phenomenal growth of the continent's cellphone market and soccer passion. Read more >>![](https://biz-file.com/c/1002/44277.jpg) Opera Software is using the 2010 Mobile World Congress (MWC) as a venue to preview its Opera Mini for the iPhone. Read more >>![](https://biz-file.com/c/1002/44310.jpg) BBC World has appointed Starfish Mobile as its content aggregator in multiple African territories, including South Africa. The initial launch will focus on text-based services covering international and Africa breaking news as well as various sports-related services. Read more >>![](https://biz-file.com/c/1002/44113.jpg) KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait's telecom giant Zain group denied reports that it has received new offers for the purchase of its operations in 15 African nations. Read more >>Newspapers
![](https://biz-file.com/c/1002/44442.jpg) Tom Curley, CEO of the Associated Press, has joined the programme of the 17th World Editors Forum and will address newspapers reducing their coverage by dropping their subscriptions to news agencies. Some prominent regional newspapers in many countries are unsubscribing to the large international and national news agencies and doing without the wide coverage they provide. Read more >>![](https://biz-file.com/c/1002/44438.jpg) The World Newspaper Advertising Conference, organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), will examine merging print and online audiences for advertisers as print circulation and website traffic independently, no longer represent accurate audience metrics. The conference willbe held 4-5 March 2010 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Read more >>![](https://biz-file.com/c/1002/44333.jpg) The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) has condemned the closure of the Moroccan news magazine Le Journal Hebdomadaire and the apparent use of the judicial system to silence an independent publication. Read more >>Printing
![](https://biz-file.com/c/1002/44261.jpg) The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) is launching The Printing Summit, to held from 13 - 15 April 2010 in Salzburg, Austria. The event plans to host publishers, printing managers and production directors for three days of presentations, discussions and exchanges on new ideas and tactics that advanced printing technologies generate. Read more >>Public Relations
![](https://biz-file.com/c/1002/44103.jpg) JOHANNEBSURG: Google has appointed africapractice, a pan-African strategic communications consultancy, to manage its PR campaigns in the sub-Saharan countries of Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal and South Africa. Read more >>Research
MAPUTO: MISA-Mozambique recently conducted a study on behalf of UNESCO on the landscape of media development in Mozambique. The findings were launched at a conference on 10 February 2010 in Maputo. Read more >>Retail
![](https://biz-file.com/c/1002/44454.jpg) DAR ES SALAAM: Media accreditation for the 2010 World Economic Forum on Africa is now open. The 20th edition of the event takes place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 5-7 May 2010. Under the theme Rethinking Africa's Growth Strategy, it will be the first time the World Economic Forum on Africa is held in East Africa. Read more >>[Dumisani Ndlela] Zimbabwe's retail giants are still largely reliant on imports from South Africa, and are hoping a trade pact between the two countries will unlock credit facilities to ramp up imports on favourable terms. Read more >> ![](https://biz-file.com/c/1002/44115.jpg) A wide selection of Africana is among the nearly 200 books offered by the AuctionExplorer online book auction which started mid last week. Books include tomes on the history of the Cornish miners on the Witwatersrand at the turn of the 20th century, and on the Viedge family, who for generations were traders in the Transkei, as well as books by Denys Reitz and Percy Fitzpatrick. Read more >>[Margie Inggs] Illovo Sugar aims to spend about R6bn on its African expansion over the next five years in a bid to increase the group's annual sugar production from 1,7-million tons to between 2,5-million tons and 2,7-million tons. Read more >> TV
Discovery World is being launched in 61 African countries, including South Africa, on 1 March 2010, significantly expanding its African audience and making it one of the leading factual TV brands in the region. Read more >>Eventing
![](https://biz-file.com/c/1002/44184.jpg) Gearhouse South Africa supplied full technical production - sound, lighting, AV and video, staging, sets, rigging and power - and one of their massive new In2Structures SupaDome venues for Swedish cosmetics multinational Oriflame's 2010 Diamond Conference. Read more >>Mobile
Starfish Mobile's recent appointment as the BBC's content aggregator in multiple African territories, including South Africa, is a source of considerable pride for the Starfish Mobile management team. The BBC World Service reaches over 80 million Africans via its radio and mobile assets on a weekly basis. Read more >>SOUTH AFRICA African Music Expo-Ames has signed a gold sponsorship with Global Music Investment Group - more info
AFRICA New chief executive for Zain - more info
"If you think you can't then you won't and if you think you can then you will." - Thulani Mkhize "An image . . . is not simply a trademark, a design, a slogan or an easily remembered picture. It is a studiously crafted personality profile of an individual, institution, corporation, product or service." - Daniel Boorstin "I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest." - Muhammad Ali
Print - Print any item in this newsletter. Email - Email any item in this newsletter. Comment - Comment on any item in this newsletter. | | Advertisement:![](https://biz-file.com/b/1002/40321.gif?2)
|