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Amanda Sevasti Fairweather – newly appointed as Head of Social Media at leading digital agency NATIVE – studied journalism, but fell in love with creative communication.Fairweather worked as a copywriter and creative head for eight years and was involved in activations, events and digital campaigns for Momentum, Santam, Old Mutual, Savanna, Pepsi, Volkswagen, Volvo and MWEB. She most recently established the Social@Ogilvy practice within Ogilvy PR Johannesburg, developing strategy, content and community management for KFC, Castle Lager, Miller Genuine Draft, Haagen-Dazs, Cadbury Dairy Milk and Swatch. She took up her new position at NATIVE on 7 February.
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“I am a complete capitalist.” This is how John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, opened his talk on Conscious Capitalism (also the title of his recently launched book) at this year’s SXSW.However, as Mackey explains, we tend to forget that capitalism has not been around that long. Two hundred years ago it didn’t even exist and 85% of the world lived on less than a dollar a day -- that figure is now 16%. Despite this, there is a ...
John Yembrick has possibly the coolest job in the world -- social media manager for NASA. He works with the team responsible for the wildly popular Mars Curiosity Twitter and Facebook accounts. At SXSW 2013, he spoke about the challenge to make NASA cool and relevant for a whole new generation."Basically the critics said NASA sucked at telling its own story," said Yembrick, "I didn't understand this because we were doing so many things on blogs, the web and through ...
Last year a website called WikiLeaks and a man called Julian Assange made the world’s most powerful governments quiver in fear. No army or diplomacy could stop revelation after revelation, as classified communiqués and documents were placed online for the world to read.The goal of WikiLeaks, to reveal the truth, may have been noble, but it was criticised for putting lives at risk by revealing sensitive information. The dubious rape charges against Assange also dented the organisation’s image. But ...
Instagram has captured the hearts of iPhone users around the world with its elegant design, filters that turn any photo into a potential work-of-art, and -- most importantly -- integrated social sharing that’s quick and easy.It’s enjoyed one of the most successfully launches ever for an iPhone app and is adding 130 000 users a week. The incredible thing is that it’s not even eight months old. Here’s what you should know about this hot new app.It was originally called ...
Not being on Facebook in 2011 has become a bit like not having a cellphone in 2001. In the early noughties there were a few renegade members of the old-school who got sick of being constantly available and threw their Nokias in the river.Today we have those who delete their Facebook accounts or refuse to have one at all. And I’m not talking about the over-40s, but Millenials who’ve grown up online. In this super-connected age, why do they ...
Projecting a brave and blissful face to the world when your wife has left you and you’ve been retrenched is nothing new. People have been “keeping up appearances” for hundreds of years.But in the social media age, this has taken on whole new proportions and become a daily pressure (or pleasure).Of course, creating an online persona is one of the wonderful things about the digital space. Real-life introverts often find the freedom to express themselves vociferously via social media ...
Modern philosophers have suggested that the rate of technological innovation increases exponentially (see Moore's Law). That means most of us, even those under 25, remember a certain tool or product that was once vital and is now just a faded memory.Here’s a look at what happened to a few icons of the late 20th century, many of them the forerunners and trailblazers of today’s digital world.Wordperfect
In the late 80s and early 90s, Wordperfect was the automatic choice when it ...
Twitter's potential as a business tool is finally being realised on a massive scale. Some companies are increasing brand loyalty, launching new products and growing fast – all thanks to clever tweeting. Others are confused about how to use the medium or downright dismissive.Of course, not all businesses need to be on Twitter, but if you offer any product or service that the average person might use, then you probably should be. Here’s how can you take advantage:Listen, listen, ...
The move to social media is the most important shift in digital marketing since the birth of the internet. In the same way that CRM was the buzzword of the 90s, social media is the touchstone of the noughties and the teens.Gone are the days of big and costly interactive websites. More and more people are choosing to communicate with their brands via social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Many discover brands via these channels too. Of course ...
At a recent debate entitled, “The wild wild web – who polices the internet?” South Africa’s most famous political cartoonist, Jonathan Shapiro (better known as Zapiro) spoke about a racist, right-wing website that had published some of his work.They had used it out of context in order to support their agenda. His concern was that people would find the site when searching for him and think that he endorsed their beliefs.Unfortunately the web is pretty wild and we have ...
