Hi everyone
Having spent a week in Cannes for the annual advertising awards week in June, I am pleased to say that nothing could have been more encouraging for our digital industry.
Having attended this fantastic event over the last few years, I have watched with a great deal of interest as digital has evolved - from its initial inception as a small side show to a medium worth noticing. This year, the progression was astounding -everything is digital.
Every talk and advertising campaign worth noticing had some form of digital angle. The players most recognised at Cannes were those in digital. If there were still some doubting whispers about our medium’s place alongside traditional forms of media, this year’s Cannes Lions put them to bed with a resounding “yes”. Digital has arrived in a big way and is now a serious part of any international marketing campaign.
The only bad news was that, as usual, South Africa featured nowhere on the digital landscape at Cannes, despite the fact that as a country we did really well in other areas -Network and TBWA winning for great work in outdoor and radio. Having no representation on the digital front is no longer good enough - 2009 needs to be the last year South Africa does not win in digital at Cannes.
With this in mind I challenge our industry to elevate our digital status… and what better place to start than the Bookmarks?!
Some important points for this month;
OPA Blog - http://blog.opa.org.za/
Our blog is now live via the above address or via the OPA home page. A special mention and thanks to the guys at Prefix for getting this up and running. Please use this facility - we will constantly update and keep it populated with the latest presentations and useful information so be sure to go there first when you are next looking for a digital reading fix.
Bookmarks update
We have further good news in that we will collaborate with Tony Koenderman’s annual marketing brainstorm in both Cape Town and Johannesburg. This means the workshops will combine with Tony’s highly successful event. OPA members will have access to either the entire day, comprising the broader marketing and advertising fields, or the digital-only workshop in the second half of the day. Importantly, this collaboration will attract a far broader audience to our event and ensure we get newer audiences of a high calibre. The brainstorm has a reputation for attracting leading CEO’s and Marketing Directors and we look forward to having that audience for our digital workshops.
Durban calling
Following the success of the OPA breakfasts in Johannesburg and Cape Town, we will be extending this effort to the Durban market. The event will be held in late August with exact dates to be confirmed shortly. Importantly, if you know of any colleagues, clients or other publishers who should know about this event please let Theresa know so that she can invite them to join us. There is a genuine growing appetite for Digital in Durban and we hope the OPA can help further digital growth in KZN.
Lastly, on the back of the week in Cannes and FNB’s increasing involvement in the digital landscape – the OPA will be holding a post Cannes workshop courtesy of FNB. This will be held during the week of the 27th July. A separate note will go out on this, but attendance will be open to all members. Please do join us, its promises to be very special.
Have a good July.
Adrian Hewlett
OPA Chairman
MD Habari Group