Tag Archives: advertising

What’s App, Telegram, and Signal: what is it all about? Much ado about nothing!

 

All of a sudden, the talking point aside from the Corona Virus, is the degree of privacy which more than 2 billion What’s App users have, given that the Communication App belongs to Facebook. A Facebook Terms & Conditions update due for February will apply to What’s App too. Scores of persons are running off to newer and similar platforms Telegram and Signal, the latter said to be the most secure of the three and is recommended by Elon Musk.

Not understanding what the huge furore is about, I Googled to find information about the three platforms.  Few local publications have written about the topic, so I selected a detailed explanation I found on India Today: ‘What’sApp vs Signal vs Telegram: Which is more Secure’. Continue reading →

JP Rossouw appointed as new Platter’s publisher!

PLATTER JP Rossouw2Interesting news is that restaurant reviewer and writer JP Rossouw has been appointed as the publisher of the Diners Club Platter’s South African Wine Guide, taking over from Andrew McDowall, who is retiring.

Rossouw started his career in the advertising industry as a copywriter.  He moved into restaurant reviewing, and has published the annual ‘Rossouw’s Restaurants’ guide for the past ten years, the Platter’s and Rossouw’s guides having many similarities in being judged on the basis of stars, and having a similar format. He wrote about wine for the Cape Times, about wine and food for House & Garden, about restaurants for Mail & Guardian, and currently writes about restaurants for Business Day.

Rossouw has been a judge for the Diners Club Winelist of the Year Continue reading →

Cape Town Tourism winter advertising campaign a marketing failure!

Last Sunday my eye caught a full page advertisement for Cape Town, in the Travel Weekly supplement of the Sunday Times. Its content, headline, media placement, and advertising frequency point to a marketing failure on behalf of the tourism industry of Cape Town.

At its AGM last year Cape Town Tourism announced with loud fanfare that its marketing would include a winter advertising campaign, in which its members could offer their specials, and that it was offering special packages via Thompsons Holidays.  One would have expected the campaign to run throughout winter, as we are not even midway through winter, and it is exceptionally quiet so far, worse than the same months last year, which was deemed a ‘tourism crisis’. Utilising Ogilvy Cape Town, one of the country’s top advertising agencies, one would have thought that the agency would have found a creative way to design the advertisement.

The advertisement looks like a dog’s breakfast, which should have made the art director cringe, being individual special offer ads placed higgledy piggledy within a template of a headline and a footer with contact details.  Even Lisa Clark, Ogilvy Cape Town Account Executive for Cape Town Tourism, admitted that the ad was ‘very busy’ – one wonders why she allowed her client to place such an ad, the agency being the custodian of its client’s brand image and reputation.

Our critique of the Cape Town Winter advertising campaign is the following:

1.  The headline ‘Come and discover why Cape Town warms up in winter’ does not communicate that Cape Town is ‘warm’ due to its specials, and does not change the perception most Johannesburgers have about Cape Town, namely that it is wet and cold all winter long!

2.   The footer refers to ‘weekend packages’ – it’s school holiday time now, so surely the Cape Town tourism industry would love to have tourists for longer than a weekend!

3.   Ironically, with the pay-off line ‘You don’t need a holiday, you need Cape Town’, the ad is placed in the travel supplement of the Sunday Times, filled mainly with ads for international destinations, not a place locals would be likely to look for local destination ads.

4.  The advertisers themselves appear to have little marketing understanding, some not having a website address and/or telephone number in their ads, for a call to action!  Cape Town Tourism itself is not branded in the ad, even though its contact details are provided, so one would not know which company is co-ordinating the deals and taking bookings for them.  Identity of the advertisers is also poor in most ads, the Table Mountain Cableway not being identifiable in its crass ad, trying to communicate far too much.  The exception is the classy looking ad for the V&A Waterfront’s ‘Master of the Trade Routes Culinary Challenge‘ ad, but it does not communicate that there are excellent restaurant special offers. Its website address is almost unreadable, being so small.

5.  Not all ads contain special offers, which is what the ad is meant to communicate

6.  The frequency of three insertions only, this ad having been the final one of the three, is ineffective in making any impact on the target market.

Cape Town Tourism may just as well not have bothered to run this advertising campaign, it being so badly done from a creative, production, and media perspective, reflecting how weak the marketing calibre of Cape Town Tourism is.  It reflects cutting marketing corners, cutting back on its marketing program which it shared with the industry earlier this year.  The tourism body receives R42 million a year from the City of Cape Town to market our city!

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage

Food labelling now more honest and detailed!

The new Department of Health food labelling regulations, Regulations Relating to Labelling and Advertising of Foodstuffs, No R146 of the Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act of 1972, which came into effect two weeks ago, are a welcome benefit for consumers, in that labelling will now be far more honest with regard to product content and its health benefits.

Claims such as ‘fat-free’, ‘low-fat’, ‘100% fruit juice’, ‘0% cholesterol’, ‘wholesome’, ‘balanced nutrition’, ‘nutritious’, and ‘healthy’ are now illegal. The percentage of major ingredients in a product must be specified. A berry juice, called that and depicted with berry illustrations on the packs, must prominently display the berry as well as the apple juice content, the latter being the basis of most fruit juices. Even more importantly, any ingredient making up less than 2% of the content by weight may not be emphasised, reports the Cape Times.  Any implied health benefits of a product are illegal.  ‘High in fibre’, ‘low fat’, and ‘sugar free’ claims on packs must be supported by the mandatory nutritional table.

The regulations dictate that the name of the product must be a minimum 4 mm in size, may not contain a misleading photograph or illustration, must list the ingredients in descending order of weight, product claims must be supported by the nutritional table, allergens must be listed, the name and address of the manufacturer and/or distributor must be stated, the net content must be shown, the batch identification number must be displayed, a ‘use by’ date is mandatory, and instructions for use must be provided.  Claims relating to diabetes must be supported by low GI, lower fat, and/or lower sodium information.

Food retailers appear divided about the food labelling regulations, Pick ‘n Pay expressing its support of the legislation in that it would carry products with full information disclosure, while Shoprite is said by Business Report to be critical of the legislation, due to it being too complex, it being inconsistent, not being fully inclusive, and being ambiguous.  The Consumer Goods Council of South Africa is addressing the retailers’ concerns about the legislation.

Despite the implementation of the regulations having been known for two years, Pick ‘n Pay Franschhoek was out of stock of its Pick ‘n Pay-branded Greek yogurt yesterday, a manger saying that the supplier is fixing its packaging in accordance with the labelling legislation, and therefore the product will not be available for another two weeks or so.

The new food labelling regulations, which apply to dog and cat food too, are a welcome benefit for consumers, in that it will remove deception and confusion about products’ ingredients and their health benefits.  The regulations apply to advertising of foodstuffs too, preventing puffery and misleading claims in this regard too.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage