I recently came across Jacaranda 94.2′s FeelGood platform which gives charities and causes a space to express themselves. It’s essentially a social media platform for do-gooders! The one that caught my eye was Winter Warmer. It’s a drive to collect blankets for those who are less fortunate. For as little as R40 you can donate a blanket or you can drop one off at handy collection points such as BP, Checkers, Shoprite etc. (Go to the site for more.)  To drive the point home, that’s only R40. Two Vida Coffees. A movie ticket. A WW open-packet-nuke-it-snack-it meal. Two beers…

I have a few pets hates and one of them is being cold (just another reason I don’t live in London). I also like making a difference – it helps me sleep at night. I hope this call to action to donate will inspire a few of you to spread the message, link to the Winter Warmer site and most of all DONATE. A blog post is not enough.

X

It’s easy: The competition is open to all bloggers (although I’m not sure I want anyone else to enter as it may hamper my chances of winning…) and all you have to do is answer six easy questions:

1. What is the opening rate special?
2. Where has the latest Southern Sun opened? (they opened on 24th April)
3. Who is the General Manager of the hotel?
4. How many rooms are there in the new hotel?
5. When is their room service available? [How many hours a day?]
6. Which item would you most like to order off the Punchinello’s menu?

My answers:

1. R1050.00 per room per night, B&B per adult sharing (so take someone you like)
2. Montecasino
3. Robert Jasper
4. 194
5. 24hours per day.
6. Berries and Zabaglione – I am an even bigger sucker for dessert.

Hint: visit the website and download the fact sheet for more info.

Prize: On Friday 14th May, one blogger will be chosen to win a weekend stay at Southern Sun Montecasino for 2 adults sharing, bed and breakfast and dinner to the value of R200 each.

Terms & conditions: (Those pesky things that have to be there so bloggers don’t get all whingy when they don’t win.)

• Subject to availability, not applicable during 2010 World Cup.
• Children under 18 sharing parents’ room stay and eat breakfast free.
• Valid for 6 months from date of issue.
• Winners need to make their own travel arrangements to the hotel.

More info on the hotel:

The Southern Sun Montecasino revealed its 194 bedrooms in April 2010.

The hotel was sympathetically being modeled on the Palazzo Corsini, a 15th century Villa situated on the slope between Gianicolo and the Tiber River in Italy.

Apparently – I will know when I get there with my prize – the hotel reflects a fusion of period and modern furnishings with a fresh eclectic style, unique in the Montecasino context. It boasts a speciality restaurant seating 120 people, as well as an outdoor pool and leisure area, a lobby bar and lounge and a high spec gymnasium.

Southern Sun Montecasino will also house a 1400m ² Conference Centre aimed at the Day Conference Package market, as well as an array of small conference and meeting rooms, all with the latest in audio-visual packages.  Convenience retail outlets including a business centre and a beauty salon are envisaged.  A new Café Bar on the Square caters to office tenants, visitors and hotel guests.

Go! Go! You’ve gotta be innit to winnit! PS Entries must be mailed to  sheenag@aquaonline.com

Phew, the digital, mobile and social media space is certainly hotting up recently. There have been more announcements and moves in this space than you can shake a stick at.

And while this is all very exciting and it’s great to see such buoyancy after 2009’s doom and gloom, as a PR and communications consultant I am feeling a touch of unease.

Primarily I am concerned about unrealistic expectations being set up with clients by agencies, often followed by poor implementation by people who haven’t truly engaged in the space for a significant period of time. I fear this disjoint will ultimately lead to the PR and communications industry being given a bad name – as it was by the champagne and stiletto brigade in the 1990s.

Not only that, though, if South African companies don’t get this social, mobile and digital media thing right they will lose the biggest opportunity they have to grow their businesses and be successful.

Things that have made me raise a sceptical eyebrow recently include:

What’s with the silo approach? Certainly the announcement of a new division gets an agency attention, but just how does it work to have all your social media “rock stars” sitting at one end of the agency when it comes to running integrated communication campaigns? Social media, online and mobile needs to be considered at strategy and conceptualisation stage, and then implemented coherently across the board. At MANGO-OMC we’re seeing more and more that we are required to take both a strategic and project manager role on behalf of our clients, bringing together different communication channels and technologies, overseeing an integrated campaign and serving as chief gatekeeper for brand messages.

Huh? A community manager that sits outside the company they represent? It is highly, highly unlikely that an agency will know your company as well as you do. And given that one of the key requirements for a successful social media engagement is authenticity, you’re stumbling before you are even out the box if your agency convinces you that they can look after this function. What your agency can do, however, is work with you on strategy, set in place the foundations of effective social media engagement with the customers in your target market, and guide and coach you on maintaining an effective and successful conversation.

Social media experts with 25 Twitter followers and 10 tweets? Imagine walking into a Hell’s Angels convention wearing a pink pleather jacket and carrying a scooter helmet with the price tag still attached. And expecting to be taken seriously. Not going to happen. It’s the same thing with social media, you only truly understand the space and engage authentically if you are genuinely part of it in your own capacity. Else at best you are going to get ignored, but more likely laughed at and then ignored.

Over-emphasising the impact of social and digital media in South Africa. Get real. Yes, it’s a rapidly growing wave, and yes you almost definitely need to get on it. But throw out everything else you are doing? Probably not. Let’s take a look at some numbers. 2.3 Million South Africans are active Facebook users every month. 467,500 South Africans have a Twitter account. 5.3 Million South Africans have Internet access. But amongst our population of more than 47 million, traditional media blows these stats out the water. Umhlobo Wenene FM has 4.3 million listeners a week, and The Sowetan, a regional newspaper, has more than 2 million readers a day. So decide who you want to reach, and find out where they are actively engaging, rather than jumping on the latest and most edgy fad.

What is key though is to maximise all your communications and PR efforts by integrating and amplifying them across the various channels you have chosen.

Don’t forget about mobile. And I don’t mean mobile Internet only: according to Arthur Goldstuck from WorldWideWorx there are 50 million mobile phone connections in South Africa, and about 36 million individual subscribers. There are heaps of cool, interactive things you can do with a bog standard mobile phone. Just tread carefully, as South Africans have been bitten one too many times by unscrupulous subscription offers. And make sure that what is happening on the mobile phone is aligned with what is happening in the rest of the campaign.

This is too important an opportunity to get things wrong. Agencies, start eating your own dog  food. And South African companies, notch up the scepticism a few levels the next time you are speaking to the latest social media rock star.

1. This morning’s Habari Facebook event in Cape Town was well worth it, it’s just a pity the whole industry is white, the agency idiots were out in full force and that it was hosted during the crunch hours of 10 am and 1 pm on a work day.  That said the content was engaging and it definitely opened my eyes to new possibilities. It’s always inspiring to see what constitutes a sticky campaign and how it is being implemented. I applaud creative thought, ballsy clients and brave teams who aren’t scared to stick their necks out and try something new. Take a look at Max Kaizen’s post on the event.
2. My next gripe: the Silicon Cape committee. Now it may appear that I have sour grapes about not being elected so let me set the record straight: I don’t. What I am sour about is that the 90% of the board is white (this seems to be an industry trend) and that it only has one female representative. In addition the whole momentum seems to be lost and a strategy is yet to be presented. One of the committee members openly admitted to not knowing what the Initiative’s mandate was at GeekRetreat, or how it differed from the likes of NetProphet. There is no doubt the guys are facing branding issues and a backlash from Joburgers who feel excluded, so why have these not been addressed and who will actually benefit in the long run? The old boys club (someone had to say it) or you and I?
3. Cape Town drivers. Sure driving is a risk at the best of times, but doing so in Cape Town is a sure way to reach the pearly gates faster than you can say stop. Just yesterday a driver shot right through a faulty traffic light at 80km/h without as much as a thought for oncoming traffic. Wake up people! When you get behind the wheel stay off your phones, yield to the right at roundabouts, keep a look out for pedestrians and for Pete’s sake be aware.

Over.

UPDATE:

It seems Silicon Valley faces similar gender challenges. A recent TechCrunch article explores the issue.

• I am moving to Joburg for 4 months to set up an office for MANGO-OMC. House hunting is proving to be challenge.
• I have been knighted ‘geek’ by the powers that be. (I am geek. I am not geek.)
• Hubby has a new band called THE GODS. They haven’t even played a gig yet and all the major music journos are writing about them. Come check them out at Up the Creek. (Side note: I got engaged at UTC 5 years ago.)
• I am now seeing a shrink and am no longer using this blog to purge myself. Talking is good. Having my personality back is even better.
• My nephew/niece is now 4.5cm long.
• Long sunset sessions with chardonnay and snacks is my favourite was to spend a summer’s evening in Cape Town.
• I get to wear my LBD twice in the upcoming week. I love black tie events.
• It never ceases to amaze me how egos muddy the waters. If you don’t know, ask!
• Quote of the week:“I would sacrifice myself if I wasn’t such a good whistler.” – Kind Julian, Madagascar
• Goal for the week: Take more photos.

I often wish I was an anonymous person uploading brutally honest posts online without a care in the world who reads it. Without an irrational fear of being judged. Without the need to pretend, like the rest of the world, that it’s all okay all the time. That we don’t get hurt, that we don’t grow tired, that we don’t lose inspiration, get pissed off, hate, love fiercely, get annoyed, get sick even.

I don’t blog about work. I can’t blog about my relationship because it would be uncool of me to reveal the life I share with my significant other. I don’t have strong opinions about politics and my religious views make most people feel uneasy, so I keep them to myself. I’m not one to dissect current affairs or pretend to be an ‘expert’. I’m not even funny.

So what the fuck is there left to say? That life is pissing me off and I can’t tell you about it?

I intend to wake up tomorrow with the answer.

(Picture credit: monicasuma.wordpress.com/2009/09/)

Like the great philosopher Jon Bon Jovi once said: “Love is like bad medicine. Bad medicine is all I need.”

I hope 2010 is better.

Happy holidays.

But, this post is not about Johannesburg and the next one won’t be either. The next one will be about how much I love being a Capetonian and how experiencing the Final Draw party last night changed my deep-rooted perceptions for the better. As Johannesburg did, except The Big Smoke changed my life view, my understanding of my place in it and believe it or not, this time the paradigm shift happened in an airport hotel.

For a second time (yes I am lucky), Protea Hotels asked me to stay at one of their establishments and to give them “feedback”. Luckily, I love hotels. I love the experience of arriving at my destination, checking in, being escorted to my room and discovering all the luxuries – white fluffy towels, complimentary body lotion and shampoo in all their travel-sized glory, even the tea tray with the little long life milk sachets that give me endless pleasure to open and drink straight from the container. But, what I love the most is the perceived anonymity of a hotel. This illusion affords me the freedom to roam around and check out the facilities like an excitable child who is exploring a new playground.

I can’t imagine Martha Stewart enjoying it, but Protea Hotels’ ability to bring in a fun factor never ceases to tickle me. You only have to visit their Fire and Ice Hotel in Cape Town, to know what I mean. And their new OR Tambo hotel is no different. Think flight simulators in the lobby, aeroplane life jackets in the pool and oxygen masks in the loo. Even the loo seats are strapped in with a safety belt! My highlight however, was arriving after a long day in the big city, pulling on my cozzie and diving into the black heated pool whilst aeroplanes cris-crossed overhead.

Compact rooms, slick conferencing facilities, shuttle busses to the airport and don’t-ever-get-out-rain-showers (through which I could watch BBC Lifestyle cooking shows) is what makes this a great choice for business travelers. With the exception that the hotel is awaiting its liquor license and the down lighting by the mirrors, which makes applying make-up a near impossibility (when will interior designers learn?), I enjoyed my stay. I realised that I enjoyed being alone, spending time by myself, eating breakfast alone, all without feeling uncomfortable. My whole life I have surrounded myself with people and things and as a result, rarely spend time just being. In the anonymity of an airport hotel, I acknowledged this. I met me.

I don’t often blog about work, but this is a really cool campaign considering I have been the one longing to come home for a sunny SA Christmas.

KuduClub, in collaboration with the ATKV, Jukebox, kykNET, OFM and Rapport, are offering one lucky family the opportunity to bring a loved one home for Christmas.

Recognising that returning home to spend the festive season with the family is what all homesick expats long for, KuduClub – the online subscription channel that dishes up the best in South African entertainment – conceptualised the Tuis vir Kersfees campaign.

Now one lucky individual and his/her companion stands the chance of winning two return tickets back to South Africa on 22 December 2009. The KuduClub team will fetch them in their current country of residence and bring them home. There is nothing like a warm South African Christmas surrounded by loved ones, when you’ve spent the last few knee-deep in snow.

Says Andries Vrey, General Manager: Afrikaans (DStv Online): “The number of expats who log onto KuduClub.com to watch Jukebox and request songs for their friends and family back home, has opened our eyes to the fact that there are many South Africans spread across the world who would love to be home for a sunny Christmas. The festive season is a time when families come together and celebrate, and the KuduClub community are no different. We are pleased to offer the lucky winner of Tuis vir Kersfees the opportunity to spend Christmas at home”.

To enter the competition, SMS* the word KERSFEES and your name to 34585. Or visit www.kuduclub.com to enter online.

* R2 per SMS. Free SMS’s don’t apply.

Entries close on the 25th so hurry!

According to the upcoming GQ review: ‘Kink has always been a house of fun, with everything but the kitchen! And now it’s here. A quaint little area out back plays host to only five tables, so expect undivided attention and the ultimate in gourmet perfection. Chef, Calum Anderson of Antique fame, delivers sensational dishes demonstrating the perfect marriage of flavours and exquisite presentation. Fairy lights line the walls, and the faint beat from the bar wafts through the doors to add to your unparalelled culinary experience. Enjoy this ‘theatre of erotic circus’.

And erotic food. Joe and I had the pleasure of eating there recently and this is what the chef served up:

• rooibos smoked salmon salad . . . . . . . . . . . . R 85
  TOSSED TOGETHER WITH FRESH PEAS, BACON, FERMENTED TOMATOES, PECORINO, SOFT BOILED EGG & WILD ROCKET
• homemade fishcakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R 85
  WITH HERB CRUST & WILTED TAT SOI & GLASS NOODLES. FINISHED WITH A LAKSA SAUCE & PICKLED BUTTERNUT
• marinated chicken breast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R 75
  ON A CARAMELIZED LEEK TART WITH BLUE CHEESE & SALSA ROSSA
• pecan pie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R 37
  WITH SPICY PINEAPPLE SALSA & COCONUT SORBET

As the lady of the house says: “If you are looking for fabulous food, fun and entertainment in a quirky and relaxed environment, Kitchen Kink is here…. Kinky food, now served to your favourite soundtrack.”

Call Gia on 083 677 9032 to make a booking.

PS: They are offering all KITCHEN KINK diners 30% off at the boutique upstairs, on the night, through-out November!