The Feudal Cystern

As one Mark joins us, another leaves

This month we bid goodbye to RSVP Creative Director Mark Stead - a veritable agency stalwart, he's been here since before King James was called King James. His farewell party has not been had yet, so we'll post his speech after Thursday, when we all gather to bid him a very teary adieu. And then we'll get over it because we have Mark Kaigwa from Kenya currently working with us. We met Mark over the internet, and he's been a great friend of King James for about a year and a half, which is why when he contacted us about an internship we were very happy to have him on board. 

The two Marks, side by side, hand in hand, we all stand together...

we now have a real writer among us!

Congrats to Paige who's debut novel was published a few weeks back. See it'd here all on the shelf and everything!

Here is a link to an excerpt, and if you click here you can buy her book. And maybe if you make a special request, she might even consider signing it. Congrats again Paige! We can't wait for the movie to come out.

We're hiring. Are we looking for you?

Always dreamed of getting paid to be on facebook? Wish you could blog for a living? Then you should get in touch, because we're looking for someone with a marketing / advertising (preferably copywriting) background to help us manage and run our social media campaigns - full time. You should be an all-rounder whom we can send to meetings, and be hands-on when it's needed. You should enjoy coming up with ideas proactively, and be willing to work with a team across various departments within the agency. You should already be involved with social media and be able to present your track record, whether it's your blog or your twitter feed and any other social media projects with which you've already been involved. You must love being online and interacting online, as this will be your primary role, and you should have between 2-3 years work experience. Oh, and you'll need to be in Cape Town. Send your CV detailing why you'd be right for the role to alexv@kingjames.co.za by 30 May 2010.

 

the latest kulula ad

A bit of fun to kick off the week.

Al appoints new MD while James is away.

No, seriously.

LA star jets into Cape Town to star in commercial. (He's the one on the right.)

 

Pulled kulula ad makes Cape Times front page

Agency Cat Jackpot in da house

Jenny brought young Jackpot into the agency today. Lucky Garp wasn't around - Jackpot was in a very fighty mood!

This last one is Jackie's bunny impression - too cute!

Happy Birthday Alistair and Howard!

Is it a coincidence that 3 of our directors were born within 3 days of each other? Happy birthday to Pisceans Howard and Alistair. The person to leave them the most original RHYMING happy birthday comment will win a spot prize. Here are some pics to inspire you:

Dances with Dawgs

Christan and Garp get into the spirit of Thursday with a quick morning dancey time!

Happy Birthday James

Today is the James in King James's birthday! Happy Birthday James! Feel free to drop him a birthday wish in the comments section. The wish with the most sexual innuendos will win a spot prize. Here is a photo of James to inspire you:

King James launches +one

At last! This has been simmering for quite some time now, but the team has finally got their act together. Of course, as Murphy's law would have it we're also having major issues with our internet lines so you may or may not get access to the site today. Here's the full press release for the launch of our new social media / dialogue marketing division:

February 2009, King James Group has created a dialogue marketing team to integrate social media, word-of-mouth and community building activity across its campaigns. Formed with a unique creative team structure that pulls in talent from across the different agencies within the group, +one blends PR, web, media, design and advertising skills to create an entirely new marketing discipline.

The team has been made up of a number of individuals with a strong track record in social media as marketers, but more importantly as active community participants, bloggers and networkers. This group will pull in talent from across the agency as needed to create seamlessly integrated, community building campaigns.
 
“The launch of +one is just one way in which the King James Group is adapting to the rapidly changing consumer and media environment. Our unique creative structure allows us to focus on new ideas and methodologies and draw from a diverse range of skills to build campaigns that traditional or specialist agencies operating in silos simply cannot match,” said James Barty, group chief executive.
 
“To be successful in today’s marketing world, which is increasingly about dialogue and less about one way flows of information, we need to reinvent how we act as communicators. Many brands are failing when it comes to creating conversations with their consumers because they don’t understand the etiquette and community structures of new media platforms. +one is designed to turn the marketing monologue into a dialogue in an informed and credible way” added Barty.  

The +one team is already working for clients such as Parmalat Steri Stumpie, brandhouse, kulula, ghd and KWV Wines, amongst others.

For further information on +one visit: www.plus-one.co.za or contact Dan Pinch
 
dan@atmosphere.co.za
021 469 1575
082 454 4617

The Hammer Shuffle

Howard has informed us of a few developments to the Hammerlive team, which is beautifully explained in this elegant piece of prose:

There have been a few major shifts at Hammer over the recent weeks, too many to put into single emails, so for those of you who are bored enough or interested enough please read on about our exciting developments:

1st up is the launch of a new event infrastructure company called Toolbox.  This company will be servicing the industry with furniture, decor and styling and other event infrastructure.  Michael Naidoo will be looking after all logistics and asset management for Toolbox as well as planning and logistics at Hammer.

A new business unit will be managing existing business at Hammer, most specifically brandhouse business.  Ophelia Ross takes up a new position as Business Unit Manager whilst Emma Jackson has taken up a new position as Project Manager. Joining them in this team are Lungi Matiyela and Mandima Qunta.

Sadiqah Slamong has had her title changed as well to fall more in line with her portfolio, she is now our Office Manager.

Finally, Hannah Welch joins us today to assist Jason and me with Red Bull Street Style taking place in April.

Congratulations to everyone!

Indeed!

Celebrating Strides: rewarding tomorrow's pioneers

If you make your way to the Celebrating Strides website, you can read all about this initiative we're running with Johnnie Walker® that aims to acknowledge individuals who have made a progressive contribution to South African society as well as encourage and grow tomorrow's leaders. Read up on the finalists in the 4 categories (Business, The Arts, Design, Environmental) and vote for the finalist whose story you find most inspiring. If you vote you could win a limited edition pair of Jenna Clifford Johnnie Walker® cufflinks :)

But the real reason to get involved is that the winner in each category receives R125 000 to invest in an individual or a cause they believe has the potential to grow future pioneers. Read up on what last year's winners spent their money on to really get an idea of how powerful Celebrating Strides can be. Below is the commercial we created for the initiative. Congrats to Mark Stead, Alex van Tonder, Jenny Ehlers, Paige Nick, Karin Barry, Alistair King, Candice Hogg, Nicky Rush, Mel de Winaar, Sarel Estherhuizen and Kathi Jones for pulling it all together. Below is the TV commercial for the Celebrating Strides initiative.

New Bell's TVC

For those of you who haven't seen it on TV yet, we completed a new TV commercial for Bell's Old Scotch Whisky late last year. Congrats to Devin Kennedy, Damian Bonse, Alistair King and Laurel Mader, who all worked very hard to make the ad happen.

Doggy Dancing

Garp and Mark waltzed around the studio this morning. Garp is wearing a ribbon to commemorate Alistair's wedding anniversary. Happy Happy Al and Tab!