For the second year running, Sanlam Investment Management (SIM) Global’s Kokkie Kooyman was named the top global financial fund manager in the prestigious Investment Week Fund Manager of the Year Awards. Kooyman’s Global Financial Fund has outperformed its peers over one and three years as well as over longer periods. Investment Week is the leading weekly investment journal in the UK. Its annual awards, held in London last night, aim to highlight funds which have consistently outperformed over a three year period ... Read More

young South Africans need local role models and mentors to help them start businesses The Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship this month published its first national ‘Young Upstarts Report’, a research study into SA youth and their attitudes towards entrepreneurship. It revealed that 65 per cent of youth are keen to start their own businesses and of those, 19 per cent have a business idea but have as yet done nothing with it. This could be due to the fact that they lack ... Read More

We took home a total of 14 Prisms last week including 6 Gold (the most gold's awarded to any entrant), 6 Silver, 1 Bronze and the coveted overall Gold. An achievement we're really proud of and that involved all parts of our business (the awards were for clients ranging Sanlam to Steri Stumpie!). The Prisms are important to us because they measure not only creativity and media results but also look for measurable business results (and that's a core part of our ... Read More

    Comair, operator of British Airways in South Africa and kulula.com recently hosted a successful media launch to announce its new R30-million training centre and flight simulator. Atmosphere coordinated the media at the launch which took place at Comair’s Flight Training Centre in Kempton Park, Johannesburg.   Comair’s new flight simulator is one of the most sophisticated of its kind in Africa and offers the most comprehensive pilot type-rated training to commercial airline pilots. Based on the latest Boeing 737-800 planes, the simulator provides a ... Read More

The excitement and nerves were evident among SA’s top entrepreneurs as they waited to find out who would be crowned as the Sanlam/ Business Partners Entrepreneur of the Year for 2010, at the winning ceremony in Sandton last Thursday night. It was an inspirational night as the overall winner and the category winners, shared their tales of entrepreneurial success…and failure…and ultimately success. Martin Beyers of CERadvance, was the overall winner, possessing all the qualities typical of a successful entrepreneur. The 2010 competition, run ... Read More

We recently helped our client, Chevron South Africa, launch a newly refurbished and fully stocked library and learning centre at the Inkwenkwezi Secondary School in Du Noon. The library was officially opened by the Minister of Basic Education, Mrs. Angie Motshekga, MP on 26 October 2010. The library upgrade, as well as the appointment of a full time librarian and an assistant to manage the facility, was funded by Chevron South Africa as part of its Energy for Learning programme. This is ... Read More

We've just launched a new campaign for Sanlam to highlight the dangers of not planning properly for retirement. Based primarily on Facebook it follows the (fictional) lives of celebs Loyiso Bala and Jeannie D; one of them saved and one of them didn't. To launch the campaign we arranged a photo shoot with both of the celebs and using make-up and a little digital re-touching aged them by 40 years. Have a look at the video for more on the campaign and ... Read More

Atmosphere arranged a fun speed-dating event, at Sinn’s in Wembley Square, for our Sanlam Personal Finance spokespeople and selected journalists to interact and get to know each other better. Time constraints kept the pace up as the speed-daters hurriedly gathered as much information as possible about their partner before they had to move on. The one-on-one sessions were designed to build direct relationships between the media and Sanlam spokespeople in a useful and memorable way. Read More

It was a three-month clandestine operation. We were sworn to total secrecy and anyone mentioning the word “internet” was threatened with instant decapitation. But finally we were allowed to reveal the big news from our longest-standing client, MWEB, late last week. And it was worth the wait. MWEB, with backing from its parent company, Naspers announced the launch of the cheapest, unlimited internet access in South Africa. The move, which surprised the market, meant that South Africans are a step closer to being ... Read More

Atmosphere got a taste of South Africa’s vibrant soccer world when we announced our client Sanlam’s latest sponsorship, the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Cup on 4 Feb -  the biggest sponsorship in the history of South African schools football.Valued at R30-million over five years, it is co-funded by Sanlam, the Motsepe Foundation and the Sanlam Ubuntu Botho Community Development Trust. Our Joburg team sprang into action to put together the media launch in just three days. Attended by bigwigs Patrice Motsepe, King Zwelithini ... Read More