In collaboration with out sibling agencies King James and Mnemonic we’ve just launched +one - a virtual agency that pools together some of the great social media experience existing in various parts of the group.

+one turns the marketing monologue into a dialogue. Formed from members of King James RSVP, Atmosphere and Mnemonic we are a cross-discipline creative team that craft cunning cross/social and media-independent campaigns.

Advertising is changing and we believe our new environment requires completely new skills and approaches. +one is a formalised collaboration between experts from PR, advertising, design and the web, working as a tight integrated team across all disciplines to create unified yet flexible branded messaging.

Check the +one website out for examples of our work.

kulula

If that wasn’t enough then kulula launched a challenge to local airlines to cut their prices during the world cup which got spectacular pick-up in the local press.

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 and Johan van Zyl (CEO Sanlam), the launch was the start of a major injection into the development of soccer excellence in SA schools.

Launch of the biggest schools football sponsorship in South Africa R30-million sponsorship incorporating R3.4-million annual prize money for Kay Motsepe Cup

Sandton, South Africa, 4 February 2010:

The development of soccer in South African schools was given strong impetus today when the Motsepe Foundation announced financial services group Sanlam as naming rights sponsor of its national schools football competition. The sponsorship of R30-million over five years is co-funded by Sanlam, the Motsepe Foundation and the Sanlam Ubuntu Botho Community Development Trust. This is the biggest sponsorship in the history of South African schools football. The announcement was made by Patrice Motsepe at the launch of the 2010 Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup (previously the Kay Motsepe Cup) in Sandton today.

The launch was attended by representatives of the National Ministries of Basic Education and Sports, as well as the Provincial MEC’s of Education and Sports, King Zwelithini, other kings, traditional leaders, prominent leaders in football, business, trade union organisations and football legends.

Founded in 2004 and named after Motsepe’s late mother, the Kay Motsepe Cup has grown to become the premier high schools football competition in South Africa. With its primary objective being to develop and promote the culture of football excellence at schools and to contribute towards uniting South Africa’s youth through football.  It is expected that more than 4000 schools from all nine provinces will participate in the 2010 Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup on a regional, provincial and national basis.

Johan van Zyl, Group CEO of Sanlam says, “We strongly share the Motsepe Foundation’s belief that soccer is a nation-builder, and that the growth of soccer, through the development and enhancement of youth football and life skills, will contribute immeasurably to this country’s future. Sanlam is therefore extremely excited to join this competition as one of the three major sponsors.  We are looking forward to making a contribution to elevating the professionalism of our country’s football and to ensuring that the talented players in South Africa are given the chance to reach their true potential.”

Patrice Motsepe, Chairman of the Motsepe Foundation and the Sanlam Ubuntu Botho Community Development Trust, says, “The annual prize money of R3.4 million will be used to improve the educational facilities and develop football at the winning schools. We are delighted to welcome our new co-sponsors. Sanlam and the Sanlam Ubuntu Botho Community Development Trust share our vision of making every school in South Africa a centre of football excellence. We are confident that the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup will contribute towards developing the future Bafana Bafana stars and ensuring that South African football is amongst the best in Africa and the world.”

The winning school will receive R1 million and the other prizes are:

Second Prize:             R 600 000

Third Prize:                  R 500 000

Fourth Prize:               R 400 000

The nine provincial winners of the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Provincial Schools Cup will each receive R100 000. The two top schools from every province will participate in a four day competition after the 2010 Football World Cup to determine the winner of the 2010 Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup and the winners of the various other prize monies.

The President of the South African Schools Football Association (SASFA), Mandla “Shoes” Mazibuko says, “Our partnership with the Kay Motsepe Cup has contributed immensely to the development of schools football in South Africa. We are excited that Sanlam and the Sanlam Ubunto Botho Community Development Trust decided to partner with the Kay Motsepe Cup. The partnership that we are all building could not have come at a better time because this year South Africa is hosting the 2010 Football World Cup.”

The 2010 Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup will kick off on 20 February 2010 and schools at district level will participate on a knock-out basis leading to the provincial and national finals in August 2010.

Atmosphere recently launched the Friendship 2.0 survey on behalf of MWEB. The survey was created by us (and carried out by TNS) to fill the information gap locally on how social networking is changing relationships and position MWEB as the experts on web in SA. There have been some great media results including extensive radio, print and online coverage.

Here are some of the findings:

Users in South Africa

The survey revealed that the average age of Facebook users in South Africa is 33; MySpace is 32; Twitter and YouTube come in at 31; and the youngest in the survey is MXit with an average age of 27. These findings dispel perceptions that social networking is for teenagers only.

Multiple presences

Many online South Africans are also taking up multiple presences using a combination of Facebook, Twitter and MXit accounts. To facilitate integration between these multiple platforms, these users link their various accounts to each other enabling visitors to their Facebook pages to view their Twitter updates and click through to their MySpace profile.

On certain social platforms, it’s more a matter of viewing than doing. For example, 75% of MySpace users are only ‘viewers’, moving from one profile to the next. Similarly, 72% of Twitter users are “lurkers”, reading what others post. This may be because Twitter is still relatively ‘new’ and users do not have the option of accepting people who would like to follow them. Users could also be more concerned about what their followers may think of their comments.

Facebook and LinkedIn are the most balanced, with 60% of their users classed as “viewers”, who just view other people’s pages, and 40% actively posting their own information regularly.

Facebook chat

The addition of Facebook’s chat facility/instant messenger tool has seen 56% of South African Facebook users ‘chatting’ to their friends on the site. “When we looked at who they are chatting to, friends and family were tops. Clients, partners and suppliers were the lowest, possibly because most Facebook users prefer not to befriend people they deal with professionally.”

Internet connectivity

The way South African’s are accessing the Internet revealed that ADSL is the connection of choice. “Some 48% of the participants are connecting via ADSL, followed very closely by 3G/HSDPA at 42%, and 35% via their cell phones using 3G,” added Holgate.

Online personality types

The survey results categorised respondents into five different online personality types. These personality types, vary from those who are reluctant to use the Internet and do not have an understanding of what can be done online, through to users who are comfortable using the Internet and indulge in potentially “edgy” behaviour, such as using a pseudonym online or using the Internet to find out what a past partner is doing.

Other findings

* 74% of South Africans go online specifically to visit social networking platforms
* 16% of Facebook users are on Facebook all day, an additional 58% visit the site once a day or more - therefore 74% are accessing Facebook at least once a day
* Computer desktop remains the most popular way to access Facebook (55%), but 35% are using a combination of their cellphone and computer
* 62% of Facebook users are updating their status, and 61% are uploading videos or photographs, and searching for someone on the site
* 16% of participants are using social platforms to promote their business - MWEB believes this figure will grow as more small businesses are seeing the value in promoting their businesses online
* 94% of the participants are using the Internet to access their email
* 81% using the Internet for work related activities
* Social networking (74%) rated six on the list of online activities after reading the news (76%), searching for information (76%) and online banking (75%)
* 50% of Facebook users classified themselves as English, 58% are male and 25% have parents on the social platforms
* A quarter of the survey participants have met more friends online than they have in real life
* 24% have gone on a face-to-face date with someone they have met online
* 36% have used a pseudonym online
* 36% have used the Internet to find out what a past partner is doing
* 37% believe they spend too much time online and need to cut back - indicting that these platforms are viewed as addictive
* Just under half feel vulnerable to abuse by sharing their personal details online
* 21% have experienced a breach of their privacy on the Internet.

For more information about this survey, indicative profiles of the five online personality types identified during this survey, and to see how you compare to the average South African using social networking platforms, go to www.mweb.co.za/services/friendship/.

January 2009 Paarl, South Africa: KWV Wines will start 2010 with the launch of a global online marketing campaign. The activity will include the launch of a new website, http://www.kwv-wines.com, with closely integrated social media elements such as online videos and content on Facebook and Twitter. Two blogs will also be launched as part of the activity to give consumers a behind the scenes view of how the wines are produced: www.life.kwv-wines.com (for the KWV Lifestyle and KWV Reserve brands) and www.style.kwv-wines.com (for The Mentors and Abraham Perold).

The launch marks a dynamic and exciting move for the brand focusing marketing attention online allows the KWV Wines story to be told to consumers across the globe.

“Our new online activity allows us to create a direct link between the team that creates our wines in South Africa and our global consumers. We believe wine drinkers increasingly want to know the real story behind what they drink; they want to know how it was made, by whom and the location. We believe that KWV Wines has a credible and authentic story to tell and using online channels we can create a close link to and encourage conversation with our consumers,” said Karin O’Donoghue, Global category manager wines.

Content available on the website will include, amongst other things, information on vintage launches, food pairing suggestions and media resources. The blogging element will include behind the scenes insights into how consumers favourite KWV Wines are created. The blogs will also include regular comments from winemakers, viticulturists and other team members on issues such as the impact of climate change on local wine, sustainability and other key industry topics.

Traffic to the new website will be driven by a series of international promotions including a social media campaign which will bring three couples from around the world to share their stories and experience at a dinner party in the Paarl vineyards in November 2010. There will also be incentives for consumers, media and bloggers that sign-up first to receive regular updates.

The website has been produced by Mnemonic and social media activity is being driven by Atmosphere Communications, both part of the King James Group.

KWV Wines is produced by KWV, one of the 5 largest wine and brandy producers in South Africa. Its head office is located in Paarl, in the Western Cape – one of the countries top wine producing regions. The company sources grapes and wines from the best and most sort after viticultural areas in South Africa.

Ends

For more information please contact:

Tessa Kidd
Atmosphere Communications
Tel: 021 461 2117
tessa AT atmosphere.co.za

Atmosphere recently launched the Kulula beach index for kulula.com. We worked with a freelance economist to figure out the cheapest beach destinations in South Africa - just in time for the summer holiday season. To get the figures we looked at the price of fish & chips amongst other typical holiday costs for a family of four. Stillbaai in the Western Cape came out as the cheapest and Camps Bay in Cape Town (maybe not surpisingly) came out as most expensive. The activity was designed to draw attention to kulula holidays the travel portal of kulula.com (which is mostly known as an airline brand). Coverage has appeared in the Daily News, Weekend Witness, Weekend Argus, Business Report, The Star and iafrica.com amongst other places. Considering the costs were minimal in putting it together I think this makes it a nice little PR idea.

For an example of the coverage visit: In tough times, life can still be a bitch (The Star/iol)

Based on the insight that most people’s inflight entertainment for short haul trip these days is on there iPod we have put together a pilot podcast that is now available on the kulula air home page. The idea was to find some interesting local personalities to interview that would be of interest for both business and leisure travellers on the airline. We invited Seth from 2oceansvibe, brad from beer salon &Union, Thierry from Z News and The Kings of Vegas along for our first go at this.

Our client, Sanlam Private Investments (SPI), turned 10-years-old in 2009 and Atmosphere suggested that it launch an Innovation Awards campaign among students to celebrate this milestone. We chose to run them in creative fields which would appeal to SPI’s high net worth clients who have a passion for the finer things in life (interior design, culinary arts, jewellery design and fashion design are examples). We set to work finding the crème de la crème of educational institutions in these categories and challenged their students to submit creative, phenomenal work which was also practical and economically viable. The entries were staggeringly impressive – view the winning entries on Women24. Winners were handed their R10 000 prize money and awarded at a lovely lunch at Emily’s restaurant in the V&A Waterfront at the end of October. And it seems that the Innovation Awards will become a regular fixture on the SPI calendar, only next year it will be a much bigger affair!

Cape Town, November 2009: The November results of the Sanlam Investment Management (SIM) Investor Confidence Indices survey reflected that respondents increasingly consider the equity market to be expensive. Together with a view of an expensive market, expected returns from equities continue to decline.

Frederick White, head of SIM asset allocation research said, “The Valuation Confidence Index dropped to its worst level since inception, based on the result that 45% of respondents consider the market as being too expensive, while only 2% think that it is too cheap. Among the institutional investors the valuation concern remains more pronounced, as 64% believe the market is too expensive while not a single one thinks that it is too cheap.

“Consistent with the valuation concern, both groups of respondents have reduced their outlook for the changes in the prices of equities. On average the respondents expect the equity market to be up by only 6.1% over the next 12 months, with institutional investors being less optimistic with an average expected rise of only 2.9%. The institutional investors’ average view implies that even once dividends are included, the total return on equities over the next year would just about equal inflation and hence one would get no real growth from equity investments.

“Over the very near term, respondents are even more pessimistic on the returns expected from equities, with the expected increases in equity prices being only -0.7%, 0% and 2.2% over one month, three months and six months respectively. The institutional investors hold a more negative outlook over all these investment horizons, with market declines expected over all three periods, namely -0.7%, -1.6% and -1.8% respectively.

“The two remaining indices, Crash Confidence and Post Dip Recovery, also did not indicate any sign of confidence among equity investors. The Crash Confidence Index declined from 68% to 66%, implying a small increase in the percentage of respondents who deem the probability of a crash to be more than 10%, while the Buy-On-Dips Index remained stationary at a level of only 42%,” said White.

Gerda van der Linde, executive director at the Institute for Behavioral Finance (IBF), an independent research organisation that conducts the survey, explains these results, “In the analysis of survey results the Institute of Behavioral Finance has become convinced that a condition known as chronic uncertainty has, since May 2009, dominated the investment scene. Financial planners and their clients are still uncertain about the markets and are inclined to leave the decision regarding the optimal mix of asset classes to the asset managers. This is evident from the current huge inflows into asset allocation funds.

“Valuation sentiment as measured by the Investor Confidence Index is at an all time low. It appears that the chronic uncertainty factor has now evolved into a condition that can best be described as a resilient negative sentiment. On the one hand, investors feel the huge risks after suffering substantial losses last year; on the other hand they feel that they cannot afford not to be in the market right now, for fear of again achieving lower returns compared with their competition.

“From a behavioral finance point-of-view it is evident that an irrational factor known as confirmation bias is driving both sentiments by institutional investors and financial planners to new lows. Confirmation bias is a condition where investors are caught in the trap where it is easier to focus attention on one-sided news that confirms a belief, especially if it is a negative belief. The obvious danger of confirmation bias is that it “programs” the minds of investors to ignore opposing views. Confirmation bias gives them a false sense of confidence in their beliefs, but it does not necessarily make predictions more accurate.

“In the end, the question is how to break out of the spiral of a resilient negative sentiment? Investors are advised to evaluate gains and losses in equity markets over longer periods, looking at performance over periods of five years and more. They should refrain from looking at the performance of a specific stock in isolation, or returns over a short period in isolation. Investors should also evaluate the performance and returns of their total portfolio over the long term,” says van der Linde.

*The Sanlam Investment Management (SIM) Investor Confidence Index is conducted by the Institute of Behavioral Finance

Ends.

Note to editors

About the Sanlam Investment Management Investor Confidence Index

The Sanlam Investment Management Investor Confidence Index is based on the Yale School of Management Stock Market Confidence Index which has been conducted in the USA since 1984 and in Japan since 1989. It is run in conjunction with the Institute of Behavioral Finance.

The index is reported in four main categories: One-Year Confidence Index, Buy-On-Dips Confidence Index, Crash Confidence Index, and Valuation Confidence Index. The One-Year Confidence Index relates to the expected percentage change in the JSE All-share Index for the periods of one month, the next three months, the next six months and the next year. The Buy-On-Dips Confidence Index gives participants a chance to estimate how the JSE All-Share Index will do the day after tomorrow if it were to drop by three percent tomorrow.

The results of the survey are published monthly at: http://www.sanlam.co.za/wps/wcm/connect/sanlam_investments_en/SanlamInvestments/Our+Businesses/Sanlam+Investment+Management+%28SIM%29/Measuring+Investor+Confidence/  

About Sanlam Investment Management (SIM)

Part of the Sanlam Investments cluster, SIM is the second largest asset manager in South Africa with more than R240 billion in assets under management. SIM is a multi-specialist asset manager consisting of six specialised boutiques which share a common research platform. The six boutique teams are Equities, Fixed Interest, Absolute Return, Liability Driven, Active Quants and Balanced. SIM provides traditional and alternative investment management services to third party institutional and retail clients as well as the Sanlam Group. For more information, visit www.sim.sanlam.co.za