Has Zuma improved Brand South Africa?
There is no doubt that the arrival of US President Barack Obama at the White House was followed by much renewed goodwill and contributed positively to changing the image of America around the world. His message of hope resonated far beyond the borders of the USA, touching on Africa – where Kenyans and others claimed him as one of their own – Australasia, Europe, The Middle and Far-East, The Pacific and other parts of the world. Given the place occupied by the USA in the affairs of the world, this reach has not been a surprise. Read more >>
Branding in the Public Sector – Pitfalls et al
The dawn of South Africa’s young democracy has, since 1994, encouraged thousands of attempts to rebrand all types of things that reminded the majority of this country’s population of negative memories of the past. These attempts at rebranding, some with more success than others, have ranged from personal names – e.g. former anti-apartheid veterans, “Terror” Lekota changed (Africanised) his name to Mosioua Lekota, and Sam Shilowa changed his to Mbhazima Shilowa; Soapie and theatre actor Sam Ncube changed his name to Sam Maake ka Ncube, while Soapie (Muvhango) Executive Producer Duma Ndlovu Africanised his name to Duma ka Ndlovu – to geographic names (e.g. Johannesburg International Airport to O.R. Tambo International; Pietersburg is now called Polokwane; Greater Metropolitan Pretoria is now Tshwane, etc.). South Africa also boasts many post-apartheid Nelson Mandela Drives, a Bram Fischer Lecture Hall, a Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden, and many other new names. Apart from these famous examples, many other changes have been made throughout our short democratic history. Read more >>
What is in Political Brands?
South African media coverage has been dominated by intensive events in the political arena for at least the past two years now. In early 2008 all media cameras were focused on the changing leadership of the Democratic Alliance (DA), keenly interested to see who would take over from the unapologetically feisty Tony Leon to take the party to another level or stage of its growth in South African politics. The central question in debates related to this leadership change in the DA was focused on whether and how the new party leader would grow the DA Brand through better in-roads into Black (African) support; the extent to which the new leader would manage to “transform” the party, remove the stigma of it being perceived as one that only represents white minority interests, and have a more cordial relationship with the then President of the Republic of South Africa. Read more >>
What Political Capital is Julius Malema banking?
Julius Malema represents many things to many people. To some, mostly whites, he is the personification of a future South African Robert Mugabe and everything that comes with a Robert Mugabe persona while, to others, mostly young blacks still hoping that the ANC will one day deliver them the much awaited Eldorado, he represents hope. He speaks the language of the streets. The hope that he represents is that the apparent neglect of the older ANC generation will one day be a thing of the past when Malema’s generation of leaders – accompanied by the likes of Fikile Mbalula, Malusi Gigaba, Menzi Simelane and others – takes control and matters such as land reform and real transformation of the South African economy are taken more seriously. Read more >>
Brand for All
One of the major mandates of organisations such as Cape Town Routes Unlimited (CTRU) – successor to the erstwhile Western Cape Tourism Board – is to facilitate the inclusion of previously marginalised tourism role players into the formal tourism economy and value chain. The CTRU also has to embark on a range of activities to ensure that not only players in the tourism industry but also the general citizenry of this province, whose taxes fund its operations, takes bigger pride in the province and its vast array of tourism market offerings. Read more >>
It’s all about brand associations, stupid!
The Zulu expression: “igatsha ligotshwa lisemanzi” (it’s better to shape a tree branch while it is still young and relatively soft), was not coined for nothing. Like much of South Africa, the Western Cape would have been easier to win over during or soon after the 1994 political euphoria – pretty much in the same way that it was easier to convince “nationalists” from Bophuthatswana, Ciskei and others at the time to give up their Bantustan nationalist ideals for a better shared South African one. Read more >>
Who Manages Brand Zuma?
Veteran journalist and political commentator, Allister Sparks, proposes in his last column before the elections (Cape Times, Thursday, April 16, 2009) that Zapiro should “scrap the shower and draw a dark cloud over [Jacob Zuma]’s head instead”. A few days before that, I had stopped to chat to a neighbor who swore to me that she would never vote for a man who gets drunk and falls stupidly on his bum. This, she said, was something that she had been told by someone else who saw an intoxicated Jacob Zuma dance at his last wedding in 2008. Read more >>
Defining Brand Africa
The Ivory Coast is the latest in a series of developments on the African continent that contribute to the constant running down of Brand Africa. Each time that Brand Africa tries to raise its head and look up in pride, something happens, within Africa by Africans, to mow it down to size, ensuring that it remains amongst the least respected geographic brand in the universe. Following the ongoing Zimbabwean situation, Kenya, the Sudan, Egypt, the ongoing South African process to limit freedom of expression and access to information through the widely condemned Protection of Information Bill, this continent simply refuses to be saved, one is tempted to think. Read more >>
TOTALGAZ
Cylinder Retrieval Campaign
- Entered the Bay City Cycle Tour League and Funride happening on Sun, 26 Feb 2012! http://t.co/F7SY90Oi
- @rayjoe ıt was meant to be for a short whıle, wıll change back soon! It enabled me to see the determıned requests to connect.
- @rayjoe that would be good, Ray! Lookıng forward!