All About The Red Light And Blackberry

INSIGHTS OF A BLACKBERRY

People’s heads are always down and not because they have depression but because they have a Blackberry in their hands and their eyes are glued to it. One of the dominant names in the global smartphone market that hit the app world by storm considered to be the most purchased smartphone globally and still has the largest market share over its leading competitor iPhone. Knowing very well that majority of students own Blackberry smartphones, this is what University of Johannesburg students had to say.

‘Blackberry messenger is my favourite because it is a convenient way for me to always stay up to date with what my friends are getting up to via their status updates, they can be really juicy too. Gone are the days when we would send each other text messages and not even be sure whether or not your friend has received it. BBM shows you the minute your message has been received and read, so my friends cannot lie and make excuses saying that they didn’t receive it.’   

A lot of students said they find picmix very interesting because it is an exciting and a great app for editing pictures, the filters it has gives pictures the perfect lighting, it blurs out any imperfections and it can crop out whoever you don’t want in the picture. With picmix you can also share the picture directly to Facebook. Students emphasized the fact that picmix is the new age revolution to collaging because now they can juxtapose different pictures of different moments or people close to them in different frames and in one picture. Meaning users can share their #BBMoments with the world and for a chance to have their stories featured on Inside Blackberry.

What do you use your Blackberry mostly for… A lot of people use it for social media because Blackberry comes with a lot of social media integrated apps. When you click on the social media icon on your home screen, it is a direct link to the site meaning you do not have to go to your web browser and you receive the messages directly to your phone. Other people will use it mostly for receiving emails on their phones and it is very convenient because now you do not have to wait till you get to your laptop in order to check your emails. BBM plays a major role in how we communicate with each other, and this is a great way to share the various ways iPhone, Android and Blackberry users leveraging BBM to communicate with their loved ones.

What do you do when your BIS expires? ‘I panic because I’m so used to receiving notifications and the red light flickering for me to attend to my texts. And I feel like my life is over and I have to rush to buy my Blackberry Internet Service as soon as possible.’ 

Article by +Molly Dimpho 

Virgin Mobile Crowdsourcing Campaign For Musician John Newman

Virgin Mobile South Africa has released an alternative and fun local fan music video for John Newman’s smash hit ‘Love Me Again’.

Created from footage shot in a Virgin Mobile video booth during the British artist’s recent tour to Cape Town and Johannesburg, it features local fans lip-synching and dancing their way passionately through the song. 

John Newman – who shot to fame in 2012 as the voice of Rudimental’s number one hit-single ‘Feel the Love’ – is emerging as one of the iconic voices of his generation. The 23-year old British singer-songwriter’s soulful tones wowed the crowds at both South African venues.

“Partnering with Seed Experiences as a sponsor of the John Newman tour was an exciting step for us,” notes Chief Operations Officer for Virgin Mobile SA, Jason Hair, “part of the reinvigoration of our brand involves close associations with live music – and John Newman’s shows were absolutely fantastic.”

“South Africans have an incredible passion for music, across various genres and cultures. Through music, we’re able to reflect both our individuality, and also our unity,” he adds.

“The Virgin brand has always been slightly different from the established status quo – so we feel the association with music is a perfect fit.  Virgin Mobile will support other local and international acts this year.

The music video stars a total of 278 South African fans. The raw footage, which was 10 hours long, was skilfully edited into the final four-minute cut to capture the mood of the two evenings.

John Newman interacted with local fans at the Cape Town and Jo’burg events – as Virgin Mobile gave away VIP tickets to lucky winners via social media, which included a backstage meet and greet for one lucky couple.

The Virgin Mobile team thanks all the South African fans for “creating a unique memento of the performances through interaction with our brand, and helping us kick off Virgin Mobile’s involvement with music in such style.”

To see the video on YouTube, click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nMMbu0kzTU

Digital Conference Coming Up For Franschoek In June 2014

Data is the key to a customer-first strategy

South African companies that are serious about making a shift towards customer-focused marketing need to put in place systems and processes that will enable them to gather and make sense of unprecedented amounts of customer data being generated, in an integrated fashion.

That’s according to Acceleration director Richard Mullins, who says that the growth of digital channels have prompted marketers around the world to rethink the impact that data has on the way they run their entire businesses. Mullins is commenting ahead of the Acceleration Digital Ignition Symposium for 2014 to be held in June, where the country’s top digital marketers will gather to hear about the latest trends and developments in the digital marketing landscape.

“Knowing and understanding the audience is key to successful customer engagement—and data unlocks your knowledge of and insight into your audience,” adds Mullins. “For that reason, we’re seeing organisations worldwide look closely at their customer data—what customer data they collect, where and how they collect it, and how they put it to work.”

Mullins says that most marketers have been gathering customer data from digital channels and tools for years, including their Web analytics, ad-serving, email and search platforms. They used it for basic optimisation of their digital marketing, benefitting greatly from the measurability that digital channels offer in the process.

Now, however, they are thinking about data in a deeper manner as they seek to build out more personalised and relevant engagements with their customers. They are seeking to integrate data from digital channels with data from point of sale, contact centre and customer relationship systems to get a more complete view of their customer.

And they are also looking to achieve a more granular and detailed understanding of customers’ needs and behaviour. “As you build a deeper understanding of the audience, so you become able to use each touch point and each piece of content to deliver more meaningful engagements and influence with your audience,” Mullins says.

Mullins says that against this backdrop, organisations need to start thinking about data in a more strategic manner. This means they need to put in place enterprise architectures that allow them to map out the sort of data they need to collect to meet their customer acquisition and retention goals, as well as the tools and technologies they will use to do so. “Marketers need to learn how to mine audience data across different channels and media,” he adds.

Mullins says that owning and understanding data is really about ownership of the customer—which is why publishers, marketers and agencies are racing to build audiences with the hope of controlling the associated data. “Companies who collect the cleanest, most relevant and most up to date audience data will be able to monetise this data and grow their revenues,” he adds. “Those that don’t will start to pay a premium to third parties to access data about their own customers.”

Acceleration’s Digital Ignition Symposium in Franschhoek in June 2014 is themed ‘Know your audience’.  The Symposium will provide digital executives with practical insights that will help them to create successful marketing, publishing, mobile, social and app strategies for their organisations.

Steve Pimsoll, who is responsible for Mindshare's global technology and data vision, will be one of the international keynote speakers. He will be joined by another legend in the digital marketing industry, Jeff Eales.  Eales is Director of Systems & Development at BSKYB and is a TV advertising veteran of nearly 40 years.

Devon Tighe, Vice President of Data Strategy and Operations at The WPP Data Alliance will also take part in the Symposium this year.  Devon has more than 10 years of experience in the colliding worlds of media and analytics. Prior to joining The Data Alliance, Devon was a research director at The New York Times where she focused on business strategy and customer analytics.

Local speakers will include Mike Stopforth, CEO of South Africa’s social business authority, Cerebra. Stopforth speaks locally and internationally on social media and its impact on business, and is recognised as one of South Africa’s top thinkers and experts in this area.

Don't miss this opportunity to accelerate your digital world.  To book your place, please go to http://bit.ly/1t8pIAN for more information.

ABOUT ACCELERATION

Acceleration helps clients to harness marketing and publishing technologies, enables their customer data and empowers their teams to drive a competitive advantage for their brands.  Acceleration has unrivalled experience in creating solutions with local and global capabilities to serve as a proactive digital solutions provider. With a breadth of prominent technology and vendor partnerships combined with an extensive client base featuring many of the world's largest digital marketers and publishers. Acceleration is a WPP Digital Company. Learn more at www.acceleration.biz and follow us on Twitter: @Accelerationbiz