Opportunity for Designers courtesy of Samsung

Inspire Design, a search to discover South Africa’s Top Talent

Creating real opportunities, through the power of technology

Inspire Design is a new campaign launched by Samsung Electronics South Africa - with the purpose of discovering South Africa’s best up-and-coming designers from a spectrum of creative industries and helping to turn their dreams into a reality.

Samsung will run its first ever design talent search programme in South Africa, based on the company’s global strategy to strengthen its commitment to unleash the dreams, passions and potential of individuals with brilliant ideas through innovative technology. In order to ensure the success of this initiative, Samsung has partnered with some of the country’s most esteemed designers in the creative space, to help identify talent.

The campaign aims to unearth creative talent across five design categories: fashion, furniture, homeware and décor – and was launched during Africa's first international design fair The GUILD, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC).

The four judges chosen to search and ultimately choose, South Africa’s best emerging design talent include successful Jewellery designer Kirsten Goss, premium artist in Homeware and Décor, Susan Slee of Maneki, internationally celebrated Fashion designer, Shaldon Kopman of Naked Ape, and CEO of premium Furniture store Bakos Brothers, Ryan Bakos.

Globally, the brand is associated with similar programmes that unleash potential of individuals in various creative categories which encourage individualism, from music to film. Locally, as an icon of originality and true self-expression, Samsung is using the design platform to find the creative talent of these four disciplines.

Michelle Potgieter, Director of Corporate Marketing and Communications, explains, “Samsung’s culture of innovation is reaching beyond product to help people everywhere realise their potential. With beautiful design at the heart of Samsung’s philosophy, we are proud to partner on an initiative that will discover and showcase our next generation of upcoming artists.”

The search will unfold in two phases: the national recruitment, entry and judging process will take place between March and May. The four  judges will then select eight winners – comprising the top two designs in each category of the five disciplines. These candidates will then have the opportunity of a lifetime to showcase their talent through extensive media exposure and network with distinguished South African buyers.

“The South African design industry has gained huge momentum in recent years, and now some of our best designers compete on a global stage with their peers. Samsung’s Inspire Design will provide a sustainable and credible platform to some of South Africa’s top talent, and offer a unique and exciting opportunity for designers already working in the various design spheres. It’s not only about technology, but about realising the potential of people with dreams and passion,” concludes Potgieter.

For more information on how to enter visit http://www.samsung.com/za/inspire_design/. T&Cs apply.

Meet the Inspire Design Judges:

Kirsten Goss - Jewellery design:

A style icon in her own right, Kirsten cites her Scandinavian heritage and South African roots as important influences. It is her rare talent for tapping into contemporary lifestyle trends that has seen Kirsten Goss jewellery becoming one of this country’s most talked about designer brands. Kirsten’s flagship boutique is nestled in leafy Kensington, while design and production are headquartered in a state-of-the-art design studio in Durban.  A truly global business, with African roots servicing an international clientèle.

Shaldon Kopman - Fashion design:

Shaldon Kopman is a well-recognised name in the fashion Industry. His career to date has spanned the globe. He is director and founder of the bespoke men’s brand Naked Ape. Shaldon’s comprehensive knowledge of the fashion industry as a whole is complementary to his creativity and uses this experience to conceptualise in a refreshing and artistic way. He has a special talent for interpreting trends and his passion for Africa is manifested in his designs.

Susan Slee - Homeware and Décor design:

Susan Slee is the owner of Maneki van Staal, a well-known jewellery designer and manufacturer. Her fascination with the simplicity of instant drawings led to the birth of Maneki van Staal, an instant success with an engaging story behind each product and character. In the last five years, Maneki have opened three outlets in South Africa. Currently the Maneki product range includes sugar spoons, teaspoon sets, salad and cutlery sets, ceramic tableware, leather handbags and jewellery.

Ryan Bakos – Furniture Industry Leader:

Ryan Bakos was born into the Bakos family business and took over the reins in 2008.  The first step in this process was the recent opening of a 4500m2 factory in Wynberg, a brave move that has enabled Bakos Brothers to compete on a larger scale, as well as cut out the middlemen. The factory buys fabrics and leather in bulk, direct from the wholesalers, which has dramatically reduced costs, resulting in reduced prices on its sofas especially. Ryan has also introduced a new, cutting edge internal information system, which disseminates information and enables interaction between employees, creating a sense of family for the 100 staff located around the country

To discover more, please visit www.samsung.com.

Psssst want the bbm pins for some big brands?

For brands and businesses, BBM Channels provides a new way to interact and connect with a highly engaged and targeted mobile audience and build a community around their channel.

Thousands of major brands and business are already using BBM Channels to engage with their customers, including:

·         Disney - C002AB885

·         Mercedes Petronas - C00011785

·         Shaun the Sheep: C00124C49

·         E! - C00123A79

·         BMW SA – C00013EF1

·         Mr.Price – C00035FB5

·         PriceCheck – C000188FF

Here’s what one of our Channel owners had to say after using BBM Channels in Beta with BlackBerry users:

“The Desigual BBM Channel set-up was very simple and instantaneous. The interaction with our followers is nearly real-time, and the engagement level is high compared to traditional social networks. We’re seeing followers participate from all over the world and they are truly enjoying the direct contact with our brand. Our channel is also easy to manage as it is well-integrated with the rest of our social networks – in fact, the real-time feedback we get via our BBM Channel helps us to improve our content planning on the other social networks we manage. In just two weeks we had a strong and really engaged community of more than 10,000 followers. Our BBM Channel is currently in the top five of our social media networks that drive traffic to our e-commerce site, so we’re already seeing that it is generating sales.” 

Boris Mercier

Global Social Media Manager

Desigual - C0006E26C

Check out this video to watch BBM Channels in action.

Cell C becomes a hero for the South African National Blood Service

Cell C has been put in the good books for the South African national Blood Service when 170 of their staff from around the country donated blood to the South African National Blood Services to potentially treat over 500 patients. The blood drive, which allowed regional departments to compete so as to have the most blood, donated over two days, forms part of the company’s “Believe” Campaign.

Celebrities and key industry players such as former Miss SA; Melinda Bam, Bokang Montjane; Charl Crouse, CEO from EP Kings Rugby; and the Sharks rugby team coach John Smit took part  in these drives to show their support for the initiative. 

Cell C’s Executive Head of Communications, Karin Fourie says: “The South African National Blood Service (SANBS) needs to collect 3000 units of blood a day to meet the country’s demand for blood transfusions. Stocks often run low during the festive season, because of lower collections while people are on holiday, and also increased traffic to casualty wards at hospitals around the country.”

SANBS provides a vital service in South Africa and it is also rated amongst the best in the world in the provision of blood and blood products. They also provide research and training in these areas.

 “We encouraged our staff to donate blood so that they can help save lives. Of the over 50 million South Africans, less than 1% donate blood every year. We would like to appeal to the all South Africans to follow in Cell C’s footsteps and donate blood to help save the lives of millions of South Africans in need of a transfusion,” says Fourie.

Article by +Lauren Immelman 

The next wave in digital transformation is breaking

2014 outlook: the next wave in digital transformation is breaking

By Kevin Meltzer of EOH Digital

A combination of maturing technologies and cheaper, more pervasive connectivity helped to spur massive growth for digital commerce, Self-Service and customer experience in South Africa during 2013. But 2014 has the potential to be even better.

A range of interesting innovations and renewed international investor interest in the Web and mobility could set off the next wave in the digital transformation of the ways organisations and consumers interact and transact.

Meanwhile, cheaper Internet access devices and cheaper data costs are helping to put the Web and mobile apps in the hands of more people than ever before. Here are a few trends we expect to shape the digital space in South Africa over the next year.

Digital powers real-world experiences

The divide between the digital and real-worlds has always been vague, but we are beginning to see them blur together. It's no longer about digital service or physical retail - it's about blending different channels and services from different providers in a manner that offers the most seamless and convenient customer experience.

For example, look at hailing taxis. There are many apps for that - like Zapacab, Uber and SnappCab - that aim to make it simple to request a taxi or car service from your mobile phone, pick you up at the right place, and pay easily for the service. Meanwhile, in stores, your customer service reps will talk to you with a tablet in his or her hands to check stock or show you a feature of the product you want to buy.

And your physical or digital loyalty card will span your favourite retailer's Web site, smartphone app and point of sale in a way that is transparent to you.

Mobile keeps growing

Smartphones are changing the digital space more quickly than even the most optimistic forecaster would've predicted a couple of years ago. Cheap smartphones - $100 or so - are now available and offer a surprisingly decent user experience. They're fluid enough for social networking, transacting on the Web, and more, giving poorer consumers access to digital services wherever they are.

And of course, the traditional mid-range and high-end consumer is becoming increasingly dependent on his or her smartphone for a range of everyday tasks. The smartphone is quickly becoming the front-end of the customer experience - so organisations need to be thinking very deeply about how their digital strategy caters for mobile consumers via apps, the Web and social media.

Responsive Web design

We're seeing a rapid move towards responsive Web design (RWD) in South Africa as companies try to cater for the many devices their customers use to access digital services and platforms. RWD is all about building sites that look good, load quickly and navigate well, whether you're accessing them by a smartphone, desktop or tablet. It's an essential discipline to master if you're going to offer a consistent experience to each customer, whichever device they use to interact with your business.

New money, new confidence

Happy days are here again for digital entrepreneurs. We recently heard that Facebook wanted to buy Snapchat for $3 billion - but the chat service felt that it could hold out for a better offer or an IPO of its own. In 2012, Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion, while Twitter is valued at over

$30 billion after its successful debut on the New York Stock Exchange a couple of months ago.

Cynics might question whether we're in a new dotcom-style bubble, but the important point is that investor confidence has returned to the digital space.  There will be casualties if (or when depending on your view) the bubble bursts, but for now, there's a lot of money being pumped into digital innovation. Who knows where that could take us over the next three to five years. For now, 2014 will be a digital year for far more consumers than ever before and companies now have significant opportunities to get closer to their customer.

About EOH Digital

EOH Digital is a division of the JSE-listed listed company EOH with the Digital division offering end to end Web, Mobile and Social, Self-Service and Digital Marketing solutions. EOH is the largest enterprise applications provider in South Africa and one of the top three IT service providers. EOH follows the consulting, technology and outsourcing model to provide high value, end-to-end solutions to its clients in all industry verticals. For more information, visit: www.eoh.co.za.

Tech News Around South Africa

New Version of BBM for Android and iPhone 

A new version of BBM is available for Android, iPhone and BlackBerry customers, giving them lots of exciting new features. Android and iPhone customers will now be able to make free voice calls to BBM contacts over a Wi-Fi or data connection with BBM Voice, as well as access BBM Channels. In addition, BBM customers on Android, iPhone and BlackBerry smartphones will have more to chat about with fast one-click sharing of photos, documents, voice notes and more. BBM customers will also be able to share their live location for a specified amount of time with other BBM contacts by using location sharing, powered by Glympse, and will have 100 new emoticons available to help them say what’s on their mind.

Get the best local deals via smartphone with vouchercloud and Vodacom

JOHANNESBURG, 13 February 2014 – Vodacom today announced the launch of vouchercloud, a geo-location enabled app that seeks out the best local deals and displays them via smartphone.

Through vouchercloud, Vodacom has partnered with a range of top brands to deliver instant exclusive deals across a range of categories including shopping, eating out, leisure and entertainment. Some of our partners include Edgars, Jet, Makro, Game, Planet Fitness, Doppio Zero, Nu-metro Cinemas, McDonalds, Adega, Billabong and Pizza E Vino.

Hemmanth Singh, Managing Executive: m-Commerce at Vodacom said: “In the current economic environment, we’re all looking for ways to save money. Why not get your smartphone to work for you? It’ll locate all the nearby deals, sift through them and show you only those relevant to you, and then it’ll give you step by step guidance right to the door. With our extensive partner network, we’re confident you’ll be saving money from day one.”

Vouchercloud uses the inbuilt GPS (Global Positioning System) in smartphones to pinpoint the user’s location, searches for all relevant discounting retailers in the vicinity, displays the deals and then guides the customer to the shop's front door using the smartphone's digital mapping application. The voucher is downloaded to the smartphone screen with a single tap, which is shown to the sales assistant in store to redeem the discount. There is no need to print the voucher.

While the vouchercloud app has been developed exclusively in conjunction with Vodacom, smartphones on any network can download the app and use the service.  The App offers Vodacom customers even better value on deals exclusive to them.

The app is free and available on, iTunes, Blackberry App World and Google Play. There is no monthly subscription fee for consumers to use vouchercloud.

Lyndon Munetsi, Managing Director of vouchercloud South Africa says "Since vouchercloud launched in the UK back in 2010, it has become the leading consumer app in Europe with over 6 million active users in the UK, Germany, Netherlands and Ireland. South Africa is the first emerging market to launch vouchercloud. We’ve seen it work in other markets and we’re excited about the opportunities for South Africa. I’ve no doubt that vouchercloud will deliver amazing value to both merchants and consumers. On-going brand awareness and promotion for merchants will drive real feet through the door and consumers can expect a wide selection of the best deals from our partners.”

For more details contact the vouchercloud contact centre on 1089 free from a Vodacom cellphone or 082 1089 from any other phone (standard rates apply) or visit www.vouchercloud.co.za.

(ER 24 Staff and Doug Mattheus of Cell C) 

Cell C shows appreciation for the men and women who save lives

In the spirit of the Believe campaign and an extension of our current sponsorship, Cell C donated 800 SUPERCHARGE vouchers and starter packs to ER24 paramedics nationwide.

The Cell C SUPACHARGE vouchers and starter are worth R250 each and will be the first private cellphone number some of these hardworking men and women who witness some of the toughest circumstances in the country, will own.

“Emergency workers like the ER24 paramedics work all hours of the day and night to save lives. This donation is a way for us to show them how much we value their hard work and dedication to making South Africa a better place,” says Cell C Executive Head of Marketing, Doug Mattheus.

“These paramedics have shown real dedication to our nation and we hope that this token will allow them to keep in contact with family and friends”, says Mattheus.

Edition by +Fred Felton 

Look out for Find Friends on your BBM

Starting today*, BBM is being updated with the Find Friends on BBM feature for iPhone and Android, allowing users to easily find their friends and contacts already using BBM. The Find Friends feature is something that BBM users have been asking for and we’re now bringing it to them in this latest update to BBM for iPhone and Android.

The Find Friends feature will detect which contacts in your smartphone’s contact list are already using BBM, and allow you to quickly choose who to send a PIN invite to. For those contacts that don’t yet have BBM, you can invite them to download the app with an email or SMS invite.

The Find Friends feature will detect which contacts in your smartphone’s contact list are already using BBM, and allow you to quickly choose who to send a PIN invite to. For those contacts that don’t yet have BBM, you can invite them to download the app with an email or SMS invite.

*BBM update rolling out from today and tomorrow.  

(Source - BlackBerry) 

Samsung WOW App connects millions to Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics

Samsung WOW App Connects Millions Worldwide to
Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games

Samsung’s WOW (Wireless Olympic Works) now available; offers personalised experience, athlete cheering feature and tutorial on all 15 sporting events for Sochi 2014 

Samsung Electronics has launched its Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games mobile app, Wireless Olympic Works (WOW), turning the world’s Android devices into mobile sports stations that fans can use to personalise their own Olympic Winter Games experience.

Samsung’s Public WOW app provides sports fans with real-time access to event schedules, latest reports on results, medal standings and Olympic records, consistently and fast. Public WOW is an extension of Samsung’s custom WOW for the Olympic Family, which is a wireless communications platform developed to ensure smarter communications and smoother, wireless operations of the Olympic Winter Games by offering news and information about the Games to officials and staff.

“Samsung is offering fans around the world the most direct access to Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games and allowing them to design and personalise their experience in ways that are most relevant to their interests and passions,” said Michelle Potgieter, Director, Corporate Marketing and Communications at Samsung Electronics South Africa. “Our dedicated teams are hard at work year-round to ensure that the WOW technology is ready for use throughout the Games, both for consumers looking for the ultimate Olympic Winter Games experience, and for the Olympic Family utilising our technology to support Games-time operations.”

All Android users worldwide can download Samsung’s Public WOW app via the Samsung App store and Google Play, at no cost, obtainingunprecedented access to the excitement of the Olympic Winter Games.

Components of the Samsung WOW app allow fans to design their own Olympic Winter Games experience in the following ways:

Personalise your own Olympic Winter Games updatesSamsung’s WOW app for Sochi 2014 offers highly personalised, live Games-time updates ranging from medal counts to big moments that can be pushed to users’ phones in real time. A new cheering service will allow fans to send cheers to support their favorite athletes and countries. 

Share your celebrations with social network featuresUsers can upload text and images instantly to share with other WOW app users and with their social networks, creating a global community around collective interests in the Olympic Winter Games and winter sports. Languages supported for the Public WOW app include English, French, German, Korean, Russia, Chinese and Spanish.

Learn about Olympic sports with an interactive, visual guideThe app offers information on all 15 winter sports at Sochi 2014 through a highly visual and engaging graphic user interface. A Visual Sports Guide will provide tutorials on each sport, including rules, equipment details and many other points of interest, bringing people closer to the excitement of the Olympic Winter Games.

Get the most out of your Sochi visit with an Olympic Winter Games venue guideFans attending the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi will have access to a location-based Olympic Winter Games venue guide through theSamsung WOW technology. The guide offers Olympic venue information and navigation services so visitors can feel truly integrated into the Olympic Winter Games experience on the ground.

“With its advanced technology in wireless communications, Samsung has played an essential role in the successful operation of the Olympic Winter Games. We believe the WOW app for Sochi 2014 will once again benefit the Games with more efficient and faster communications for the Olympic Family as well as fans around the world” said Timo Lumme, Managing Director, IOC TMS.

As part of the “Samsung Smart Olympic Games Initiative”, Samsung will provide around 18,000 mobile devices to the Olympic Family, including executives, staff and officials from the IOC, National Olympic Committees and organising agencies in Sochi. They will be connected to Samsung’s WOW service which will provide essential, up-to-date Games Time data and connectivity that is crucial to the Olympic WinterGames operation.

The Samsung WOW service was first launched during the Athens 2004 Olympic Games for the Olympic Family and has since evolved into a must-have resource for officials, attendees and fans worldwide.

(Source - Samsung)