Cape Town - South Africa’s digital audience is growing fast and with 11 million active Facebook users, businesses can no longer ignore how much influence social networks can have over their brands.
“Based on what’s been achieved by Facebook in its first 10 years, the future looks bright for the fast-growing digital era,” said Rob Newlan, Facebook Creative Shop’s head of Europe, Middle East and Africa.
“We’re living in an exciting time for digital technology. It’s a young industry where we are still learning and trying new things. I’m incredibly excited about what the future holds.”
Newlan is in Cape Town for the Loeries Creative Week. Not only is he one of the judges on the 2014 Loerie Awards judging panel, he is delivering a talk at the DStv Seminar of Creativity today at the City Hall.
The six Loerie awards will take place over the weekend. The annual event celebrates the best in brand communication work such as print and radio advertising, and video and digital media.
Two of the hottest trends in marketing communication today are data and storytelling, Newlan told the Cape Argus yesterday. Brands need to know how to use the power of social networks, such as Facebook and Instagram to reach the right people at an incredible scale.
“It’s about them (marketers) understanding the humanity of technology as it’s a very personal medium. Put something that matters in front of people and give them value,” he said.
“Understand that there are people who are going to be very excited about a well-timed coupon ad. And there are some who love to have their minds and hearts opened up by beautiful images and film or just a great piece of copy.
“The core skill of great marketing agencies is that they are great storytellers and telling great stories is truly evocative for people,” Newlan said.
Another social media site to watch out for is Facebook’s mobile picture and video sharing site Instagram. Instagram users in South Africa have grown from 680 000 to 1.1 million this year, according to a study by World Wide Worx and Fuseware.
“I am really excited about Instagram. Marketers and brands have to understand that the creative bar is very high on Instagram,” said Newlan.
“It’s a fantastic time to be a creative right now. Through social networking platforms, you get to be much closer to your work… we are getting to know people better so we can craft work aimed at them.”
The creative minds competing in the Loeries Awards’ digital category, which Newlan is judging, have raised the bar when it comes to originality and creativity.
“We saw some really lovely ideas and work that had great craft and insight,” he said. “An award-winning campaign is the one that resonates with people. Something that actually moves forward the objectives of the brand, its affinity and awareness.”
What Newlan loves about his job is that he gets to travel and meet “fantastic people” from around the globe.
“I get to listen and learn from the people who are immensely smarter than me. I love people and I get to see how different people are looking at the world.”
Cape Argus