By Louis Eksteen

In her 2011 book Wilful Blindness, blogger, businesswoman and TED regular Margaret Heffernan argues convincingly that people often ignore the obvious for deep psychological reasons she calls willful blindness. People “deny truths that are too painful, too frightening to confront”. This ostrich-like head-in-the-sand behaviour can have psychological benefits, such as helping us cope, but in business it often leads to disaster.

Ignoring fundamental changes in one’s industry can be so seductive that you can become totally unaware of what’s really happening. I believe one of the reasons for a good holiday, or even a sabbatical, is too gain some perspective on things that may become “unseen” in the everyday hustle and bustle of working life. It can help to avoid willful blindness.

The worlds of media and advertising have been experiencing a sea change over the last few years. This will continue going forward, as fragmentation of options and increased technological capability force rapid disruption. A lot of attention is paid to how digital platforms are forcing traditional media companies to adapt business models, but advertising is clearly not exempt.

In digital, traditional advertising formats are even changing into “advertising units“, often indistinguishable from editorial content. This would never have happened in an old world where “state” and “church” never met. (Facebook’s promotional units, such as sponsored stories, can in fact be seen as friend endorsements in the way it’s positioned.)

In addition, the seriousness with which banner ads are still taken boggles the mind. Banner ads are, in many instances, purely a con of epic proportions.

A common thread between the disruptions experienced by media and advertising, is that advertisers and consumers are now creating their own media and content platforms, while shutting out advertising. Who needs an intermediary (a medium in the true sense of the word), to deliver advertising messages, when you can engage directly with the advertiser on its own platforms?

To my mind, two realities of media and advertising cannot be ignored:

• When consumers and advertisers can talk directly to each other, they will
• Everyone’s a media owner

Over time, these realities will play out to render traditional media and advertising less influential than before. Useful services and real utility added value will become the norm, as it is already for the world’s new media and advertising behemoths, such as Google and LinkedIn.

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By Kim Browne

A year ago our family started planning a diving holiday along the unspoilt Kwa-Zulu Natal coastline. We had loads of time to get our diving qualifications. But as John Lennon lamented: “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans”. Before I knew it, we had three weeks to go until departure, with no scuba-diving qualifications in sight…

Then Starcom’s Gordon Patterson and his better half Sonja Basson came to the rescue. In just three weeks they helped our family to qualify as PADI open water divers. This means we were ready to hit the big blue. Qualifying proved to be an incredible amount of fun, combined with useful learning. We are now totally hooked.

But what’s the point to this back story? With everything we’ve been through in this short space of time (it was pretty intense — no shortcuts on Gordon’s watch), I’ve been reminded of some important life lessons that also apply to business:

• If you put your mind to something and do it, you will be rewarded

• Nothing comes easy, you’ve got to put the work in

• Always start with a plan

• There are going to be naysayers — ignore them!

• Even if you’re short on time — do things properly to reap the rewards

• Have the right equipment

• Listen to your gut, as well as trustworthy people

• If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t

• Never hold your breath

• Always have a buddy, who has your back

• Don’t be scared to ask for help

• Prepare properly and do a post-analysis

• Have fun

I could go on — but will stop at 13. (We’re twisted like that… and have a thing for numbers.)

Most of all, I’ve enjoyed the journey so much I almost don’t need the holiday anymore. (I’m hoping the destination lives up to the road trip.)

It’s my mission to meet new people and do new, exciting (business-related) things. Let’s dive in!

Happy Freedom Day. I hope to see you on the other side of Worker’s Day.

The post Dive in! appeared first on Twisted Toast Digital.

On the eve of our official second birthday (1 April 2013), we continue to delight in the joys of running our own little enterprise. March has been a fabulously busy month at The Toast and we are enthralled at having gained a piece of retainer business, which originated with an Internet search. The client had no prior knowledge of us, our previous lives and what we did before in media.

This may sound like a strange comment. But all our work thus far has been the result of real, human word of mouth. So now it’s no longer only who you know, but what you know. We’re just loving our small case study of “being found online”.

We’re also seeing repeat business, where we’d initially only been signed up for a project with a start and end. It’s great to welcome clients back for more.

And then there’s the work we pitched on ages ago and thought had gone cold. A call out of the blue and we’re in business. Perseverance truly is a masterful art. Like Yogi Berra quipped: “It ain’t over ’til it’s over”. You just never know.

In sales there’s always rejection. This is never easy. The art here (it’s really difficult to do), is to move on quickly and not wallow in it. Interestingly, at The Toast “no” often comes unexpectedly and is usually a rather drawn out process. This is what makes it harder, because there’s always an investment (we can’t help but put our hearts and souls into things — it’s who we are). A quick, straight no right in the beginning is never an issue and easier to digest.

Year three is the big one for us. Our target is substantial, which means it’s the sum of the previous two years’ business. A month into our new financial year and we are on track. Prospects are there, there’s work to be shipped and we’re feeling buoyant. We may no longer be classified as a start-up, but we still feel “new”

We’re hands on, doing stuff we love and are proud of our happy clients. We’re not keen to give up our hard earned independence … just yet.

Game on!

The post Found online… appeared first on Twisted Toast Digital.

Summly app purchase importance

Traditional media companies do not often invest in technology creation directly. They use technology to conduct their business, but one would be hard-pressed to find a real deep-tech innovation lab within (or even close to) traditional newsrooms. Even media companies that have bought into tech startups and companies, often do this in holding company fashion, avoiding introducing code builders straight into the media heart of the operation. This needs to change. Yahoo!’s Summly app purchase therefore shows traditional media the way.

Yahoo!’s Marissa Mayer (she’s now been CEO for about eight months), startled the tech world recently by authorising the purchase of a mobile app called Summly from a 17-year-old UK schoolboy. (Plus, in reality, some true heavyweight early investors.) An interesting aside to the story is that the app was removed immediately from the App Store, as Yahoo! aims to use its auto-summarise technology in its own branded apps.

A search-orientated internet company (Yahoo!) thus bought a new mobile media tech company that essentially aggregates and distills information (news), from multiple online sources, into a personalised and shortened newsfeed. This is one example of how media now works. Imagine if a news organisation (a traditional media company) had the foresight to beat Yahoo! to a purchase such as this. Assuming the media company would know what to do with the app’s technology, it could have embraced the new tech world of media in a real way.

But the Summly app purchase moves Yahoo! forward and removes an opportunity for traditional media.

Traditional advertising thinking

What prevents media companies from acting like technology companies is a traditional advertising sales mindset. Even though traditional advertising is shifting from display into various disparate digital forms, for the time being traditional media companies are continuing to direct attention to protecting this profitable revenue stream. (But see Mary Meeker’s slide for a glimpse into where things are going in advertising.)

If media companies were not so stuck in traditional models, they would have realised they need to transform into tech firms. Not invest in tech firms and act like a holding company, but actually organically transform into a technology company. In turn the client companies traditional media are relying upon for old-style massive profits via advertising spend, are themselves now turning into media companies.

UI and UX

If there is one thing to learn from the Summly example, it’s that insight into user experience is key. Technology and creative design together form the basis of what media companies need to become. Imagine a media company being as good as Apple (or, gasp, Microsoft) at user interface and experience design.

Alas, design in traditional media companies is divorced from technological development.

Today, flat user interface design is starting on mobile media devices first (think elegant smart phone and tablet app interface design), then moving to desktop and elsewhere afterwards.

Cool future

It will be magnificent if the next real technological media breakthrough comes from traditional media understanding a true insight into people’s information needs. Playing in the tech space and grasping how to move the new connected media world forward. That’s where the real new future (and money) is for traditional media companies. Perhaps the next transaction like the Summly app purchase comes from a traditional media company. How cool will that be?

The post Yahoo!’s Summly app purchase shows traditional media the way appeared first on Twisted Toast Digital.

Click the YouTube video link to listen to this radio interview.

Brand content marketing is all the rage in the media and marketing industry.

Brand content marketing expert and Twisted Toast Digital MD Louis Eksteen was interviewed by Good Hope FM’s SeanO during an outside broadcast from the Starcom MediaVest Group office. Louis discussed brand content inbound marketing and the importance of social media.

The post Brand content marketing and the importance of social media appeared first on Twisted Toast Digital.

By Kim Browne

For as far back as I can remember, February has always been a significant month on the yearly calendar. There are a number of life-changing events (good and bad) that I can personally trace back to February.

Positively, it’s the shortest month of the year, high summer (hot!) and provides a good excuse to eat chocolate and indulge in flowers. More recently at Twisted Toast, February is the last month of our financial year. (We’ve now made it to the two year mark. Yay for us!)

So, as we embark on our third year, what are the significant learnings from the last two years that we intend building on? First and foremost we were right about the significance of the major new trend in marketing. We intend continuing evangelising brand content marketing. South Africa just last week hosted its first Content Marketing Conference (Content 2013)  in Cape Town, which we had the privilege of attending. More people locally are starting to speak the same language as we do. This we take as a very good sign of things to come.

Secondly, our previous publishing experience places Twisted Toast Digital in a unique position to deliver a strategically sound, bespoke inbound content marketing package for any client. Enquiries and requests for presentations, proposals and quotes are increasing daily. We’ve had to postpone our own strategic planning session to get client work out the door.

Thirdly and most importantly perhaps, we remain flexible and endeavour to do what our clients want or need us to do. Even if it doesn’t strictly fit into the above. (For example this month we created another above the line print ad for a client.) Classifying ourselves as a hybrid marketing agency allows for this.

A few personal learnings on our journey so far: Simplify, say no sometimes and say yes often.

What are the relevant, new buzz-words for the next 12 months to look out for? The term hybrid agency came up once at the recent Content 2013 Conference. A phrase that didn’t come up, but will be circulating soon, no doubt, is inbound marketing. You heard it hear first! See it as a belated Valentine’s gift

As an aside, in typical Toast fashion, we’ve already started planning our 1 000 day party for end January 2014.

We’ll be there because we’re loving it.

March on!

The post March Expresso appeared first on Twisted Toast Digital.

Using Google+ and LinkedIn will make you a better marketer

For many marketers Google+ and LinkedIn still barely register. Who uses Google+ anyway? LinkedIn is just about looking for a new job, right? Wrong. Although it’s taken time for these “secondary” social media platforms to become established, they now are. But why should you use Google+ and LinkedIn?

Google+ delivers a quality audience

Early adopters, especially those who see themselves as the digerati, or specifically the wannabe-digerati started using Google+ as soon as it appeared. With Google+ the search giant successfully created a fully integrated social network for all its platforms (such as GMail, YouTube, Apps, Picasa and others). This means searching via Google optimises Google+ searches too. (You will soon be able to start signing in to other accounts using Google+, just like you use Facebook or Twitter sign-ins.)

Socially Google+ is thus the network for cool(ish) professionals. It’s happening more frequently that quality breaking news finds its way onto Google+ quicker than onto other, larger networks. The trend is also Google’s friend, as Google+ is slowly showing promising growth.

Some of the best Google+ side-effects take time and effort to implement. Google Author Rank is a major innovation for creators of quality original online content. (It’s also a clever ploy to get writers into the fold.)

These days marketers should not only make sure they can be found by Google in the most effective way, they should also build and protect the brands they manage in a Google+-appropriate manner. After all, what are we if not easily found?

LinkedIn is now the best source for quality professional content

When LinkedIn launched its excellent iPhone and iPad apps just over a year ago, it marked a significant new milestone in the professional social network’s evolution into a media company. Quietly, under the radar, it has developed into a useful content sharing platform.

As with all platforms, if you set it up properly and share valuable personal information, LinkedIn will automatically select content you will find useful. The golden rule is to edit your own personal profile with your professional interests in mind. This includes the groups you belong to, your skills, connections, education and other items.

Consistent with best practice LinkedIn has updated how it delivers information to you, customised for each device you access it from.  The desktop version is business-like and highly functional in the traditional LinkedIn way. Its iPhone app is fast, simply and half-content driven and half-functional orientated. But the iPad app is almost like a shared content magazine product.

The social world is no longer limited to Facebook and Twitter

Try Google+ (Hangouts are fab and Communities are getting off the ground) and see your Author Rank grow. Tell LinkedIn what you’re interested in and experience quality content links coming back to you.

This year will mark the ascendence of professional social networking. It will happen in the same kind of way Oscargate catapulted Twitter into the consciousness of the South African population at large.

The post You should use Google+ and LinkedIn appeared first on Twisted Toast Digital.

I’m blogging live from South Africa’s first brand content marketing conference in Cape Town, happening between 25 and 26 February 2013.

Follow all the highlights of Content 2013 right here:

The post Live blog from Content 2013, Cape Town appeared first on Twisted Toast Digital.

Click the YouTube video link to listen to this radio interview.

With the Oscar Pistorius bail hearing came intense global interest. EWN Pretoria correspondent Barry Bateman’s sharp Twitter-based live micro blogging of events increased his followers from 9 000 to over 100 000 in less than a week. Louis Eksteen, managing director at digital brand content marketing and inbound marketing agency Twisted Toast Digital discusses “the Batemanomics of Twitter”.

Bruce Whitfield, host of The Money Show on Talk Radio 702 in Gauteng and 567 Cape Talk in Cape Town interviewed Twisted Toast Digital managing director Louis Eksteen to discuss how the new media order changes journalism and everything else.

The post Twisted Toast on The Money Show: Discussion about Twitter, Barry Bateman and Oscar Pistorius appeared first on Twisted Toast Digital.

South African state-owned telecommunications and fixed line provider Telkom opened its Twitter account (@TelkomZA) on Monday, 28 January 2013.

Bruce Whitfield, host of The Money Show on Talk Radio 702 in Gauteng and 567 Cape Talk in Cape Town discusses Telkom on Twitter with Twisted Toast Digital managing director Louis Eksteen.

Does Telkom’s late foray into the Twitterverse get a thumbs up?

The post Twisted Toast on The Money Show: Discussion about Telkom on Twitter appeared first on Twisted Toast Digital.