By: Louise Marsland


It was more a case of follow the red carpet than the yellow brick road, although some of the agency characters making an appearance round about town could have stepped out of the world of the Wizard of Oz. From flashers on balconies to shirtless wonders braving the wind chill factor on an otherwise beautiful sunny day, Margate rocked to the sound of music pumping from the beachfront and the industry ‘rockstars' that descended on the seaside dorp.

Thanks to Vodacom's sponsorship this year, the 3G signal in the town was boosted, making it easier for daily media such as Bizcommunity.com to provide immediate and constant coverage of the awards on the website and blog: http://blog.bizcommunity.com.
The team was 15 strong this year and included media partners Zoopy.com – South Africa's own YouTube social media site – and Mobilety, which sponsored our foray into mobile blogging by SMS this year.

What with photographs, vlogs (video interviews), blogs – including one from industry insider ‘The Unhappy Slapper', articles, fashion commentary, all the awards from the Saturday and Sunday night – and on the ground brand activations for Bizcommunity.com, we had the annual Loerie Awards festival covered.

Bizcommunity's charity cartoon initiative with Brainstorm, DTPete, was also launched with the dreadlocked cartoon character propping up lampposts in the town.

In addition, special thanks for their assistance, support and ability to respond to all our requests, no matter how weird or last minute, to: Andrew Human, Loerie Awards MD; Wozani Africa; Magna Carta PR; Mugg & Bean, Margate; and Duo Estates.

More by Louise Marsland

• A guide to finding a starting point on the web - 29 Sep 2008
• Make digital part of your campaigns - 22 Sep 2008
• Prepping marketers for the global market - 25 Aug 2008
• We are all wire-service journalists today - 31 Jul 2008
• Ten truths for B2B journalists - 28 Jul 2008

More...

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Louise Marsland is editor and editorial director of Bizcommunity.com, Africa’s leading provider of daily media, marketing, and advertising news and information. She is also the South African joint-coordinator and founder of the Trade, Association, Business Publication International (TABPI) Editor’s Chapter. She has recently also been appointed to head up the Magazine Publishers’ Association of South Africa (MPASA) Business-to-business Media Sub-committee. A journalist with 21 years’ experience, Marsland started in daily newspapers in South Africa in the 1980s and has specialised in media strategy and B2B and online media in the last decade, editing and launching publications in the main in the marketing and FMCG retail market, both print and online. She recently researched the sustainability of the B2B media sector for her Masters in Commerce degree: Strategy & Organisational Dynamics, through the Leadership Centre of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She is currently researching a book in her field and develops training programmes in the B2B media sector; and marketing communications arena in knowledge management from a media perspective. Contact her on: editor@bizcommunity.com.

[28 Jul 2007 12:54]

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