GOOD BRAND AMBASSADOR

TERRY PHETO L'Oréal's AMBASSADOR. 

Terry Pheto face of L'Oréal

What makes a good brand ambassador? Well the answer is very simple. The free dictionary online defines a brand ambassador as “a trademark or distinctive name identifying a product or a manufacturer.” This is true but to make it even clearer is that a good brand ambassador serves as the face of the organisation or client at promotional events.

Terry Pheto during a Destiny Magazine interview

These are the individuals that make a good impression on future business partners. So that would mean that an effective brand ambassador of an organisation would be one that is interested in your product or service that they are promoting.

Terry Pheto

From staring as one of the actresses on an Oscar award winninf film TSOTSI, she has made it big in the industry by playing other lead roles in South Africa's biggest films like How 2 Steal 2 Million and now she plays Dr Malaika Maponya, on the American soap oppera THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL.

L'Oréal advertisement of Terry Pheto

Terry Pheto is the perfect example of what a good brand ambassador is all about, she serves as the face of L'Oréal and knowing that their brand is classy, matured & sophisticated, they needed someone that was going to represent the fully and achieve their goals as an organisation and Terry happened to be just that individual needed.

Terry is one woman whom knows how to handle herself in public, you will never read any bad publicity about her in the tabloids but instead all you read about is her success and how she has made us as South Africans proud, because of her achievements.

GOOD QUALITIES OF A BRAND AMBASSADOR

A good brand ambassador like Terry Pheto has to have qualities such as:

The ever smiling Terry Pheto

• ·         Fresh face and a smile
• ·         Outgoing
• ·         Excellent communication skills
• ·         Accountability
• ·         Ability to engage with an audience

L'Oréal andUNESCO AIDS campaign

Terry Pheto

These are all the qualities one needs to have in order to become a great ambassador for a well-known company like L’Oréal and maybe follow in the footsteps of Terry Pheto. I hope we can learn a thing or two from Terry. 

Sources: www.thefreedictionary.com, www.boommarketing.ca, en.wikipedia.org,  www.imdb.com, www.dispacth.co.za, www.african.howzit.msn.com, and sowetanlive.co.za

PHILANTHROPIST IN HER OWN RIGHT

GIVING BACK IS ALWAYS A GOOD DEED

Bassie Khumalo

 “I stay connected with all the happiness as I live, learn, grow and share my insights” Basetsana Khumalo. 

Miss South Africa 1994 , Basetsana Khumalo

Many of us may just know Basetsana as just the former Miss South Africa or also the 1^st Princess in the Miss World pageant. Well there is more to Bassie than just her pretty face.

Bassie is one of the highly respected media personalities, on and off the set. Not only is she the chairperson of one of the longest running lifestyle production company called Tswelopele Production, she’s a mother and business woman.

Chairperson of Tswelopele
productions, Bassie Khumalo

Tswelopele Productions is well known for owning South Africa’s longest lifestyle TV program Top Billing. It also produces shows like Pasela, Top Travel, Top Dogs and No Reservation.

An ambassador for United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Bassie is all about giving back and improving people’s lives. Bassie and her husband Romeo Khumalo started their own NPO (Non-Profit Organisation) The Romeo and Basetsana Khumalo Family Foundation.

Basetsana and Romeo Khumalo

This foundations aims are to assists the development of children in this country, especially those who have been orphaned by Aids and other related diseases. Their foundation has been successful over the years due to the fact that it is a self-governing foundation, that is organised, private, voluntary.

This foundation is voluntary in a sense that:

• ·         Bassie received a special award from Operation Hunger, the Cancer Association of South Africa and the RDP (Reconstruction and Development Programme), in which she played a key role in all these foundation, making it easier for her to get sponsors.
• ·         Not forgetting, the Child line
• ·         Take a Girl Child to Work
• ·         And Reach for a Dream.

Most influential people should follow in Bassie’s footsteps. She is a leader among her peers and is always striving to better the lives of others, through what she hass been blessed with. I am ending with a bible verse quote that Bassie lives by and I hope it will also inspire you to also make a change.

“To whom much is given, much is expected” Luke 12:48 

sources:  www.basetsanakhumalo.com

BONANG, 1st BLACK S.A FEMALE VERIFIED

Twitter recognizes real celebrities 

Bonang Matheba received a verified Twitter badge.
source www.yomzansi.com

Have you ever wanted to follow your favourite celebrity on twitter but once you search for them, numerous accounts just pop out and you find yourself confused on which one is the legit one and not just a parody account.

Well I have and I get so frustrated whenever it happens. But fortunately twitter has come up with this amazing thing called VERIFICATION. Basically what is means is that Twitter gives verified accounts to celebrities.

I know you would ask yourself that aren’t all accounts verified? Well the answer is no. Twitter only hands out verified accounts to people that they have confirmed to be the real person and not hoax.

These verified accounts make it easier for us the followers to actually find the people we really want to follow.

Bonang posing for Yfm
source: www.ynews.co.za

Bonang, finally verified

Not many South African celebrities have verified accounts or even none at all. Exact our very own television and radio sweetheart Bonang Matheba.

Twitter verified badge.

Bonang Matheba is the first South Africa Black female media personality to have her account verified by Twitter. She has approximately 272 970 twitter followers to date.

“I feel truly honoured and humbled by the news of being verified by twitter. I know it’s a small tick, but in the world of social networking, it’s a real big deal, meaning that I am clearly doing something great.” said Bonang.

Other Twitter Verified Accouts:

• ·         Rajon Rondo (Boston Celtics)@RajonRondos
• ·         Quinton (Rampage) Jackson@Rampage4real
• ·         Missy Elliott @MissyElliott
• ·         Kristin Davis @KristinDavis
• ·         Cheryl Burke @CherylBurke1
• ·         Leonardo DiCaprio @LeoDiCaprio and etc.

Bonang Matheba.

Bonang is a well-known brand in the country and thanks to the power of social media she is now well-known all over the world. It is amazing how social media can give people such great exposure at a cost of nothing really but just a good reputation and Bonang is a great example of that.

sources:http://bonangmatheba.com, https://twitter.com/TruthTweet, http://www.wonted.co.za and 

A BRAVE HERO

A CONSISTENT BRAND

Natalie du Toit  holding her prosthetic
 leg after her win

 In the world we live in today, all that really matters is how people perceive us as individuals. And that of cause will determine your success or failure in whatever it is that you pursuing in life. As for Natalie du Toit, she has built her brand to be respected and well known, despite all the hardship and obstacles, she still managed to come out as a hero to many.

She understood the true meaning of building her own brand.  She understood that it’s the perceptions that bring together an individual and her followers. I mean establishing an image or brand of yourself means creating favourable affiliations with your audience, be it internal or external, and she has done so through her swimming.

Benjamin E. Mays said; “The tragedy of life does not lie in not reaching your goals; the tragedy of life lies in not having goals to reach for. It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace not to have stars to reach for.”

These are the inspirational words Natalie du Toit lives by every day, ever since her tragic accident that turned out to be her biggest triumph in her sporting career.

Natalie’s sporting career and her triumph

“I have always had the dream to take part in the Olympic Games, and losing my leg didn’t change anything” said Natalie.

This is how her road to success began:

The smile of victory, after winning the 400m  freestyle

·         in 2002 when she competed in the Commonwealth Games, where she became the first amputee to race in the finals of what is known as a major abled-bodied swimming competition and that’s when she made the finals for the 800 meter freestyle. This is when she received the David Dixon award for Outstanding Athlete of the games.

·         In 2003, she won a gold medal for the 800m freestyle at the All African Games, a silver medal at the Afro-Asian Games. She received five gold medals and one silver medal at the Paralympic Games in 2004. 2008 she qualified for the Beijing Olympics and was selected to carry the flag during the opening ceremony.

·         Recently at the London 2012 Paralympic games, Natalie won her 12^th career gold medal for the women’s 400m freestyle.

Natalie’s story shows that when you are destined for greatness, you will surely succeed even when you have been in a tragedy. She is a great example of how to build and maintain yourself as a brand and always appearing as a credible individual among her followers. Companies could learn a thing or two from Natalie du Toit.

Natalie hugging her opponent after coming second in her race 

sources : www.nataliedutoit.co.za, www.nataliedutoit.net, www.timeslive.co.za, http://en.wikipedia.org, www.telegraph.co.uk and lastly www.thestar.com

I WAS HERE

HER FOOTPRINTS ARE ALREADY MARKED ON THIS EARTH

I was here campaign logo

As a person growing up in this world we live in we are told that it’s good to always give back to those less fortunate. But remember that when you do give back, it shouldn't be in order to receive something back in return. Do it out of the goodness of your heart. 

good deeds for world humanitarian day

Landing a helping hand through CSI

Corporate social investment is defined as the concept where people and usually organizations give back to the community in which they operate or come from.  It is also defined as the continuing commitment by businesses to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workplace as well as the local community and society at large. www.clevelandcarbonfund.org

Beyonce Knowles-Carter in her Derion outfit

Beyonce working with the UN

Well there is one woman who took it to the extreme and through her music she educated and also created more awareness for the United Nations campaign of the World Humanitarian Day, which is held every year on the 19^th August. The campaign is all about recognizing those who face danger and adversity to help others.

Beyonce Gissel Knowles-Carter is an award winning artist that is known by many as the Queen of Pop. She is one of the inspiring women on earth and has made it on the top5 of Forbes list of the Most Powerful Female Celebrities in the world. Her song “I was here” was launched on the 10^th of August 2012 as a celebration of all the humanitarian work all over the globe, in form of a unique event featuring a world renowned artist and was held at the UN’s (United Nations) General Assembly in New York, in the United States of America, to inspire people to leave a mark on the world. 

a video of beyonce singing the famous song "I was here"

More Charity work

She is mostly known for her humanitarian work such as her Survivor Foundation, an organization founded to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. At one point Beyoncé was also an Ambassador for the 2005 World Children’s Day, and released “Stand Up For Love,” the anthem for the event which takes place annually around the world on November 20 to raise awareness and funds for children’s causes. Now the new anthem for the World Humanitarian Day is “I was here”.

Now in conclusion, I’ve learned from all this is that you don’t need to have money in order to make a difference and leave your footprints on this earth. All it takes is a small good deed and see the change happen.

sources: http://whd-iwashere.org/, http://www.beyonce.com/news/10-good-deeds, http://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/19-beyonce-knowles,

The Publc Protector

A Woman Protecting the Public.

Adv Thuli Madonsela
www.you.co.za

Since this month the blog is focusing on phenomenal women that make a difference in this country of ours, the woman of this week is well known for her role in protecting the nation and making sure that there is no foul play with any government officials,  she is an arbitrator of fairness fighting for human rights and equality for all, or any other matters that affect the nation at large. She is known as the OMBUDSMAN of the people, her name is the one and only Advocate Thulisile Nomkhosi Madonsela.

Advocate Thuli Madonsela was born in Johannesburg, in the year 1962, and lived in Soweto with both her parents. Her mother was a domestic worker and an unofficial social worker in her community as she was well known for helping people and her father was an informal trader. I guess that’s where she developed the love for always helping people, hence she become an advocate specialising in human rights, the constitution, equality expert and policy specialist. She acquired the necessary skills needed for being the public protector from an early age, as she was exposed to it by her parents. we have them to thank for bringing her up the way they did.


 

Advocate Thuli Madonsela holdsa BA Law from UNISWA and an LLB Law from the University of Witwatersrand. She also did postgraduate studies in LLM studies and legal courses to name a few, not forgetting the role she played in  helping to the Constitutional Assembly draft the final constitution in the years 1994 nad 1995.

Public Protector Adv Madonsela
www.nwpg.gov.za

   

   “I want justice to have eyes and not be blind."

Protecting the public the public relations style

 Advocate Madonsela acquired the position of the public protector in 2009 and ever since then, she has proven herself to society that indeed she is the right person for the job. She is her own public relations practitioner, she has all the qualities needed and her job requires her to act like a public relations practitioner, as she: 

•  providing information mainly to the public
• gaining favourable publicity
• crisis communications
• engaging of government departments to influence policy making
• direct communication with the public
• books and writings
• speeches to professional organizations and to the general public, and
• appearing on talks how circuits  

These are most of the things she does on a daily basis and most public relations practitioners could learn a thing or two as she does them well.
The woman of the moment, Advocate Thuli Madonsela, our Public Protector.

sources: www.whoswho.co.za/thulisile-madonsela-9068, www.publicprotector.org, www.timeslive.co.za/lifestyle/2012/03/25, www.you.co.za, www.nwpg.gov.za, and http://en.wikipedia.org

From medicine to fashion

A woman on a mission to promote fashion in South Africa

Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe



Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe is a Johannesburg based business woman, who is known for involvement in the South African fashion, which now also includes Africa as a whole. She started as a devoted follower of fashion until she realised that the South African fashion industry need to be developed in order for it to be recognized internationally as well.

She studied medicine at Wits University, where she began her career as a doctor and spent most of her life as a GP (General Practitioner) for a number of public and private hospitals around Johannesburg. Then later on moved to the United States of America, in Virginia and worked at the teenage and women’s health areas at the Medical College. Then when she moved back to South Africa, she opened a Women’s Health Clinic in Johannesburg.

Leaving the medicine practice after 8 years, she decided to head the Motsepe Foundation, which focuses on health and education in poor communities in South Africa.

Moving to fashion

Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe is the executive chairperson of African Fashion International , which was formally known as luisuewox. Her company owns and hosts South Africa’s fashion weeks, which include the Johannesburg and Cape Town Fashion Weeks. But they moved to greater heights by also hosting the African Fashion Week .

First Lady Thokeka Zuma with Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe arriving at the JHB Fashion Week



Design by David Tale at JHB Fashion Week





African Fashion International’s mission is to promote and develop South African and African fashion industry and to bring it into the mainstream .

Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe giving a speech at the AFI conference

Aims to :

·         get and give free publicity for fashion designers

·         expose African designers to global markets

·         and lastly develop small businesses and entrepreneurs within the fashion industry

"African Fashion International brings together fashion designers, media retailers and consumers." says Dr Precious Molio-Motsepe.

This is an example of how promotions in the Public Relations context is done to perfection. Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe demonstrates how passion and hard work can lead to a successful business that benefits everyone, by creating publicity and promotion all parties involved. May she continue doing the awesome job as we are very proud of her.

sources: www.abndigital.com, www.bantudaily.com, www.justcurious.co.za, www.blogtimeslive.co.za and www.jamati.com   

 

Leading lady of Sport

Ria Ledwaba

The leading female of South African soccer

Ria Ledwaba is a phenomenal woman whose first love is soccer.  She began her love of soccer at a very young age and that helped her build her reputation in a male dominated industry. She is the founder of Ria Stars football club. Not only was she a soccer fanatic, she is also known as a business woman but also a winner of the Shoprite Women of The Year award for The Overall and sports category in 1999.

Although she started as the deputy director for the Local Government and Traditional Affairs for the Northern Province, she realized that she was more in love with soccer was more important than being the director or the Local Government. This is when Ria Stars was formed.

Her love for sports and particularly did not end when her football club was sold, but she continued to get involved in other sporting related carriers. She later on became the Project Manager of the Under-19 Women’s Football and Chair of Women’s Soccer South Africa Football Associations. Her focus wasn’t only on sports but also in the business industry, she is a shareholder and director for Sinda Health Solutions, GAS Pty Ltd Specialist, HFF Group of Companies and The Ifiblile Group.

Ria Ledwaba giving a speech in Polokwane

She has built a brand for herself though out the years and has maintained it. She is also well known for practising what we call in Public Relations Community Relations.Community Relations can be defined as the various methods organisations use to establish and maintain a mutually beneficial relationship between themselves and the community they operate.

 She determined her objective as a role model in her community by following the guidelines for effective community relations programme such as carefully establishing her objectives the she wished to achieve, specific choices that she made keeping in mind the impacts they will have in her community and this is what inspired her to start Ria Stars Football Club.

sources : www.gallloimages.co.za , www.sawoman.co.za , www.answers.com and www.who'swho.co.za

Public Opinion at its best.

We must learn to be sensitive



The infamous Jack Parow aka Zander Tyler.



Sometimes I sit and wonder what goes through an artist’s heads in general??? I mean how do they come up with half of the things they write? Do they still write content that is appropriate for all suitable viewers or only for a specific group of people? Are the views of the audience taken into account or they just do not care at all?

Have we reached a point where in society we just do not care whether artists use vulgar language or we can finally say that we have had enough! Last week Friday during a concert in Durban, a city in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, Zander Tyler whose stage name is Jack Parow, was almost attacked on stage by a fan that was lucky stopped by the police before he got to him. The fan was furious and also felt offended because of all the swear words Jack Parow used in his song “dans, dans, fokken, dans”.

Later on Jack Parow’s critics aired their views about the performance, calling him “satan slang” which is in Afrikaans and translated to English, it means (devil snake) and also saying that his music is what they call a “disgrace to the Afrikaans language”. This was all written in the NewCastle Newspaper’s Facebook page. He reacted by saying

"I was singing dans, dans, fokken, dans and one guy was shouting at me said: why are you F#*$king swearing? but that was funny because he was swearing at me". "If you're going to put me on after blerrie Steve Hofmeyr; well, our fans are worlds apart".

When we look at the incident that has taken place and put it more in a Public Relations point of view, you would realize that Jack Parow is dealing with what we call Public Opinion. Public Relations is a management of building and maintaining relationship with all our audiences, be it internal or external. But how can you build a relationship when you do not have public opinion that is positive and in your favour?

Well Hennessy(Public Opinion;1985) defines public opinion as “the complex issue of beliefs expressed by a significant number of people on an issue of general importance”. Public Opinion basically represents more than just the collective views held by the public, they have the power to make you or break you as an individual.

In conclusion, what Jack Parow can do with his publicist is apologize to the public and realize that although his music has its own target audiences, it will happen that most of the time his music will in different ways also reach those audiences that he is not targeting and they will also react in this manner. I hope it is a lesson learned and that next time he will not react the way he did.

Jack Parow in "dans, dans, fokke, dans" music video.

Here is the link to Jack Parow's "dans, dans, fokken, dans" song :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yWeMIALolY

sources: http://www.mg.co.za/; http://www.product-search.ebay.com/; http://www.pvphotography.blogspot.com/ and http://www.hmsfriday.com/ .

Two decades of exellence

Sibongile Khumalo still has it all after more than 20years in the music industry

Sibongile Khumalo performing for her audiences

Today I took the pleasure in writing this blog, as I’m honoring one of my favorites’ jazz and classical singers of all time, a legend that’s still very active and still knows how to get her audience going crazy over two decades now.

She was born and grew up in Orlando West, in Soweto with both her parents. She developed her love of music at a very young age and was greatly influenced mainly by her father, as he was a music professor. That is why everything she does is a tribute to him.

When I think of Sibongile Khumalo, I think of a well built brand. I mean how can one survive for so many years and still have so much support from her country? So I decided to take a step back and analyse her career history and try to she how she managed to keep people wanting more and more for so many years.

Then it clicked to me that she is a great example of what we call in Public Relations a well built Brand Image or Brand Reputation. It literally begins with having a broader knowledge of the main term “BRAND”, which includes you as the brand developing a promise, making that promise and sustaining or maintaining that promise, by positioning it and then delivering it to the public.

Sibongile Khumalo realized the importance of having a brand image and knew the success it would bring her career. She had an idea of how she wanted to be perceived by the public, especially her target audience (even some of us who are not her target audience). She had a clear idea of who she was marketing her brand to and what she wanted to achieve in all of this, thanks to her parents but mostly her father.

Her father was the one who helped in creating the brand and showed her how to keep her audiences, old and young, committed to her music. Her strong brand image differentiated her from other musicians in the same industry, as she brought a different package that people did not expect to see and also confidence in her music, which made it difficult not to appreciate the songstress’ angelic voice.

In conclusion the exceptional singer will be celebrating 20years in the music industry, with a two night special concert at the Lyric Theatre on April 27^th and 28^th, at 8:30pm. The two decades concert at Klippie’s( Lyric Theatre), which was then the hottest jazz club in the history of Newtown; will be hosting The Three Faces of Sibongile Khumalo ,a concert not to be missed.

 Sources: www.profitduck.com, www.managementstudyguide.com, www.mg.co.za and www.brooklynvegan.com