Freshapple Media, is a Digital Agency. It is a full service Digital solution boasting strategic partnerships with black and women owned accredited traditional media agencies. The young team has over 20 years digital experience amongst the them spanning from Strategy, Media, SEO, Design and Data Analytics.Freshapple embodies: Newly harvested digital marketing communications solutions which are purposeful and easily understood in the minds of consumers.

My role at the Mail and Guardian is centered on analytics and understanding media audiences and their consumption of our web properties. This information is strategically used to influence the design of user journeys (UX) as well as influence advertising currency and ad unit placements.I also look after the ad trafficking team and make sure we’re up to date with the latest ad serving technologies for all modern formats including rich media and VAST 3.0 which is the latest video template approved by the IAB. I oversee that client’s ads are delivered on time with insightful reports and optimisation suggestions are offered by our campaign manager.Another function of my role is to broker and manage deals with affiliates to monetise remnant inventory from all our web properties. I try to maximise revenue by selecting network partners that work the hardest for us through reviewing the list weekly and applying optimisations. I am also responsible for the monthly digital advertising budget and work closely with our sales and finance teams to bill our clients on a monthly basis.

I was headhunted by Quirk Jozi to build a paid media competence. I joined when Quirk was in its infancy and had no paid media resources or capability. During my time there we built a substantial business unit that serves the paid media needs of over 15 FMCG brands, with annual billings in excess of R30m. The team now consists of 7 media specialists and has a partnership arrangement with Initiative Media to service their digital needs.Quirk has taught me a great deal. Most notably exposure to multi-channel brand planning with some of the biggest retail brands in South Africa. My primary role was to be the key point of contact for retail brand managers at SAB and Reckitt Benckiser to deliver digital strategy that was aligned with their brand objectives. From defining digital objectives, KPIs and being heavily involved in campaign insights, analysis and optimisation. A large element of brand marketing is to ensure above-the-line and below-the-line activities are carefully planned in advance to complement each other and gain maximum reach and engagement. This was a key challenge and accountability for my role at Quirk.Some of the campaign budgets were substantial and creating management reports that control spend and track media effectiveness were critical to our success.Recruiting digitally savvy paid media experts is exceptionally hard and a large part of my time was dedicated to helping hire, mentor and develop the skills of bright young talent.

After 4 years’ service at MediaShop I was in need of a new challenge. I moved over to Mindshare, who were setting up a digital competence, as digital implementation manager. As an Implementation Manager I was tasked with ensuring that all media strategy and plans were formulated and executed cost effectively across multiple clients and brand portfolios. I worked closely with above-the-line strategist to create seamless marketing strategies for our clients.My initial responsibility was to create a working process as well as supporting templates. I then trained a team of young talent as media planners, buyers and traffickers. When the team was operating at an optimal competent level, we brought in the MTN and Unilever business in-house from Aqua Online. I spent most of my time managing the process and pitching for new business. I won BetXChange’s digital media business and they spent 1 million rands per annum on display and search.

Again I received a promotion and as digital campaign manager my job was to lead my client’s brands into the digital revolution. I advised and developed media strategies tailored for digital media. I made sure campaigns were developed to appeal to a digital audience and used the best attributes digital had to offer such as “engagement” to drive brand recall and affinity through creative executions. I also ensured that digital was in line with the overall product road map and channel strategy.I made regular use of data to guide strategic decisions by monitoring campaigns through weekly reports. After analysing data I presented findings to clients and advised of course correction strategies where applicable. I conducted numerous tests and optimisation techniques in pursuit of maximum returns and cost effectiveness. A large part of my job included working closely with specialist and creative agencies to ensure creative was optimal and cost effective to traffic. I ran sanity checks with publishers to determine if their website ad serving infrastructures were compatible with DFA and MediaMind tags before reserving inventory or issuing tags.I also educated my clients about digital and the industry as it was largely misunderstood at the time.

I was promoted to planner within 1 years’ service at MediaShop. As a media planner, my role was to develop integrated channel strategies by applying various media platforms such as out-of-home, television, radio, print and digital. I defined and conducted market research using data from AMPS, TAMS and RAMS via Telmar as well as field research where applicable. I strategically redefined client goals and directions into media objectives as well as recommended strategies to achieve the desired results.I also worked closely with creative agencies during the planning phase to ensure consistency of creative work. I then put together detailed cost plans as well as timelines in the form of media schedules for clients to approve before handing over to media buyers to implement. I always followed up with a post campaign analysis and recommended future strategies based on lessons learned from campaigns.

My role was to negotiate rates and discounts, buy and monitor media spend on behalf of my clients. I dealt closely with media owners and together we worked to give clients the best possible reach and frequency while making sure campaigns delivered the desired results.Part of my job was to load insertions onto Chase systems. The loaded insertions generated invoices and billed clients accurately. I also provided proof of flightings on all media.Media channels included: print, out-of-home, digital, television and cinema.Buying gave me the grounding I needed for a solid career in media and advertising.

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