IAB South Africa’s inaugural year in 2014 became a considerable one as the council announced several promising achievements and a roadmap that is set to shape the digital landscape in South Africa in 2015.

 

High level achievements included the appointment of Josephine Buys, the CEO for the IAB; the establishment of the Media Innovation Portfolio headed up by Mike Carter; the launch of the first ever IAB endorsed media marketing course together with AAA; the foundations for Telmar digital integration and the establishment of an industry wide digital spend research report. 

 

Buys says, “The appointment of a full time CEO illustrates the IAB’s dedication to leading and impacting the digital industry with more strength than ever before. I am proud to be part of an exciting new era for the organisation.”

 

IAB members also voted for the re-election the 2014 Board, the office bearers will return to serve the industry for the next 12 months. The Board elected is as follows:

Chair: Jarred Cinman (Native VML)

Vice Chair and Head of Research: Gustav Goosen (The SpaceStation)

Head of Publishing: Tim Spira (ENCA)
Head of Agencies: Fred Roed (WorldWideCreative)
Head of Regulatory Affairs & Treasurer: Andrew Allison (Quirk)

 

“I am confident that the new Board are completely dedicated to serving the interests of our members. Our goal has always been to grow, support and sustain a vibrant and profitable South African digital industry, and we will continue to work hard to achieve this,” explains elected Chair Jarred Cinman.

 

The year also saw IAB laying the foundation of its future accreditation for third party course providers and the plans for 2015, which includes working with more of the education providers to set up digital and related training. The organisation also put in place the criteria for third party course endorsement, and are working towards a national curriculum and standards for digital media and marketing courses. This is no small feat as there are a number of institutions. However, once complete, the presence of a benchmark will benefit the industry. 

 

The publisher council’s achievements include spearheading discussions with the press council, SANEF and other bodies to establish a self-regulation mechanism for online content. The council also set up an advertising campaign to promote local online publishers, which will be launching early this year. The council established work groups to educate and assist publishers with new digital developments such as the rise of programmatic buying, native advertising and the use of social media. 

 

The well-established measurement council finalised the measurement solution tender, through which Effective Measure was appointed. One of the key achievements of this is feature phone and app measurement as South Africa has a high prevalence of feature phone penetration.  The measurement council is comprised of a multi-industry body who proactively work across a number of relevant issues. This year will be groundbreaking with Telmar’s internet planner launching in the first quarter.

 

The regulatory council had a bustling 2014. The council handled a number of complaints submitted by members of the public as well as addressing numerous legal briefs. A year-end workshop was held in Cape Town and Johannesburg to educate members on relevant laws, both existing and imminent. The council is also actively engaged with government and regulatory bodies, to drive forces in the development of South Africa's burgeoning digital regulatory environment in order to promote the digital freedom of all South Africans and to champion the interests of IAB members. Whilst acknowledging the need to protect vulnerable groups from abusive and illegal practices, the council continues to work closely with advertising, industry and regulatory bodies in South Africa in the pursuit of alignment and cohesion across the industry. 

 

IAB South Africa Chairman, Jarred Cinman noted that it was a year taken up with putting plans in place to strengthen the organisation’s relationships, reach and influence.  “We made substantial inroads in the digital education space; we formed more and more inclusive Councils around Publishers, Agencies, Marketing and Measurement; we re-appointed Effective Measure and worked hard to get our data into the hands of planners; we engaged a number of regulatory bodies including the Press Council and the ASA to talk about where digital fits in; we invited Brands into the organisation and strengthened key partnerships with the AMF, the Mobile Media Association, the Loeries, the Creative Circle, the Direct Marketing Association, the ACA and many other players in the marketing industry; we re-imagined the Bookmarks Awards and are ready to launch the first IAB Digital Summit in February 2015,” Cinman said.