Author Archive

Posted on June 3, 2011 - by Justin Hartman

Digital strategy in SA simply doesn’t exist

If you know me at all then you’ll know how difficult it can be for me to make big decisions. It’s not because I’m indecisive but rather due to the fact that I often over analyze these decisions by looking at each possible scenario and then try to figure out what the possible outcomes could be in each case. Some would call it a pain, I like to think of it as rational decision making and the benefit of this is that once I have made my decision I act fast and without regret because I know it’s the right play.

That said, I’m an absolute sucker when it comes to motorcycles, case in point my recent acquisition of a super-sexy Ducati super bike. I saw it, I knew I wanted it, I bought it. No real further thought process went into the decision making process and today I suffer the consequences.

In the three weeks that I’ve had it I’ve spent at least one of those weeks repairing the thing. From batteries needing replacing, fuel jets needing cleaning and now a starter motor that is faulty. Crazy.

So what does all of this have to do with digital strategy in South Africa? Well, I like to think that companies thought processes around digital strategy is much like my impulsive need to own a gorgeous Italian motorcycle – foolish.

Who in their right mind invests a large sum of money into something that appears to be the thing you need when in actual fact it simply isn’t? Sure I love my bike and it gives me great joy when it actually works but let’s face it, a smarter approach to this purchase, along with a clearer understanding of my needs would have been wiser. Hindsight is a bugger.

Over the last six years I’ve been privileged to have witnessed digital strategies, or the lack thereof, being implemented without any real clear objectives in mind. Don’t for a second think that your company isn’t one of them. I’ve seen huge public listed companies make foolish decisions, traditional agencies attempting to provide digital strategy and I’ve seen small SME’s fail because no one really knows what they’re doing or what the ultimate end goal is.

The problem with South Africa is that we still follow a largely traditional mindset. Every year the marketing director sits with the agency or the strategists and they devise their marketing plan and budget for the next fiscal period. A road map is planned, objectives and targets are outlined and people go out and work from that blue print. This is a fantastic model and not one I’m trying to change but the issue comes in when digital is simply a line item along with street pole ads and billboards in said marketing plan.

My argument, if you will, is that just like a twelve month marketing plan you need the same plan for digital. You need to identify objectives, goals, targets, campaigns, how you’re going to get there, what you need to make it happen, who you need to hire and most importantly how to measure the effectiveness of the plan. Let’s face it, this is the beauty of digital versus traditional mediums, we can measure it all the way and make changes at will.

Most people think that coming up with a digital campaign is a digital strategy – well, it’s not. Digital campaigns are the line item that make up the digital strategy and should form part of the objectives which ultimately assist you in achieving a ROI. So much money has been squandered on failed campaigns and ultimately digital gets the blame and the end result is budgets get cut next time round because it simply didn’t work. Well yes, it didn’t work because you had no clear idea as to why you were doing it in the first place. Getting a million fans on Facebook or getting 100,000 visitors to your website are not clear objectives at all.

I can’t tell you how many people have spoken to us about campaigns they want to run, websites they want to build, iPad apps they want to develop only to realize after we’ve spoken to them that they really need to rethink why they’re doing this in the first place. It’s bad for business let me tell you but it’s good for the industry.

Digital has become a vital weapon in the traditional marketer’s arsenal yet too many are simply missing the point to truly realise its true potential to annihilate the competition.

 

Posted on December 21, 2010 - by Justin Hartman

My Tattoo, what, where and why I did it

When I was 16 my father gave me a framed copy of the Rudyard Kipling poem titled “IF” which hung on my wall for the entire duration of my high-school career. This poem was very special to him and when I was 21 he read me the poem in his speech at my 21st birthday celebrations. The day before he died I wrote him a letter in which I quoted the poem in reference to him “finally being a Man” and I also had the privilege of reading my final letter to my father at his funeral. This poem is one that has a very deep and special meaning to me. Forever.

Couple this special meaning with the fact that I really do want to be a Man of the stature and integrity that Kipling refers to and because I saw my father living out most of these principals in every day life it has only motivated me more to attempt to be this Man.

So, after much planning and preperation, I broke my tattoo virginity on Sunday and had the final sentence in the Kipling poem, “You’ll be a man, my son.”, tattooed around my wrist. I also had a few ink splotches added because my father, in his writing, would often refer to himself (and that of the journalists from his era) as an ink-stained reporter.

I never want to forget my father and the splotches will always ensure that this never happens and the poem around my wrist is now a constant reminder to me of how I must strive to be the Man I am supposed to be. It took my father neigh on 60 years to get it right but get it right he did. If this is the only thing I am successful at in my life please God let this be it.

 

Posted on December 6, 2010 - by Justin Hartman

Social Code goes public, finally

Almost twelve months ago I had an idea, largely from on my experience with Afrigator, to provide social media services to corporate companies looking to dive into the space. This idea grew even further when I had a chat to my good friend Gregor Rohrig about it. Both Gregor and I got hugely excited about the idea and so we put the wheels in motion, began planning and formed the business together. It’s almost a year later since that initial idea and we’ve only gone public with Social Code in the last two weeks.

Why? Well, two main reasons. The first being that after deciding to create a social media agency we realised that providing social media services simply wasn’t going to cut it. We knew that we needed to offer more and we needed to really focus on digital strategies rather than digital implementations. The second reason was that in April we acquired the business and client side of Entelligence – a leading development company started more than 11 years ago by Sean Riley of Ad Dynamo and GT Ferreira of FirstRand.

The Entelligence acquisition was mostly about being in the right place at the right time but nonetheless, strategically it was a brilliant move for both parties. Since April we’ve been streamlining and integrating the Entelligence business into Social Code and it’s been an interesting and challenging experience in itself. We decided to keep a lid on things until we had gotten the entire operation functional and until we were ready to take on more clients.

So, here we are. Social Code just moved into new offices, we’re hiring new staff and currently service 91 clients from all over the world. The growth and potential for Social Code has blown my mind away and I know that in 2011 you’re going to be hearing a lot more about us.

Many people have asked me what this means for Afrigator. Well, in short, it’s business as usual but if you want to find out more about Social Code and the impact on Afrigator I suggest you listen to the latest Digital Edge podcast where I spill the beans about both businesses.

 

Posted on October 21, 2010 - by Justin Hartman

Social Media ROI… does it exist?

Yesterday I delivered a presentation at the WTF Media Conference titled Social Media ROI… does it exist?. In the ever growing world of Social Media businesses are often scared to dabble in the industry. I ask the question about whether or not Social Media can deliver a ROI or not.

 

Posted on October 8, 2010 - by Justin Hartman

My US trip as visualised by Flipboard

If you own an iPad then you’ve probably already installed and using Flipboard for iPad and if you don’t yet own one please add Flipboard to your downloads list when you do get one.

Flipboard is an amazing piece of software that creates a personalised magazine of your social lifestyle. By this I mean that you are able to add your Facebook and Twitter account details and Flipboard automatically creates a magazine style format of the latest items from your friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter. It’s pretty difficult to explain as you really have to visualise Flipboard for yourself to truly understand what it does. The closest thing I’ve seen online is Paper.li which does a similar thing to Flipboard except Flipboard is way more interactive.

I now hardly use Facebook or Twitter as I can now open Flipboard once a day and consume all the best bits in my instantly updated magazine. Not only that but I can also comment directly and “like” something from within the application and the user experience is simply unbelievable.

Last night I decided to create a new section in Flipboard that just aggregated my own personal Twitter account and I have to admit I loved the results. To demonstrate what I’m talking about I thought that I’d share my Flipboard tweets of my recent US trip to New York and San Francisco. You’ll see the progress of my trip in a beautiful, visualised format which really adds context to my tweets. Let me know what you think of Flipboard once you’ve seen the screenshots below.

 

Posted on September 21, 2010 - by Justin Hartman

My Sabbatical

On Thursday myself and Gregor Rohrig are off on a two-week trip to the United States. We’ll be in New York to attend the Web 2.0 conference and then we’re headed off to San Francisco to meet some interesting industry folks, including the Yola team.

Initially I just wanted to go to attend the conference but as time draws nearer I realise that my trip to the US is going to be a much needed sabbatical from the events of 2010. Over the last few months it has become clear to me that the loss of my father has had a much bigger impact on my life than I realised. I’ve also had a number of personal issues which have really played a major part in defining where I am at today.

The result of all of this is that not only has my personal life been affected but so has my business life. I have an inbox that looks like a sick spam joke and my communication of late has been appalling. This has not been how I wanted to deal with the world but life sometimes has other ideas for us.

Right now I’m focusing my effort on getting myself back on track. I have been spreading myself way to thin over all the business ventures I’m involved in and I need to focus on my personal well being in order to fix the mess both personally and professionally.

Life is not easy and being an entrepreneur even less. I’ve learned some very difficult lessons of late but lessons they have been and I hope to rectify the wrong-doing over time.

So, for the next two weeks I won’t really be bothering too much about work. I need this time to reflect and enjoy my time in the US and I know that Stii will sort out all the Afrigator issues in my absence.

I look forward to returning and feeling like I can take on the world again. Right now that isn’t so true for me.

 

Posted on June 4, 2010 - by Justin Hartman

Aston Martin Rapide Cape Town Launch

Yesterday evening I had the opportunity to attend the Cape Town launch of the Aston Martin Rapide all thanks to Justin Stanford. Aston Martin has long been an aspirational brand for me personally and I’ve had my eye on the DB9 for a long time now. I guess, however, that the biggest issue with owning a DB9 is the practicality of having more than two passengers. Well the Rapide now solves this issue…

The Rapide is arguably the most beautiful four door sports car in the world and is powered by Aston Martin’s hand built 6.0-litre V12 engine from the DB9. From the DBS the Rapide has inherited the suspension and combined this adds up to an impressive and practical sports car that blew my mind away.

Sitting in the Rapide is an experience to behold and it feels like you’re in a F1 car – only far more comfortable and stylish. All four seats are independent from each other and in true Aston Martin style they have all been hand stitched. The Rapide boasts a 1000w Bang & Olufsen sound system that is just as impressive as the interior itself.

The boot space in the Rapide is mind-boggling and there is so much space that it’s now completely conceivable that you can take the wife and kids on a seaside holiday in this car.

With a starting price of around R2.7 million it makes for a hefty chunk of change but as a consolation every Aston Martin now comes with a full maintenance plan as of 1 May 2010. At the Gauteng launch I think they sold four Rapides on the night (including a One 77) and I’m keen to know how many more were sold last night.

The only thing left for me to do now is to organise a test drive which may, or may not, be a good thing. For more pictures from the event and of the car click here.

 

Posted on May 19, 2010 - by Justin Hartman

In Loving Memory – Rodney John Hartman 25/02/1949 – 18/05/2010

At exactly 00:00 today my father passed away after a long battle with Cancer. Back in 1995 my father was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) and at the time I was only 15 years old. I remember thinking that my dad was going to die but the beauty, I was told, was that we’d have between 15-20 years before that would happen due to the stage they caught the disease at.

Through out the last 15 years my dad has lived a pretty normal life. He never complained once about his illness, he never lost his hair from chemotherapy and he basically never missed a day of work either. For the last 15 years it was as if CLL never existed.

This all changed at the turn of the new year.

Back in August 2009 my dad started to develop a swollen head which made him look like the elephant man and this happend a number of times since then. He became chronically fatigued, his immune system was weak and he started to lose a lot of weight in the process.

At the end of January this year they finally diagnosed my dad with a secondary cancer in the form of tumours that had become widespread and consumed most of his body. At the time they felt treatment was still possible because the tumours hadn’t appeared to spread into any vital organs.

From January until today the cancer spread and grew at such a rapid pace that it was simply eating my dad’s body up. Three weeks ago they discovered three massive tumours on his brain and the prognosis wasn’t looking good for him. A series of radiation treatment ensued and this ended just before mother’s day where my family and I flew up to Johannesburg to have lunch with him.

When we left I knew that this moment was probably the last time I’d ever see him alive again and it made me sick. Sick, quite simply because there was so much I still wanted to tell my dad before he died and I knew that I probably wasn’t going to get a chance to do so. I felt unresolved.

On Sunday morning my mother phoned me to say that my dad’s really slipping away very quickly and that I mustn’t be shocked if she calls me to say he’s gone. I knew the time had come so on the early hours of Monday morning I wrote my father a letter. This was something I had thought about doing for a number of months but now the timing seemed right. I emailed the letter to her and asked her to please read it to him – it was my way of saying goodbye.

Late Monday afternoon my mom called me again, in tears, telling me that he has asked her and my 10 year-old sister for permission to die. He told them that physically and mentally he simply hasn’t got the strength to continue and they gave him their blessing.

I asked my mom if she received my letter and alas she hadn’t. I asked only one thing and that was to please read him the letter before he goes. Later that night I sat going through emails from my father and thinking of him as already dead and I had to stop myself because he wasn’t – yet. So, on Monday night I booked a 1-way ticket to Johannesburg so that I could hopefully spend the last moments of his life with him.

I arrived yesterday at 12:00 in Johannesburg and went pretty much direct to the hospital. I was very relieved to hear that my dad had read my letter to him and I was already feeling more peaceful knowing that he at least knew how I felt.

When I saw him though I simply wasn’t prepared. He could barely talk, couldn’t hear anymore and was passing in and out of consciousness the whole time. He knew I was there and was very happy and surprised to see me but I knew the man was on deaths door.

My visit with him however was extremely special for me. I held his hand, which is something I haven’t done since I was a kid, I told him I loved him and he even asked me for a kiss when I left. I connected with my dad on a very different level and I felt like I had now finally said goodbye and I was ready for him to die.

We were told by Ali Bacher and the hospital that my dad wouldn’t make it through the night and at 00:07 we got the phone call that he had died. My first reaction was that I needed to go and see him and I convinced my reluctant mom to come with me.

Seeing my dad’s lifeless body was something that I wasn’t really prepared for. He had aged by about 20 years due to the lack of oxygen and blood supply, his skin colour had turned yellow/white, his body was warm but getting cold quickly and his facial features had already sunken in. He was not the dad that I had seen some 10 hours earlier.

The hardest part about seeing him was that he wasn’t moving. In theory we all understand that a dead person doesn’t move, breath, talk, etc. but I was fully expecting him to open his eyes and say something to us. This never happened and it was a harsh reminder of what had just happened.

I spoke freely to my dad like I’ve never done before, I touched him and held his hand and rubbed his leg and generally just looked at him in awe as a man who I regard as my hero.

I nearly didn’t book my plane ticket to Johannesburg on Monday night because I realised I was petrified of having to deal with his death but I am so grateful that I put my fears aside, got on a plane, and shared these immensely important final moments of his life.

To be honest his death has not sunken in yet but I can tell you I feel at peace with it. I did everything I needed to do with him and I’m so greatful that I don’t have any regrets around his death.

Today I remember my father as loving, dedicated and humble person who endured many hardships in his life to make our lives a little easier. The world has lost a great human being and I look forward to honouring him at his funeral.

 

Posted on February 22, 2010 - by Justin Hartman

A to Z of SA

In December last year I was invited by Apple to attend the launch of a new campaign called the A to Z of SA. In short, the campaign is about promoting South Africa in a positive light, rather than the negative one we see every day in the media. Apple have decided that, with 2010 being just around the corner, it’s time South African’s showcased the best of SA to the world in an effort to help change perceptions.

The launch in Cape Town was an experience to remember. The theme was the Ama-zing Race and we were told to find clues along the way and follow them. We were all given Nikon cameras along with our first clue and the key to a fancy Mini Cooper. The clue was simply to find which Mini was ours and I’m pleased to report we got the convertible.

Our next clue, inside the car, told us to explore the sights of Cape Town and take as many photos as possible along the way. Along with our cool, bright-red cabrio we each had a padkos bag filled with SA-only goodies and an iPod jacked into the Mini which, yip you guessed it, only had South African artists on it.

Adele and I drove for well over three hours in the basking sun, snapping away like German tourists all the while taking in the pleasures of Cape Town.

When we returned to the iStore we were tasked with creating a photo book from our pics using only iPhoto and the built in software. I must admit, after zipping around all day in a Mini, this wasn’t the easiest thing to do but the software did simplify our lives. Sadly our photo book didn’t with the super cool iPod but about three days later we received a hardcopy of the book which can be seen below.

The good news is that anyone can enter this cool campaign and win prizes along the way. Read the A to Z of SA website for more details on how you go about doing this.

This was an awesome day where I got to explore the beauty of Cape Town and I think this new campaign by Apple is one of positivity and hope which we should all get behind. If any of you would like to attend one of the upcoming Ama-zing Race (Jo’burg and Cape Town) where you too can experience a day similar to this – please let me know. You can post a comment below or email me directly justin@hartman.me and I can get you onboard.

 

Posted on February 18, 2010 - by Justin Hartman

My presentation at the Addynamo Blogging Workshop

If you missed it, here’s my presentation from the Addynamo Blogging Workshop that I did yesterday. There are some interesting Adgator insights which haven’t been seen before.