Archive for the ‘General’ Category

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.

 

Posted on November 2, 2009 - by Justin Hartman

Audi MVP Day

The legendary Chris Rawlinson was kind enough to invite me to the second Audi MVP day which is an opportunity for eight geeks to drive around for a morning in the latest and greatest cars that Audi Cape Town have on offer. It was an experience that delivered thrills way beyond my expectations.

The morning kicked off at 09:00 with an introduction meeting with Wernich from Audi Cape Town and some free coffee and snacks. It’s at this point that you basically sign your life over and for a moment I had to wonder if it was worth taking the risk… it was short lived.

Matthew Buckland and I teamed up and we decided to start off small so we took the Audi Q5 for a leisurely drive to Constantia Mall.

The Q5 was the surprising drive of the day for me. It’s a fantastic family car that is somehow less pretentious than the monster Q7 but put your foot down on the pedal and the car accelerates like a sport car. Starting at around R411,000 I suspect this vehicle will become a better seller than the Q7 – but that’s just my take on it.

At Constantia Mall we pitted and swopped vehicles and I saw Matt eagerly take the Audi A5 2.0T keys from Joe Botha’s hands. Initially we thought the A5 was in actual fact an S5 but nevertheless this was still an impressive vehicle.

Matt got to test out the full power of the A5 on the M3 highway when I insisted that we stop halfway so that I could also get a turn. I drove the car from roughly Tokai to Noordhoek where we pitted yet again at Bob Skinstad’s pub The Toad.

Let me just say that of all the cars that were available for the day the Audi A5 impressed me the most. I loved this car and especially loved the multitronic gearbox. Its handling was superb, it’s frighteningly quick and to top it all off it looks super sexy. If I had R424,000 to spend on a car this would be the one I’d chose.

After a couple drinks Chris did a draw to see who would drive the Audi S4 and Audi R8 home. Unfortunately the R8 was occupied for the day but nevertheless Charl Norman’s name was pulled out of the hat and he gets to nail the R8 on a day that suits him.

Sue Rutherford was the other lucky name pulled out of the hat to drive the Audi S4 back. Sue was however not feeling too confident driving the S4 and I was quick on the draw and convinced her to let me drive it – thanks Sue!

I drove the S4 from Noordhoek, down the recently reopened Chapmans Peak Drive and then back to the Cape Grace Hotel where we rendezvoused for lunch. Unfortunately this entire drive was mostly frustrating as traffic really hindered our ability to drive the S4 properly. Sue and I did do a little detour to find some highway and luckily there were brief moments of white-knuckle driving but they were far and few between.

The S4 is a fantastic car as it has two very different modes of driving. In highly condensed traffic the S4 acts like any other A4 in that it is light on fuel, easy to drive and behaves like any other regular car but put your foot down on the accelerator and this R590,000 car turns into the devil. It’s kind of like sex on wheels but strangely much better. The raw power at your disposal is mind-blowing, the handling is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced and the braking is superb.

There’s only one major problem with it though – it looks like a boxy family car. I’m funny like this in that I’d buy an A4 as a family car because it’s practical and if I really wanted all that power I wouldn’t buy the S4 but rather opt for an S5. Yes I know people want to have the power and still be practical but seriously it’s just not for me. Give me that A5 any day!

The day ended with a magnificent lunch at the Cape Grace Hotel which could have gone on all day given half a chance.

I must thank Chris and Wernich for what was a truly remarkable day. This is an amazing initiative that is certainly going to take Audi a long way and I’m just glad I could experience it all with some amazing people.

 

Posted on October 22, 2009 - by Justin Hartman

I’ve made it to the finals

I love a good competition. Nothing like the thrill of the chase to drive one nuts. If you’re reading this blankly then let me elaborate by saying that I am now one of two finalists in the $3,000 adtech content revenue strategies giveaway which includes a trip to New York to attend the conference.

This is something I really, really want and I am forced to rely on you to help me get what I want. Basically it’s now down to public voting and your vote will determine who gets to go. Please can you head on over to Shoemoney’s blog by clicking this link and cast your vote for Justin in the vote box?

Voting ends on Friday morning and I’m competing against a really great guy so your vote is important and really will help to make a difference.

I must thank everyone who’s voted for me so far. The support has been amazing from you all – thank you!

 

Posted on October 18, 2009 - by Justin Hartman

ad:tech, Adgator and me – it’s the perfect fit

Jeremy Schoemaker who runs the blog Shoemoney is offering one person an all-expenses paid opportunity to attend ad:tech New York in early November. Now I’m not big on entering many competitions but attending ad:tech is something that is critical to me and my business. In addition to attending the ad:tech conference there is also a pass to attend Content Revenue Strategies (formerly Adspace) where Jeremy is going to be speaking and you get to have lunch with the man himself.

So why is this important to me and my business and why do I feel that I should attend over all the other potential candidates? Well there are two main reasons which I’ll highlight below.

Adgator – Africa’s first blog advertising network

Afrigator, the company I co-founded and now the largest niche aggregator in Africa, pioneered the first blog advertising network on the continent called Adgator. We launched Adgator almost a year ago and we’ve had some great response and varying success. In particular, what I’ve noticed is that we’ve solved a critical need to connect advertisers with bloggers (vice-versa) and for the first time there is a simple solution for brands to advertise and communicate to a social media audience in Africa.

While we’ve certainly solved many problems we are the first to market and this has come at a hefty price. There have been huge learning curves for us and as the market isn’t as big as say the U.S. we’ve had to be disruptive in our innovation in order to succeed. For me ad:tech would help us to learn from people a whole lot smarter than us, connect with highly influential people in the market and ultimately give us valuable insight into the state of play.

All of this will help us apply what we’ve learned and the insight we’ve gained to a market that we ultimately understand. I’d imagine that attending this conference would leap-frog our business to a completely new level and this is critical to our survival.

Working with the U.S. Government

Back in August 2009 we were contacted by the U.S. Government and together we formed an interesting partnership. We worked very closely with the Department of State, the SA Embassy as well as America.gov to assist them in showcasing the work the U.S. is doing in Africa.

Together we launched a pioneering social stream in time for Sec. Hillary Clinton’s seven nation trip to Africa and not only did this showcase official content from America.gov but it also showcased the conversation happening in real-time across all the social media platforms. We’ve long built up a relationship with African bloggers and content producers and it’s relatively easy for us to pull all of this together and we aggregated everything from Afrigator (i.e. blog posts), Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and Delicious that related to Sec Clinton’s trip.

As a result of our very close connection with the U.S. I think it’s imperative that I finally get the opportunity to visit the land of the free as I’ve never been to the U.S. before. As America continues its mission in Africa and we continue to work with the U.S. Government it would be hugely beneficial to understand both markets and not just the one we live in.

So, Jeremy, you could possibly chose someone else but I think your best candidate is staring you squarely in the eyes.

 

Posted on October 16, 2009 - by Justin Hartman

Twitter introduces lists and becomes a lot more useful

Twitter have today started rolling out a Beta feature to select users called Lists. To me this is the most useful feature that Twitter have added since they launched. I’ve had my Twitter account since March 2007 and during that time I’ve accumulated a whole bunch of followers. The problem with this is that Twitter has, over time, become far too noisy for me and I’ve lost my ability to follow what’s going on.

As a result I’ve used Twitter more for updating than for following but Lists now change this. As you can see from my sidebar I can now create both public and private lists. This means that I can now create a private list just for friends and instead of seeing all the noise I can just view stuff from people that actually matter to me – my friends.

You can also see that I have created an Afrigator Team list. This list I made public so anyone can view this list and follow it if they want to. As with following individual Twitter profiles you can now follow a list and be updated on that lists stream which is pretty useful. What lists also do is allow you to know who are part of a team. Twitter have a team list as well so you can now follow people from a company or cause that matter to you.

Twitter has just become a whole lot more useful to me and I think it’s a game-changer! How many of you have access to Twitter Lists?

 

Posted on September 30, 2009 - by Justin Hartman

England, thanks for ruining cricket for my son

First let me state that Luke, my 5 year-old, is a cricket fanatic. If we’re not watching cricket he’s bowling balls down the passage or setting his imaginary field and he’s driving me nuts with wanting me to purchase every piece of cricket equipment that has ever been made. It’s turning into a costly passion.

Over the last two days I’ve witnessed two jaw dropping incidents in the ICC Champions Trophy, both of which involved England, and these have had a serious impact on Luke. The first and most controversial was an incident involving Graham Smith and Andrew Strauss during the SA vs. England game on Monday evening.

Smith was on 124 runs with South Africa needing another 69 from 36 balls to stay in the ICC Champions Trophy and requested for a runner yet Strauss declined it. After the match Strauss explained that “He asked for a runner and the umpires took the view that cramp is a symptom of fatigue. Being tired does not qualify batsmen for a runner under the laws of the game”.

It is my belief that this decision by Strauss was a defining moment in the match and was a major contributing factor to our loss. After Strauss turned him down you could see Smith’s whole demeanor change. Couple that with the fact that he could barely walk and Smith was now forced to look for boundaries to try and steer our team to victory which ultimately lead to the fall of his wicket at 141.

If you asked me Strauss knew that Smith could win the game for South Africa and he wanted him off the field as his bowlers were pretty much ineffective against him. I believe that Strauss broke the rules of the gentleman’s game in a display of the worst sportsmanship I’ve ever seen in cricket in recent times.

The impact this had on Luke astounded me. He was in Graham Smith mode at the time, with pads on and bat in hand, trying to win the game and when he saw how upset Smith was he went from excitement to total disappointment. He got furiously angry with England and accused them on cheating and not being fair and this frustration ultimately brought him to tears. It took a long time to console him and explain to him that sometimes things happen in sport that prevent you from winning but he struggled to comprehend it all.

This was the first time that he’s ever understood and been exposed to injustice in sport and he didn’t like it one bit. When he went to bed he told us he’s never playing cricket again – a truly shattering moment for a child who just wants to be the next AB De Villiers. As parents this was a difficult moment for us and I’m not convinced we handled it as well as we could have. Be that as it may, Luke agreed to take up cricket again the next morning.

The second incident I witnessed was during the England vs. New Zealand match yesterday evening. Paul Collingwood, who had been declared run out after wandering out of his crease, went up to New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori and had a mini-conference with him. Soon after they shook hands and Vettori decided not to uphold the appeal and Collingwood was allowed to continue his innings.

To be honest I’m shocked that England expect every other team to honour the Spirit of Cricket ethos while they only really do so when the pressure is not on them.

It is true that Andrew Strauss had made a similar decision in England’s opening match against Sri Lanka by recalling Angelo Mathews however there wasn’t the same sense of pressure or intensity during that match. The truth is, when England are on the ropes they are simply bad sports.

If you don’t believe me then lets look at last year when Collingwood was captaining England when New Zealand’s Grant Elliott had been run out after a mid-pitch collision with Ryan Sidebottom. The umpires were obliged to rule him out, but Collingwood’s refusal to withdraw the appeal had infuriated Vettori and invited widespread criticism from the media.

Vettori’s decision yesterday was more significant as there was no case of obstruction in this instance, and Collingwood had no one to blame but himself for venturing out his crease. In addition, it was a do-or-die match for New Zealand yet despite this Vettori still showed outstanding sportsmanship at the time.

You make your own decisions around this but I for one am disgusted by England’s tactics and the fact that the ICC continue to back this team and the decisions taken by them on the field. What example are we setting to the youth who idolize these players and the game?

 

Posted on September 30, 2009 - by Justin Hartman

Why are Clocks so prominent in my life right now?

I’m struggling to find the meaning behind this but for some reason children’s clocks are featuring very prominently in my life right now.

Two days ago Colette and I went to see a psychologist about our eldest son Luke. There’s nothing wrong with him but we were asked by the pre-school to put him through a series of tests to see if he is ready for big school (i.e. Grade 1) next year. The meeting was essentially a report-back on her findings.

While the results of the tests were very interesting (more about this in a later post) the strangest thing emerged. One of the questions asked to him was if he had three wishes what would he wish for. His first answer was… a clock. Colette and I were both taken aback as was the psychologist. None of us could figure out why a five year old would wish for a clock.

During the session we also realised that we don’t have a single clock in our house. Not only that but neither of us own watches either so there is nothing apart from computers and mobile phones indicating the time. Maybe this is the only meaning around this but then some more random events happened.

Last night I received a phone call from my late best friend’s mother. We haven’t spoken in over two years and I think it’s mostly due to the fact that the context of our relationship was connected through my friend and with him not being there it was difficult to maintain the relationship when we both reminded each other of him. So, needless to say it was a pleasant and unexpected surprise to hear her voice again.

I suspected that the call was in relation to the sixth anniversary of his death (September 15th) but this wasn’t the case at all. She contacted me to tell me that she’d started making, wait for it…, children’s clocks in her spare time and wanted to know if I can help her market the kids clocks online.

Soon after the phone call I put Luke to bed. Every night Colette reads him a story before bedtime but last night I decided that I should do story-time instead. As is customary Luke choses a book and tonight was a rather large Dr. Seuss collection of five stories.

Luke opened up the book and said to me that he wants to show me his best part. He continued to page through to a particular page in the book and said look Dad, this is it. I took the book from him and asked him why this page was his best and he said, because the long hand is hanging off looking all squiggly and he was referring to the rather comical looking clock on the page.

Maybe I’m being nuts but these three, seemingly random events around clocks, kids clocks in particular have me wondering if there’s not something there. I don’t believe in co-incidence, I believe in things happening for a reason and everything has meaning but I can’t find anything online that can help me understand this better.

Hopefully you have more insight into the random events of the last two days.

 

Posted on September 22, 2009 - by Justin Hartman

Our experience of sending bulk emails to users

Let me start by saying that Mailchimp is an amazing company and their bulk email service is worth every penny. They deliver a punchy service and their UI is awesome however we no longer use them as our account has now been deleted.

I certainly can see the value in newsletters but from experience our newsletters were more often than not perceived as spam and I think, ultimately, this has hurt our brand. Added to the fact that many of our @afrigator.com email addresses now end up in people’s spam/junk folder and I think you’ll see why we’ve ultimately decided to drop our newsletter service all together.

Maybe our execution was poor, maybe we’re just not experts at doing this but I can tell you in future I’ll be hesitant to send out any emails to users. It’s a tough one for a small online business as email is, fundamentally, your only communication tool with your clients and this tool needs to be used very wisely…….. or else.

I can in all honesty tell you that we’ve learned more than we’d have liked to (mostly painful stuff) and if I had to do it all again I would have never started email newsletters in the first place. We had all these grandiose ideas about how we could leverage off email to our users but in the end I think we failed.

 

Posted on September 17, 2009 - by Justin Hartman

The Parlotones make a Giant Mistake

If you haven’t heard the news yet then let me tell you that The Parlotones are now wine makers and last night we were privileged to attend a private, intimate launch party for their new red wine called Giant Mistake.

It is no secret that I’m a Parlotones fan-boy (as is evidenced by this post) and this once in a life time opportunity event was certainly not going to be missed by me and trust me, I had a fantastic time.

If you know me well enough then you’ll know that I am often mature beyond my years but last night I was like a teenager again. Singing, jumping, irritating Mark Bayly, asking the band for special requests, pestering Kahn for signatures and photos and just generally being an absolute nuisance. I had a blast and now have some cool signed memorabilia including a signed bottle of Giant Mistake by all the band members. Check out some of the pics from the night.

But this post isn’t all about the fun. As I mentioned on the Afrigator blog we actually got involved with The Parlotones on this and did some work with them on their new website and there’s some more exciting stuff in the pipeline.

As for the wine? Well if the crowd last night at the event are anything to go by then Giant Mistake is going to be a massive success. There wasn’t a single person who said they didn’t love the wine and if you’re a sceptic then I guess the proof will have to be in the pudding. I mean we are just human after all…