"We've essentially taken the best practices from both companies - both of which have always been firm believers in evidence-based research, and have established a company with a vision to share valuable insights to help our clients grow their brands," says Gill Randall, CEO of SPARK Media.
"The media landscape has changed drastically over the last 10 years and We're dealing with major shifts in media consumption habits. More and more media investment is evaluated on measurable ROI and not just traditional media metrics."
SPARK Media is headed by industry legends Gill Randall and John Bowles. Randall is taking the reins as CEO while Bowles becomes the new COO. Reporting to them are commercial print & new business director, Olav Westphal; commercial directors Marius Greeff and Marc Du Plessis. Justine Williams takes on the sales director role While Diane Albertus becomes the advertising operations director.
Additional departments will include an innovation and creative hub, called The SPARK Agency, headed by The Campaigner, Kirsty Dugmore.
"We have also expanded our research department to include a full time insights executive, Who Will look at the Stories behind the data," adds Randall.
Bowles adds: "SPARK Media will cover a bouquet of media properties designed to tap into the consumer on their path to purchase. From the hard working traditional local newspaper platforms where buyers research their shopping, to a plethora of digital offerings - SPARK media will engage! Our digital focus is designed to tackle the social media landscape, the mobile commuter, high quality content seekers, call to action location based platforms and the programmatic challenge."
The company was officially launched at a dance show spectacular, entitled Strategically Come Dancing. Here, judged on their performances by a panel of professionals, dance couples from SPARK Media and various media agency partners competed at a dance-off. After an evening of 'shaking those booties' Wayne Bishop and Yamkela Nkanzela from PHD, with great encouragement from their supporters in the crowd, were crowned as the ultimate dancing couple.
According to Randall, "Our new payoff line 'Insights that Ignite' perfectly sums up what our clients will be receiving. I know that we're offering something unique in that We now have a combination of our own digital and publishing assets, third party platforms and cutting-edge in-house market intelligence to help clients make sound and measurable media decisions."
For more information and to contact SPARK media, phone +27 10 492-8390 or visit www.sparkmedia.co.za. Alternatively connect with them on Twitter.
