immedia newsletter: April 2012

KZN is SA’s new powerhouse

April’s been an inspiring month at immedia with the team venturing into several new projects and solidly immersing themselves in the South African digital sphere.

We’ve had yet another successful Open Night at our headquarters and some of our team led the app dev training for South Africa’s first Code Jam session at UWC. Our studio also kicked off the month with the launch of the Seychelles Yacht Charter website, showcasing brilliant web features. Our CEO and Head of Development were also featured in popular print publications, drawing a little more attention to SA’s Silicon Beach.

It’s been an exciting quarter and we’re glad to have you join us, so let’s kick things off.

KZN is SA’s new powerhouse

In a recent feature showcasing the rising power of KZN companies, we let AdVantage readers in on some of the work we do, and our experiences with discovering the talent Durban has to offer.

CEO and Head Strategist, Anice Hassim says that there is a certain kind of thinker that gravitates towards a space like Durban “We get a lot of infusion from people who are punching out from the Gauteng rat race, opting to live a life on the north coast in seaside towns such as Ballito. We ourselves have found many experienced and undiscovered talent, with values that match our own.”… more

New digital offering for premium yacht charter company

We’ve recently launched a 360 degree post-PC solution for tourism client, Seychelles Yacht Charter that encompasses an interactive website and will be closely followed by native iPhone and iPad apps.

Seychelles Yacht Charter Manager Michelle Merrick explains that the catalyst behind the company’s new digital approach was the change of its brand from the Offshore Club and Charter to the Seychelles Yacht Charter, accompanied by a beautiful new visual design. The design brief was “simple but stylish”, and the team’s approach was to wrap the new brand around a fresh and ‘flowy’ feel.

The website was created with the latest breakthrough in web technology: responsive web design. This is a design and development approach which caters to the user’s browsing environment, based on screen size, platform and orientation. The layout of the website will then automatically change to the the user’s screen size – be it a mobile phone or a smaller web browser window. The functionality therefore allows the user to experience the full impact of the website, regardless of screen size.

The iPhone and iPad apps will be released into the Apple Store soon. Check out our website for further updates… more

Preparing for an app revolution

Our CEO and Head Strategist, Anice Hassim, will be one of a few select guest speakers at this year’s AdReview Conference on 18 May 2012. The conference will feature the likes of many digitally intuitive speakers including Ann Mack, JWT’s director of trend spotting in New York.

This half-day conference will focus on “The Future of Advertising” and gather a crowd of approximately 500 industry people. Anice will be interviewed by MoneyWeb’s Hilton Tarrant on the pervasiveness of apps in our near future. Many can look forward to Anice’s “The Planet of the Apps” as well as the handover of 2012’s Ad Agency of the Year Award… more

Jamming with student devs

Creating a centre of African app excellence depends on the creation of a world-class skills base. To achieve this, we are currently partnering with the University of the Western Cape and leading South African IT solutions group, Gijima to expose local IT and BSc students from five universities across the country, to iOS training that will empower them with the skills to fully code and design their own apps.

Head strategist, Anice Hassim says that the challenge which the Code Jam initiative is hoping to tackle, concerns the current lack of relevant training for local IT and BSc students. “They are desperate to become part of the post-PC phenomenon that is sweeping the globe, thanks to the incredible uptake of devices such as the iPhone and iPad but there are very few, if any, outlets that currently offer this kind of skills transfer.

“We simply don’t have enough South African mentors who are providing the necessary guidance and instruction to students and graduates looking to extend their skills and initiatives such as the Code Jam event, which does just that, hence our desire to be involved in such a pioneering event,” says Hassim… more