The 2010 FIFA World Cup opened last Friday here in Mzantsi, after years of preparation, skepticism and criticism, the Opening Ceremony took place at Soccer City Stadium – the first matches taking place over the weekend. Thousands attended the opening concerts and matches in person, while tens of millions watched events unfold on screens large and small across the world. The Boston Globe has collected images of people, communities and countries all over the world enjoying the opening matches….
A South African dancer smiles during the opening ceremony of the 2010 FIFA World Cup on June 11, 2010 in Soweto, South Africa. (PEDRO UGARTE/AFP/Getty Images) #
South African dancers perform during the opening ceremony of the 2010 FIFA World Cup on June 11, 2010 in Soweto. (PIERRE PHILIPPE MARCOU/AFP/Getty Images) #
Photographers are led onto the field before the 2010 World Cup opening match between South Africa and Mexico at Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg June 11, 2010. (REUTERS/David Gray) #
A fan blows a vuvuzela during the Group A first round 2010 World Cup football match South Africa vs. Mexico on June 11, 2010 in Soweto. (VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images) #
Giorgio Rovida, an Italian motorbike engineer, watches the opening game of the 2010 World Cup between Mexico and South Africa in his Milan workshop on June 11, 2010. (GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty Images) #
South Africa’s midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala (center) runs with the ball to score the opening goal during their Group A first round 2010 World Cup match on June 11, 2010. (OMAR TORRES/AFP/Getty Images) #
A man celebrates Mexico’s goal as he watches the 2010 World Cup opening match between Mexico and South Africa on a large TV screen in Zocalo Square, downtown Mexico City June 11, 2010. (REUTERS/Eliana Aponte) #
South Africa’s goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune watches the action at the other end of the pitch during their Group A first round World Cup match on June 11, 2010 at Soccer City stadium. (VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images) #
Prisoners watch the World Cup opening match between South Africa and Mexico in Mexico City’s Reclusorio Sur prison June 11, 2010. (REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar) #
People gather around a television to watch the opening game of the soccer World Cup at the Tembisa neighborhood in the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday, June 11, 2010. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan) #
A Chinese couple watches a live broadcast of the World Cup soccer match between South Africa and Mexico, outside a grocery store in a hutong of Beijing, China, Friday, June 11, 2010. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen) #
Photographers take pictures during the Group A first round 2010 World Cup match between South Africa and Mexico on June 11, 2010. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images) #
South African residents of the Vrededorp neighborhood react to a save by South Africa as they watch the opening match of the World Cup in Johannesburg, South Africa, Friday June 11, 2010. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay) #
Schoolchildren watch the World Cup opening match between South Africa and Mexico in San Jose, Costa Rica on June 11, 2010. Costa Rica’s Education Minister Leonardo Garnier authorised all schools across the country to have a television in their classrooms to watch the World Cup matches. (REUTERS/Juan Carlos Ulate ) #
A young supporter waves Spanish flags before the welcome ceremony for Spain’s national football team on June 11, 2010 in North West University Sports Village on the opening day of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. (LLUIS GENE/AFP/Getty Images) #
South Korean soccer fans cheer for the South Korean World Cup soccer team as they watch a live TV broadcast of the 2010 World Cup Group B soccer match against Greece in Port Elizabeth, at Seoul City Hall Plaza June 12, 2010.(REUTERS/Lee Chung-Woo)#
Uruguay’s striker Diego Forlan (right) tries to head the ball with France’s defender William Gallas during their Group A first round World Cup football match on June 11, 2010 at Green Point stadium in Cape Town. (STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP/Getty Images) #
Uruguay’s Diego Lugano, center, and France’s Jeremy Toulalan, second from right, argue as referee Yuichi Nishimura of Japan, second from left, and France’s Sidney Govou, right, intervene during the World Cup group A soccer match between Uruguay and France in Cape Town, South Africa, on Friday, June 11, 2010. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) #
France’s Patrice Evra, left, goes for the ball as Uruguay’s Mauricio Victorino, bottom right, falls during the World Cup group A soccer match between Uruguay and France in Cape Town, South Africa, on Friday, June 11, 2010. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) #
U.S. and British troops watch the World Cup soccer match from South Africa between the U.S. and England in Camp Bastion, Helmand Province, Afghanistan June 12, 2010. (REUTERS/Corporal Gary Kendall RLC/MoD/Crown Copyright) #
Police restrain fighting fans as supporters of the England football team watch National Team’s opening world Cup soccer match, against the U.S., at a Fan zone in the Castlefield area of Manchester, England, Saturday June 12, 2010. (AP Photo/Jon Super) #
England’s goalkeeper Robert Green reacts after he allowed a goal by the U.S. during a 2010 World Cup Group C soccer match at Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg June 12, 2010. (REUTERS/Darren Staples) #
U.S. players celebrate after midfielder Clint Dempsey (right) scored a goal against England during their 2010 World Cup group C first round football match on June 12, 2010 at Royal Bafokeng stadium in Rustenburg. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images) #
American fans cheer as they watch through a giant screen the World Cup group C soccer match between England and the United States, at Durban beach, South Africa, Saturday, June 12, 2010. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla) #
Tunisian and Algerian fans react as they watch the Algeria vs Slovenia football FIFA world cup match on television, on June 13, 2010 in the cafe bar in Tunis. (FETHI BELAID/AFP/Getty Images) #
A man reacts as he watches the World Cup 2010 soccer match between Argentina and Nigeria In Port-au-Prince, haiti on Saturday, June 12, 2010. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini) #
Argentina’s Jonas Gutierrez (right) battles for the ball with Nigeria’s Chinedu Obasi during the World Cup Group B soccer match at Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg June 12, 2010. (REUTERS/Jerry Lampen) #
Roadside mechanics and their clients watch Nigeria take on Argentina during the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa on a battery powered television in Lagos, Nigeria on June 12, 2010. (PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/Getty Images) #
Argentinian soccer fans watch a World Cup match between Argentina and Nigeria at a market in Tucuman, Argentina, Saturday, June 12, 2010. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) #
Argentina’s Gabriel Heinze (left) runs in celebration towards the bench after scoring the first goal during the World Cup group B soccer match between Argentina and Nigeria at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Saturday, June 12, 2010. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner) #
A football fan reacts as Nigeria misses a goal at a public viewing center in Lagos, Nigeria during the World Cup match between Nigeria and Argentina in South Africa, on June 12, 2010. (PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP/Getty Images) #
Supporters of Germany’s football team watch the match against Australia on a giant screen during the public viewing event in the northern German city of Hamburg on June 13, 2010. (FABIAN BIMMER/AFP/Getty Images) #
Lukas Podolski of Germany celebrates scoring the first goal during the World Cup South Africa Group D match between Germany and Australia at Durban Stadium on June 13, 2010 in Durban, South Africa. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images) #
Palestinians and foreigners watch the World Cup game between Germany and Australia projected onto a screen on the separation barrier in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Sunday June 13, 2010. The wall that separates this biblical town in the West Bank from nearby Jerusalem has recently been bringing an international crowd together to watch the World Cup games. Every night, local restaurant owner and avid soccer fan Joseph Hasboun has been projecting games of the World Cup onto the wall facing his eatery, the Bahamas Sea Food Restaurant. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi) #
Wearing 3D glasses, Australian fans watch their team in their South Africa World Cup match against Germany in 3D at a movie theater in Melbourne on June 14, 2010. Germany won the match 4-0. (WILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty Images) #
Instant Grass got interviewed by Quirk E-Marketing…on youth culture… check it here…
by Alexandra Rees (Quirk)
In this day and age, it’s pretty difficult to put your finger on what’s cool. At the recentGeneration Next Awards Survey, Coca Cola came top of the log for Overall Coolest Global Brand for the second year running. We all love the red and white giant (all together now, brrrrrrrrrrrr!), but what exactly is it about this brand that makes it so inestimably cool, such an undeniable part of youth culture? The only individuals who can answer that question are the Puma-wearing, Coca Cola-drinking bouncers at Club Cool: the youth themselves. Cue the role of youth collaboration agencies such as Cape Town’s Instant Grass International.
Greg Potteron, Co-Founder and International Planner for Instant Grass.
Born out of a need for honest, usable and real-time insight into the youth market, Instant Grass uses a network of some of the country’s most connected and opinionated young people to “place the consumer at the centre of every step of a product, brand or business life cycle”. So says Greg Potterton, the agency’s Co-Founder and International Planner. Deeming quantitative research too slow and qualitative methods too “canned”, Instant Grass spotted a gap for developing a new insight extraction model that would enable marketers to experience the happenings of the youth market in real-time. The idea, Greg says, was that this collaboration would also enable the development of new product innovations – and the methodology has been a success for brands such as Huggies,Rehidrat and Lipton Ice Tea. We picked our top three key insights from the interview:
Instant Grass collaborates 24/7 with a network of influential young people. How do you identify the ideal grass – what would one have to do to prove one’s “grass-worthiness”?
We have a core network that we have grown over seven years. We use this network to connect us with potential new “grasses”. These prospects go through a series of face-to-face interviews and are then profiled against an algorithm that we developed with theUniversity of Cape Town and TNS Research Surveys. All prospect grasses are put on a three-month trial period. Essentially we are looking for highly connected and highly opinionated early- adopters.
In your opinion, what are some of the challenges when marketing to a youth audience and how is a youth collaboration agency such as Instant Grass well-placed to crack the tough nut that is the youth market?
You need to earn credibility. The only way to do this is to participate in the lives and conversations of the market. Only once you have established credibility and traction can you begin to interact.
A collaborative agency is a conduit between the boardroom and the youth market. Our currency is our network of young opinionated South Africans. We represent the youth market and by proxy we are the youth market. It’s been said that ideas are the new currency and that digital is the new marketplace. To what extent do you think this is true and have you noticed more clients wanting to include digital in their marketing strategies or more digitally-focused insights from grasses?
The Web is “writable” and for the first time the consumer has control over the content. Digital is the first time in modern history where we have a channel that offers both communities and broadcast. The Web is like a radio with a built in broadcaster. The consumer is now in control. The youth market does not distinguish between on and off-line and all our campaigns include both. Word-of-mouth needs to be the objective and not the channel.
The fundamentals have remained the same throughout the years; however, digital has enabled a new momentum and reach to the discipline. Instant Seed runs as a separate business from Instant Grass – it is a word-of-mouth channel wherein we develop both analogue and digital strategies with the intention of creating viral word-of-mouth.
So Today, the office walked down to the Giant Vuvuzela at the end of the unfinished Highway in Cape Town CBD. We got there and at 12:00 the town exploded with people on roofs, balconies, cars, bakkies, sticking out of offices, busses, flats all blowing their vuvuzela in support of Bafana Bafana. Long Street was buzzing, Sea Point was buzzing,main rd in Claremont was Buzzing and where were Supersport? At the Grand on the Beach! There were probably 20 people there whilst the rest of the city was pumping!
The whole office was throwing our toys and we even got some of the big boys up in JHB to phone to production team and tell them what a bunch of DOOS’s they are…How on earth, while they get great footage in Sandton, Soweto, Durban, PE they manage to fail in CPT. Well to Supersport, you embarrass all us Cape Tonians, so next time… lets get out into the streets…
So some of you may have come across this, but I thought it was a very cool initiative so decided to give it a post.
It’s called the Idea Shop, and its a concept brought about by Ogilvy UK. Idea Shop, It’s a pop-up marketing agency, that will be popping-up on July 8th, 9th and 10th, in a little shop in Roman Road, East London.
What is all about well, they’re giving away free advertising and marketing ideas to anyone who wants them. They especially like to see small and medium businesses, charities, social enterprises, community groups, arts projects, artists and entrepreneurs.
How does it work? Simple. Over a 90 minute thinking session their experts will help you with any marketing problem, whether it’s related to PR, advertising, online, social media, events, strategy, design, copywriting, branding or something else. People apply, and once selected, bang you have yourself a 90min session with some of the top experts in the industry for 90mins. Very cool.
One of our top grasses, Nqaba – who does us all proud by landing planes safely at O.R Tambo, went to the game between Bafana Bafana & Columbia. Soccer City came alive with a sea of yellow & green with Vuvuzela’s sending the Columbian’s to a 2-1 loss. Shame. With only 9 days to go untill kick off of the Fifa 2010 World Cup… this just gets us excited for what’s in store… between the 11th June & 11th of July…
Back in the days when Waddy Jones was Max Normal and not Zef so fresh Die Antwoord he used to woon in Joburg. On the Songs from the Mall Album there was a track called Hazel’s Joint which everybody kind of loved, in it Waddy says, “joburg is such a pretty city, leaves falling from the trees going crunch under my wheels”. Ah good times. I managed to find the track for you here! Yay read and listen (sorry no video though). Enjoy
Anyway I’m hanging out at the Jozi office today and it made me reminisce my adolescence down here.
It is a pretty city.
