SA Rocks

Today while expecting new business cards I was presented with a package that included a new cellphone, pre-loaded with airtime, a Nando’s flashdrive and instructions from Kagiso, the “New CEO”.

Here’s a photo of the package:

I think this is a fantastic campaign for a few reasons:

1. I was expecting something else (my business cards) so this played in their favour
2. It is a well-executed campaign filled with customised goodies like a cellphone box and cover inside and out, customised flashstick and instructions to call a number on the cellphone you are given.
3. Having worked at Vodacom SA, I know how difficult it is now with RICA, to do a campaign of this kind.
4. Neat execution.
5. I was not contacted by the PR firm to ask for my details. They found them and sent me the package. Impressive.

Popularity: 14% [?]

Don is a very good mate of mine and I think he should win Mr South Africa. I hear you asking why. Let me show you:

That is why. Incase you missed it, this is the original that is being parodied.

Popularity: 13% [?]

The TechCrunch Europas, the European Startup Awards for tech companies, has listed Cognician, a South African technology startup, as one of the top 11 Best New Startup’s in 2010.

I’ve met Patrick Kayton, co-founder and COO of Cognician and the guy is pure class. He is 100% humble, incredibly smart and very switched on to the world around him. With that said I am in the perfect position to say how incredibly happy I am for Patrick and his team. He has fought incredibly hard for his product, the vision and his company and deserves every bit of success that comes his way.

Some info on TechCrunch Europas:

The Europas serve to honour the best technology companies and startups across the web and mobile space. The awards span 22 categories and recognise and celebrate the most compelling technology startups, Internet and mobile innovations of the past year.

A little about Cognician:

Cognican, the original thought processor that presents content in the form of provocative questions, helping users to apply the author’s ideas to their own tasks, so that they can think better, further and faster, was selected through a process done by referencing TechCrunch’s database of tech companies on CrunchBase. This was followed by a month of online public voting that saw 33,126 votes being cast across all categories. The final award winners will be determined based both on popular votes received through website voting along with the results submitted by The Europas Advisory Board.

The award winners will be revealed at The Europas event which will be held in London this Friday, November 19. The evening will be attended by over 350 people from the cream of Europe’s startups, VCs and entrepreneurs along with industry leaders of the the tech startup and investor scene who will be presenting the awards to the winners.

A quick word from Patrick:

“Cognician has made great strides in 2010 with limited resources and see being nominated in the final 11 as testament to both the quality of Cognician and the work that our small team has put in,” adds Kayton.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Mike Scott is a very talented man and the guy behind the new Goldfish single.

Check it out:

Popularity: 9% [?]