SA Rocks

Apparently this is a world first, according to the site owners and News24.

Superlogos is a search engine of sorts that bases it’s search and results on the actual logo of a company. Text is not essential relatively. I think it’s an interesting idea and i think it’s great to see South Africans attempting to innovate!

I hope the idea takes and it just might if users are actually as interested in the logo of a brand/company/product as the the site believes they will be.

Theoretically the concept is pretty sound in my mind. I know what the “swoosh” represents (nike). I know what three lines in a triangular shape represent (Adidas) and I can tell you what Facebook, Coca-Cola and many other brands look like without necessarily knowing what they represent or what their core product or job is. I just know. Millions spent on branding and marketing probably attest to the future success of this project.

From the News24 article:

The five main categories include Corporate Leaders, Entertainment, Fashion, Lifestyle and Technology. Superlogos represents the best of the best, with only 24 companies represented in each of the 20 sub-categories.

“For example, if you are in South Africa and want to buy a watch, not only can you find all the most prestigious brands on one page, but by clicking on their logo we direct you to their domestic website, equally if you are interested in the most exclusive lifestyle brands; wine farms, spas, game reserves, hotels – they are all there on one page”.

It’s also great to see a company that started locally representing local users and brands (such as Vide e Cafe).

For now go and have a look at Superlogosworld.com and help these dudes make it to the top!

I’ll email the owners and see what I can do in terms of an interview.

Popularity: 1% [?]

This last friday I handed in my notice to my bosses. My last day of work is the 23rd November, and then I have a few days to pack up two years of my life [and the entire contents of a well stocked WHSmith bookshop] in shipping boxes and head home to the sunny shores of the Eastern Cape of South Africa.

I am so excited, I feel like I am going to explode with antici….pation. I have spent the last two years cataloguing why the UK is not for me, and why home is where the heart is [that is stuck on an aloe in the hills of frontier land or floating in a rock pool on the wild coast]. I can’t wait for sunshine, glorious sunshine and rising temperatures and warm evenings on the beach. I will consume only braai and biltong for the first week, and drown myself in SAB’s finest offerings [and I am not even a beer drinker usually].

But putting all excitement aside for a moment, there is a small list of things that I am returning to that don’t leave me giddy with joy. Try to read the following points in the spirit in which they are written – that is positively, with an eye to what we should want to achieve together in South Africa.

1. Firstly let’s get crime out of the way. No one wants it. It affects everyone. It sucks, sure. The point is that there is crime everywhere in the entire world. House breaking is universal. What probably worries all South Africans more than theft is the level of violence we have come to associate with these crimes. I think Rev. Desmond Tutu has already said publically [cant find the quote at the moment], that clearly Apartheid and our past did much more lasting damage than we originally thought. It broke something fundamental in us as a people. Maybe that can’t be fixed, but we can raise a new generation of whole and happy people, by nuturing the humanity we see in all of us. I just wish we could fast track this.

2. I have previously written about how I miss driving over here, and i do, but I know I am going to be in the position to afford a car and the upkeep thereof when I get home. Not everyone can say as much, and the only other real option for these people are taxis, which often come with taxi violence and unroadworthiness as a package. We need to provide effecient public transport locally and long distance options. To do this we need to offer both gov-funded and private contracts and open up the industry. The market is there, where are the Richard Bransons of South Africa?

3. limping, crawling, capped internet is for the nineties! I love ordering my groceries online in ten minutes and booking a delivery slot. I love renting all my dvds through a personalised list on the internet. I adore having a wealth of information at my finger tips at any time of the day – always connected, fast and above all cheap. I pay for my internet connection is two hours working time. It costs the same as 4 pints of lager or 3 packets of cigarettes or a third of my weekly shopping. It gives scholars access to research they couldn’t even imagine. It drives development pure and simple, and we need it in SA!

Yes, they aren’t small problems, but they are fixable. When we get them sorted, I guarantee lots more people will start heading home, and fewer will want to leave for long term anyway.

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