SA Rocks

Thanks to the guys over at Ideate blog I’ve discovered Shannon Hope for more reasons than just the sound of her voice.

The song below is written from Facebook status updates. I think it’s a fantastic idea and she executed it brilliantly. Pity about the average round of applause she receives at the end of the video.

You can find out more on Shannon Hope at her website.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Yesterday I actually used social media to discover a new South African band that is putting themselves out there and sticking with the changing times.

The Watermark High started following me on twitter yesterday.

Luckily I was intrigued by the name of the follower and didn’t disregard them as one of the many twammers out there.

Why I immediately became intrigued by the band is simple. It’s not often that a local band will simply create music and give it away. The industry here is too tough for that. It’s hard work here to make good money from music so many bands keep it close, don’t release their tracks for free download before they’ve made it big in some way.

After mentioning that I discovered the music online I was soon informed that via one degree of separation I actually knew the social media muso. What a pleasure.

So what’s the deal? Simple, The Watermark High is a band from Gauteng, South Africa. Post-Rock / Electronica / Indie / Ambient. It’s that easy. You can download the EP from their MySpace page or just click here. It is the solo release from Paul van der Walt.

I am really impressed that the music doesn’t fit in to one of the more popular genres of the moment in SA. Right now you have rock, hip hop, rnb and pop in SA. This is what sells.

The ambient approach that The Watermark High takes to their rock is refreshing and listenable and I am in awe. It’s great.

When you download the EP you are confronted with 4 tracks and a Word document to read. This is what they have to say:

Hi

Thanks for downloading The Watermark High’s new 4 song EP, “Disappear With Me”. If you like what you’ve heard then please help us out by telling all your friends about us. Either encourage them to download the EP as well (by going to www.thewatermarkhigh.co.za), or feel free to burn them a disc. It’s free, we just want to get the songs out there!

We’d really love to hear from you. Please join us on Facebook and Myspace and comment! Also keep checking those pages for the latest information on shows, news, videos etc.

The Watermark High on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Watermark-High/7554472468

The Watermark High on Myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/thewatermarkhigh

We look forward to hearing from you! See you around!

Paul
(The Watermark High)

E-mail: thewatermarkhigh@gmail.com
Official Site: www.thewatermarkhigh.co.za (redirects to Myspace)

CREDITS

All songs were entirely recorded, produced, mixed and mastered by Paul van der Walt, between January and April 2008, between his bedroom, garage and the band’s practice space.

Lyrics by Paul van der Walt.
Cover artwork by Zoology Design Studio (www.zoology.co.za)

The Watermark High Live: Paul van der Walt (guitar and vocals), Robin McDonald (drums and beats), Tjaardt Swanepoel (guitar) and Sandra Smit (bass).

Thank you for listening.

Reading that document I was sold. To quote: “Either encourage them to download the EP as well (by going to www.thewatermarkhigh.co.za), or feel free to burn them a disc. It’s free, we just want to get the songs out there!” That’s it, that’s the way music is going, going, gone. And they are right there with the movements of the industry. Lovely.

Just in case you aren’t convinced that the band gets it, here is where you can find them:

http://www.thewatermarkhigh.co.za
http://www.trig.com/thewatermarkhigh
http://www.purevolume.com/thewatermarkhi…
http://www.last.fm/music/The+Watermark+H…
http://www.sellaband.com/thewatermarkhig…
http://www.imeem.com/thewatermarkhigh
http://www.twitter.com/watermarkhigh

Popularity: 10% [?]

I thought I’d post my own thoughts today for Product Week.

I want to quickly talk about the ways in which brands are moving forward with the times and making their products more accessible to people as trends and technologies progress.

The example that brought about this post was Standard Banks movement in to social media and sponsorship (yes to movements all in one, impressive).

They are and have been for a while, the sponsors of cricket in a big way. This is a great move and many brands have done similar things such as Vodacom with their longterm sponsorship of rugby in general and the Super 14 tournament specifically.

Basically Standard Bank have taken their product – Banking – to a social level. They have Jonty Rhodes blogging – celebrity association, tick – at the side of the field at matches. They have comments which allow people to get involved – customer involvement, tick – in the conversation and the product which gives them immediate association to the brand. And they now have the very first social media press release – moving with the times, tick.

This is what the press release about the press release had to say:

The link below will direct you to this new generation press release designed to make information accessibility and retrieval smarter and easier. Links to visual material, multimedia content, brand specific social media sites and other relevant industry news sources are intended to streamline your research and story creation. The SMPR is set to change the way that brands and journalists exchange information.

Basically the point I am trying to make is that products can never remain stagnant and I think that Standard Bank have done a great job to move along with the times and catch a new market for themselves. Hell, case in point is this blog post, they have a blogger on a positively South African site referring to their brand. Fantastic PR.

I am always so incredibly surprised by the creativity of South African adverts, advertisers and marketers. We have an incredibly versatile and demanding market to cater for and many agencies go the extra mile and compete in their creativity on an international level.

Popularity: 3% [?]