Eskom’s Meatball Sundae

I can’t help but feel that Eskom’s new online initiative, PoweringSouthAfrica.co.za, is a bit of a Meatball Sundae. When I read about it in a three-full-page ad in the Sunday Times last week, I thought it sounded like quite a good idea (the extravagance of the advert notwithstanding); and the site itself is not bad, although I think it needs a bit more participation by Eskom itself (they invite visitors to “Join the Discussion“, but don’t seem to engage in those discussions themselves – at least not explicitly).

But here’s the thing: When, on Tuesday, I wanted to check out the site, without the Sunday Times in front of me and not remembering the URL, I couldn’t find it. Eskom haven’t even linked to it from their main website, let alone invest in any online marketing or PR, it seems. I subsequently heard their radio advert on KFM, so they got through to me eventually.

‘Save our Scorpions’ – a successful viral campaign

A few weeks ago, I wrote about citizen activism 2.0, highlighting two civil society initiatives taking their campaigns online – one on Eskom load shedding and the other on the Scorpions. I’ve already written about our new load shedding blog, but I wanted to provide an update on how we’ve joined the conversation about the dissolution of the Scorpions (rather than just starting our own).

The online petition to stop the government from disbanding the Scorpions was started by self-proclaimed concerned citizen Hugh Glenister.

His petition details included a quote from DA leader Helen Zille, which is great for the DA. However, after three weeks, he only had a handful of signatures. We had been in touch with Hugh to thank him for using the quote, and we then approached him to assist with marketing it, and last week we introduced a viral email into our network of contacts.

So many blogs, so little time – research or procrastination?

I have to apologise to Dave Duarte for my rather trite comment on an excellent post he wrote this week, entitled “Symptoms of Organisational Attention Deficit Disorder.” It might have seemed dismissive of the post, but certainly wasn’t intended to be. I started to add a further comment expanding on my previous one-line contribution, but then thought perhaps it needed a post of its own.

Dave opened with the question, “Do you ever get so overwhelmed with information that you end up procrastinating on all the things you should be doing to be productive?”

What also came up in subsequent comments was the distinction between “important” and “urgent”. I found myself wondering (aloud, because I recorded it in Dave’s Comments) where reading that post and subsequent comments fitted on my importance/urgency matrix.

IOL enhances DA story with embedded Zoopy video

I was quite impressed to see a Zoopy video embedded in an IOL story on the DA’s notice of motion to dissolve Parliament. Zoopy interviewed DA parliamentary leader Sandra Botha ahead of her reply to the President’s State of the Nation Address, and posted the video only an hour or two before the IOL story on her speech was published.

The interesting thing is that, in this context, Zoopy is both competitor and service provider to IOL. The video serves as a news report in its own right. But I think it also adds value to the IOL story. It’s win, win. For us too from www.zoopy.com posted with vodpod

Never under-estimate the power of humour in marketing

Never under-estimate the power of humour in marketing. Last week, I started receiving Eskom jokes and cartoons by email. It happens like clockwork, doesn’t it.

After consulting with one of our spokespersons, I decided to include a “Lighter side of load shedding” on our new blog. I created a Humour category, and posted a couple of humorous pics on Friday.

New DA blog on Eskom load shedding

Last week, we set up a new blog for the DA to write about Eskom’s load-shedding and other energy-related matters. We’ve called it “Shedding Light“.

We want to shed light on the energy crisis using all avenues at our disposal – parliamentary questions, portfolio committees and other sources – and make that information available to the public. But we also want to hear from anyone who’s got a good idea, who wants to comment on our ideas, or who just wants to vent, and have someone take note.

We do post our press releases to the main DA website; but, besides sending an email using one of the maillinks on the “Contact the DA” page, it’s rather limited to one-way communication. We’ve picked up from emails we’ve received over the last couple of weeks that there’s a lot of interest in engaging us on this issue, and we’d like to hear from the public and experts alike – especially on our proposed solutions.

So have a look at the new blog, and let us know what you think.