INTERNATIONAL MARKETING COUNCIL SPONSORS GLOBAL AD CONTESTTO PROMOTE BRAND SOUTH AFRICA

IMC teams with CMO Council in First Ever People-Inspired Nation Branding Initiative Using a Social Media Network

Get Wildly Creative About South Africa Ad Contest on Zooppa.com Invites Global Citizens to Dream Up Great Ways to Promote 2010 FIFA World Cup Destination

JOHANNESBURG (March 2, 2010) –

South Africa's International Marketing Council,custodian of Brand South Africa, is sponsoring a first of its kind online ad competitionto "crowdsource" creativity and insight from around the world to showcase SouthAfrica as a vibrant and competitive nation brand.Launched in conjunction with the Chief Marketing Officers Council, a globalorganization of senior marketing executives, the

Get Wildly Creative About SouthAfrica

ad contest is being hosted on Zooppa.com, a revolutionary social media sitewhich brands like Microsoft are using to generate people-inspired viral advertising.The IMC, the CMO Council and its new GeoBranding Centre will use viralcommunications, online conversations, blog postings and cyber chatter to talk upinterest and participation in this innovative country branding initiative targeted at theworld’s 1.7 billion Internet users.

Current and aspiring creative professionals, digital media buffs, South Africans athome and abroad, and anyone whose heart and soul are stirred by South Africa and itscontinent are invited to come up with inventive ways to produce a fresh andevocative message about a country on which the world's attention will be rivetedwhen the 2010 FIFA World Cup kicks off in 100 days.“With the world's eyes upon it as host of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, South Africa isseeking to establish itself as a competitive and relevant nation brand,” said PaulBannister, CEO of the International Marketing Council of South Africa. “We’re excitedabout the potential for social media channels to generate greater discourse andnarrative about our brand from people who have experienced or researched ourspecial place in the world.”Entry information and a creative brief designed by the IMC, giving background on thecontest assignment and links to South African resources, are available on Zooppa.com.Cash and prizes -- donated by SA Tourism, in-country partners and creative technologysolution providers -- will be awarded in a range of categories including Best PrintCampaign, Best Online Banner Campaign and Best Video Segment or Commercial. Topentrants will have their work showcased globally to the CMO Council’s 5000 memberswho control more than $150 billion in annual marketing spend. Winners will berecognized at a special IMC-hosted reception in New York City, the world's mediacenter and creative hub. They will also win trip packages courtesy of SA Tourism andother travel, hospitality, lodging and merchandise partners in South Africa.The CMO Council's founder and executive director Donovan Neale-May is a prominentmember of the Global South Africans "digiaspora" initiative the IMC has launched tohelp mobilize the talent and knowledge of South Africans who live abroad but who,like Neale-May, retain a deep commitment to the country’s success and the well-being of its people.“We’re looking for inspired messaging and out-of-the-box advertising executions thatcapture and convey the essence, attributes and qualities of Brand South Africa,” said

Donovan Neale-May, who pointed to the country’s growing tourism, trade andeconomic development success.With Get Wildly Creative About South Africa and the “digiaspora” project, the IMCextends its track record of pioneering exciting new uses of social media to build theSouth African brand. In addition to operating the hugely successful national portal,southafrica.info, and mediaclubsouthafrica.com, which offers high quality copy androyalty-free pictures for use by global media, IMC has launched the people-poweredbrandsouthafricablog.com, plus an array of Twitter streams and Facebook pages. In2008 the IMC scored another first by bringing top US bloggers to South Africa to liveblog the country’s accomplishments in science and technology.The contest is part of a major Nation Branding research project being undertaken theChief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council and the International Marketing Council ofSouth Africa, which is responsible for defining and shaping Brand South Africa’s imagethroughout the world.With social media networks hosting billions of monthly visitors, conversations andconnections, the CMO Council’s GeoBranding Center is looking to evaluate the level ofvoice, influence and creative pull in these interactive online communities,particularly as it relates to shaping perceptions of countries, destinations, locationsand origin of products.Separately, the CMO Council’s GeoBranding Center will be conducting monthlyanalytics on the tonality, sentiment and prevalence of conversations, commentaryand news about Brand South Africa leading up to the four-week FIFA World Cup event,starting June 11. It will source Social Media Analytics from PR Newswire, which tracksthe tonality and sentiment of global media coverage through 30,000 online newssources in 12 languages. It also intelligently agents and analyzes five million forumposts a day, as well as conversations and commentaries in 20 million blogs socialmedia networks, news groups, bulletin boards, etc.