Having spent his twenties “ahead of the curve” pioneering in the space of podcasting as creative director of CliffCentral.com and later in influencer marketing as CoFounder of influencer marketing and branded content agency TILT, Arye Kellman speaks to the forthcoming decade of media in which yesterday’s “niche” is today’s “mainstream” paving the way for a new future of media that’s a reflection of everything we’ve learned along the way.

Her media career has blossomed and she has grown into a dynamic, young media professional who has made a positive impact in the industry. She has worked extensively in media in South Africa, having been employed at Tuks FM (campus radio station for the University of Pretoria), Yebo Radio (Vodacom telecommunications retail radio), MK (Youth Music TV Channel) as well as commercial radio stations OFM, Capricorn FM and currently Jacaranda FM. She is currently the music compiler at Jacaranda FM and host of the award winning radio Weekends with Kenzy show on Jacaranda FM.

Bronwyn has over a decade’s experience in marketing management and trend research, working predominantly with brands in the financial and B2B industries.

Since 2011, Bronwyn has collaborated with Flux Trends, on a number of projects, lending her research and writing skills to the Flux trend reports and presentations, including The Fragmented Future of Finance, Virtual Money, So You Want to Hire a Millennial?, Digital Burnout, From Bricks to Clicks and Gen Z: the Real Game Changing Generation; in addition to ghost-writing Dion Chang’s The New Urban Tribes of South Africa book, published by Pan MacMillan.

Prior to working with Flux Trends, Bronwyn worked as the Publisher of the South African office of the Agora Group, one of the world’s largest independent financial publishing houses, headed up by the international New York Times best-selling author Bill Bonner. In this role, Bronwyn managed the largest circulation South African financial newsletters and worked closely with a network of local and international financial thought leaders, giving her access to a wealth of ‘insider’ insights on how the world of money really works.

Today she is pursuing a Masters in Economics through the University of London, with a focus on post-cash markets. You can read her trend Observations on the flux website.

Chris Botha is the Group Managing Director of Park Advertising – the owner of two of South Africa’s most prominent media agencies – The MediaShop and Meta Media.

Chris started his media career at Publicis after which he joined The MediaShop. He grew his media knowledge working on brands such as Nando’s, MINI, Virgin Mobile, Absa, Shoprite Checkers and the JD Group.

Chris was appointed to The MediaShop management team in 2006, and to the Board of Directors in 2008. In January 2010 he was appointed Joint Managing Director of the Sandton operation, and one year later in January 2011, was made Group MD of the entire MediaShop operation.

Under his guidance The MediaShop has shown massive growth in billing, and initiated various industry first initiatives that has set the agency apart from its competition. In 2018 the group launched a new media agency called Meta Media. The group further launched a large number of new services including Econometric Modelling, to a full digital capability, Outdoor production, as well as an Integrated Marketing services offering.
He considers himself an “alternative thinker” and believes in doing things differently. This was recognised in 2010, when he was chosen as the Media Innovator of the Year. In 2011 he was a judge at the Cannes Festival of Creativity, and in 2012, he was selected to be a judge at the International Festival of Media in Montreux.

In 2013 he was chosen as one of the 200 Young South Africans to look out for by Mail and Guardian, and also as one of the Top 40 under 40 in The Media. He was chosen as the “Media Rising Star” by the media owners of South Africa at the MOST Awards in 2013.

Koo Govender’s career started from spending 22 years in the Multichoice Group, her last position held at the group was Corporate Marketing and Communications Director. She then moved to VWV group where she was the first female CEO at the global experiential agency.

Currently CEO of the Dentsu Aegis Network South Africa – a multinational media and digital marketing communications company, Dentsu Aegis Network provides best-in-class expertise and capabilities in brand, media, digital and specialist communications through its original holistic and integrated approach.

Koo has a passion for inspirational leadership, marketing and women empowerment. Her passion for women empowerment, mentorship and community upliftment was fulfilled by developing and launching the Phakama Women’s Academy which is targeted at Marketing university students to equip and empower them for the corporate world. Currently 150 students have graduated through the Phakama Women’s academy thus far. Koo is currently playing an instrumental role in launching Female Foundry South Africa – an initiative to support local female entrepreneurs.

In addition to being a prominent and accomplished public speaker and mentor, Koo has won various business and women empowerment awards. In addition to her personal achievements, Koo has sat on the judging panel for the Cannes Lions Festival 2017, Loeries 2017 and 2019 awards as well as the AdFocus 2017,2018 and 2019 awards.

Koo’s philosophy is “success is one aspect and significance is of utmost importance” through the mentorship of young women, she believes more women should be seated around the boardroom table.

Neo Mashigo is the Chief Creative Officer of M&C Saatchi Group South Africa and Co-founder of I See A Different You a Soweto-born Creative Collective who set out to change the world’s view of Africa. Throughout his career, Neo has been passionate about the creativity in Africa and producing work that better represents the continent.

He is the Chairman of the Creative Circle who’s purpose is to inspire the transformation of product, people and perception through the power of creativity. Neo is also the former Chairman of the Loeries and current Board Member – Africa and the Middle East’s premier advertising award show.

Before joining M&C Saatchi Group, Neo was Executive Creative Director at two of South Africa’s largest advertising agencies, Ogilvy & Mather JHB and FCB JHB. While there, he led both these agencies to the top spot in creative ranking tables.

Neo has won several local and international awards including a Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and The Loerie Awards. In 2019 Financial Mail Ad Focus Awards named him Industry Leader of the Year and M&C Saatchi walked away with Partnership of the Year with Nandos and Large Agency of the Year.

Patrick Hanlon is the dynamic, visionary founder of PRIMALBRANDING.CO (a part of THINKTOPIA®). He is considered a global expert in his field and consults to multi-nationals at a strategic level.

He is the unconventional, people-first brand evolutionary, author of “Primal Branding” which is required reading at YouTube, and author of “The Social Code”. He is a global TEDx speaker and operates the global Primal.Live platform. Patrick believes brand is community. Those who thrive create a belief system that attracts others who share their beliefs. That’s community making. Simple, yet complicated: just like people

Recognized as the world’s leading brand evolutionary, his global brand and strategic innovation is practice for Fortune 100 clients including American Express, Levis, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Kraft Foods, Johnson & Johnson, Yum! Foods, Wrigley, PayPal, Gap, the United Nations and many others.

Pearl is a truly South African Marketeer and General Manager. Her diverse background has positioned her to engage with varied brands, markets and sectors from Banking to FMCG to Media.

Her educational background spans Finance, Accounting and Marketing – in no order of preference as she feels equally comfortable in all of the above disciplines.

Sokhulu is passionate about innovation, creating and building strong brands and building successful and dynamic businesses.

She loves to work in diverse and multi-cultural teams and knows that in a country like South Africa, it is respect for this very diversity that is needed to build winning brands and successful businesses.

As a keen academic and analyst, self-confessed “information junkie”, teacher, speaker and brand consultant, Nicola Cooper is a formidable presence on Africa’s fashion and lifestyle landscapes. She is at once on the cutting-edge and anachronistic – her observations acutely tuned to the present moment, while she is also inextricably linked to past eras and movements, and her gaze is ever-set on a shifting future.

As a Trend Researcher, Analyst and Cultural Strategist, she melds her observations of time and patterns with her expertise, and ever expanding research, to chart trends and behaviour on the hyperlocal and international scale.

Nicola continues her work in the fashion, lifestyle and pop culture space as a preferred supplier to Flux Trends, trendwatching.com, YUM and MARE, and she offers additional services through her personal brand,Nicola Cooper & Associates.

Her expertise offer unique insights into the African market, particularly in the act of ‘Glocalisation’, a form of analysis that includes interpreting international trends for a local market, local-for-local and local-for international markets. She offers an innovative take on trend analysis and a knowledgeable and cuttingedge perspective on a multitude of trends, product, complexities, and creative conceptual problem solving for your business.

Siya Sangweni is charismatic and vibrant broadcaster, most popularly known for his work on CliffCentral

With media personality Gareth Cliff’s move to “unradio” from 5fm and the lauch of CliffCentrol in May 2014, the 24 year-old has worked up to not only being the brand manager of the online radio station but also as an on air contributor on “The Gareth Cliff Show”.

As 2013’s “Best Speaker in KZN”, Siya has also take to the stage as MC for the likes of Standard Banks Rising Star Awards, Vodacom Connected Youth Road Show, to the Sunday Times Gen Next Conference as a public speaker for youth Focused social initiatives.

His budding profile has also garnered him opportunities to work with many brands on influencer campaigns. Some of them include: Nissan, Volkswagen, Newscafe, Johnnie Walker, Proudly South Africa, JOOX and Sanlam.

Before Good Things Guy, the online Good News site was born, Brent Lindeque did something. What started as a simple idea to try and better one person’s day, turned into a global event carried out by millions of people. The ‘RAK initiative’ was all about giving back & helping those in need.

It all started when Brent Lindeque, a young South African, turned the reckless drinking game Neknominations on its head – by using his nomination to instead perform a random act of kindness. By giving a homeless man a R20 meal, and using the power of social media to “pay-it-forward” his nomination went viral and to date has been featured locally on Carte Blanche, Espresso, 5Fm, eNCA, News24, Radio702 and internationally on Mashable, Huffington Post, CNN, BBC, Sky News, Oprah and even Ellen Degeneres to name a few.

Lindeque saw himself becoming a LeadSA Hero, was selected as one of Africa’s most promising Entrepreneurs and also chosen as one of the prestigious Mail & Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans.

More importantly, his small act of kindness spawned hundreds and thousands of similar videos, reaching and physically improving millions of lives and in addition creating 3 dedicated feeding schemes in Canada, the USA and Ireland that are still running to this day.

Jaun co-founded ApexMedia in 2010 after receiving a Diploma of Music in Contemporary Music and Sound Engineering from The Campus of Performing Arts in association with The Academy of Contemporary Music in London where he was awarded student of the year for two consecutive years.

His focus is on developing local and African markets for the organization’s growth areas, including Design, Development, Video and Audio capacities to deliver full-service creative offering to local agencies, exclusive clients and partners across Africa.

Having grown the business steadily for five years he merged the business with Omnicom PR giant, FleishmanHillard SA in November 2014, joining the team as Creative Lead to help with the founding of ContentWorks and the associated production facility in Johannesburg.

After 14 months he withdrew from the merger where he continued to grow and strengthen ApexMedia with new business Partner Damon Boyd, a media veteran and expert story-teller.

Together they founded ApexEngage, a group of digital companies and products. Today the group consists of five companies and two products with an aggressive pan-African expansion strategy over the next six years.

He has worked alongside some of the continent’s most renowned companies, developing several award-winning strategies and campaigns across a multitude of sectors for the likes of Microsoft, Bidvest, Philips, Intel, Monsanto, Nike, Barclays Africa/Absa, POWER FM, Healthbridge and Sureswipe among others.

Jaun started TomorrowEntrepreneur in 2013 with the hopes of transforming grass roots entrepreneurship by educating and connecting aspiring or forced entrepreneurs with mentors from some of Africa’s largest businesses and NPOs.

He was elected to be a World Economic Forum Global Shaper in October 2017 to serve civil society through global and local WEF initiatives.

Jaun launched ApexMedia in 2010 after receiving a Diploma of Music in Contemporary Music and Sound Engineering from The Campus of Performing Arts in association with The Academy of Contemporary Music in London where he was awarded student of the year for two consecutive years.

His focus is on developing local and African markets for the organization’s growth areas, including Design, Development, Video and Audio capacities to deliver full-service creative offering to local agencies, exclusive clients and partners across Africa.

Having grown the business steadily for five years he merged the business with Omnicom PR giant, FleishmanHillard SA in November 2014, joining the team as Creative Lead to help with the founding of ContentWorks and the associated production facility in Johannesburg.

After 14 months he withdrew from the merger where he continued to grow and strengthen ApexMedia with new business Partner Damon Boyd, a media veteran and expert story-teller.

Together they founded ApexEngage, a group of digital companies and products. Today the group consists of five companies and two products with an aggressive pan-African expansion strategy over the next six years.

He has worked alongside some of the continent’s most renowned companies, developing several award-winning strategies and campaigns across a multitude of sectors for the likes of Microsoft, Bidvest, Philips, Intel, Monsanto, Nike, Barclays Africa/Absa, POWER FM, Healthbridge and Sureswipe among others.

Jaun started TomorrowEntrepreneur in 2013 with the hopes of transforming grass roots entrepreneurship by educating and connecting aspiring or forced entrepreneurs with mentors from some of Africa’s largest businesses and NPOs.

He was elected to be a World Economic Forum Global Shaper in October 2017 to serve civil society through global and local WEF initiatives.

Matalane is a results-focused marketing manager with a thorough understanding of social media, content marketing, customer engagement and digital advertising strategies.

She has more than 12 years experience in various roles within the digital space and have been recognized by the Digital All Stars series as one of “32 of the most influential women in South Africa’s digital marketing” in May 2016.

Joseph Perello is founder and CEO of social content company PROPS. Joe was the first chief marketing officer for The City of New York. He was also marketing head at sports team The New York Yankees. He also helped develop and launch a healthy snack food venture with Mars and Muhammad Ali. Joe has been a long-time advocate, user and partner with Primal Branding.

Born in Uitenhage, Makunga studied journalism at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and holds a post-graduate qualification in media management from Wits University. She first joined The Herald as an intern in 2004 and was later appointed to the company’s Garden Route bureau in Knysna. Following a stint at the bureau, she relocated to Johannesburg as part of the then Pearson/Johncom postgraduate journalism programme. She quickly worked her way through the ranks as news editor of The Herald and later news editor at Business Day in Johannesburg.

In 2011, Makunga was appointed as politics and business editor at The Herald, a position she held for about six years before she was promoted to deputy editor.

She is currently the editor of Sowetan.

Michael was Senior Director, Global Marketing at Levi Strauss & Company (Levi’s) and Senior Director of Global Innovation at GAP. Today he is Innovation Futurist and CEO at his firm C’est What? Based in Portland, Oregon, Michael was a pioneering advocate for Primal Branding methodology and today leads major corporations to perceive alternative realities and the courage to move toward them.

Refilwe joined the Yellowwood team as Strategy Director in January 2016. She is an experienced marketer with over 10 years in the FMCG sector working across multiple brands and geographies.

Refilwe began her career at Unilever in 2006. There she joined the Asia, Africa, Middle East and Turkey (AAMET) team where she worked on the spreads and dressings portfolio across sub-Saharan Africa. The mix of brands allowed her to build her ability to make global brands locally relevant, as well as build strategies for local brands.

In 2010 she moved SABMiller where she worked on Hansa Pilsener, the third largest beer brand in South Africa, for five years. Her time there included work on strategy, sponsorship and communication development.

Refilwe has Business Science degree with Honours in Marketing from the University of Cape Town, and recently completed her MBA at Cass Business School in London.

She was appointed as Managing Director on the 1st of January 2018.

Pule Molebeledi is Managing Director (News & Media) for Arena Holdings. He is responsible for the Sunday Times, Sowetan, Business Day, Financial Mail, Arena Magazines, Digital Products & Editorial, Events, Marketing and Subscriptions. He has over 20 year-experience in the media and private equity landscape. Pule has also worked for CNBCAfrica and alternative newspaper The New Nation.

Livia Brown has been crafting her OOH expertise at Posterscope since April 2013 and has shown incredible growth over the past 6 years. Livia first started as a Junior OOH Campaign Planner and from there grew into becoming a lead Account Director in the business. Livia proved herself in her knowledge and skill in location data intelligence, heading up this division in 2017.

In 2018 Livia was promoted to the Regional Manager of the Western Cape and has most recently been promoted to Posterscope’s General Manager.
“I am very proud to be taking over the reins at Posterscope as General Manager. The South African OOH Landscape is in the midst of a spectacular evolution and I couldn’t ask for a more exciting time or industry to be a part of.”

Prior to her time at Posterscope, Livia gained work experience in the Retail and Sales Industries and has worked at companies such as Peninsula Beverages and Ferrero Rocher.

Livia graduated from The University of South Africa in 2008 and has a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Communication Science. Originally from Joburg, Livia thoroughly enjoys exploring Cape Town and all it has to offer with her husband, where they enjoy fine wines and good food.

Head of Advertising Sales and Trade Marketing

William studied at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg where he obtained his BA and Honours degree in Drama and Film. He worked in television after completing his studies. Unable to resist the lure of media monitoring, William started with some part time monitoring for the Media Monitoring Project, now Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) in 1995 and after leaving television joined the MMA as a researcher. At MMA William has overseen or been directly involved in over 100 media monitoring projects on subjects ranging from gender based violence, HIV, and racism to children and the media. William has also completed overseeing the data analysis of the biggest civil society media monitoring exercise in the world – the Global Media Monitoring Project. For this project over 100 countries monitored gender around the world. William has also overseen the name change of the MMP to Media Monitoring Africa in 2008. William was appointed an Ashoka fellow in 2009 and also a Linc Fellow in 2010 for his work focused on children’s participation in the media. He is regularly accessed in the media on a range of media focused issues. In his twelve years as director of MMA William has helped MMA grow from a small 3 people driven organisation to a committed team of 16 people, with a clear vision and dedicated programme areas. William’s knowledge of media monitoring and commitment to deepening democracy in South Africa and the continent has ensured his expertise is internationally recognised In his spare time William likes to monitor the media when not otherwise distracted by his young sons.

Isla entered the media industry after completing her Honour’s Degree in Marketing Communication at the University of Johannesburg, before gaining valuable experience on the Unilever, GSK, Samsung and Tiger Brands.

She believes that life is not about finding the answers but rather it’s about discovering what questions we should be asking, and applies this to any work that she is involved in. She is passionate about both personal and industry growth and believes that life, and work, is boring without a new challenge. She enjoys applying her curiosity and problem solving nature to every new challenge, and doesn’t rest until it is conquered.

With this mind-set, Isla is excited for her latest challenge of shaping Tirisano, the Human Intelligence Consultancy at The MediaShop. With a focus on rocking the status quo of the industry in order to bring about real change.

Isla loves living her best life with her husband Dylan, and daughter Cyra, one new experience at a time. Her dream life would be travelling the world experiencing new cultures and sports events. Until this becomes a daily reality, she is content living this philosophy in our beautiful South Africa with those around her.

Currently the Sales Director of Christopher Africa. Christopher is a South African owned, artificial intelligence software that enables brands to engage in relevant consumer conversations in real-time, on social media, to drive relevant reach, resonance engagements and awareness. This is achieved through sophisticated data-profiling and hyper-personalized responses to organic conversations taking place on social media

I have worked in the media and advertising industry for 10 years. My career began at United Stations where I was responsible for strategically aligning brands across multiples radio stations in South Africa, including generic advertising, on air sponsorships and creative executions. In my final year, I was involved in the launch of a new radio entrant as the Brand Manager of Vuma FM.

My career spans multiple media platforms including Radio (Senior Account Manager & Brand Manager); strategic alignment of Brands and Music (as the Business Development manager at Universal Music and Brands), and Digital (Mixit and most recently, Adcolony).

I have been actively involved in Industry Bodies & Committees throughout my career. My passion, responsibility and dedication throughout my involvement on AMASA ( Advertising & Media Association of South Africa) & ABF (Advertising Benevolent Fund) was focused on the development of the Media Industry through education. I was responsible for managing the AAA School of Advertising Media Management course, as well as managing the Annual Media Planning Workshop (on behalf of AMASA)

An exceptional experienced digital leader with a demonstrated history of more than 17 years in the South African and International digital marketing industry, of which 4 years have been in the telecommunications industry building the Digital Advertising capabilities at Vodacom. He is highly skilled in programmatic technology and strategy, digital strategy, media buying, business development, business leadership, with strong commercial acumen, and negotiation skills.

Sarah is the Country Director South Africa at Mobile Marketing Association

A leader who sees marketers gaining in confidence in the industry and addresses issues that impact brand safety, which is beginning to see greater transparency across the value chain, tighter rules and systems around data protection along with the reduction of fraudulent traffic.

A 20+ year veteran of the gaming industry, Aaron LeMay directed the visual design, creative and game production at Volition, Bungie, and more where he made major contributions to multi-million dollar franchises including Red Faction, The Punisher, Saints Row, TERA, and Microsoft’s billion-dollar franchise Halo.

As the creator of The Gamer’s Way, LeMay helps thought leaders, industry influencers, and pros of all disciplines master their gameplay to help them level up in life. Facebook, Nickelodeon, Gensler, Bungie, and others have used LeMay’s focus to provide a structure for innovation, creative problem solving, and foster fluid communication to take individuals, as well as teams, to a new level of perspective and productivity with The Gamer’s Way.

Founder and President

Expertise: Business Development, Management, Strong Broadcast Television Contacts, Strategy + Execution

Since Annie started Pace PR as a solopreneur in 2010 the company has grown out of her studio apartment with one employee (herself!) into a multi-million dollar business with more than 40 clients spanning the globe and ten employees in multiple office locations. She’s loved the journey and enjoys working with all of her colleagues and clients, even if it’s remotely for right now.

Prior to forming PPR, Annie worked for nearly a decade as a seasoned television producer, booking for major networks such as CNN, Fox News, CNBC, MSNBC & ABC. TV is definitely a speciality of Annie’s, combining her unique understanding of behind-the-scenes television producing, alongside her unparalleled list of contacts. Pace PR has multiple clients on national + local TV every single day, including CNBC, Fox News, HLN, MSNBC, Fox Business Network, Bloomberg TV, and many others.

Highlights of client work include working with travel company darling Away in its first two years of business, assisting with media relations efforts and landing numerous Tier 1 placements for the brand and its founders. One of her most interesting clients was Jeff Ashton, the prosecutor in the highly-publicized Casey Anthony trial. Annie secured him multiple, sought-after interviews upon the end of the trial and Ashton’s retirement, which ultimately resulted in a New York Times bestselling book, Imperfect Justice, which Annie coordinated with her good friend Lisa Sharkey at HarperCollins. They were all thrilled when Lifetime called to make it into a made-for-TV movie starring Rob Lowe.

Annie also spends time speaking on the topics of PR, women in business and the importance of personal branding. Recent conferences and events she has spoken at include Hopperx1 New York City 2019, DIG South Tech Summit 2019 and Startup Grind Global Conference 2020. She will also be speaking at INBOUND 2020 later this year.

In 2019, she also spoke at the Women Impact Tech Conference, where she honored and humbled to introduce keynote Arianna Huffington, who couldn’t have been lovelier and has left an indelible mark on Annie!

Annie has also had experience writing for various outlets, including the Asbury Park Press, Huffington Post, Law360, PR News and many others. She’s also recently been enjoying talking on different podcasts about her entrepreneurial journey.

Annie is a graduate of Smith College where she served as the Editor-in-Chief of the weekly newspaper, The Sophian. She also received her Masters in Public Relations from New York University in 2018 and taught Introduction to Media Relations for one year at Hofstra University. She has given numerous guest lectures at various universities in and around NYC. Annie also recently served on the Board of Directors for the New York Smith College Club and the Executive Committee for the Catholic Big Sisters & Big Brothers. She is also a member of the New York Women in Communications, The Step Up Network and Ladies who Launch.

Annie and her husband Michael live in Manhattan and are raising their adorable young daughter Rose. In her free time (which isn’t much) Annie enjoys puzzles, audio books and riding her Peloton.

Brandon V. Hixon is an award winning music executive and entrepreneur who has previously worked at Sony Music and Symphonic Distribution while running his own management company, We Make Music, as well as launching a music education platform. His resume includes working with Beyonce, Nas, 50 Cent and currently managing Sho Madjozi, De La Soul and Awkwafina.