From the monthly archives:

January 2009

Ray Wicksell on ‘How To Build a Brand’

by Roy Blumenthal on January 30, 2009


Ray Wicksell’s Voucher, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

Ray Wicksell appears on this coming Saturday’s episode of ‘Kaleidoscope’, the business magazine show on CNBC AFRICA. (It’s at 8:30pm Central African Time. In South Africa, it’s on Channel 410 on DStv. In Africa, it’s on several satellite channels. The date… Saturday, 7 February.)

Ray’s a long-distance runner turned marketer. His long term sponsor — Nike — converted his running shoes into the footing for a massive career in South Africa. He’s the guy who headed up the South African Nike team when they first came to our shores.

In the show, he talks about what a company needs to do in order to keep a brand alive and kicking.

What he doesn’t talk about on air is the fact that he’s also doing the marketing for a property development called ‘African Renaissance’. So if you’re in the market for ultra-luxury lving, you might want to look at his website — http://www.living4u.co.za or http://www.living4u.com — and pick out your apartment.

[Disclosure: I have no stake whatsoever in this development. I am not getting any reward for this plug.]

Oh… if you’re wondering about the ‘I am not Arnold’ quote… Ray is a dead ringer for Arnold Schwarzenegger. He even had a bad spell with a stalker. She simply wouldn’t believe that he WASN’T Arnie. Wild stuff.

The painting this coupon is based on was made live in studio during the recording of this week’s episode of Kaleidoscope. I painted it in ArtRage 2.5 on my Rectron-sponsored Asus R1E tablet pc. I took it into Photoshop CS3, and did my manipulations there.

{ 0 comments }

Visual Facilitation R500 Off Voucher — Anton Crone, Saatchi & Saatchi Cape Town

by Roy Blumenthal on January 23, 2009

Anton Crone was one of the guests at today’s live recording of the tv show I’m part of… CNBC AFRICA’s weekly magazine show, ‘Kaleidoscope’.

He’s a Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi Cape Town.

He was in the studio to talk about an incredible Guinness commercial that should start flighting in Europe shortly. It features a whirlwind going about its whirly business, demonstrating the elements required to make a great glass of Guinness.

I’m not a fan of alcohol advertising. In fact, I’m an opponent of the entire discipline of advertising alcohol. I believe it’s one of the key causes of alcoholism. (Apart from the dumbfuckery of the alcoholics themselves, of course.)

But in this case, I’ll probably have to make an exception. It’s a brilliant ad, brilliantly made. And if I were still an advertising whore, I’d wish I’d written it.

This is the blank version of a voucher I’m sending to Anton to make use of my services. It’s part of a self-marketing drive to leverage my presence on Kaleidoscope.

The components of this painting were all made live in studio this afternoon on my Rectron-sponsored ASUS R1E tablet pc, running ArtRage 2.5. No alcohol was consumed during or after the making of this voucher.

{ 0 comments }