Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Granny Goose Night Shopping this Friday!

Join Granny Goose between 4pm and 7pm at Granny Goose main road Claremont on Friday 26th October.
Sparkling wine and snacks, free gift on arrival, lucky draw and 10% off everything & 50 % off selected items
Lots of fun – bring your friends.
Park under MontClare on cnr Campground Rd and Main Road Claremont, under Virgin Active and next to the new Pick ‘n Pay.

New HWB Facebook page

We are in the process of moving to a new company page on Facebook. Take a look out for HWB Communications (Pty) Ltd and let us know what you think. Its early days still, but we will close down this group page at the end of November 2012.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

200km silent walk for Deaf awareness

After four days and a gruelling mountain pass, Charles Nyakurwa reached Worcester, the final destination in his 200km silent walk to raise awareness for the Deaf community in South Africa. 
 
Charles started his walk at The Food Barn restaurant in Noordhoek, where he works as a waiter, and made his way towards the N1, stopping in at various schools and organisations along the way, such as the Dominican School for the Deaf in Wynberg, the Mary Khin School in Observatory, and Noluthando School for the Deaf in Khayelitsha. 
 
His final destination was the National Institute for the Deaf in Worcester.

Charles completed the walk in silence, communicating via pen and paper when necessary, to experience firsthand the reactions and attitudes of the hearing community and the challenges Deaf people face when it comes to communication. 
 
September was Deaf Awareness month, and I wanted to do something to link up the many different organisations supporting the Deaf community in the Cape,” said Charles. “People have been very generous and supportive of this initiative and I hope to make it an annual event. Next year, I’d like to see members of the Deaf and hearing community joining me on the walk.”


Charles is the founder of Deaf Hands at Work (DHW), a social enterprise offering training and job creation for Deaf people using South African Sign Language (SASL) to bridge the communication gap. DHW trains people for employment as carpenters, seamstresses, painters etc. 
 
Charles won an award from UnLtd South Africa and they put him in touch with Futuregrowth Asset Management, who were looking to support a local entrepreneur who was making a difference in his community as part of their Good Money campaign. 
 
Futuregrowth published information about Charles and DHW on their Good Money website 
(www.thisisgoodmoney.co.za) and called for votes to support his cause. 

The target was 1000 votes, and thanks to a lot of interest from the community and a number of radio interviews, this target was reached on the night before Charles started his walk. Futuregrowth will be donating R10 000 to DHW, which will go towards a sewing project that will train six Deaf women aged 21-41 as seamstresses. A portion of the Futuregrowth donation will also go towards upgrading the DHW website.


The women on our sewing project will be sewing our unique range of Deafstyle t-shirts, which we will sell to raise further funds for DHW,” said Charles. 
 
Charles is extremely energetic and inspiring, and he’s making a very real impact through the practical training opportunities offered at DHW,” said Michele Usher, Futuregrowth’s head of marketing. “This is exactly the kind of enterprise we are encouraging through our Good Money campaign and we hope his story will inspire other budding entrepreneurs.”


LCI Blog: Serendipity Scores – a lesson in learning


An inspiring blog post from fellow PRGN member, Landis Communications Inc. on the recent trip to Wiesbaden, Germany. Click through to get the link.

Read more about how reality has a way of turning things upside down:
http://www.landispr.com/blog/?p=2628

Saturday, October 20, 2012

@hwbcomm

Daily Twitter updates from the world of PR and media - join HWB's Twitter family for breaking news and information about its clients and campaigns.

HWB's PR in four languges

South Africa has 11 official languages, but you can communicate with the majority of its people through English, Zulu, Xhosa and Afrikaans. HWB operates its campaigns in all four of these languages - in print, online and broadcast.

HWB's London reach

2012 saw HWB start client representation in London in the financial services sector.

HWB's expansion into Africa and Europe during the year positions the Company to provide clients with global service and local insight.

Investor Relations with HWB

HWB's Investor Relations (IR) programme provides strategic products and advice that integrates finance, communication, marketing/media relations and compliance to enable the most effective two-way communication between a company and the financial community.

Contact us for a consultation on IR, annual reports and integrated reporting. Offices of associates in New York, London, Frankfurt and South Africa.

Handling a crisis in South Africa: HWB's Evelyn John Holtzhausen

South Africa has been awash in a tidal wave of corporate crises over the past few months. First there was the Woolworths saga, where the retailer was accused of copying the Frankie’s soft drink brand. Then there was the exposé on Auction Alliance and the allegations of kickbacks and other dodgy practices in the auction industry. And Velvet Sky airlines lost the plot and its reputation when its failure to pay its fuel bills resulted in thousands of passengers being stranded around the country.

These are big companies – ones that should have known better than to be left floundering in the wake of a crisis without a crisis communications plan in place to handle the fallout.

Read on: http://www.wbsjournal.co.za/journal-articles/business-news/171-crisis-communications-maximum-disclosure-minimum-delay.html

Focus on Groote Schuur Community Improvement District

The GSCID in partnership with UCT, commercial and educational institutions in the area, aims to create a safer, cleaner and rejuvenated environment for all by providing ‘top up’ services to those provided by the City of Cape Town (CCT).

http://www.gscid.co.za/

Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) pays tribute to the life and time of activist Neville Alexander


The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) paid tribute to the life and time of activist Neville Alexander at its Quarterly Roundtable Series (QRS) event in Cape Town last night [subs: Thursday] in a discussion around "Media and Race: Reconciliation without Respect?"
Through its events, the Foundation aims to create a platform for public dialogue and debate - through publications, roundtable discussions, conferences, and through research.

"We chose to honor Neville with this event because of his fierce independence, a truly admirable attribute," said Francis Antonie, Director of the Helen Suzman Foundation. "He appreciated the work which we have undertaken, and I know he admires our own independence."

http://www.hwb.co.za/media-article.php?id=568

Twitter. Well yes and no.

Senior executives and other important folks have a peculiar relationship with social media.
A study earlier this year found that 80% of people thought that executives that use social media are better equipped to lead their organisations. However a couple of other studies found that just 30% of senior executives have any kind of social media presence, and just 10% of CIOs use social media.
So news this week that UK prime minister David Cameron has joined Twitter should be a good thing, right? Well yes and no. Whilst it’s positive that the prime minister is present on social media there are ways of doing things, and ways of not doing things.

http://socialmediatoday.com/adigaskell/905746/4-tips-politicians-twitter