Andre Steenekamp, a media veteran with more than a dozen years of digital experience, has been appointed as the new CEO of strategic digital media consultancy, Acceleration Media. This follows the acquisition of a 50%-stake in the business by Times Media Limited subsidiary, Amorphous New Media.
Steenekamp was previously the Chief Operating Officer for Amorphous. In his new role, Steenekamp will grow the Acceleration Media business in existing areas such as online reputation management and search engine marketing, as well as help to unlock synergies between Acceleration Media and Amorphous.
Steenekamp brings 25 years of media and agency experience to the role. His first digital position saw him help to build Auto Trader South Africa’s highly successful digital platform and strategy between 2000 and 2003. He has also worked for the likes of Independent Newspapers, M-Web Business and HKLM in a range of sales, business development and management positions.
Says Steenekamp: “For me, the leadership role at Acceleration Media is an exciting opportunity to grow the company into a top-tier player in the rapidly expanding South African digital market. As such, we plan to invest our energy into growing Acceleration Media as the independent media consultancy of choice over the years to come.”
Amorphous’s acquisition of a 50% stake in Acceleration Media from Kagiso Media has strong support from Times Media Limited as well as from Lagardère Active Radio International (LARI), which owns the other 50% of Acceleration Media.
Lagardère and Times Media Limited see digital media, marketing and advertising in South Africa and the rest of the continent as a strategic growth opportunity for the next decade. The acquisition of Acceleration Media furthers the digital agenda for both groups, says Steenekamp.
Through its reseller agreement with Salesforce.com, Acceleration Media has access to the best-in-class MarketingCloud solution. Incorporating Radian6, Social.com and Buddy Media, the Salesforce.com MarketingCloud is a full suite of cloud-based social media monitoring, engagement and marketing tools.
“This is a key area for any digital agency to play in,” says Steenekamp. “We are excited to make an early entry into a market that will deliver strong growth over the next five years.” With the introduction of Real Time Bidding, Acceleration Media’s campaign management and media buying skills and capabilities also provide attractive opportunities to customers wanting to maximise their returns on media spend.
Amorphous and Acceleration Media will continue to operate as standalone businesses, but will work together where it makes sense to provide a full digital agency service to clients.
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