Cape Town based Okuhle Media have been selected as a finalist in two categories for the MIPTV Content 360 Competition culminating in Cannes, France, this April. MIPTV featuring MILIA is the global content market for creating, co-producing, buying, selling, financing and distributing entertainment across all platforms.
The competition drew over 380 entries from 42 countries. Key selection criteria for short listing by Content 360 was based on production capabilities, creativity and originality of idea, marketing and organising capabilities, and finally, the significance and implication of an international co-production.
The categories in which Okuhle have been selected are, Using the Power of the Brand for the Power of Good, sponsored by Ogilvy Interactive UK, and Multi-Platform Projects on Natural Heritage and Culture, sponsored by the Korean Broadcasting Commission. The Okuhle team will be pitching their projects during the week-long event, which runs from 7-11 April, at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes and the winners will be announced at the festival on Thursday, 9 April 2008.
The reward in the Ogilvy category is for the campaign to be bought and implemented by one or more of Ogilvy’s clients in the UK and potentially world wide. A minimum reward of €10 000 is paid if the campaign is not purchased by the client. In the second category, the Korean Broadcasting Commission, would commission the show as a co-production between Korea and South Africa, allowing the show to be seen on international screens.
Okuhle’s Paula Brown said, “As much as we would love to win in either of the categories, the exposure we and our proposals will receive from the influential, international audience during the pitching sessions is immeasurable.’
Regarding the Multi-Platform Project on Natural Heritage and Culture, sponsored by the Korean Broadcasting Commission, executive producer, Louise van Hoff said, “We knew that we had the perfect platform to showcase exactly what they were looking for namely, beautiful legacies of nature and culture. KBC was specifically looking for the viewer to have an enriched personal experience through a digital and multi-platform world. “
Okuhle presented Which Way launched on SABC 3’s children’s block in March 2006 and is currently in its 4th recommissioning phase. “We felt confident that it would translate exceptionally well in the international arena,’ says Van Hoff.
Okuhle has been attending the MIPTV and sister market MIPCOM (held in October) for three years. According to Brown and Van Hoff even though the company is small with limited budgets, they decided to make the investment in attending these two markets as “we wanted to expand our minds, our thinking, and our business’.
According to Okuhle this investment in the MIP markets has been worthwhile based on potential sales pending, the contacts made and the four-day conference programme which presents “an opportunity to learn from world’s most versed and eloquent speakers who share their knowledge and views on topics ranging from Mobile TV to future broadcasting strategies, multi-platform and interactive TV and of course, branding and marketing’.
