Saatchi & Saatchi, The Foundry, Greenpoint, Cape Town

Saatchi & Saatchi Atplay are the digital brains of Saatchi & Saatchi South Africa. The team is headed up by Allan Kent (not the guy from Enter the Dragon), and consists of the usual suspects – designers, developers and usability experts. They are no good at pitching a tent but are all over finding their clients an integrated digital solution. The team create digital experiences that engage and evolve. Some of their clients include the UCT Graduate School of Business, Old Mutual, BoE, Sasko Four, Nedgroup Investments, Primedia and P&G just to name a few.

For such work to take place, Atplay have the Saatchi & Saatchi Cape Town head office as its working grounds. Located at The Foundry, the office space is a mix of industrial design and creative flair. Long since unused industrial equipment, exposed brick and ventilation shafts compliment animated wall graphics, cardboard cut-out screens and the playful chill-out area for brainstorming or relaxing.

The open-plan office has a number of meetings rooms (The Larry Hagman and The William Shatner Boardrooms and The Olive Room) and a recreational area for staff complete with couches, a coffee and drinks bar, foosball table and pool table. We especially love the ‘Slide to Unlock’ fridge.

BandwidthBlog previously visited Atplay way back in 2008 and so we are excited about giving you a fresh look at the space and its people.

Thanks to the Atplay team for welcoming BandwidthBlog into its space and providing readers with great local office pictures to add to the collection.

View all the photos after the jump…

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LocalSort, an Umbono-funded company, wanted to change the informal way in which hotels and guesthouses recommend services to their guests.

As a result, the company offers a marketplace where service providers like shuttle and tour operators, restaurants and tourist attractions can bid on how much commission they are willing to pay for exposure and new business. The hotels and guesthouses can then use the interface to recommend these services to their guests. Non-accommodation providers can therefore add their businesses to LocalSort so hotels and guesthouses can refer guests to their service. LocalSort keeps a percentage of the commission as a fee for making the connection. With LocalSort, accommodation providers can easily print maps, directions and even email guests with a things-to-do checklist before their arrival.

LocalSort was founded by Marcel van de Ghinste, Jonathan Womersley, Justin Womersley and David McLennan, all four of whom were involved in a previous venture that is still in operation called TravelGround, founded in 2009. It was through the building of TravelGround, that the team saw a further opportunity in the online tourism industry. ”When we started TravelGround none of us had any experience in the tourism industry. In some ways our ignorance was a blessing. It turned out to be much harder than we thought, but in the end we’re really proud of what we’ve achieved,” says Marcel van de Ghinste.

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Recent emails that have begun to circulate have revealed that as of 00:01 GMT February 14th 2012 betfair.com and all its associated products will no longer be available in South Africa or for South African residents. The decision to pull out of the country was as a result of a ruling by the South African Supreme Court of Appeal.

At this time however,  we are unaware of the reasons for this development.

Registered account holders have begun to receive an email from the UK based online betting site to inform them of the developments.

Read the full email after the jump.

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Alan Knott-Craig

My Broadband has just revealed that the board of Cell C has announced today that it has decided to appoint Alan Knott-Craig as its new Chief Executive Officer. Mr Knott-Craig will join the company and its Board of Directors as he takes up this new position on the 1st April 2012 after a comprehensive search by the company both nationally and internationally. Mr. Knott-Craig takes over from former CEO Lars Reichelt who resigned in 2010.

Simon Duffy, the non-executive Chairman who has been the interim CEO for Cell C for the past 6 months has said, “Alan is one of the most capable and experienced leaders in the industry and I am confident that his appointment will significantly enhance Cell C’s ability to provide an excellent service to its customers and to compete even more effectively for their business. Cell C has carved out a strong position as an innovative alternative in the industry and, having made considerable progress over the past few years, is strategically well-positioned for growth. ”

Duffy continues  “The directors and I are delighted that Alan has accepted our offer and we look forward to supporting him as he brings his considerable knowledge and expertise, as well as his experience as a manager and a leader, to Cell C.  We are looking to him to drive and implement the company’s strategy in the next phase of its development. ”

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To get the 2012 year off to a rocking start, please join MOMO Joburg for the first event of the year, “Mobile Applications and the Developer Community in South Africa”.

With smartphone penetration in South Africa at 16% and rising, apps are going to be a critical tool for us in the way we use our mobile devices sponsored by Vodacom Digital Media, who is advancing the Mobile apps and the developer community in South Africa.

After the sponsor’s welcome, there will be a presentation all about the Vodacom Developer Programme and how it can help grow a vibrant developer community here in South Africa. This will be followed by a  10-minute panel discussion on mobile application development.

And now for something new! The event will also be offering three developers the opportunity to pitch their apps at the event. Each developer will have two minutes to impress the panel.  It’s a great opportunity to get your app out there. The winner, as judged by the panel, will receive free promotion and be featured in the Vodacom App Store. Fill in the form here and we’ll choose the lucky three.

When: 30 January 2012, 6pm – 10pm

Where: Cafe Culture, Pineslopes Shopping Centre, Witkoppen Road, Fourways, Johannesburg

Cost: This is a FREE event

For more information about MOMO Joburg click here.

Taxi Rank recently launched a new mobile web application that provides a new way for Capetonians to order cabs in the Mother City. Cabs can be ordered from your web browser or smartphone whether Android, BlackBerry or iPhone.

The process is simple – you just have to go to the Taxi Rank website, enter your pick-up and drop-off destinations and an estimated quote will then be provided and listed by price for each taxi company that is available to service the much-needed trip. Once the desired taxi company and price has been selected, the order will be submitted. In addition, the taxi company will send an sms to your phone to confirm the pick-up time and cost.

The mobile site also has a quick pick-up form that uses GPS to automatically determine your location so a cab gets to you as soon as possible. If this isn’t something you want, you can change to the detailed order from to get quotes again.

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Mobile developer Supernice in collaboration with design studio Milk&Coal have recently launched the Bubbleheads, the latest multi-platform mobile app, developed between the two Cape-Town based companies that without their team work, would not have been possible.

Motivated by the desire to create memorable and highly engaging work, the concept behind this unique app resulted in the creation of digital bobblehead figurines that users can poke and prod and have fun with. Although these figures aren’t noted for their wise words, they keep rambling and cracking unwise and providing light-hearted entertainment for its users. The first of the Bubbleheads figurines was launched as a farewell tribute to the now ex-Springbok coach Pieter de Villiers aka Coach Divvy.

This proudly South African product has the ability to spread far and wide and downloads from the various app stores already shows uptake from across the globe that indicates its universal appeal, a great result for its creators. This appeal should result in the social element flourishing. “We want people to share, comment, rate and bring out their Bubbleheads for a good laugh, anytime, anywhere,” said Supernice co-founder, Daren Fuchs.

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ScaleConf is a two-day conference that will bring together local and international experts to talk about the challenges and future of building and running online sites and services. The conference is the first of its kind to be hosted in South Africa.

Presentations will cover the culture and methodologies used to architect and develop the strong foundations that enable large-scale web companies to function smoothly, and smaller ones to grow gracefully. The speaker line-up includes some big names like Coda Hale (Yammer Inc.), Simon de Haan (Praekelt), Zach Holman (Github) and Miles Ward (Amazon Web Services).

The conference is the brainchild of two operations engineers at Yola.com, Jonathan Hitchcock and Duncan Phillips. “We created the conference because there’s a growing startup focus in Cape Town, and with that comes the need to build web applications at an unprecedented scale. While in the US I had attended some great technical conferences, and I wanted to bring that level of quality to South Africa,” explains Jonathan. Duncan adds, “Ultimately, the aim is to promote the best practices and technologies that will help drive a world-class DevOps culture here in South Africa.”

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