First ecobrick pour at The Ridge V

CITY PREPS FOR 100 YEAR WAVE

My new article: City of Cape Preps for 100 Year Waves 

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/city-cape-preps-100-year-waves-gareth-griffiths  The story focusses on an award-winning project by the engineering team from the City of Cape Town and the private sector.  

Thanks to this project, the people of the Strand, beach users, businesses and road users will be safe against the 100 year-old tidal wave for a long time to go. And the business precinct was significantly upgraded, which allowed for the expansion of the informal traders' market also.

Strand beach and Pavillion is a well-used area especially during the Christmas period, so all tourists and locals should enjoy an enhanced built environment and safety during the holidays.

This article first appeared in To Build magazine, of which I am Editor.

COVERING THE CHANGES IN SUSTAINABLE BUILDING

This discovery is hot on the heels of my article on Oceans of Plastic Waste, where I covered a presentation by famed anti-plastic pollution campaigner to the Green Building Council of SA's 2019 Convention. See my article here.

Making a start to address the huge waste of single-use plastics in our environment, a local shopping mall, called Long Beach Mall, has been collecting ECO-BRICKS at a specially located bin within the mall for several months.

The bricks were recently delivered to a large building site where there are plans afoot to use them in construction.

These eco-bricks have been lovingly curated by the people of the valley of Noordhoek, a suburb of the Cape Town metropole.

THE COVER SHOOT - PHOTOGRAPHY IS A VITAL PART OF EDITORIAL

Published in Walls and Roofs, Oct / November 2017
Cover Shoot: Zeitz Mocaa 'Museum of Contemporary Art Africa'
Media Conference: Official Opening September 2017
Format: A4 Portrait

Editorial value: The results speak for themselves.
____________________________________________________________________

THE IMPORTANCE OF WHAT'S INSIDE

You spend thousands getting a state of the art website with links to Twitter, Facebook and other social media. Sitting back, everyone tells you how great your website looks and comments on its design.

However ...

Weeks drag on ... turning into months and your content dries out looking like a cheap supermarket paint job on a street cafe.

What am I saying? Business owners, marketing managers and even webmasters neglect the most basic facet of any marketing campaign. It's what's inside that counts and not what's on top.

Does your website, Facebook or Pinterest page have up to date, relevant content? It's probably the last thing you consider on a Friday afternoon and you switch off the office lights, lock the door and leave for home - cheerfully thinking that you will get to it in the next week.

Let me help you with this. It's what I do. Honest, clean and accurate content.

WHAT DO PROFESSIONAL PEOPLE SAY ABOUT ENERGY|MC ?

Alayne Reesberg
Chief Executive Officer • World Design Capital Cape Town 2014
"It has been a pleasure working with you – a true professional."

Alayne is referring to my interactions with her and her team during the World Design Capital 2014 project last year, when I covered the main events for the magazines I consult to; namely -
To Build Magazine - www.tobuild.co.za
SA Building Review - www.sabuildingreview.co.za
You can read some of the articles online at the following links, or read the e-books:
• http://www.tobuild.co.za/viewonline/articles/284/company-news/world-design-capital-cape-town-2014-s-lasting-legacy
•   http://www.sabuildingreview.co.za/viewonline/articles/119/advertorials/water-essential-for-the-future
Note these were commissioned articles and photography, not sponsored editorials.

Cecil Homan
Founder •  Eco-Insulation • Ultimate Climate Comfort
"Eco is flying high with the jet stream. Thanks for article sent and posted."
"World class editorial - world class service"

Cecil is referring to the full agency, editorial and technical writing support service that his company enjoyed since it's inception in 2007.

Marilyn Luchtenstein
Sales Manager • Brits Textiles
"Thanks and well done"

Alexis Sacks
Partner • MD Accountants and Auditors Inc.
"Thank you for the tremendous corporate profile brochure. It really is outstanding and we are proud of the final product..... It has been a pleasure working with you".

Professor John Smallwood  
Head: Department of Construction Management •  NMMU
"Given the number of errant advertisements and my intimate involvement with construction H&S through contracting, consulting, research, publishing and community services, the (mentioned) advertisement is significant in that it probably contributes one of the few, if not only material advertisements that makes proper reference to the subject. It was certainly eye catching ...."

An advertisement written and designed for leading insulation provider, Brits Textiles received accolades in the construction sector.

Billy Perrin
Publisher • Trademax Publications - SA Roofing, SA Affordable Housing, Timber IQ
"Always a pleasure working with you - a true professional".

Wayne Miller
General Manager • BlueScope Steel Southern Africa (Pty) Ltd
"You've done great work for us".

Carl Nortje
Managing Director • Rawson Developers
"Thank you for the great article".

DOUBLE YOUR ADVERTISING RETURN

As the editor of a popular magazine on building, I receive dozens of press releases from the market.

Many press releases do not stand a chance of being published in the media because the sender does not understand how news works.

The problem is how little attention is given to the style of press releases and editorial. The same applies to the quality of photographs supplied. Your editorial stands a much better chance of being published if it is supplied with a good quality image.  But with the era of DIY photography by smart phones and cheap cameras, press releases are often refused by editors due to bad photos.

The fact is: as advertiser you spend tens of thousands of Rands on booking ad space in the media. Does your artwork do this advertising expense justice? Or are you wasting money? As an editor, I can see this is often the case. And often the same advertisers follow it up with poor editorial content that comes with photographs looking like they were taken by a 9 year old. Advertising spend wasted.

Much the same rule applies to non advertisers. If you want your editorial published free in the magazines that serve your market or online, you really need to supply professional content.

It pays back. 

A well prepared editorial with photography could cost you R 5 000 to prepare and distribute. However if editors like what you send, that same editorial could be published 3 to 4 times over in the different media. This means payback by up to 1200% when compared with the cost of booking the page and placing your advert at a cost of R 15 000 for the full page (as an example).

Best you hire a professional in the preparation of such editorials. The stakes are quite high and payback is huge - if you get it right.






"Advertising for Free".