When Purpose Meets People — A Q&A With Tarri Parfitt

media update talks to Tarri Parffit about how the Smile Foundation communicates humanitarian influence and keeps people at the heart of the cause. 

The Cost of Disconnected Marketing and Operations

media update considers what happens when businesses experience misalignment in marketing and operations by looking at the recent SPAR Chairman and Deputy Chair's resignations as case study.

The Human Edge in an Automated Communications Industry: A Q&A With Kevin Welman

media update talks to Kevin Welman about how agencies can balance integration with specialist knowledge, creativity with commercial value and  technological efficiency with human relationships to build lasting credibility.

Taste as an Editorial Skill

media update considers how technology and trend culture shape our relationship with taste, and why developing discernment and an independent perspective remains essential to editorial judgement.

Roots to Reinvention — The Editor's Note

Spring notoriously signals new beginnings, meaning most industries lean on this symbolism for their own gain. media update considers how publicity campaigns can offer an edge to an overdone story by rooting a brand's future in its own history. 

The Growing Influence of News Creators in South Africa

South African news creators are drawing audience attention on par with traditional outlets. media update looks at how independent creators are rivalling legacy media for reach and whether the industry's fears around algorithms and misinformation hold up locally. 

Taking Local Global — What Durban FilmMart 2026 Asks of African Storytellers

Africa's leading film finance market returns this coming October under the theme Shifting Worlds: Turning Towards Ourselves. media update looks at how local stories reach global audiences without losing what makes them local. 

When Literacy Development Meets Easy Answers: A Deeper Look at South Africa’s Literacy Crisis

media update considers how our relationship with AI and the decline in reading for pleasure fit into South Africa's literacy crisis. 

Rethinking DOOH: A Q&A With Remi du Preez — Part One

Digital advertising gets more crowded as Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) keeps growing into a flexible and measurable medium. media update talks to Remi du Preez about what marketers misunderstand about outdoor advertising and how to use it more strategically. 

Rethinking DOOH: A Q&A With Remi du Preez — Part Two

As with any advertising medium, implementing programmatic Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) is only strategically sound if you can trust the numbers behind it. media update's talks to Remi du Preez about aggregation and independent verification to understand how to build DOOH into a genuine omnichannel campaign. 

When Local Language Meets Global Default

South Africa's multilingual reality can get lost when local languages present a challenge for developing language technology. media update considers what it means when the language we use does not fit the systems built to understand it. 

The Ethics of Purpose-Led Communication: A Q&A With Palesa Mokomele

Real stories power awareness campaigns, but whose voice really shapes them? media update's talks to Palesa Mokomele about consent, dignity and building trust in purpose-led communication.   

How Spaces Shape the Stories We Tell About Them

media update considers how the way we experience our surroundings can influence what we believe about them, and why changing that perception requires more than a fresh coat of paint.