AKA AT HIS LEVEL BEST.

South Africa's finest Rapper AKA real name Kiernan Forbes is arguably at the prime of his career ever since I purchased his debut album Alter Ego in 2011 to his  latest 7 month old LEVELS which I strongly believe is a classic and far better than the other Hip Hop albums released last year and even those coming this year.Over and above that I can further add that during the success of his latest project LEVELS AKA managed to stay at the number 1 spot on I Tunes South Africa for several weeks undisputed without any competition until of course when Cassper Nyovest came into the picture and this I believe made things interesting and the whole industry took notice of both of them.                           

ABOVE: AKA'S LEVELS ALBUM COVER.

ABOVE:AKA'S ALTER EGO ALBUM COVER.

                                                                                             



                                                                                               

With that being said AKA also managed to rekindle his relationship with Head Honcho a clothing label/brand that contributed to his success in the past.He became the Brand Ambassador for Head Honcho offering a wide range of items from men to women this was a range huge success since all the clothing items from men to women this was a huge success since all the clothing items were practically sold out in every store they were sold.

ABOVE: Photo of AKA'S clothing range

To be quite frank and honest AKA is one of the few artists in this country who is coloured/blacks who can appeal to different markets in the music industry whether be it Black, White,Indian AKA is your man and, this is attributed to his performance at Jo-burg Day Music Festival last year which was organised by 94.7 Highveld Stereo.The video of his performance will justify this in the embedded link shown under




Since one of his ambitions is to conquer Africa AKA has done a great job in ensuring this becomes a success making tracks with the likes of Sarkodie from Ghana whom he featured on a track with J Something from Mi-Casa , Ice Cream  who featured him on a track N Word remix he also worked with Burna Boy from Nigeria and more recently Tresor.This proves he is on the path to being a continental force and hopefully the whole world.

His music videos are also a marvel to watch one of my personal favorites is by far Run Jozi which was shot in black and white in the middle of Johannesburg he even manged to close the Nelson Mandela Bridge during the shoot which I believe was quite very impressive from him.

AKA has also won numerous awards over the years and recently won a total of 4 awards at the SA Hip Hop Awards to add to the 2 SAMA'S 6 Metro's  3 Channel O's he already holds.I t is safe to say that AKA has hits only on LEVELS from Congratulate, Run Jozi, All Eyes On Me which also was number one on Channel O 's Top 30 count down, Pressure ft Reason, Kontrol ft Da L.E.S, to mention but a few and plus his album has only 11 tracks which does not bore the listener since I personally listened to it and I have to say the man has grown musically after sampling a few house music classics!!!!  

ABOVE: AKA AND CASSPER NYOVEST MAKE PEACE. photo by his Facebook account.

I believe his so called beef with Cassper Nyovest was a mere publicity stunt which did more good for him as it meant more publicity for him...DORI!!! be sure to follow this man on twitter @akaworldwide                                                           

AKA'S accolades.

                                                                                           
                                                                                           

New Age ANC Meets Social Media

The  African National Congress has entrenched its self with the new age, after embarking on the #AmandlaChallenge, that saw a Social Media phenomenon which appealed to people from all walks of life.Furthermore, I honestly believe this Social Media campaign changed my perceptions regarding the way political parties communicate with citizens for the first time I felt part of something meaningful and I am in charge of a campaign run by a political party which then made me realize how the African National Congress has moved away from the traditional norms of doing things.                                                                                         
However,this campaign was also ignited by the fact that the ANC hosted its 103 year birthday celebrations in Cape Town.Meanwhile,it kept us as the public on our toes and ended up taking selfies/pictures showing my admiration for the party.    

                                Record label owner/ musician Arthur Mafokate who already accepted the                                                                           #AmandlaChallenge during the ANC's birthday celebrations in Cape Town.
   
  Billed as the biggest Social Media campaign by a political party in South Africa which swept across Twitter,Facebook as well as Instagram an example can be given by the following link.I can further attribute this to the trends  on Twitter I observed #AmandlaChallenge again since various media personalities accepted the challenge it went viral instantly since I myself hoped I contributed immensely on the whole campaign.           
                                                              

Terry Pheto with a fellow ANC supporter during their birthday celebrations in Cape Town source: Sowetan Images.

THE DIGITAL TRENDS THE AMANDLA CHALLENGE SHOWCASED.

 Given my observations the #AmandlaChallenge followed five digital trends namely:''Future demands Smart PersonlisationSmart Personlisation,tailoring,4ts techniques,tools,technologies,terminologies,building multi- dimensional profiles'' again this can be used to rank key influencers for example, using celebrities as part of your campaigns as highlighted above.Another one is value evidence strategic planning this can be given by using all social media networks effectively hence it became the most successful social media campaign on the South of the equator.Lastly securing a reputation for content leadership I can safely say it then ignited people's hopes regarding the African National Congress.
                                                                                                                                   

                  OVERALL IMPRESSIONS ON THE MEDIA CAMPAIGN.                                    

   I can safely admit now that Social Media is effective when handled correctly more especially by a political organization which then must also accommodate the youth, this proves that the New Age ANC does not bore people  and I take it this maintains relationships with me the consumer of their product.
                                                                                                            

I further realized that even though during last year when the ANC was going through an image reputation crisis with the Nkandla saga which I personally think was one of the worst PR nightmares I have ever witnessed in my entire life.Again this brought back support and ignited the party's followers and it was evident during their birthday celebrations in Cape Town last month.

DJ Sbu shwoing his support towards the Amandla Challenge /goo.gl/olMwTw source:Sowetan

Ordinary citizens like this father and son showcased the success of this campaign. source: Twitter

                                CONCLUSION

I conclude this by making this personal statement:without Social Media the audience can never be fully satisfied,I trust that Social Media influencers such as Era Baloyi,Khaya Dlanga,Justice Malala, Fikile Mbalula, and Berry Bateman all have an impact with regards to the sucess of this kind of Social Media campaign.