The ANC had it's centenary party and BrandsEye tracked the conversation from the 4th to 8th Janua

1. ANC Centenary Celebration
4th – 8th January 2012
contact@brandseye.com
@brandseye, compiled by @greg_dale

2. Summary
• Between the 4th and 8th of January, conversation about the ANC
100 year celebration totalled 9 839 mentions across the Internet.
• This conversation generated 19 570 805 Opportunities-To-See
(OTS) throughout digital mediums globally.
• This equates to an Advert Value Equivalent (AVE) of R 4 056 674.
This coverage for a event that was reported to cost R100 million.

3. Value Summary – 4th – 8th January 2012
CONVERSATION MEASURES
VOLUME OTS AVE
9 839 19 570 805 R 4 056 674
MEDIA DISTRIBUTION
CONSUMER ENTERPRISE PRESS
92% 1% 7%
SENTIMENT DISTRIBUTION
≥DOWNPLAY LISTING ≤ENDORSEMENT
8% 78% 14%
TOP DOMAINS
Twitter Facebook All Others
74% 17% 9%

4. In the 5 days of tracking the ANC 100 year party
9 839
related mentions were found across the Internet. It worth noting that
the ANCYL hearing received 6 286 mentions in the 24 hours after the
event. This supports the long held belief that bad news travels quicker
and further then good.

5. But what
exactly
was said?

6. Top Themes
The top themes are indicated here by word size. For better context of which other
themes were the most topical, “ANC” has been removed.

7. Observations
• The word cloud shows very few themes coming through.
• Sentiment around the event was largely neutral, although the
large RT does suggest that the information was of high
relevancy and therefore shared.
• Minor themes notably the cost of the event, Thabo Mbeki’s
presence and the ritual sacrifice were discussed.
• The ANC should have looked to highlight Mbeki’s presence as a
positive while explaining their rationale behind the sacrifice and
the cost to try remedy the negative conversation. Interestingly
the ANCYL was only discussed 69 times in the conversation.

8. Cost of the Party
259 mentions
A lack of clear
communication
about the cost left
people sharing
various numbers. No
explanation for the
cost also left people
angry about the
perceived waste of
money.

9. Thabo Mbeki
132 mentions
The ANC’s
celebration was
Thabo Mbeki’s
first ANC function
since he was
removed as
president.

10. Sacrificing A Bull
247 mentions
As part of the
celebration weekend
the ANC sacrificed a
bull, this was not
well received. Many
people thought this
was inhuman.

11. Credibility
DEF: The more people
reached online, the
more credible [Brand]’s
conversation is.
A respected source is
deemed as having the
potential to reach
≥4 000 people, an
authoritative source
≥1 000 000.
The ANC centenary celebration was marked by significant press coverage. This
helps to secure significantly more OTS for the event. Some mentions were marked
with a credibility score of 9, this means they are expected to generate 1 000 000
OTS. These particular mentions came from the BBC Twitter account which has
close to 1 500 000 followers.

12. A combination of the numerous press articles and considerable social
media discussion resulted in the ANC centenary celebration reaching
19 570 805
Opportunities-To-See (OTS) within the online sphere. In comparison
the ANCYL hearing generated 40% of this coverage in 24 hours
(8 419 565 OTS).

13. Had this conversation been purchased, it would have cost an
Advert Value Equivalent (AVE) of
R 4 056 674
While this event was not designed to generate publicity for the
ANC, the conversation did exposure people to the ruling party.
Regardless of whether an event is designed to market an
organisation the sentiment and message communicated must
be monitored to ensure the brand in question is portrayed in the
best light.

14. Observations
• The ANC received significant coverage for the event. However
their failure to monitor and manage the conversation meant that
the lost control of the message.
• Engagement with the online conversation would have allowed the
ANC to direct the conversation towards the celebration of 100
years of political struggle.
• Instead the conversation was neutral with some negative
mentions. A failure to engage meant a real opportunity was lost to
communicate with a large community.

15. Media Breakdown
The OTS generated by consumer conversation (11 341 505) is
higher then that that generated by the press (8 042 000). Despite
consumers’ conversation reaching less people per each
mention the combined effect of all consumer conversation has
significantly greater impact then the fewer, but more far
reaching press articles.

16. Domain Breakdown
Social networks were the most active, accounting for 91% of the
total conversation, with press sites driving around 2% of the
total conversation.

17. Twitter Contributors
Name Twitter Bio Number of Tweets
NewsInSA (NewsInSA) All news related to South Africa.
77
1 228 Followers http://www.NewsinSA.co
jazlaw24 (Saber Jazbhay) troublerouser who wont let the dust settle
47
211 Followers on ignorance or prejudice!
RevCJVP (Clive J. Pillay)
http://youngchapel.webs.com 45
44 Followers
Our dream for South Africa is of an open
Demokratiese (Democratic Alliance) opportunity society in which every person
43
519 Followers is free, secure and equal
http://www.da.org.za/
These were the top engagers in the conversation around the ANC’s
celebration. Twitter conversation showed 6 744 unique authors, and
1 035 users who tweeted more than once.

18. Observations
• While 9 839 mentions is high for 5 days of conversation, when
this is compared to the 6 286 individual mentions received in 24
hours for the ANCYL trial. The result of negative coverage
becomes even more concerning.
• Once again the ANC did little to manage the conversation taking
place on Social Media sites like Twitter. This left the community to
speculate and fabricate opinions on limited information.

19. Observations
• A number of aspects about the weekend’s celebration were
continuous. From the cost of the event. To the golf day, which
was consider elitist, and the sacrificing of a bull, considered in
human.
• Debate online around these topics was rife and largely negative.
Brand’s should look to communicate with the community to better
explain their position. Explaining the rationale behind the cost and
events making up the celebration would have helped manage
some of the negative coverage.

20. Observations
• The centenary celebration of the ANC was designed to mark the
birthday of a key organization in the struggle for South Africa’s
freedom.
• As with any event Social Media can be leveraged and people who
are not even at the event can enjoy some of the benefit.
• Unfortunately a lack of ANC presence online hampered their
ability to engage a wider audience.
• From an online perspective it would appear that the ANC
celebration was off message and was largely dominated by press
covering the event. This resulted in consumers generating
uninformed opinions of the ANC and its centenary.

21. Appendix

22. Definitions
Opportunity-To-See (OTS) Advert Value Equivalent (AVE):
OTS reflects the number of people who would have had the AVE offers a monetary value of the earned
opportunity to see a mention. A tweet from a user with conversation. The aim behind the AVE measure is to
8 000 followers would account for 8 000 in the total OTS of capture what a company would have paid to expose
the conversation. This does not account for the possibility their brand to the number of people reached by the
that the mention may not have been seen by the user in conversation.
their Twitter feed.
Sentiment Distribution:
The exact opinion and feeling towards a brand scored according to a 10-point scale:
5 (Celebration) - the highest form of brand endorsement and brand loyalty (very rare)
4 (Acclamation) - when a brand is endorsed and very highly commended
3 (Praise) – when a brand is recognized very positively
2 (Endorsement) – encouraging other readers to use the brand
1 (Listing) – neutral mention of a brand.
-1 (Downplay) - mildly negative sentiment about a brand.
-2 (Concern) – distress/worry about a brand
-3 (Rebuke) – disgust towards a brand
-4 (Anger) - resentment towards a brand
-5 (Emergency) - severe threat to the brand or the community’s safety

23. Any Questions or Ideas?
contact@brandseye.com
@greg_dale