As a qualified and proficient journalist, I have enjoyed an extensive career in the media publishing arena in my role as both an Editor and a Managing Editor responsible for producing 22 magazine titles per annum, working with top South African brand marketing and management teams.
With in-depth experience covering a variety of industries, I have since adapted my communication skills to encompass the digital platform. These include content marketing, social media management, communications strategy and public relations.
Academic Qualifications/Awards: Journalism Higher Diploma: 1990
Anton van der Post: Effective Speaking
Targeted Account Selling (TAS)
Professional Selling Skills I
Professional Sales Negotiation II
Cadplan: Best Autodesk Reseller Award (x 5)
Transformational Writing 1 & 2
Redsand Interactive: Four PICA Magazine Awards from the Magazine Publishers Association of South Africa (MPASA).
Hiring and Management of teams over multiple titles/projects, interfacing with high-profile accounts and company directors, sales negotiation, sales and lead management, marketing, and reseller channel principles.
Digital content, knowledge and experience with online social media marketing, website, and digital content management.
Communications Strategy & Public relations with media liaison across various national brands in South Africa.
Content, copywriting and press release writing support for Jhb-based PR and media companies Media Ink and iCandiCQ working with clients: Nielsen, Investec, immedia, House of Brave, KFC, Crosse&Blackwell, SA Institute of Welding and the Stainless Steel Association for both external and internal communications channels (current).
PR Account manager for GrandWest, consulting to The Mailroom PR: Sun International account (January 2014 – June 2017).
Publicity, project management, editing, proofing, copy writing, blogging and ghost writing of digital ebooks for a portfolio of both local and Jhb based clients and consultancies.
(Jan 2010 – March 2015) Stationery, Home & Office Products Association of Southern Africa (SHOP-SA)
Position: Managing Editor & Marketing Management reporting to a 12-member Board of Directors Roles:
(Oct 2004 – Jan 2009) Push Media Solutions: Independent Publisher Position: Managing Editor
Clients & Products:
Publication Editor: International Marketing Council (IMC) of South Africa – Journal of Trade & Industry (monthly business magazine distributed internationally to foster trade into and with South Africa).
Publication Editor I Website Directory Management: Link Pharmacy Group – Editor Life & Family monthly magazine (health and wellness).
Publication Editor: Wit’s University – Arena Magazine – monthly magazine for Wits Alumni.
Publication Editor: Sun International – Editor Privé monthly magazine (gambling/lifestyle).
(Sept 2001 – Sept 2005) Cadplan: Autodesk reseller of Architectural Design software, a family-owned business.
Position: Marketing & Sales working within the Autodesk Reseller Channel.
Our company received 5 awards by Autodesk South Africa as the top South African Reseller in the South African marketing channel.
Autodesk Product Training Centre & Westbrook Suites Accommodation Management
Caption: mage: (L-R) Representing Hayward’s Grand Safari Company on the night and seen here receiving the award is publicist Mercédes Westbrook of Firehorse Media with Michela Balpiaz, owner of Ayama Wines and wine sponsor of the evening, together with celebrity emcees Josie Eveleigh and Tracey Lange.
Cape Town – At the 3rd Sanlam Top Destination Awards 2017 which honours key players in SA Tourism and Hospitality, Hayward’s Grand Safari Company has been named the Winner in the Five-star Lodge category across southern Africa.
The Sanlam Top Destination Awards was hosted at the Kelvin Grove Club in Cape Town. 35 winners from 9600 nominees walked away with the sought after title of ‘Top Destination’ in their respective categories and star grading.
Hayward’s Grand Safari Company provides private groups of 40 to 200 VIP guests with an authentic 5-star mobile tented safari camp experience in pristine wilderness reserves across the African continent. Each luxury camp guarantees corporate and celebrity clients’ total event exclusivity and superior guest comfort.
Rated as the only 5-star mobile Safari in Africa, hosts Peter Hayward and Celia du Preez, are appointed by leading multinational blue-chip companies, royal contingents, presidents and renown celebrities alike. Owner Peter Hayward said, “I am absolutely delighted to have received such high accolades from the Sanlam Top Destination Awards.
Image: Peter Hayward, Adventure Extraordinaire and owner of Hayward’s Grand Safari Company in camp with Celia du Preez on a mobile 5-star expedition in Africa
“As custodians of global Sanlam Wealthsmith investments, what better establishment to represent how to turn money into meaning and set the standard for a future vision of tourism and hospitality in South Africa and for the continent. “Together with Discount Traveler, this award is a testament to the skill and vision of its creators and sponsors.”
“Hospitality and tourism is a large driving force in our economy and we want to continue to recognise and reward one of our country’s most influential industries,” commented Jonathan Pepler, managing director of Discount Traveler and founder of the Sanlam Top Destination Awards.
– BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE
https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/haywards-grand-safari-company-wins-big-at-the-sanlam-top-destination-awards-2017-11378910
Bespoke safari outfitter Peter Hayward is justifiably proud to carry the international title of ‘World’s Best’ by the World Travel Awards bequeathed to his two-decade mobile, and undoubtedly 5-star luxury, tented safari camps in South Africa, East Africa, Botswana and Namibia.
He is also renowned as the African continent’s Best Mobile Safari by the Safari Guild for four consecutive years – and not just because he’s hosted presidents and visiting heads of state, kings, queens, Hollywood stars, talk show hosts and international rock bands wanting anonymity.
Peter Hayward puts his ‘adventure extraordinaire’ work-week accolades down to his ability to produce authentic world-class safari experiences which can’t be matched by modern incentives or other so-called safari services, ones’ offering big group capacity either.
“The Hayward’s Grand Safari epitomizes the great safaris of yesteryear. You won’t find a 5-star lodge for 200 illustrious guests in the Namib Desert, in the Okavango Delta, on a beach in Mozambique or in the heart of the Kruger National Park. Our safari charters, backed by our world-class safari service team can take you there however, with as much Moet, spa treatments, 8-course silver service themed dinners, conference room and lights and staged entertainment as you need. We have a mobile luxury tented safari camp and our guests charter their own bespoke game lodge experience to take them anywhere they want it.”
Big 5 Game Lodge on the edge of Sandton
For top performers with a sharp eye on carbon credits and event planners looking to cut the heavy time-lags and costs of logistics getting incentive winners in front of a safari’s Big 5 tick list, the Hayward’s #GrandSafari is not only 100% sustainable and eco-friendly; its Safari Headquarters are in prime position for busy corporates encouraged by the only-one-hour travel commute from bustling Sandton or OR Tambo International Airport.
Set within 55 000 acres of adjacent Big 5 Dinokeng Game Reserve concession and Bobbejaansberg Private Nature Reserve, the Hayward’s Safari Sanctuary hosts both Big 5 incentives for a safari experience to match the Kruger National Park; as well as corporate events and product launches in its own private concession where you, its 1 000 mammals and prolific birdlife inhabitants are not disturbed by predators.
“At our headquarters we offer the best of both worlds. The Big 5 safari game experience is highly private, guests don’t see another game vehicle. In the private concession, the giraffe, zebra and kudu don’t mind sharing our guest’s hot air balloon, horse riding and walking safari activities,” says Peter.
Experienced Event Planning in 5-star style
As leaders of the pack in top-class safari incentives and events, any travel and corporate hospitality owner is only as good as their last guest review. With Hayward’s there’s no contest. Guest responses haven’t dropped below a 9.7 since they first set out to deliver a luxury safari experience in some of the most pristine natural reserves on the continent. And with Production Director Celia du Preez as the incentive point of contact – with her own title of Top 40 Women in MICE – each incentive event is a flawless affair from the ordering of the first crate of oysters, to the honoring of the corporate or celebrity group’s non-disclosure contract, to that very last morning as you greet the dawn glowing pink in response to your steaming cup of coffee delivered to your en-suite tented bedroom by your own safari butler on standby.
As a long-standing SATSA member, which verifies Hayward’s Grand Safari Company as a bonded travel operator, the #GrandSafari experience is your most royal welcome to unexplored Africa.
Need content? Contact Mercedes Westbrook of Firehorse Media at mercedes@firehorsemedia.co.za for all your corporate, travel and business communication needs, including press releases, blogs, publicity, content strategy and website design.
The Year 2021 started with a whimper for most… It was out of pure habit that I visited my local stationer and bought my new calendar diary to transfer my most important dates. I use the blank white pages of my still shiny 2020 diary to take notes while on the phone; okay I also doodle in it quite a bit.
Behind all the angst of the unknown in terms of both the virus and the global economy, January 2021 has been a very different month to that of the previous year – for those of us in South Africa, we couldn’t even celebrate the turning of time with a glass of champagne due to the country’s alcohol ban.
.For those lucky enough to still be employed or able to manage their businesses under #lockdown restrictions there is none of the energy usually associated with the start of a new year. For the many forced to swivel industries, the stress of trying to maintain one’s head above water while still coming up with new business ideas and marketing strategies under a whole new set of operating rules, these new landscapes make no promises and only offer a cool outlook.
I personally have had to reassess my idea of productivity.
Stress and angst are debilitating. Friends and family talk of the mind fugue and the exhaustion being experienced – for me, it feels a little like trying to run underwater, its awfully clumsy, slow and I can’t seem to hear or see ahead too well. While some in my circle try to attribute it to either old age, menopause or a doubling down on bad habits, there is no denying the mass consciousness of fear which grips the world and its a pretty heavy energy right now.
Online marketers are quick to respond to the lag with a million different hacks of how to motivate ourselves, usually accompanied by some slick copy writing which ends with a call to action to pay for your place in their race.
DO HAVE OR JUST BE
As the head of my family, I have to admit, I am a Do-er.
Pre-pandemic, I was an early riser who stuck to a strict timetable of chores and activities – none scheduled in for my own personal growth as I now recall – but pivotal in bootstrapping my business and ensuring my children would succeed at whatever they set out to do.
I have always believed that if you work hard you will get somewhere. This has proven true for me over the years too. I have had to pull me and my young family out of some pretty desperate places while relocating, job searching and finding a safe abode. And indeed, hard work and personal endeavour saw that I found my feet, set my course and like many, felt ready that finally 2020 was going to be the year it was all going to come together in a glorious succession of work-life-money balance.
WELL-BEING OF THE EGOIC MIND
The impact of Covid-19 has cut deep on our mental health – but more perhaps more silently. We know what to do if we get the virus but what does one do when you want to run screaming for the hills and you can’t because its lock down. Its a personal battle that we grapple with in the privacy of our four walls.
Faced with the devastation either of our own lives or those around us, finding the meaning of life each morning can become one’s greatest and something only challenge for the day. My biggest battle has been trying to find the balance between self-care, stress and the motivation to keep putting on my battle gear and heading out to the battlefield.
Difficult economic circumstances make us automatically feel we must become more productive in order to compensate for the gaps. But, for many of us, we are finding instead, the need to take mental health days as a form of self-assigned sick leave… the one’s where in early lock down, it was easier to avoid having to face the worries of the world or our personal lives by sticking our heads under the duvet, especially since we couldn’t move further than our own front door.
Yes, the New Year has been announced, the first pay day of the year has either arrived for you or it was a no show. Instead of beating yourself up about what you should be doing to engender new business, motivate yourself to get out there or do something radically different and amazing, please take a few more moments for self-care.
INDULGE YOURSELF
Our well being must be our first priority. A stressed mind can’t think clearly and no one is sure of the future agenda at this stage. Stop beating yourself up that you should be working and instead do the most self-indulgent thing you can for you. Join that hiking group, the one you’ve been meaning to for the last five years. Sit and watch the Food Channel all day, there in may lie your latent passion. Study the butterflies that come to your garden. Set up a mental self-help support group on Zoom. Find your own personal sweet spot and keep dipping back in there.
Now more than ever we are being challenged by the expectation of always having to be ‘switched on’ in our work-from-home living spaces. Its counterproductive to think you can make any Goliath changes right now.
Instead, take a breath or two, sit quietly by yourself (for at least 1 hour per day or better yet 1 hour in the morning and the afternoon) and really feel your way into this new year.
The world needs you in all your authentic self… not that old office manager persona, as an entrepreneur hotshot, or as a super earning Mom or Dad. No, the world needs real people who can watch the dawn rising from a quiet space in themselves, in order to hear the true voice inside of us. Wait patiently, we have to give this voice the space to emerge, to grow and to flow so that we can reach deep into this new place and replenish in order to go out into this Brave New World.
We shift only when we observe the chasm. Spend time learning your new landscape. This is how we learn to build bridges and roads, the one’s that lead to our future, spoken with the words of our heart.
Mercedes Westbrook is a Momtrepreneur, raising her three children in Cape Town, South Africa. Firehorse Media is her homegrown business of 6 years, offering online support with #contentcreation, #communicationsstrategy, #socialmediamanagement, #publicity, and affordable #Wordpress #websites. Visit www.firehorsemedia.co.za for more.
It is indeed a pleasure to commend Mercedes Westbrook for the outstanding PR and publicity expertise she has accomplished for our safari company this past year.
We have seen a significant increase across all social media and print articles and editorials, all going a long way to get Hayward’s Grand Safaris into the limelight where due.
Without a constant and dedicated outflow of industry updates and news from in-front and behind the scenes, our potential clients may not get the true story of who we are and what our safari lineage entails.
Having a professional on board such as Mercedes, who is able to encapsulate what makes us stand apart and what unique safari services we offer to our illustrious client base worldwide, is imperative to our future growth and success.
We look forward to continuing this process with Mercedes and building our brand exponentially into the future.
Sincerely
Peter Hayward
Founder and Chief Expeditions Officer
Tel: 086 173 2583 or +27 12 808 0442 or Cell: +27 82 606 1003
E-mail: peterhayward@ haywardsafaris.com
Web: www.haywardsafaris.com
Whether you think Donald Trump is the good guy or the bad guy of American politics, one thing is for sure, everybody whether you live in Alaska or South Africa knows 1) who he is, 2) what he stands for and 3) is familiar with his public relations persona and gunslinger style of running his political campaigns.
Trump is an example of public relations gone bad backed by a brilliant content marketing strategy which has had a knock-on effect of garnering him massive public support.
It’s not a strategy any respectable public relations company would suggest to a brand looking for leverage in the marketplace but then in the case of Donald Trump, his particular strategy seems to be rooted in a decade long history of his own egoic self-belief – one that today had him pronouncing ‘I’m the Chose One’ in a ‘The Sun’ news clip.
Public Relations versus Content Marketing
What is public relations in its purest form? The professional maintenance of a favorable public image. Note the italic emphasis. It includes strategies for building mutually beneficial relationships within the media and your core market.
Content marketing, while similar, is not the same as public relations. Content marketing is the creation and sharing of online material (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts) that while not outright promoting a brand, intend to stimulate interest in the brands products or services.
Using a combination of public relations and content marketing Trump, the USA’s wealthiest President whose financial history is littered with reports of $1-billion in business losses, ran his Presidential campaign using the following publicity tactics to get himself voted as America’s next head of State.
5 Brand Strategies to use for public relations success:
Define your target audience
Follow a clear communications strategy to speak to your target audience
Analyse the micro and macro spectrum of environmental influences
Identify key messages
Gain third party credibility
Trump achieved success by feeding into his celebrity status or as some would say, his notoriety by getting brasher and more sensational, working his social media platforms to create interest through hype that would get him shares and likes. It was subversive yet spoke to and galvanised the millions of middle Americans he knew he needed votes from.
How exactly did Trump so endear himself to the American public? He defined who his target audience was. He kept emphasising he was ‘just like you or me’. Notice how Trump never changed his hair style in reaction to social commentary, rather he kept the image of a middle aged man with bad hair and waited until he became a meme, gaining social status through humour and his own (perceived) vulnerability. This back-handed appeal was so compelling that leading up to the elections articles were written just about his hair, with Tweeters quoted “I don’t follow politics at all but I’m thoroughly enjoying the Donald Trump memes of his hair.”
Trump followed a clearly defined public strategy which aligned with his personal marketing plan. He knew he needed to speak the language of middle America and not as a millionaire living a gold-plated apartment in Trump Towers. He grew his skin thicker, his hair longer and wholeheartedly jumped into the fray.
He analysed the macro and micro environment affecting his business and identified key messages affecting those environments, even posting advertising clips of himself.
He worked the rule of third party credibility, the human tendency to value the opinion or expertise of someone outside one’s circle of influence – which can have a powerful impact on a brand as the 2016 elections showed.
He let social media virally market him as a ‘knowledgeable credible source’ as online networks forged relationships with other individuals and sub groups – and so his own public forum of recommendation grew.
At what point did Trump’s Presidential campaign moved from publicity to content writing (so online audiences stayed longer online engaging with the brand) is unclear but Trump effectively moved his publicity campaign out of the White House domain and made you, me and half the globe brand journalists on his behalf.
Trump’s vision of his brand (himself) has defined his purpose from the very beginning. Citizen journalism on the digital platform remains what it is, a breeding ground for dishonesty.
What then is to be done with media gone so awry?
We can respect the real press.
Print journalism as the 4th estate still stands (so far) as the pillar of democracy which acts as the counterbalance to opinion. One that questions and verifies information, often at risk of reputations and sometimes lives, to bring us a balanced account of facts as antidote to what might be currently trending as the ‘truth’ on digital platforms at any given time.
We can also use social media responsibly in our own personal capacity and consider our intentions before hitting that share button.
Need help with communicating your brand responsibly? Firehorse Media can launch your brand through a professional website, publicity, blogs and social media management at a reasonable price. Call +27 789707633.
