The academy is headed up by Commercial Director, Marc du Plessis, and Strategic HR Head, Viv Randall, who saw the opportunity for SPARK Media to run a Digital Sales Academy for up-and-coming potential entrants into the digital media industry.
"At SPARK Media, we feel strongly about developing the youth of today and giving back to the media industry," says du Plessis. "As such we've enrolled seven interns who began at SPARK Media on 21 September and will continue with us until the end of May 2016."
Interviews were held at SPARK Media's Johannesburg office, and a vigorous process was undertaken to select the successful candidates. In addition to their in house training, each intern will be put through the Red and Yellow digital marketing course, a custom developed course in Digital Media Sales and a specialisation in social media or mobile marketing.
To further speed up the knowledge process, they will be integrated into the day-to-day work life at SPARK Media, whilst spending valuable time with each division, in order to learn the details of each department. The outcome of this programme is to develop and groom the interns to take on a digital sales role at SPARK Media or within other divisions of the Caxton Group.
"We have partnered up with Red & Yellow to equip these young professionals with the necessary skills to succeed in the modern digital media sales industry, as we feel they have a similar vision and vested interest in developing the youth of today," explains Du Plessis.
"We are confident our Digital Sales Academy will be a huge success, and our plan is to recruit another group of interns in January 2016."
For more information about the SPARK Media Digital Sales Academy, please contact Viv Randall (az.oc.aidemkraps@rv).
To contact SPARK Media call 010 492 8390, visit www.sparkmedia.co.za or follow them on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SparkMedia or look for 'SPARK Media' on Facebook.
SPARK Media DNA
Established in 2015, SPARK Media is a result of a fusing between NAB and Habari Media using the legacy platforms and Caxton-owned print and digital products - in the form of NAB - and a cutting-edge digital sales agency - in the form of Habari Media - to create this new media sales powerhouse.
SPARK Media are Strategic Partners in Audience Research and Knowledge and they offer 'Insights that Ignite'.
