August 27Dinner Cape Town: Review and Link-Love

27dinner is a networking event for the digital media and marketing industry, held on the 27th of every month. Since 2007 we've kept to the date, and we've been booked to capacity every time. I think that the 39th 27dinner may have been the best yet. Here's why.

When a group of bright and curious people get together around a topic of shared interest, chances are everyone will have a good time. There are a few things that can make the experience better though, things like good music, amazing talks, delicious food, a cozy venue, and a 6-star limo for a couple of VIPs, relevant sponsorships, and a couple of good causes. We had all of that this month.

The talks:
Gordon Parkin from Brandscape spoke about Mobile Marketing, and specifically Proximity Marketing. As if Gordon's insight and experience in marketing weren't enough, the man is a superb storyteller who's Scottish accent makes everything he says seem dramatic and interesting.
You can follow Gordon's latest thinking on Mobile on Twitter here: @34degreessouth

Alex Van Tonder from King James RSVP delighted us with a case-study of an integrated campaign for one of South Africa's best loved FMCG brands - Steri Stumpi. This campaign was, without a doubt, one of the coolest campaigns I've ever seen, particularly because of the zany consumer-generated responses and community activation aspects of it. If you'd like to hear more about this campaign as well as the driving principles behind it, you need to come to Huddlemind's Word of Mouse workshop on 11th September where Alex will be taking us through it in detail - not to be missed!
You can follow Alex's thoughts about her Branded Life on Twitter: @mybrandedlifeTM

David and Marc Perel, founders of Obox and presenters of From the Couch shared their online marketing roadmap. These guys have developed a whole funnel through Facebook, Twitter, their blog and to their online store. They even made a stop-motion video especially for this talk to illustrate the concepts.
You can keep in touch with these two trailblazers on Twitter: @obox and @marcperel

The Sponsors:
Amazing 6-star limo supplied by 00Heaven Limousines. Now THAT'S how you roll.

Superb ambiance created by Matt Gray from Digital Project and ListenUp. Amazing what a difference good music makes.

Braai4Heritage gave everyone a CD with the official soundtrack to National Braai Day. The track has had input from SA music icons such as AKing and Die Heuwels Fantasties, and features multiple Grammy winners The Soweto Gospel Choir, as well as HHP and JR. You can download the track here.

Sound equipment was supplied by StereoType records. Thanks @stereo_type!

And, of course, vino by Stormhoek (the longest standing sponsor of 27dinner).

Goodwill

A couple of Official Casual Day T-Shirts were given away by Springleap.com (new improved material and cut), along with R10 donations to People Against Suits and Ties (which accompanies the sale of the Casual Day Tee)

Ron from BobsForGood, who have been active on Twitter and other social media (especially @BobSkinstad made an appeal to the social media community to help raise awareness for their cause - which gives a pair of school shoes to needy kids for every pair of "Bobs" you buy from them. Check out their site and help spread the word: BobsForGood.com

Photos

Lastly (and I know this is the most important piece in any 27dinner feedback report) you can checkout the photos that were taken by RSAWeb's new I Flash For a Living team: 27dinner Photoset on Facebook.

UPDATE: Brandon Golding's photos are also up on Facebook: 27dinner Bicycles.

The venue, by the way, was the Bombay Bicycle Club at the top of Kloof Street. Highly recommended for a Bohemian dining experience.