About Hippo Communications

Hippo Communications is run by Beryl Eichenberger and is an owner run consultancy. Beryl has extensive experience in the media, consumer marketing and promotions field.

Specialising in building the image of your brand, she will work with your organisation to devise a strategy aimed at maximising brand awareness in your target market and ultimately contributing to your bottom line.

Working with your marketing planning departments is vital to ensure complete understanding of your objectives and obtain maximum exposure.

Beryl Eichenberger offers access to a vast network of skills and projects will be personally driven.

She has unique media experience in that she understands what the media are looking for. She has built relationships across all media types through innovative campaigns that have opportunities for all parties.

Background to Beryl Eichenberger

Beryl Eichenberger was born in the UK and relocated to South Africa in 1969. Her training had consisted of Art and Dress Design and she was pursuing a retail career at the time of her emigration.

Nine years in Johannesburg predominantly working for fashion retail chains offered her the opportunity to explore avenues of the retail business. Beryl found her forte in Sales Promotions and Special Events through her position at Greatermans City Store where she initiated ground breaking retail store promotions such as the Lunch box fashion shows and consumer workshops.

On moving to Cape Town in 1978 she changed course to experience the buying side of the retail business. After nine years as a selector for Woolworths Beryl moved into the Public Relations area of that business. Her position as Public Relations officer allowed her to work extensively with customers and the media and she, at a time when Woolworths did not advertise, gained much press coverage for the group. Her innovative workshops to the Woolies customers were events that she used for both charity organisations and product promotion.

She initiated and launched Woolworths' only demonstration kitchen called the Living Kitchen, which was cleverly designed to allow both fashion and cookery demonstrations to be held.

Her liaison with the local media made her realise that this is where her real love lay and she established excellent relationships with what was then the Argus group.

Beryl was appointed to the position of Promotions Manager for The Argus in 1991 and was responsible for the ongoing promotion of such events as the Argus/Pick 'n Pay Cycle Tour, the Argus Guineas, the Gun Run and the relaunch of the Cape Argus. She introduced the Paarl Nouveau Wine event as an Argus event and the launch of the Argus/Waterfront Wine Festival (now the Cape Times/Waterfront Wine Festival.)

With the addition of the Cape Times to the stable she was appointed, in 1996, to the position of Promotions Manager of the Independent Newspapers Cape group, responsible for overseeing Promotions and special events for the Cape Argus, Cape Times and 12 Community Newspapers.

Amongst her portfolio was the responsibility for the growth and organisation of the two biggest sporting events in the Southern Hemisphere, the Cape Argus/Pick 'n Pay Cycle Tour (she sat on the organising committee for eight years) and the Cape Times/Southern Life Big Walk.

In 1997 she was awarded the Rotary Press Award for her contribution to the furtherance of Rotary projects as a non-Rotary member. Her citation mentioned the excellent press coverage and growth of these two events due to her continual promotion and commitment to the projects.

In 1998 she attended the International Newspaper Marketing Association World Congress in Amsterdam and delivered a paper on Building Brands and Bridges on behalf of Independent Newspapers South Africa. It was the first time a South African newspaper publisher had presented at this event.

Beryl has also driven major fundraising projects for the newspapers and was behind the Cape Argus/Spar Christmas Hamper Fund and the Cape Argus Cancer campaign in 1998. In addition she was a major player in the marketing and public relations of the Cape Argus Starfish project, an initiative aimed at skills development and job creation.

In 1999 the editor of the Cape Times asked her to project manage the Cape Times One City, Many Cultures initiative, a ground breaking project for a newspaper and one dedicated to promoting tolerance and understanding in the diverse Cape Town communities.

President Mandela attended the launch event in March 1999 and Beryl oversaw the promotion and public awareness of the whole initiative.

Amongst the events that she organised were a major professional photographic exhibition, an amateur photo competition, a collage competition and an essay competition. Her excellent relationship with all forms of media saw the One City project being covered from all angles and by all media companies, both print and electronic.

The initiative became a household name in Cape Town.

The culmination of the whole project was the Cape Town One City Festival, the first successful arts and culture festival in Cape Town and a first for a joint venture between the public and private sector. (City of Cape Town and the Independent Newspapers group). The Cape Town One City Festival has now become a regular on the City events calendar and she has continued her association with the event through 2000 and on into the 2002 Festival.

A strong Newspapers in Education component came under her management and she also handled major corporate events for Head Office.

The regular Independent News and Media International Advisory Board visits with Sir Anthony O'Reilly, Ben Bradlee (chairman), Andrew Young, David Dinkins, Anthony Sampson, The Honorable Brian Mulroney, The Honorable Kenneth Clarke and Sir Paddy Ashdown and other high profile decision makers has become an annual event for Beryl and here she has excelled in presenting and organising the conference and functions that, as Ivan Fallon (CEO of Independent News and Media South Africa) has said, are world class. Her attention to detail and creative input has given Independent the edge on these corporate events.

The Personal Finance/Association of Unit Trust Raging Bull Awards, now in it's sixth year, has become the most prestigious event in the Unit Trust Industry and Beryl has organised and conceptualised the awards ceremony each year.

Numerous other events have come under her leadership and as promotions for the papers were in the form of events, competitions and reader workshops she managed a team of eight offering a complete through-the-line service to the newspaper clients.

Her organisational skills allowed Beryl to manage this wide portfolio but she also offered creative input and a complete understanding of consumers and their needs. Her extensive contacts in the media industry allowed her to plan and implement excellent publicity campaigns with ongoing awareness created for her clients’ projects.

As a function co-ordinator she is able to take a brief and produce a memorable final event with professionalism and public relations value. Her forte is brand building using innovative campaigns to create long term awareness.

Since starting her own business in March 2000, Beryl has undertaken a wide range of diverse projects, which have allowed her to use her range of skills.

Her projects for 2001 included publicity for the highly successful Cape Town Minstrel Carnival (R1.5m of media coverage in less than a month), publicising the Spiced Gold Five a Side Soccer tournament, organizing and publicizing the NLSA Walking the Book exhibition, publicity for the Mother and Child Show with the Cape Flower and Garden Show, organising and publicizing the Juta/Nicro Xpressions competition, the Waterfront Food Fair was a major project involving planning and conceptualising, and co-ordinating the Kirstenbosch New Year's Eve concert 2001 featuring Jimmy Dludlu, which was attended by 4000 people many of whom had not been to the garden before.

She is also a regular book reviewer for the Cape Argus.

Beryl completed the Cape Town Festival 2002 where she held the post of Sponsorship Manager and project managed the event until the appointment of the management team. She recently coordinated the 9th Independent Advisory Board Conference for Independent News and Media and the 6th Raging Bull Awards for the AUT and Personal Finance.

Beryl continues to work with Independent News and Media, Personal Finance, City of Cape Town, Old Mutual, Cape Town Tourism, The Waterfront, Expo Promotions, Savoy Cabbage, National Library of SA, Juta, Zenzele, Peninsula Drums, Party Warehouse and the Global Philanthropists Group in the USA.