Introduction
September was a standout month in Positioning Partners’ ongoing personal public relations (PR) and thought leadership work with our client, Dr Murendeni Liphadzi.
Over the course of the month, three opinion pieces generated five media placements across some of South Africa’s recognised national, business and news platforms, including IOL, Sunday Times, Business Times, Business Day, TimesLIVE and Sowetan.
The results form part of a six-month recurring personal PR engagement focused on helping Dr Liphadzi extend his expertise beyond academic and specialist environments and build a stronger public profile around the subjects on which he has genuine authority.
Three ideas. Five media placements. One month.
September began with the publication of “Beyond democracy: South Africa’s unfinished economic story” on IOL.
Later in the month, Dr Liphadzi’s article “Why has economic power remained so elusive while there is black political power?” achieved the widest distribution of the programme to date, appearing in the Sunday Times Business section through Business Times and online through Business Day and the Sunday Times/TimesLIVE environment.
The month closed with another national placement when Sowetan published “SA has money, so why are we not building?”
Together, the three articles created national print, business and digital exposure within a single month.
September Personal PR Results at a Glance
- 3 published thought-leadership articles
- 5 earned media placements
- 1 national Sunday newspaper print feature
- Coverage across national news, business and opinion media
- R349K+ estimated Advertising Value Equivalent
- All coverage earned through editorial media relations
National Print Exposure Through Sunday Times
Dr Liphadzi’s article “Why has economic power remained so elusive while there is black political power?” marked an important milestone in the programme.
The article appeared on page 31 of the Sunday Times Business section through Business Times, giving his thought leadership national print exposure.
For an ongoing Personal PR programme, the placement demonstrated how a developed idea can move beyond digital publication into a prominent national print environment.
Estimated Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE): approximately R222,000
Beyond Democracy: South Africa’s Unfinished Economic Story
Published by IOL, the article examined the relationship between political participation, economic ownership, productive capacity and South Africa’s longer-term development.
The piece broadened Dr Liphadzi’s public commentary while remaining connected to wider questions of development, institutions and economic participation.
Estimated Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE): R25,000
Business Day Digital Coverage
The same article was also published online through Business Day.
This extended the idea into one of South Africa’s established business-media environments and helped strengthen the association between Dr Liphadzi’s name and the wider economic and development conversation.
Estimated Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE): R34,000
SA Has Money, So Why Are We Not Building?
September closed with another national placement when Sowetan published Dr Liphadzi’s article “SA has money, so why are we not building?”
The article focused on South Africa’s infrastructure challenge and the gap between available resources, infrastructure ambition and actual delivery.
It also returned to one of Dr Liphadzi’s strongest areas of public positioning: infrastructure, leadership, governance and development.
Estimated Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE): R34,000
Why the September Results Matter
The value of the month was not simply the number of placements secured.
The more important result was the way Dr Liphadzi’s ideas moved across different media environments and reached different audiences.
Within one month, the programme delivered national digital exposure, business-media visibility and a national Sunday print feature.
That kind of spread helps build stronger public association between a person’s name and the subjects on which they have genuine authority.
A single article can create visibility.
A consistent body of published thinking can begin to create recognition.
Why Recurring Personal PR Matters
Recurring PR allows one placement to support the next.
It gives ideas time to develop, helps identify which themes resonate with editorial audiences and creates continuity between individual pieces of coverage.
Over time, this can build a stronger, more credible and more searchable public footprint around the client.
September showed that progression clearly.
The work is no longer producing isolated articles.
It is building momentum across different publications, formats and audiences.
“Visibility compounds when credible ideas keep reaching the right audiences, through the right media, with enough consistency to build recognition.”
The Bigger Story
September was an exceptional month, but it forms part of a wider six-month Personal PR programme.
Since the engagement began, Dr Liphadzi’s commentary has appeared across TimesLIVE, Engineering News, IOL, Sunday Times, Business Day and Sowetan.
To date, the programme has generated six published thought-leadership articles, eight earned media placements, one national print feature and approximately R423,000 in estimated Advertising Value Equivalent.
The full case study documents the broader strategy, progression and results behind the engagement.
Make Your Value Known.
Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE) estimates are based on available publisher advertising rates and comparable media-space values. AVE is presented as a supplementary indicator of media exposure and does not represent the financial return or total value of a PR programme.
