We are very happy to confirm Fred Roed, of World Wide Creative and the Heavy Chef project as a speaker at WordCamp Cape Town 2011. Fred will be hosting a session on Community, and it’s place in marketing strategy.
Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m an entrepreneur at heart. I run a digital agency called World Wide Creative with offices in Cape Town, Jozi and the UK. I’m also the Co-founder of a digital marketing portal called The Heavy Chef Project. I love building communities for our clients. Born in Jozi, raised in Cape Town, and studied in Copenhagen. At home, I’m a massive fan of beer, pizza and music.
Why WordPress?
To be completely open about it, I’m technology-agnostic and believe in doing the marketing research, analysis and planning first then selecting the platform that fits best. That said, the real value of WordPress lies in its unbelievably knowledgeable and loyal fanbase. I run two of my businesses on WordPress (www.ideate.co.za and www.heavychef.com), and I like the flexibility that the plug-ins, widgets and add-ons that WP provides.
What are your thoughts on the WordPress community as a whole? And the South African WP community?
Well, if you compare WordPress crowd to, say, Joomla folk, the WP people are far more intelligent, articulate, charming and better looking.
What is your talk going to be about?
Community – and the commonalities in the strategies of brands that have successfully adopted community as a destination for their marketing efforts.
What are you most looking forward to at WordCamp Cape Town?
I’m always fascinated to observe the way this community ticks. It’s a beautiful thing when a bunch of like-minded people get together to talk about something they’re passionate about.
What is the one thing you want people to walk away with from your talk?
There are many things. Perhaps top of the list is to find out how publishers and bloggers have evolved in their approaches over the past few years.
