The theme of the 2026 Nedbank IMC is ‘Shift Happens™’. Media partner Modern Marketing interviewed Khensani Nobanda, Group Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Nedbank, about the shifts needed in marketing leadership, brand connection and more.
The shift to more valuable partnerships. What needs to change in the relationship between brands and their agencies to ensure it shifts from a transactional deal to a successful partnership?
Marketing leadership is no longer defined by the ability to communicate messages at scale. It is defined by the ability to build meaningful, emotional connections that inspire trust, loyalty, and long-term value. In an increasingly complex and competitive environment, brands must move beyond rigid, campaign-led thinking towards purpose-driven storytelling that reflects authentic values and resonates with consumers on a human level.
The relationship between brands and their agency partners must continue to evolve. The era of purely transactional, supplier-client engagements is over. The strongest partnerships are built on shared purpose, mutual accountability, psychological safety, and a commitment to co-creating value. When brands and agencies operate as strategic partners, challenging one another, sharing ownership of outcomes, and collaborating openly, they unlock greater creativity, deliver stronger commercial results, and build brands that endure in an increasingly dynamic marketplace.
Culture shifts rapidly. How do brands remain relevant as new generations reshape markets, culture and influence?
Brands stay relevant by maintaining cultural fluency, continually listening, learning, and responding to the values, behaviours, and influences shaping new generations. Rather than chasing every trend, they engage authentically in cultural conversations where they can contribute meaningfully and credibly. The brands that endure are those that successfully balance heritage with innovation, remaining both familiar and future-facing.
Can’t escape the AI shift. Some marketers are afraid that AI will take their jobs while others think it will magically do their jobs for them. What needs to shift in marketers’ approach to AI, and how do they ensure campaigns are not just more AI slop?
Marketers need to move beyond seeing AI as either a threat or a miracle solution and start treating it as a powerful tool that enhances productivity, personalisation, and decision-making. AI can make marketing faster and more responsive, but it cannot replace the distinctly human capabilities of strategic thinking, creativity, cultural understanding, and sound judgement that build meaningful brands. The campaigns that stand out will not be those that use the most AI, but those that combine AI’s speed and scale with authentic human insight, strong brand stewardship, and a clear understanding of what matters to customers.
The mindset shift. What are the fundamentally human challenges marketers face, and what needs to change so marketers can thrive?
The biggest challenges facing marketers today are increasingly human, not technological: consumer trust is declining, content overload is fuelling fatigue, and too many brands are competing for attention without creating meaningful distinction. To thrive, marketers must move beyond managing tools and become orchestrators of technology, creativity, and human insight, combining data-driven decision-making with empathy, cultural understanding, and authentic engagement. Success will belong to those who use AI to enhance, not replace, human creativity, building trusted relationships and memorable experiences that drive long-term growth.
Leadership approaches are shifting. What does the next chapter of marketing leadership look like?
The next chapter of marketing leadership is about driving growth at the intersection of data, creativity, technology, and customer insight, with marketing playing a central role in business strategy rather than a supporting one. It requires leaders who can build trust, and champion purpose, sustainability and inclusion as strategic growth drivers, and help organisations navigate constant disruption with confidence. Above all, successful marketing leaders will be those who remain true to their brand’s core purpose while continuously evolving how they connect with changing consumer needs and expectations.
What about when the ‘shift’ hits the fan? How do you recover from setbacks, and how do you guide your team through them, like the time when the campaign did not land the way you expected it to?
Setbacks are inevitable, whether it’s a campaign that misses the mark, a market shift nobody anticipated, or a strategy that delivers different results to what was expected. The key is to respond with curiosity rather than blame, understanding what happened, learning quickly, and using the insight to make better decisions going forward. As a leader, my role is to create an environment where teams feel safe to experiment, are accountable for outcomes, and resilient enough to adapt, because long-term success is built not on avoiding failure, but on how effectively you learn, evolve, and grow from it.
No shift in Nedbank’s support of the IMC. Why does Nedbank continue to support the IMC and what are you looking forward to most at the event?
Nedbank’s support of the IMC reflects our belief that marketing has a critical role to play in shaping business growth, consumer trust, and the future competitiveness of South Africa. The IMC remains one of the country’s most important platforms for bringing together industry leaders, thinkers, and practitioners to challenge conventional thinking, share new ideas, and elevate the impact of marketing as a strategic discipline.
What I look forward to most is engaging with diverse perspectives on how brands can navigate rapid technological, cultural, and economic change while continuing to create meaningful value for customers, businesses, and society.
Nedbank IMC 2026
Under the 2026 theme Shift Happens™, the programme brings a clear point of view to a day of marketing, creativity, culture, technology and leadership: the shifts shaping business are happening at once, and marketers need practical ways to respond. The event is taking place on Thursday, 17 September 2026 at Mosaïek Teatro, Johannesburg or online. The full agenda is available here.
Nedbank IMC
www.imcconference.com
