South Africa’s HDI Youth Consultancy has been announced as one of the sponsors for the ‘Marketing Gets Nak*d™’ themed 2019 Nedbank Integrated Marketing Conference (IMC) which will take place on 14 March 2019 at Fox Junction in Newtown, Johannesburg.
The one-day conference strips marketing of the jargon and gets down to the bare bones of what really matters: delivering better results and improving ROI. HDI Youth Consultancy has more than 20 years’ experience when it comes to understanding and marketing to kids, teens and young adults in Africa and knows what it means to disrobe marketing of the buzzwords and replace semantics with success when it comes to delivery.
‘Often brands don’t get youth when it comes to marketing to them. They focus on an idea, on a product or service, and not on the youth itself. To market to the youth, you’ve got to immerse yourself in youth culture and then create products that are relevant,’ said Bongani Chinkanda, CEO of HDI Youth Consultancy. ‘Brands need to realise that they aren’t just competing with another brand, they’re competing with a culture.’
HDI Youth Consultancy has successfully presented at the IMC in the past, and believe the IMC is an excellent platform for the marketing community to reflect on the past, be in the present and, be a part of the future. ‘We want to be part of that future,’ said Chinkanda. ‘The youth are the biggest influencers of the future and we exist to make that future more meaningful. You have to ask, ‘how do you remain relevant and future proof your brand?’
Dale Hefer, the CEO of the IMC said, ‘The HDI Youth Consultancy is an excellent fit for a sponsor of the IMC. Their approach to immersing a brand in a culture, speaking directly to a clearly defined target audience and catering explicitly to their needs is exactly what we are talking about when we say that marketing needs to get naked. Brands need to learn how to become a part of the conversation, to speak to their audience in a language they understand.’
HDI Youth Consultancy’s Junior Board of Directors (JBoD) will feature among the line-up of top speakers. The JBoD has been running for the past 20 years and includes youth that are opinion leaders, mavens and trend predictors. The JBoD comprises three age groups: kids (8-13 years old), teens (14–18 years old), and young adults (19-23 years old) who offer deep insights into brands, branding and product.
INTEGRATED MARKETING CONFERENCE www.imcconference.com
