Le Club Marketing Avis+ Joins AMC As Associate Member

December 4, 2025

Le Club Marketing Avis+, the pan-regional marketing community developed by Plus Value Research and Marketing (PVRM), has formally joined the African Marketing Confederation (AMC) as its first Associate Member. The accession agreement was signed in Johannesburg on Friday, 28 November. The move brings eight new member countries into the AMC network at once, marking a notable expansion of continental representation.

This brings AMC’s country count up to 24 across the continent. The Avis+ community includes more than 500 marketing leaders from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Senegal, and Togo. Since 2019, it has built a strong platform for knowledge exchange through the Avis+ Marketing Club, fostering collaboration and promoting regional expertise in modern marketing practice.

The new Associate Membership strengthens AMC’s reach across West and Central Africa. It also deepens cooperation among national bodies and enhances the Confederation’s ability to advance policy dialogue across the continent.

AMC President Helen McIntee-Carlisle welcomed the new partnership. She noted that the addition of Le Club Marketing Avis+ expands the Confederation’s influence and reinforces its mission to raise marketing standards at a continental level. The agreement reflects AMC’s shared commitment to professionalism, connection, and continuous learning in marketing across Africa.

Le Club Marketing Avis+ organisation highlighted that the partnership would enhance visibility for its members, strengthen collaboration opportunities, and provide new channels for the expertise developed within its community.

Since its formation, Avis+ has focused on empowering passionate marketing leaders. Its activities include after works, training sessions, seminars, and its flagship #THINK gathering, all designed to support professional growth and foster dialogue across borders.

AFRICAN MARKETING CONFEDERATION
www.africanmarketingconfederation.org

Five Trends That Have Shaped Communications In 2025

Modern Marketing

December 4, 2025

Five Trends That Have Shaped Communications In 2025 — Laura Rapson, Stardust Global.

Laura Rapson, PR and Communications Lead at Stardust Global, says that in recent years, fractional executives have become a familiar part of the business landscape. Fractional CMOs, CFOs and CTOs offer senior strategic expertise without the overhead of full-time employment. Increasingly, a new kind of consultant is joining their ranks: the fractional communications leader.

In South Africa, this model is still emerging. Most organisations either hire a full-time PR or communications manager or outsource everything to an agency. Yet the trends shaping communications over the last year show clear value in bringing in a senior, part-time practitioner who can bridge internal and external teams, manage agencies, and provide strategic direction without the cost of a full in-house function. This is particularly important given that many organisations still choose between an agency or an internal comms team —rarely both.

Here are five trends that have shaped communications in 2025, and how the fractional comms model fits the moment.

Agencies And Clients Don’t Always Speak The Same Language

The communications knowledge gap remains wide. Having worked both agency-side and in-house, and now as an independent consultant, one truth stands out: very few agency consultants have worked inside a corporate, and few practitioners make the move to an agency after landing an in-house role. This creates a disconnect in how success is defined.

In-house teams often believe everything their company produces is newsworthy. I occasionally fell into that trap at my previous company, but I always debated the newsworthiness with our agency and took their consultation when they suggested a different approach. I also served as a buffer for the agency, explaining to HQ why a story wasn’t relevant in different regions or educating people with no understanding of PR why the media wouldn’t care about a new partnership or minor product enhancement.

Agencies, meanwhile, often chase impressive-sounding opportunities that bear little relevance to the organisation’s strategy or value proposition. Sure, it’s good to secure an interview on a leading business radio show, but if the topic is only vaguely linked to your business offering, and it leaves the listener confused about what your company actually does, then you’ve wasted the opportunity.

A senior communicator with experience on both sides can close this gap. They guide in-house stakeholders on what genuinely matters to the public, while helping agencies align their ideas with real business priorities. Acting as this translator ensures that PR is not only newsworthy, but strategically meaningful.

Budget Constraints Mean Communications Is Often Done On A Shoestring

Budget pressures have led many organisations to ‘do PR’ superficially: small retainers, no real strategy, and a stream of press releases that add little value. With limited time or budget, agencies often default to company-centric content such as product updates. But unless you’re Apple, this kind of content is unlikely to resonate with media or audiences.

When they’re on a shoestring budget, it’s difficult for agency teams to find time to be strategic, and create relevant, compelling content that will get picked up by the media. If content is all about product and doesn’t focus on the challenges that businesses or people are facing, it’s impossible to insert messages into the news cycle.

When budgets are tight, the smarter move is to work with a communications expert to get owned channels right first. A compelling narrative, clearly articulated across your website, social platforms and marketing materials, provides a foundation for future PR success. Earned media is powerful, especially as Large Language Models (LLMs) increasingly pull information from third-party sites, but only once the basics are in place and the message is strong and consistent.

LLMs Have Reshaped Search, And Strategic Media Placements Matter More Than Ever

Tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and DeepSeek have fundamentally changed how people gather information. As LLM-powered search grows, marketers are discovering that these models pull heavily from third-party sources. This has pushed high-quality, strategic media coverage back to the top of the priority list.

But not all coverage is created equal. A passing mention in a top business publication is no longer good enough. In fact, we’re starting to see that coverage in industry-specific, niche publications is becoming more impactful. What matters most is message clarity: does the article link to your value proposition and the problems you solve? If not, it’s unlikely to surface meaningfully in LLM-generated answers.

This requires a deep understanding of both the organisation and the broader media landscape, which is something that junior agency teams often lack. Without a senior strategist guiding the narrative, companies risk chasing vanity metrics rather than meaningful visibility.

Communications Should Be A First Priority, Not An Afterthought

We handle the communications for a global institute and are about to kick off work with a similar organisation. There’s an increasing need for independent, multistakeholder institutes to drive desired behaviours, especially with an increased pressure for organisations and industries to be more sustainable.

What has been clear since we started working on this project, is that effective communication has been critical to its success from day one. Strong positioning, consistent engagement with stakeholders, and proactive updates created the momentum the institute needed to move forward and grow. Even before any full-time resources had been hired, there was a communications machine working in the background, ensuring that important updates were shared and the right people were reached.

This raises an important question: if communications has such an outsized impact on early-stage credibility, stakeholder alignment and organisational traction, why don’t more organisations prioritise this from the outset?

A fractional communications leader can help build this foundation early, long before the organisation can justify a permanent team.

Comms Teams Aren’t Going Anywhere (And They Shouldn’t)

There is a worrying misconception that AI can replace communications teams or agencies. While AI can generate a strategy, thought leadership article or media pitch in seconds, it cannot replicate the judgement of a seasoned professional. A communications leader knows what’s genuinely newsworthy, how to insert a story into the news cycle, and how to shape content that resonates rather than reads like corporate promotion. Years of learning from successes or failures are invaluable in deciding whether something will land or not.

All good communications professionals should be using AI to reduce their workload, but it shouldn’t be a substitute. It still requires experience, nuance and strategic insight. AI isn’t going anywhere, but we need to learn to work with it, and not let it work for us. The fact that OpenAI advertised a Content Strategist role this year, with a salary nearing $400,000 says everything: even the world’s leading AI companies recognise the irreplaceable value of human communicators.

Looking Ahead To 2026

As organisations navigate tighter budgets, shifting search behaviours and increased scrutiny from stakeholders, communications strategy remains critical. The rise of the fractional communications leader reflects this reality: companies need senior expertise, but not always full-time. They need someone who understands the business, speaks the language of both executives and agencies, and can ensure that every message has strategic purpose.

In 2026 and beyond, the organisations that win will be those that communicate clearly, consistently and credibly, and many will achieve this with flexible, embedded comms leadership that brings experience without the overhead.

STARDUST GLOBAL
https://stardustglobal.co

The Shift Towards More Interactive And Personalised Experiences In Exhibition Spaces

Modern Marketing

December 4, 2025

The Shift Towards More Interactive And Personalised Experiences In Exhibition Spaces — Marita de Vos, SMARTBUILD.

According to Marita de Vos, Operations Manager at SMARTBUILD, catching attention at a trade show is essential. There’s a definitive trend towards more interactive and personalised experiences that connect and engage attendees. Why? Because research from firms like Forrester have found that attendee expectations are changing.

This is echoed in how overall attendee satisfaction has dropped with undifferentiated or poorly designed stands consistently underperforming. There is a growing gap in engagement, one that is particularly acute in South Africa’s diverse market where cultural relevance and authentic connections are essential to brand success.

The traditional, static exhibition stand presents brands in a very passive and generic way. This leads to low engagement and misses opportunities for emotional connection.

Building for success in this space means moving away from conventional product displays towards more immersive storytelling environments. These are integrated; their design goes beyond visual aesthetics to create narrative experiences that take visitors outside of the moment. Weaving together elements of design, technology and sensory cues, exhibition stands can be transformed in storyscapes which capture the heart of the brand.

For global brands, this approach is essential as it differentiates them in a competitive market, helping them to convey messages in a way that’s both memorable and relatable.

The question is…how?

First, stands need to integrate both sensory elements and interactive technologies. Custom lighting setups and projection mapping can create changing moods and visual narratives that expand on the brand identity and the story it’s telling to potential customers. Tactile materials are also important as they allow visitors to connect with the brand identity in a new and memorable way.

Another key approach is to use augmented reality (AR) experiences that pull visitors into digital content experiences. These are layered over installations and blend physical presence with technology. When added to customised soundscapes, the entire experience becomes immersive and transformative.

These interactive elements encourage participation rather than passive observation, drawing them through a narrative-inspired design that fosters a deeper emotional bond. In South Africa, ensuring that these exhibition designs resonate culturally and authentically means doing extensive research and collaboration with local experts to ensure every design element is respectful, sustainable and relevant.

Narratives need to be tailored to highlight local talent, heritage and contemporary trends with culturally significant symbols incorporated alongside motifs that speak directly to the exhibition experience. Ensuring that this remains true to local, cultural norms also means constantly collaborating with your design partner, so your brand identity aligns with culture and context.

The results of this approach to exhibition design speak for themselves. A customer recently transformed a static display into an interactive experience using AR-driven product demos and a customised soundscape. Engagement rates increased by more than 40% compared with previous, static, stand designs. In another instance, a local heritage brand saw a marked improvement in brand recall after their design incorporated regional stories and artefacts, leading to measurable gains in both visitor interaction and social media mentions. These outcomes highlight how immersive and narrative-driven builds can deliver higher lead quality, longer engagement time and stronger recall.

That said, if you do want to explore more immersive exhibition environments, then you need metrics. Qualitative and quantitative metrics, such as tracking ROI using lead scanning at stands, allow you to assess engagement across key areas such as dwell time, interaction counts and social media mentions. Customer feedback via surveys and onsite reviews, alongside brand recall studies and ROI analysis, can help you assess leads and brand retention.

Looking ahead, the future of exhibition design in South Africa is being reimagined by heightened digital integration, sustainability and personalised visitor experiences. Technology will continue to play a central role in transforming exhibition spaces which means it is essential to continuously explore and integrate innovations such as virtual reality (VR), AR and IoT‑enabled interactive modules.

Building for tomorrow means focusing on stories and connections and creating spaces that invite participation while remaining memorable and a cohesive part of the brand story.

SMARTBUILD
https://smartbuildexhibitions.com

Brands Need To Relearn How They Speak To And About Women

Modern Marketing

December 4, 2025

Brands Need To Relearn How They Speak To And About Women

According to Jill Mulligan, Head of Marketing at 1st for Women, there’s a pattern in how we talk to women, and it’s become such a habit that we barely notice it anymore. The truth is, we’ve built an entire commercial and cultural ecosystem that sees women primarily as doers, as holders of things, as performers of roles. We see her productivity before we see her humanity, and in doing so, we’ve created a gap between visibility and recognition. Women are seen, certainly, but they’re not always seen fully.

Open any magazine, scroll through any feed, watch any advertisement, and you’ll see women addressed through their belongings. Across industries, the conversation often starts with what women own or manage rather than who they are. Of course, the things in our lives matter. Our homes, our cars, our possessions are worth protecting and caring for. But when that’s where the conversation begins and ends, when we only ever address women through the lens of their belongings or their responsibilities, something important gets lost.

It has been easier to speak to what she owns than who she is, simpler to address her through her responsibilities than to acknowledge the weight of carrying them. When every conversation begins with her things, her car, her children, her job, the unspoken message is clear: your value lies in what you manage, what you maintain, what you produce. You are what you do for others.

But people are not one-dimensional. Women exist in a state of constant multiplicity. Women are soft and bold, ambitious and exhausted, playful and serious, strong and struggling, often all at once, sometimes within the same hour. To flatten this reality into a single narrative of unwavering strength or to reduce it to a checklist of assets is to miss the person entirely.

When Strength Becomes A Burden

For years, women have been told: be bold, be brave, lean in, speak up, break barriers. And women have. They’ve shown up, stepped up, and held it together with remarkable grace under extraordinary pressure.

Recent research from the Her and Now: Insights into the Women of South Africa 2025 report reveals what many women have been quietly feeling. With the accelerating pace of modern life, what once felt energising now feels heavier for many. Women describe being constantly seen as the one who ‘keeps it all together’, even when life is demanding. They still value strength, but want room to rest and the freedom to show softness or uncertainty without feeling they have let anyone down.

The data bears this out. An overwhelming 96% say the right to exhale matters as much as the drive to achieve, whilst two-thirds feel expected to hold everything together daily. These aren’t small numbers. This is a quiet revolution happening in real time, a collective reckoning with the unsustainable pressure of perpetual strength. The shift isn’t about rejecting strength. It’s about rejecting the mandate that strength must be performed constantly, that vulnerability equals weakness, that needing support means failure. Women are asking for something profoundly simple: the freedom to be human, to be strong when they are and honest when they’re not, to rest without shame and struggle without judgement.

Reordering The Conversation

This is where brands, and society, have an opportunity to do better by fundamentally reordering the conversation. By putting her first: her needs, her limits, her contradictions, her full humanity. And then, after that, everything she values. It’s a subtle shift with profound implications. Instead of asking how we help her protect her assets, the question becomes what does she need to feel seen and supported. Instead of focusing on how we celebrate her strength, it becomes about honouring all of her, including the parts that aren’t strong today.

This is about creating space for the full range of human experience, recognising that a woman can be ambitious and tired, that she can value achievement and also need rest, that she can be both the person who holds things together and the person who sometimes needs to fall apart.

Some might argue this is too nuanced for marketing, too complex for commercial messaging. But people, women especially, are hungry for this kind of recognition. They’re exhausted by being reduced to archetypes, tired of brands speaking past them to their possessions, their roles, their productivity. Nearly half of women in recent research said they feel only ‘somewhat’ seen by brands. Not unseen entirely, but partially visible. That gap between partial visibility and full recognition is where trust is built or broken, where loyalty is earned or lost, where brands reveal whether they see their customers as transaction points or as human beings.

Research from the Unstereotype Alliance shows that advertising which accurately represents women and overturns stereotypes can drive incremental sales lifts of up to 10 times, whilst brands with inclusive advertising see 16% higher long-term sales and are 62% more likely to be a consumer’s first choice.

The organisations that will thrive in the years ahead are those that understand this distinction, that recognise the invisibility crisis for what it is: not a marketing problem, but a human problem that marketing has the power to address. Putting women first isn’t a campaign theme, it’s a commitment to seeing and speaking to the full person, not just the productive parts.

Relearning How We Speak To And About Women

The path forward requires more than new taglines and refreshed creative. It demands a fundamental reexamination of how we speak to and about women. It means creating space in our messaging, our products, our services and our culture for complexity. It means asking different questions. Not what does she own that we can protect, but what does she need to feel secure. Not how can we celebrate her strength, but how can we support all of her, on good days and hard ones. Not what roles she plays, but who she is when no one is watching.

In practical terms, this shifts how we approach everything from customer research to creative development. It means conducting research that goes beyond demographic segments and purchasing behaviour to understand the emotional landscape women navigate daily. It means briefing creative teams not just on what we’re selling, but on who we’re speaking to as complete human beings. It means reviewing our brand voice and visual language to ensure we’re not inadvertently reinforcing the very limitations we claim to reject and it means examining our customer service touchpoints to ask whether they acknowledge the mental load women carry, or simply add to it.

These questions lead to different answers. They lead to marketing that feels less like a transaction and more like a conversation, to products and services designed for human beings rather than human doings, to a commercial culture that sees women not as assets to be managed or roles to be performed, but as people deserving of recognition, support and the simple freedom to be themselves.

The quiet revolution is already underway. Women are asking to be seen differently, not because they’ve changed, but because they’ve grown tired of the narrow lens through which women are viewed. The question now is whether brands, and society at large, are ready to meet that moment, whether we’re willing to put her first before addressing everything else. When we do, something shifts. We move from transactional to transformational, from seeing her as a segment to seeing her as a person. That’s not just better marketing. It’s the right thing to do.

1ST FOR WOMEN
https://www.firstforwomen.co.za/

Lucky Hustle And Woodrock Campaign Aims To Help Dogs Find A Home Before Christmas

Modern Marketing

December 3, 2025

Lucky Hustle And Woodrock Campaign Aims To Help Dogs Find A Home Before Christmas

Buster, Oscar and Titan have spent years waiting behind kennel doors for someone to choose them. Lucky Hustle, in partnership with Woodrock Animal Rescue, is determined to change that for three incredible boys who’ve been overlooked for far too long.

Launching a campaign unlike anything the South African animal-welfare community has attempted before, Buster, Oscar and Titan are the stars of a new music video created to help them finally find a home for Christmas.

In a powerful, creative-meets-purpose collaboration, Lucky Hustle teamed up with Finetune Studios to launch #KenneltotheCrib: a must-see music video campaign that spotlights each dog’s personality and story.

Meet The Stars Of ‘Kennel To The Crib’

Buster: The six-toed softie searching for his Christmas miracle.
Breed: Rottweiler, age 4. Picked up on the roadside and overlooked ever since, Buster is gentle, affectionate, and famously six-toed. He adores cuddles, treats, and smaller dogs, but he hasn’t had a single adoption success in more than a year.

Oscar: The loyal soul healing from heartbreak
Breed: Mixed, age: 5. Oscar lost everything when his owner died by suicide. He arrived grieving, confused, and alone. Despite his trauma, he remains full of warmth and loyalty, ready to love a family again if someone will give him the chance.

Titan: The lifelong blood donor who’s ready for life to give back
Breed: Mixed, age: 4. Titan spent most of his life in a clinic, giving blood to save other dogs. He has never experienced the comfort of a home or the joy of his own family. Now, after years of giving, he’s finally ready to receive.

Set at the Woodrock Animal Rescue Centre in Centurion, the #KenneltotheCrib music video takes viewers on an emotional walk through the different spaces the dogs call home, from the kennels to the play yards, to the quiet moments where hope still lingers.

Blending heartfelt real-life moments with playful animated title elements, the video brings each dog’s personality to life while adding joy, charm, and upliftment that mirrors their spirit.

And to make sure their voices were heard loud and clear, the project features top South African rappers Wordz Tha Prince, Dibi, and Tyson Sybateli, each crafting reimagined lyrics that highlight the quirks, charm, and heart of one of the three dogs. Together, they transformed each story into a track that makes you smile, makes the public’s hearts swell, and hopefully makes you want to adopt.

Estelle Meldau, co-founder of Woodrock Animal Rescue, commented: ‘This collaboration was designed to drive real-world adoptions by raising awareness about mature dogs who are often the last to be chosen but the ones with the most love to give.’

‘This is creativity with heart,’ said Darren Morris, CEO of Lucky Hustle. ‘Advertising with purpose sits at the core of who we are, and this campaign proves what can happen when compassion and creativity meet. Thanks to the unwavering support and generous donation from Network X Group, these dogs aren’t just appearing in a video, they’re finally stepping into a spotlight they’ve never had. They’re being heard for the first time, and with a little festive magic, we believe they’ll make the journey from kennel to crib, exactly where they deserve to be.’

Lucky Hustle and Woodrock are calling on South Africans to share the video, spread the word, and help Buster, Oscar, and Titan finally step out of the kennel and into the families they’ve waited so long for. ‘Because every dog has a story. We just gave them a mic,’ ended Morris.

LUCKY HUSTLE
https://luckyhustle.co.za

A Digital Media Agency’s Handbook To Holiday Sales Success

Modern Marketing

December 3, 2025

This festive season, e-commerce businesses that treat festive gift guides as strategic marketing assets will capture consumers. The Digital Media Collective (TDMC) shares some proven strategies that will help e-commerce businesses cut through the digital noise and transform seasonal content into revenue-generating powerhouses.

‘Gift guides have evolved far beyond simple product lists. You need a trustworthy mix of audience insight, platform strategy and robust media orchestration to ensure you engage and convert browsers to customers,’ said Nicola Ashe, Strategic Business Director at TDMC.

1. Data Vs Hunches

Your analytics should reveal the search terms people are using to find you – this is priceless information. The data should dictate your gift categories, price points and even your content tone. Before selecting a single product, mine your analytics and ask yourself these key questions: What were last year’s bestsellers? What about them appealed? Was it a price or product offering? How can you amplify or repeat this success? What’s trending in search behaviour? ‘Even brick and mortar retailers should be using their online data,’ said Ashe, ‘geo-targeting your paid media according to customer location and behaviours is equally important for physical stores.’

2. Segment Your Audiences Like A Strategist

‘Gifts for everyone’ converts for no one. Create hyper-specific guides: ‘Home Office Tech Gifts Under R500’ or ‘Sustainable Beauty for Conscious Consumers’. This leaves no room for guesswork and captures the curiosity of relevant niches immediately. Map customer personas to categories, ensuring every guide speaks directly to a defined audience segment with personalised messaging that resonates. Testing both these price-based and psychographic approaches ensures data to guide sales strategy.

3. Master The Organic And Paid Media Symbiosis

Your gift guide needs both earned and paid visibility. Optimise content for SEO with long-tail keywords like ‘unique South African Christmas gifts for mothers 2025’, while simultaneously planning paid campaigns to amplify reach. This dual approach ensures organic content gains traction while paid media ensures visibility and accelerates results.

4. Design For The Scroll, Not Just The Click

In a mobile-first world, a gift guide should grab attention in milliseconds with high-quality imagery, scannable headers and strategic white space. ‘We work hard on using our design expertise to balance aesthetics with conversion psychology, ensuring every visual element guides users toward purchase decisions rather than exit clicks,’ said Ashe.

5. Leverage User-Generated Content As Social Proof

Incorporate customer photos, reviews and testimonials directly into your gift guides. User-generated content can build authentic testimonials for your brand – use this social proof to build trust and reduce purchase hesitation.

6. Create Multi-platform Content Ecosystems

Your gift guide shouldn’t live in isolation. Repurpose it across Instagram and Facebook stories, Pinterest boards, YouTube videos, email campaigns and blog posts. ‘This is where skilled agencies have the advantage as we have dedicated teams who are certified experts across all these platforms. By integrating their tested and trusted strategies, you’re able to maintain message consistency while ensuring your product is correctly positioned on the best converting platform for its success,’ noted Ashe.

7. Harness The Power Of Influencer Partnerships

Authentic influencer endorsements dramatically increase click-through rates and social shares. ‘A significant area of our business is amplifying campaigns with vetted influencers – from well-known personalities, to micro and nano content creators,’ said Ashe.

8. Retargeting Campaigns For Window Shoppers

Most gift guide visitors won’t purchase immediately. You need sophisticated retargeting sequences that serve personalised ads based on products viewed. It’s a good idea to partner with an agency to build these automated funnels, segmenting audiences by browsing behaviour and serving tailored messages and e-mail campaigns that bring browsers back for purchase.

9. Optimise For Voice Search And AI Discovery

With increasing voice-activated shopping and AI search tools, optimise your gift guides for conversational queries like, ‘What’s a good gift for my sister who loves cooking?’.

‘This is a rapidly growing tool and our teams are having great success in this arena. We encourage our clients to structure their content for discovery across traditional search engines, voice assistants and emerging AI platforms,’ said Ashe.

It is also important for brands to understand the distinction between SEO and GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation), said Caleb Shepard, TDMC Media Director. ‘SEO focuses on driving clicks and traffic from traditional search engine results, while GEO gets content cited and summarised directly within AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews. They’re complementary but have different goals – SEO drives clicks, GEO builds brand authority and trust directly within the AI’s generated answer.’

10. Create Urgency Without Desperation

Limited stock indicators, countdown timers for delivery cut-offs and exclusive bundles create genuine urgency. ‘It’s a fine line between motivating and manipulating shoppers and it’s so important to maintain brand integrity with these kinds of drivers. By crafting careful conversion optimisation strategies, it’s possible to execute powerful campaigns without devaluing everything you and your brand have worked so hard for,’ said Ashe.

11. From Insights To Iteration

Sales are important as are micro-conversions. Time on page, scroll depth, social shares, email forwards and product click patterns tell an important story. ‘We analyse all the relevant analytics dashboards across our clients and over scores of categories, applying strategic interpretation to adjust tactics in the now, while gathering crucial insights to inform next year’s strategy. Any e-commerce business should be doing the same,’ said Ashe.

While many strategies and tasks can be implemented by e-commerce owners themselves, Ashe is steadfast in her belief that a digital media agency will always trump a DIY approach. ‘A digital media agency becomes your strategic partner – we are able to harness advanced learnings across multiple categories and bring skilled data scientists, content creators, media buyers and platform specialists together to transform any gift guide or sales campaign from content into successful commerce.’

TDMC
https://tdmc.co.za/

How Filmmakers And Brands Can Embrace AI Without Losing Creative Integrity

Meggan McCarthy, Modern Marketing

December 3, 2025

How Filmmakers And Brands Can Embrace Ai Without Losing Creative Integrity — Garon Campbell, Breadbin Productions.

Garon Campbell, Founder and AI Director at Breadbin Productions, says we need to look no further than our own social feed to see that AI is everywhere. Anyone can call themselves a creator. But for filmmakers, agencies and brands intent on telling stories with impact, the real question isn’t whether to use it, but rather how to use it without losing creative integrity.

AI isn’t the future. It’s the present. No longer some futuristic concept, AI is embedded in production pipelines across the industry and the world. In fact, 92% of visual effects studios have adopted AI applications in the last three years, and 41% of companies globally already use AI for video creation. Numbers that show us that this technology is here for the long game.

And it’s not just an international trend. Closer to home, 70% of South African creatives report using AI tools, mainly for generative design and editing. The shift is real and it’s accelerating.

That mindset has already produced some of the most talked-about work in South Africa’s commercial film space. One example is a tribute to one of South Africa’s leading real estate agencies, created by Breadbin Productions, which used AI to recreate the icon in her twenties and close gracefully with her at the height of her legacy. The result was a dreamlike, emotionally resonant piece that would have been impossible to achieve on the same timeline or budget using traditional methods.

If you’re still asking yourself why this emerging technology has quite literally exploded onto the scene, consider this: AI-driven visual effects can reduce post-production time by up to 30%, and editing workflows by 20–40%. These efficiencies aren’t just about speed; they open a world of creative possibilities that were previously out of reach.

From Buzzwords To Basic Workflows

It’s clear that access to AI tools is not the challenge; anyone with an internet connection can find them. The real test that separates tinkering from true creativity is knowing how to use them meaningfully. What does that mean? Building hybrid workflows that combine traditional filmmaking with AI-enhanced processes and understanding where automation adds value and where human intuition must lead.

Practical applications are already here: pre-visualisation accelerated by generative tools, stills brought to life for corporate storytelling, and AI assisted tabletop shoots reinvented through in-camera virtual production. These methods amplify artistry, not dilute it.

Protecting Creativity In A Tech-Driven World

One of the biggest misconceptions about AI in filmmaking is that it somehow takes away from originality. In reality, resisting this innovation revolution can turn out to be much riskier. With shrinking timelines and budgets tightening, hanging on to old workflows and processes can leave creativity dead in the water.

AI, when used with intention, doesn’t have to replace the filmmaker; it empowers them to pitch braver ideas, ideate faster, and explore visual styles that were traditionally vetoed by budgets.

We just need to stick to one guiding principle: technology should serve creativity, not dictate it. The most exciting work in this space comes from teams that treat AI as a collaborator, not a shortcut.

Building Capacity, Not Just Content

As adoption grows, the skills gap is widening. 85% of South African workers want AI training, yet more than half find current training inadequate. And with AI tools being only as powerful as the people who use them, the industry needs more technically capable creative thinkers who understand how AI fits into storytelling, ethics, and production workflows.

Education is critical. Without it, the promise of AI could become just another trend instead of a transformative force.

A Call To Rethink, Not Resist

The question isn’t whether AI belongs in the creative process – that’s already happening. What we should really be asking is how we make its integration more meaningful.

For filmmakers, agencies, and brands, there is a clear way forward that starts with a strategy to protect the creative process and embrace hybrid workflows that combine the best of both worlds. The industry doesn’t need more buzzwords; it needs brave thinking. It needs a conscious commitment to reinvention, one frame at a time.

BREADBIN PRODUCTIONS
https://breadbinproductions.co.za/

The Future Of Innovation Is About Empowerment And Value Creation

Modern Marketing

December 2, 2025

The Future Of Innovation Is Empowerment And Value Creation — Kyle Harker, Publicis Groupe Africa.

According to Kyle Harker, Head of Operations and Technology at Publicis Groupe Africa, at its core, innovation is the ability to see differently. It’s the discipline of recognising that within every challenge lies the seed of opportunity. That shift in perspective changes the conversation from ‘what’s broken?’ to ‘what’s possible?’

True innovation is about reframing challenges as opportunities and building solutions that are both agile and enduring. In environments defined by complexity and constraint, which describes most of today’s business landscape, lasting innovation is about creating value that scales and strengthens.

In practice, innovation should be measured by the depth of its impact and the longevity of its value. The most meaningful breakthroughs are those that embed into the fabric of operations, improving how people work, make decisions and deliver results.

This mindset is what separates sustainable innovation from short-term experimentation. It requires resilience and context: understanding where agility is necessary, but also where consistency is vital.

Over the past few years, two pivotal experiences have shaped how leading organisations approach innovation.

1. Scaling Transformation Across Borders

Delivering a multi-country operational transformation programme and aligning that to global operations, represents a major test of both technology and teamwork. The success of such programmes hinges on more than just platform adoption; it’s about harmonising processes, building shared purpose and ensuring that innovation does not stop at pilot phase but becomes part of everyday practice.

2. Reframing AI As An Enabler, Not A Threat

Artificial Intelligence has moved from buzzword to business backbone. The turning point comes when teams stop seeing AI as a disruptor and start treating it as a collaborator. Integrating AI into workflows for efficiency and decision support transforms it from something to fear into something to trust. It becomes a tool that enhances human capability, rather than replaces it.

Innovation fails not because ideas are bad, but because adoption is poor. Two lessons stand out as universal truths:

1. Change management is never one-size-fits-all. The nuance of local markets, cultures and work practices drives whether change sticks. A strategy that works in one region may face resistance in another. Understanding and respecting those nuances, from regulatory environments to cultural perceptions of technology, is what ultimately determines adoption speed and success.

2. Trust is the engine of transformation. Every new tool, platform or AI system depends on human trust to thrive. People don’t adopt what they don’t understand. The real work of innovation lies in unpacking the ‘how’ and ‘why’ behind each advancement; explaining, in practical detail, how it benefits the user and strengthens the organisation. Transparency demystifies technology, and that understanding builds trust. Trust, in turn, drives usage, and usage fuels measurable impact.

2026: The Year of Distributed Innovation

Looking ahead, 2026 won’t be defined by a single technology or trend. Instead, it will be remembered as the year innovation became democratised.

We’re moving beyond centralised innovation teams and technical silos. The rise of low-code and no-code platforms, alongside accessible AI, is empowering people across every function to build, automate and solve problems for themselves. The emergence of self-service AI agents (systems that employees can design and train without needing advanced technical skills) is accelerating this shift.

What we’re seeing is the evolution of innovation from a specialist discipline to a shared capability. When more people can create, more ideas surface and more problems get solved faster. This decentralisation of innovation unlocks speed, scale, and ingenuity – essential in an economy where agility and resourcefulness are no longer optional, but existential.

As global markets become more volatile, and resources more constrained, the ability to innovate efficiently becomes a competitive advantage. Distributed innovation models tap into collective intelligence and empower teams to respond to change in real time.

In this model, leaders play a different role: they become enablers of ecosystems rather than controllers of change. Their job is to provide the frameworks, guardrails, and trust infrastructure that allow innovation to flourish safely across the organisation.

Moreover, the convergence of human creativity and machine intelligence will define the next wave of growth. AI amplifies peoples’ capacity to think, test and deliver. The organisations that thrive in 2026 will be those that combine the precision of data with the empathy of human judgment.

Best Practices For The Year Ahead

– Redefine innovation KPIs. Measure outcomes (adoption, efficiency and cultural impact) not just prototypes or pilots.
– Build a culture of explainability. Ensure every innovation initiative includes clear communication of how and why it works.
– Empower non-technical teams. Provide tools that allow anyone to prototype and test ideas safely.
– Treat trust as infrastructure. Embed transparency, accountability and human oversight into every system.
– Keep innovation human-centred. Technology should serve people, not the other way around.

The future of innovation is about how many people it empowers and how much value it creates. As we move into 2026, the most innovative organisations will be those with the broadest participation and the clearest purpose.

PUBLICIS GROUPE AFRICA
https://publicisgroupeafrica.com/

Strategic Marketers Should See Black Friday As A Launchpad For Sustained Growth

Modern Marketing

December 2, 2025

Strategic Marketers Should See Black Friday As A Launchpad For Sustained Growth — Helen McIntee-Carlisle, African Marketing Confederation.

According to Helen McIntee-Carlisle, President African Marketing Confederation, Black Friday has grown into more than a one‐day sales event in Africa. What began as a retail import from the West now plays a critical role in the continent’s commercial calendar.

For the African Marketing Confederation (AMC), the significance of Black Friday lies not just in spikes in revenue, but in what it reveals about consumer maturity, market infrastructure, and long-term brand trust.

Over several markets, brands are no longer treating Black Friday as a gimmick, but rather as a structural point in the year to plan promotions, inventory, and logistics. This shift reflects how African consumers have come to expect, and demand, more sophisticated retail experiences that combine value with trust.

Consumer Behaviour: Beyond Bargains

In many African markets, Black Friday is no longer only about impulsive buying. Sky‑high inflation and the rising cost of living have changed how consumers approach the period. A growing share of shoppers plan their Black Friday purchases with care. Many save up and time their spending to buy necessary or higher-value items during the sale window.

Yet, rising cynicism is also part of the picture. According to a recent analysis, an increasing number of consumers can differentiate between genuine discounts and marketing hype. As a result, they’re rewarding brands that demonstrate integrity alongside steep discounts. For the AMC, this signals a turning point: marketers must make authenticity a core part of their Black Friday strategy, not just the price point.

The Digital Shift: PayU GPO Data

Black Friday has become deeply digital in Africa. According to PayU GPO data, e-commerce purchase activity in South Africa rose by 130% during Black Friday 2024 compared to a regular Friday. The study showed that the average online basket size also increased to around R1946 (Roughly USD114). This factor suggests that consumers are using the period for considered purchases.

What’s more, mobile channels dominated: 67% of Black Friday transactions in South Africa were made on smartphones, underscoring how central mobile commerce has become to Africa’s digital economy. Payment methods are also shifting. While card payments still make up a large share, open-banking EFT methods are growing quickly, and alternative options like buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) have seen a strong uptake.

These trends reflect wider Africa‑focused shifts, with PayU noting a broader ‘Black November’ adoption strategy among merchants. For AMC marketers, this underlines the need to integrate mobile-first design, flexible payment options, and seamless checkouts into campaign planning.

Multi‑Channel Marketing: Social, Physical And Hybrid Strategies

Despite the dominance of e-commerce, physical retail still plays a role. In some African markets, shoppers want to touch, test, and feel products before committing, especially for electronics or big-ticket items. Meanwhile, social media remains a powerful lever for driving Black Friday awareness, engagement, and conversion.

Retailers are increasingly extending their Black Friday promotions beyond the traditional 24‑hour window. Some run week-long (or even ‘Black November’) campaigns, using teaser deals, social media launches, and staggered discounts to spread demand and sustain momentum.

This type of multi-day strategy helps marketers avoid overloading delivery infrastructure. It also gives them more space for storytelling and trust-building.

Trust, Loyalty, And The Ethical Dimension

For AMC, Black Friday is a trust test. As buyers become more discerning, brands risk eroding their reputation if they rely solely on steep discounts. Reports suggest that misaligned promotions and inflated ‘original’ prices are wearing thin with consumers.
Authenticity is now a major differentiator. African consumers, especially younger cohorts, are looking for value beyond the lowest price: ethical practices, transparent pricing, and alignment with their personal values matter.

In this context, AMC marketers should lean toward long-term loyalty strategies. They can invest in brand equity, community, and steady follow-through rather than one-off volume plays.

Operational Challenges And Opportunities

Black Friday peaks put pressure on logistics and payments infrastructure. Brands that cannot deliver reliably risk disappointing customers and damaging trust. For African retailers, investing in robust fulfilment networks is crucial. They should aim to focus on payment flexibility alongside speed.

Emerging payment trends such as open banking, BNPL, and tokenised cards are more than conveniences; they are strategic levers. By promoting these options and making checkouts smoother, brands can reduce friction and improve conversion rates. Meanwhile, marketers need to consider cross-border e-commerce. As platforms reach more of Africa, there is real potential to link regional markets cohesively.

Risks And Ethical Considerations

There is a growing ethical imperative around Black Friday. With many consumers under financial strain, marketers must avoid campaigns that exploit vulnerability. Misleading deals or artificially inflated ‘discounts’ can quickly backfire, eroding trust and damaging long-term brand equity.

AMC should encourage marketers to promote responsible consumption. This might include transparency about pricing history, inventory limits, or environmental impacts of fast-moving retail. In the African context, where economic volatility is real, it’s especially important to show respect for consumers’ financial realities.

Strategic Recommendations For African Marketers

– Plan for a multi-day Black Friday window: Use pre‑event teasers, mid-week warm-ups, and extended deals to spread demand.
– Build payment strategies that reflect the diversity of African digital finance: Highlight open-banking, BNPL, and mobile channels.
– Be transparent in pricing: Use genuine ‘before–after’ comparisons and avoid inflating original RRP.
– Use social media early and strategically: Don’t just push discounts – tell stories, engage communities, and provide education.
– Strengthen logistics: Invest in fulfilment capacity that can handle high volume but also scale down gracefully after peaking.
– Focus on long-term brand value: Measure success not only in sales, but in customer acquisition cost, retention rate, and sentiment.
– Use ethical messaging: Align your Black Friday campaigns with social responsibility, particularly as many consumers are financially stretched.

Looking Ahead

From the AMC perspective, Black Friday in Africa is much more than a shopping holiday. It is a mirror of the continent’s evolving digital economy, changing consumer values, and emerging marketing sophistication.

For strategic marketers, it’s not enough to offer deep discounts. Black Friday must be a moment to deepen trust, demonstrate purpose, and build long‑term loyalty. When done right, it becomes a launchpad for sustained growth, not just a peak in sales.

AFRICAN MARKETING CONFEDERATION
www.africanmarketingconfederation.org

Mike Abel Honoured With Lifetime Achievement Award

Modern Marketing

December 1, 2025

Mike Abel Honoured With Lifetime Achievement Award — Mike Abel, M&C Saatchi.

The Up&Up Group’s Chairman and Founder, Mike Abel, has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s AdFocus Awards ceremony held in Johannesburg. As a published author, columnist and podcaster Abel founded M+C Saatchi Abel in 2010 with no clients and a bold vision.

Together with the founding partners, this vision has evolved into The Up&Up Group, South Africa’s largest independently owned group of creative companies. Before launching M+C Saatchi Abel, the 2025 Financial Mail AdFocus Lifetime Achievement Award recipient enjoyed a career spanning several decades across multiple countries, helping build some of the most iconic brands in advertising.

‘What this honour really affirms is the power of great people working together. Marketing and advertising is a team sport. This marvellous industry has given me a life of purpose, creativity and challenge — and I remain convinced that values‑driven advertising has never been more necessary. I’m deeply grateful to everyone who has shared the field with me,’ said Abel.

Jacques Burger, CEO of The Up&Up Group said: ‘Abel’s recognition is a tribute to the vision, courage and creative conviction that shaped this group from day one. His leadership set a standard that continues to define who we are and how we show up for our clients.’

The Up&Up Group’s Chief Creative Officer Neo Mashigo said the award is testament to Abel’s resilience in leading the agency group towards where it is today. ‘Our unrelenting orientation is that creativity elevates everything, and Abel’s resilience in leading our group of creative companies to this point is inspirational and foundational to who we are today.’

The Lifetime Achievement Award celebrates the group’s origins, its present commitment to creativity and its bold creative future. ‘I am energised for the group’s new chapter as South Africa’s leading independent creative group,’ said Abel.

UP&UP GROUP
https://www.theupandupgroup.com/

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