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Monday, October 12, 2026
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Nurturing Customer Engagement While Social Distancing

By
Stone
-

According to Willem S Eksteen, Chief Executive at Stone, this pandemic demands social distancing, so now more than ever, well-thought-out communication engagement is critical to business continuity to connect people and maintain relations. 

Everything has changed and what we knew as normal is now different. We foresee new competition and more competition as people reinvent themselves and innovate their businesses in the race to attract audiences. As business engagement strategists, we need to look at how we manage communication engagement intelligently.

Willem S Eksteen, Chief Executive at Stone.

Covid-19 came to be the reset button for our world. There is massive innovation afoot: everything is becoming digital: interaction, distribution channels, and a myriad of new receiving devices to play in this digital space. There is also a greater choice, giving the user the control to demand what they need, when they need it, and where, allowing people to craft the services they desire.

Creating ecosystems of value

According to recent findings by Accenture, Covid-19 is now deemed to be the most important digital accelerator in the current business space, impacting systems, experience, commerce, leadership, workplace, customers, supply chain, and operations. We must explore the opportunities of how we can harness the new normal to end up in a better place than we were before the pandemic.

The reality is we cannot assume that things will return to business as usual beyond Covid-19. Things will remain different. We have moved into an era of Slowbalisation – rightly coined by PwC. According to their research, trade tensions in the global goods market will persist, giving way to ‘slowbalisation’ i.e. the continued integration of the global economy via trade, financial and other flows but at a significantly slower pace (PwC, 2020).

To face this storm, we must have a strong effective supply chain defence going forward, incident management, and scenario plan specific to this crisis at hand. The normal cut-and-paste crisis plan template won’t cut it. The key thing is to effectively engage with all of your stakeholders from the onset and at every stage. If you plan how you will meet your regulatory priorities and obligations for your business, you can minimise impact during the process to avoid a more unnecessary mess when things inevitably get messy.

To stay relevant and financially sustainable, we will need to not only manage capital efficiency very well but also take all of our stakeholders on this journey with us. This is where an integrated engagement model as a business tool is important. It’s not about creating noise, it is about connecting all of your stakeholders and from there adding value beyond where you started before Covid-19.

This is what I term building an ecosystem of value. Covid-19 has highlighted the importance of grace to one another in business, recognising that others are facing the same effects of Covid-19 as you. The companies that will thrive through Covid-19 will be the ones with soul – those that add more value than what they take in payment. I often quote from The Go-Giver, a short and impactful read by Bob Burg and John D. Mann, which contains truths and principles that apply now even more.

The book emphasises on the principle of value – that your worth is determined by how much you give in value than you take in payment, in other words, let value drive your business. Don’t let your earnings drive your business but rather seek to add value to your customers, partners and your total ecosystems. This will set you apart in a noisy world and allow you to gain influence in the environment in which you do business.

Where do I start?

The art of communication is the language of leadership

Communicating with purpose is paramount. I agree with James Hughes when he says the art of communication is the language of leadership. Learn to build business strategies, engagement plans, shape marketing, and media outlines and even give council and advertising. By putting the business goals at the centre, one can build an integrated strategy that guides your implementation plans and roll-out, awareness, leadership positioning, and share of voice for your clients. All of this is measured against agreed milestones.

Businesses that drive their actions from their reason for being, i.e. ‘why they exist’, set themselves apart for success. They believe in bringing value through beautifully designed products and communicate it as such.

As you engage with all stakeholders, it is important to establish a common understanding of what your value proposition is and you need to be clear on what you are and why you exist. Then unlock them together to educate your stakeholders of the value that you can bring to their business. By engaging with stakeholders effectively, you guide them better to rely on your strengths but also allow them to be realistic of your limitations.

Always over-deliver and under-promise. Proper planning and a responsible conversation with stakeholders start now. During this global crisis, if you align the views and voice of your business, you let the people within your business understand what you’re all about and allow them to represent your business and your new business future.

With this engagement methodology, we map out certain and changing principles against our clients’ values to articulate their desired business outcomes. Leverage digital channels as they form a huge part of your brand identity, especially in this new era. Integrating your engagement across all platforms and audiences is powerful and necessary for your business now. Continuity in what you say allow your stakeholders to understand your purpose, which in turn builds a positive reputation.

On dealing with the crisis within the Covid-19 crisis

Businesses will do well to develop a crisis communication manual and the policy that applies to the now, and a deliberate reputation management programme. It would be silly to have policies and procedures that apply to pre-Covid-19 scenarios. Take cognisance of the new world and do some hard work now to mitigate the crisis, be honest about where you are now, and authentically engage with stakeholders all along the journey.

I recently hosted a webinar and was asked an important question: Covid-19 is beyond our control at the moment – so to what extent do we need to have expanded our new business paradigm that is more inclusive of humanistic principles? A more human approach is a fundamental requirement, heightened by the pandemic, and will be even more important going forward. Accordingly, to what extent are our current approaches to business planning still relevant?

Planning and reinventing business plans should start now, and we will have to keep adjusting them as things unfold. A more humane approach to business where there is greater understanding and grace is a fundamental part of building your ecosystem of value to the benefit of your clients, business partners and your own supply chain. Working towards sustaining everybody in the ecosystem as well as having a wider positive social impact, will reap constructive results for all. You will aid in bringing about a much more human approach to this technologically-enabled new reality of value.

These are unprecedented times and the rules of the game evolve. Forecasting how long and how often we should anticipate change and revising our plans is tricky. The rate of change is quicker than before, so revisions should be much more regular and almost ongoing. The usual three to five years as long term is a very long time in the digital world and current context. Your long-term view is now your post-pandemic view, but implementation should have a shorter window and be monitored and measured constantly against the new business context to allow for timely adjustments.

In summary, it’s true, the world will never be the same again. Developing and embracing ecosystems of value will make for an easier ride through the turbulence. It is fair to be compensated for the value that you bring to the world, but your income is determined by how many people you serve, and how well you serve them, and that is where value going beyond the price tag becomes so important.

There is hope! The post-Covid-19 era holds much promise after the world’s reset to be better and work better. Serve all of the stakeholders on your journey through value, respect and support. It is a two-way journey and a case of learning as we go along. Someone I know often says that we are ‘building the plane as we fly’ and this is very much the case for Covid-19. You will thrive by adding more value than what you take in payment.

STONE
hello@stoneconsult.net
stoneconsult.net

Association For Communication And Advertising Announces Guidance And Assistance Initiatives

By
Modern Marketing
-

The Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) has identified three key areas in which its member agencies may require assistance, such as pitch guidelines as well as financial and cash flow management guidance.

In light of the challenging economic circumstances brought about by the devastating Covid-19 pandemic, the ACA has initiated a number of #ACACaresCovid activities to provide guidance and assistance to its members and the broader industry.

As all businesses grapple with the financial and practical implications of this unprecedented situation, the ACA CEO Mathe Okaba said, ‘With the massive economic and emotional impact that the Covid-19 crisis is having on our members, it would be remiss of us as an industry body not to consider ways to assist them, with the goal of easing the effects of the fallout. These are just the first few immediate measures that we are putting in place.’

Updated pitch guidelines

The existing Tenders and Pitches Code of Conduct ensures fair competition and protection for agencies against unreasonable and unfair procurement practices. The Code details a fair process to be implemented when procuring services from the profession, whether or not those who are procuring services themselves subscribe to the Code. 

Whilst the ACA appeals to the industry (including clients and consultants) to continue to support the Code, they are specifically requesting that everyone adhere to the updated pitch guidelines, where Tenders and Pitches must be conducted purely on credentials and case studies.

‘Creative pitches are a cost-intensive process for agencies and Covid-19 has presented the industry with massive financial challenges. This update therefore aims to assist agencies in their ability to participate in the pitch process and mitigate any possible financial loss as a result,’ explained ACA Chairman, Wayne Naidoo.

Financial guidance

For further details on new membership payment terms offered, please contact Sharon Bergman via sharon@acasa.co.za.

For further financial assistance, the ACA encourages small businesses to take advantage of the Debt Relief Fund. The fund is aimed at providing relief on existing debts and repayments, to assist SMMEs during the period of the Covid-19 State of Disaster. Businesses can register on smmesa.gov.za and further information and documents can also be found at www.dsbd.gov.za and www.sefa.org.za

‘We hope that these initiatives will provide some relief to our members and assist them to weather the storm brought about by this unforseen situation. The ACA is committed to improving and strengthening the advertising and communications professions and, to that end, we will do everything in our power provide any assistance and guidance that might be required during this critical period,’ concluded Naidoo.

For further information or questions related to the Code of Conduct, agency fee assistance or the cashflow modelling class, please email melanie@acasa.co.za or contact the ACA on (+27 10) 880 3399.

ACA SOUTH AFRICA
+27117812772
ceo@acasa.co.za
www.acasa.co.za

Working Remotely – The New Normal

By
Talent Magnet
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Amanda Mitton, Head of Talent Acquisition and Talent Magnet.

Amanda Mitton, Head of Talent Acquisition and Talent Magnet, states that while there’s no certainty about when lockdown regulations will be relaxed, the reality is that the coronavirus is likely to be with us for a long time ahead, with the allied need for social distancing measures continuing to be encouraged.

As such, it’s highly likely that organisations that have made a success of remote working options will continue working in this way, at least for the foreseeable future. Mere weeks ago remote working was little more than a pipedream for many employees. Then came the global Covid-19 threat and lockdown hit, and within a matter of days, remote working became the de facto business as usual.

It’s useful, therefore, to examine the key considerations that inform remote work, and that drive its efficacy. Effective remote working starts with ensuring everyone in the team is on the same page. Employees need to understand how their individual tasks are linked to revenue generation. No matter the industry you’re in, it’s a tough economic time for everyone, and it’s critical that employees are fully aware of how their work impacts the bottom line. 

Plans and processes

As with every other aspect of a business, it is important to make a plan for how remote work needs to happen. Many of us wouldn’t have had the time to put a system, plan or process in place before the lockdown, which simply means some quick decisions had to be made on the fly.

Now, more than ever, the output takes priority over the process. The quality and timeliness of the output are what matters most, so make sure everyone is very clear on what that output needs to look like. And yes, it may be important to track progress – to assess a quality or to manage client expectations – so find a way to do that which is simple but effective, and then get everyone’s buy-in to ensure smooth sailing. 

When there’s a clear, attainable goal, and all team members are made aware of how their input contributes to that goal, remote working becomes less about working remotely and more about aligning to the objectives and achieving the targets that matter – the ones that impact the bottom line.

Manage meetings

When each member of the team understands what is expected of them, there should be no need for additional meetings. Meetings that are held for the sake only of meeting tend to be nothing but a great waste of time, which in turn leaves everyone feeling anxious about the time they’ve lost unnecessarily.

Curiously, we find that when teams work remotely, more meetings seem to take place. It’s as if they are seeking the validation that automatically results from working in the same space, by compensating with video calls. Caution against this and limit meetings to only the things that cannot be resolved on email. In the same way that in-person meetings are time-consuming, so too do video meetings encroach on productivity and time management.

A meeting needs to serve a clear purpose, and should be underpinned by a good structure that includes an agenda detailing what needs to be discussed and done. While this may seem elementary and even old-fashioned, it can provide much-needed structure and direction to all video meetings. Online meetings, in particular, can become haphazard and extend unnecessarily. An effective way to tackle this is to appoint a timekeeper whose responsibility it is to monitor time spent on any given topic. The idea is to prevent over-debating and to rather get clarity on the action that needs to be taken around a specific issue.

The best approach to a meeting is to keep it short and sharp, and to always first ask ‘should this be an email?’.

Mind your manners (and emotions)

Non-verbal cues form more than 70% of communication. When we’re communicating remotely we tend to miss those cues, which may lead to misunderstandings. Effectively negotiating this relies on a high level of emotional intelligence, but also a willingness to manage your own emotions and expectations with regards to your interactions with others. Team members can navigate this by agreeing to communicate openly and honestly, with the necessary respect, while remaining cognisant of the fact that people manage situations differently, particularly in times of stress.

Lockdown is an unprecedented time for everyone, and that stress will still be with us all when we emerge on the other side. As you work remotely, try to be more thoughtful while committing to communicate as effectively as possible.

High-performance culture

The secret to driving and nurturing a high-performance workplace culture – both in-office and remotely – is to create a space in which team members can trust one another. This typically means foregoing hierarchy and choosing to focus instead on what each member of the team contributes, and how that relates to the broader organisational goals. When team members trust one another, they also trust their colleagues to perform to the best of their abilities. High-performing teams also hold each other accountable – an extension of a culture of trust – which allows them to focus on collective results.

A space in which trust is prioritised also becomes a space in which conflict is not avoided, but embraced as part of a process that allows for better work to be done, and for individuals to flourish. When there is a keen sense of trust, team members usually understand that conflict is necessary to achieve the best results, and that it is about questioning (or even dismissing) an idea, and not an attack on the individual. 

Keeping an open mind, allowing for a measure of flexibility, and committing to a collective goal that supports revenue generation is what it takes to effectively work remotely while still being part of a team. Now’s the time to give it a go – it may entirely change your workplace culture. 

TALENT MAGNET
talentmagnet.co.za

Creatives Help Launch Tomorrow Trust’s Social Media Campaign

By
Modern Marketing
-

Non-profit organisation Tomorrow Trust’s social media campaign was led by FCB Joburg, who partnered with Nfinity, Webfluential and theSALT. The campaign was facilitated by the Nahana Foundation, the corporate social investment arm of the Nahana Communications Group. 

The Tomorrow Trust supports children and youth in need throughout their educational journey and the new social media campaign assists the beneficiaries to stay connected and keep learning during lockdown.

#SchoolUniformChallenge calls for South Africans to post throwback pictures of themselves in their school uniform on social media, and tag two friends, encouraging them to donate R30 and keep the challenge growing.

It kicked off on 11 May with posts by several macro influencers to give reach upfront and ignite the challenge. This content will be followed by posts of other macro, mid-tier and nano influencers who have agreed to drive awareness of the challenge. 

The key objective is to inspire each person who sees a post to donate just R30 or more to help raise R100,000. This will provide 1200 of the Tomorrow Trust’s beneficiaries with connectivity so they can keep up their levels of learning over the school closures with access to free online educational resources.

NAHANA GROUP
+27 11 566 6000
www.nahana.com

Tips For Hosting Online Events

By
Mann Made
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Brad Hook from Mann Made says online events will be around for a while, and if the innovations and releases we have seen just over the last month are anything to go by, the space will become increasingly exciting. Brands, agencies and event managers that embrace the strategic opportunities these platforms have to offer will be Covid-19 (C-19) winners.

By now, we have all attended an online event of some description. Whether it’s on how to protect your investments during the C-19 fallout, or to gain insight into whether your industry is a winner or loser in the post C-19 world.

After testing out a few platforms and experiences, we have identified five ways to leverage digital event-tech for strategic gains.

1. Test communication

  • Online events present a great opportunity to test call-to-action communication.
  • A/B test all channels and ensure your tracking is in place. 
  • Most online event platforms allow for a recording, which can then form part of your post-event communication assets for further testing. 

2. Test your audience development funnels

  • Similar to communication testing, test which channels are performing well for mobilising audiences to converge on taking an action. 
  • Some channels may also have better integration features with your chosen online event platform and current tech stack. This makes the user journey mapping much easier. 

3. Test topics

  • Online events can be produced on a far quicker cadence than traditional live events.
  • This allows event organisers to rapidly test which topics resonate with audiences and which don’t. The same goes for speakers.

4. Stimulate attendee chatter and Q&A

  • Some online event platforms allow for the downloading of the comments and Q&A thread.
  • This information can be a gold mine for data analysis and querying, especially when some comment threads run into thousands of lines.

5. Use VR events for industry round tables 

  • VR event environments have always been a bit mythical, but now they are coming on stream fast.
  • Whilst it’s tempting to imagine whole real-world events becoming virtual, the reality is that VR is currently mostly suited for audiences below 25 participants in an environment. For participants over that, extra rooms can be added.
  • VR is extremely immersive and dynamic. It’s also super fun when well-hosted and can delight audiences like no other digital experience can.
MANN MADE
+27112597120 
sales@mannmade.co.za
mannmade.co.za

Securing The Future Of Your Brand

By
Dentsu Aegis Network
-

Jaco Lintvelt, managing director of Dentsu Data Labs SSA, asks readers to imagine this scenario: after the Covid-19 pandemic is over, your brand is worthless and you have fewer consumers – not because of the impact of the virus, but because your brand’s efforts were more focused on profits than people during a time when consumers expected more.

You will not find one marketing handbook that has a plug and play solution for what the communication and marketing industry is currently experiencing. Globally, it is a challenging time requiring strong marketers to lead their company’s communication and customer experience strategies in the right direction.

As an industry, I think we can commend ourselves for the agility and innovation many of South Africa’s brands have shown.

Jaco Lintvelt, managing director Dentsu Data Labs SSA.

Brands need help during Covid-19

  1. They need help in understanding how people are really feeling and keeping track of the ‘social’ contagion of ideas, feelings and overall morale and how that impacts brands.
  2. Help in designing short term focused solutions for brands around the new ways of interaction due to Covid-19.

Marketers need to understand their audience better than before. If I put my consumer hat on, one thing that has stood out for me, since the first reported case of Covid-19 in South Africa, is the clear distinction between brands that care about people and the brands that care only about short-term profits.

Profits or people? Where should the focus be?

If we look at the impact that Covid-19 has had on our industry, it has equalised the situation to the degree that it affects every single person, company, marketer and communication specialist globally. I find this interesting because if the playing field is now considered even, it makes it possible for consumers to see how different brands are dealing with the same situation. The way that brands handle the communication surrounding Covid-19 makes the margin for error from a brand perspective extremely small as consumers can evaluate the response against the brand’s largest competitors.

What not to do

Very strong brands and brand equity get built over time, and this occurs during the good and the bad times the world experiences. However, I believe that multiple brands are going to lose their brand power if they don’t act quickly and switch from pushing products and services, whilst ignoring the current pandemic, and begin focusing their attention on consumers and their needs during this uncertain time.

I entirely understand that it is a crucial time for every brand to continue recording revenue, however, there are alternative and very responsible ways this must be done. During times of uncertainty, it also becomes even more important to use data and insights to find and reach those customers in the market in the most efficient manner.

Research has shown that audiences are more likely to engage with and adopt messages that make them feel personally involved by triggering an emotional response and there has never been a more important time for brands to get that right.

A good example

I had a return airfare booked with a specific international airline (an airline that I personally remain brand loyal to for a number of reasons). However, before I needed to contact them to cancel my flight, the airline proactively released a communication to its customers ahead of the lockdown to put their minds at ease. The communication stipulated that I wouldn’t need to worry about going through the tedious process of cancelling my ticket, instead the airline would give me redeemable vouchers that are valid for 12 months in order for me to postpone my travels according to a suitable date for me.

As a consumer, not only did the communication put my mind at ease and give me the sense of being cared about, it also increased my brand love and loyalty to this airline forever as the CEO and the internal marketing team were aligned on their focus for people and customer service.

Consumer and customer satisfaction form part of multiple brands’ mission and vision statements, however, the current challenge brands/organisations should be focusing on and demonstrating to their consumers are the promises that they have made over the years and to follow it up with clear action. This airline had all my personal data they needed to keep me updated and make the process easier, and they did exactly that.

Profit or people – perhaps brands can have both?

We are currently assisting multiple brands in figuring out the above situation because, as mentioned earlier, there is no handbook for this situation. In the above airline example, not only did this brand deliver a superior experience to me in comparison to their competitors, they protected their future revenues. The airline ensured I still believed in them and that I did not incur any financial damage as their valued consumer. The brand thought long-term, they focused on profits but tailored their short-term messaging to consumers and drove their strategy based on customer retention (with even more potential profits that they will make from me in the future).

The outlook

I understand that currently for most brands the outlook on how to treat the future is challenging. My advice is simple:

  1. Make sure what the business stands for is aligned to current communication.
  2. Make it impossible for your consumers to feel that you care more about profit than them as your customer.
  3. It is more important than ever to maintain communication that is relevant to the current situation and to do this consistently. Do not keep to the same content and creative that you would normally use.
  4. It is not the time to stop talking to consumers as they will start making their own assumptions on your stance. Why would a brand want to be quiet in a time when people are looking to them for guidance?
  5. If the consumers cannot buy from you now or in the near future, tell them why and what you are going to be doing to help them in the interim.
  6. Be proactive and reach out to your loyal consumers and make it easier for them to cancel/postpone/reconsider their options when it comes to the services you sell.

Now is the time to secure the future of your brand

If your brand is aligned to actioning your brand’s promise, actively promoting content that matters, and caring about your consumers during this time, I believe that not only will your brand presence remain stable, I am confident that it will be even stronger post-Covid-19, and that your customers will believe you when you tell them that you care.

These are the consumers that will stand by you for life.

DENTSU AEGIS NETWORK 
+27214425600 
HelloSSA@dentsuaegis.com
www.dentsuaegisnetwork.co.za

Top Online Tools To Simplify Working Remotely

By
Bluegrass Digital
-

Bluegrass Digital CEO Nick Durrant says businesses and brands that have adopted a remote working strategy have already realised some of the benefits, including reduced costs, less time commuting, higher staff retention and increased productivity. Companies now also have access to a wider pool of job applicants at more competitive rates.

Working from Home (WFH) has unexpectedly become an essential requirement for nearly every business, and the pandemic has forced them to enable flexibility for their staff. It has certainly accelerated the pace of change and although remote working or WFH has its challenges, it also opens up opportunities and increased collaboration among teams. 

There are many benefits but also some challenges related to managing a distributed team. Here are some remote work tools for distributed teams to address these challenges and enjoy more benefits.

Trello

Trello, a collaboration tool that organises projects into boards, is perfect for project and task management. The Kanban boards are flexible and tell you what’s being worked on, who’s working on what, and where something is in a process. Imagine a whiteboard, filled with lists of sticky notes, with each note as a task for you and your team. Trello is not only for work environments; it is also great for maintaining your own ‘To Do’ lists. Each morning, set a routine by creating and managing your daily goals. 

Doodle

Doodle is the simplest way to schedule meetings with clients, colleagues or friends. The web-based scheduling tool promises to eliminate the hassle of organising meetings via email or phone. You set up the meeting details, include however many time options you wish, and invite others via email to respond to the poll.

Zoom

Zoom brings teams together with its easy, reliable and innovative video-first unified communications platform that provides video meetings, voice, webinars and chat across desktops, phones, mobile devices and conference room systems. Zoom helps businesses create elevated experiences with leading business app integrations and developer tools to create customised workflows.

Teams

Teams is a chat-based collaboration tool that provides global, remote and dispersed teams with the ability to work together and share information in their own environment. There are a range of features that combine the power of Office365, OneDrive and Sharepoint – bringing together document collaboration, one-on-one chat, team chat and more.

Serene

Serene is a free productivity tool for remote workers and teams. It helps remote workers to cut out distractions, stay focused on tasks at hand and get work done faster. The app helps remote workers to maximise efficiency by focusing on specific goals. 

The app blocks distracting apps and websites and keeps staff on track to complete the task at hand. By doing this, Serene helps everyone on the team be more productive. This means tasks are completed faster and goals are achieved sooner.

Toggl

Toggl is a productivity app that is designed for teams and remote workers to maximise productivity. It is a time tracking tool that runs in the background while users work on tasks. It is essentially designed to track the time to complete tasks. 

Management can also see how much time each team member is spending on individual tasks. This helps to monitor productivity and to determine whether anyone is taking on too much or too little work. In terms of productivity apps, Toggl is as simple as it gets for making sure tasks are being completed fast enough.

Slack

This is a team communication tool to make remote working and collaboration easier. The app organises all communications into specific channels, which team members can then either join or leave, ensuring that nobody receives irrelevant messages or notifications.

These conversations can also be broken down into threads, thereby keeping separate message streams outside of the main channel. This ensures that conversations don’t get in the way of main topics.

BLUEGRASS DIGITAL 
hello@bluegrassdigtal.com
bluegrassdigital.com

Brands Can Drive The Commercial Evolution Of Organisations Into A New Era

By
Vodacom
-
Vodacom Sponsors The #Loeries2019 Shared Value Category
Abey Mokgwatsane, Vodacom Managing executive of brand, communication and sponsorship.

According to Abey Mokgwatsane, Managing executive of brand, communication and sponsorship at Vodacom, humanity has just been dealt a body blow, leaving us feeling vulnerable and anxious and questioning the very core of our personal existence. This creates an opportunity for brands to step up and provide utility, assurance and hope.

It is done through aligning an organisation with an ambition beyond profit to one that creates shared value by also making the world a better place. This builds customer trust, which is in deficit at the moment.

We have a new time stamp: before Corona and after Corona. Covid-19 has created fundamental changes to the way we live, work and think. Two significant implications come to mind for brands in this new era: a requirement to drive purpose-led organisations, and accelerated digital transformation.

Digital transformation is now no longer an option as customers’ requirements to trade and engage seamlessly at any time and from anywhere becomes a reality. Covid-19 has come with a lot of pain, but as the saying goes, never waste a good crisis. Brands can now drive the commercial evolution of organisations into a new era.

How then, do brands navigate this time?

The anchor for any brand should be its organisational purpose. Good organisations know what they do, great organisations know how to do it but the best organisations know why they do what they do. Even better is when that why is inextricably linked to creating a more sustainable world. Purpose helps steer organisations in times of crisis. In chaos, the speed of decisions and alignment are critical. Organisations that do not have the North Star that purpose provides will find themselves with decision bottlenecks, unable to execute effectively.

Why is this important for brands? Brands ultimately have to build trust by ensuring that communication and customer experience are congruent. Having a clear purpose safeguards this congruency as everyone is singing from the same proverbial hymn sheet.

This segues into the matter of digital transformation. Who is driving your organisation’s digital transformation? Your CEO? The CTO? Or Covid-19? I suspect for many organisations Covid-19 has accelerated the digital evolution of the enterprise. Customers who have sidestepped digital channels now have no choice but to adopt them to get access to services. My mother is now shopping online from two different retailers for weekly groceries and I doubt she will ever default to driving to the shops for everything again.

Online shopping is only the tip of the iceberg. Purpose-driven initiatives create irreversible change in customer behaviour that will be sustained beyond Covid-19. In a crisis, new behaviours and connections are made, and the adoption of digital tools and channels will accelerate. The implication for brands is that customer experience becomes a core competency and an expression of brand utility. Chief marketing officers must evolve to become chief customer experience officers.

There has never been a better time to be part of the brand function. Organisations are looking to build trust as customers hold them accountable now more than ever before. Purpose gives brand professionals an opportunity to dig into the gut of a business and play an active role in how the business plans and executes what it does, and to be honest with what is said in communication. Digital transformation has now accelerated to the mainstream, giving brand professionals another opportunity to drive an essential commercial delivery platform.

VODACOM 
www.vodacom.com

Industry Interview: Loeries CEO On Using Creativity To Create Change In Advertising

By
Modern Marketing
-
Preetesh Sewraj, CEO of The Loeries.

As part of its exclusive industry interview series, Modern Marketing held an online industry interview with Loeries CEO Preetesh Sewraj, who discusses what he enjoys most about working in the industry, 2020 industry trends, advice for creating successful campaigns and more. 

Early life

Sewraj attended university at a time when opportunities of getting into the marketing, branding and adverting industries for people of colour was very limited. ‘I was lucky to have been exposed to my university newspaper – where my love of branding and advertising came from. I was the advertising manager for that paper. I did not start off by studying advertising, I started off by really discovering my love for it, then figured out every way possible to get into it,’ he said. 

He started off his career in the marketing department of Procter & Gamble (P&G). He then discovered a brand called Product of The Year – a global agency that helps brands advertise and work better. Sewraj brought the Product of The Year brand to South Africa and through that organisation opened various companies, which did television ads for brands such as Unilever, Plascon, Danone etc. He spent a few years there before getting a call from the Loeries.

What have you enjoyed most about working in the industry?

‘The people are amazingly talented. We have the most diverse group possible across any industry – those who are analytical, some who are artistic and others who have ideas of how to move communication forward.’ He said that he really enjoys the diverse discussions and sometimes the diverse arguments that he comes across. 

Any notable industry changes?

‘The resilience of the industry to bounce back from major challenges. I remember the 2008 global economic crisis where budgets were cut and global economies were in turmoil. There were also talks about job cuts and shrinking agencies – basically a shrinking brand community. The industry was resilient and bounced back from all of that.’

While he acknowledges that the Covid-19 pandemic might be with us for a long time – based on his past experience with the 2008 crisis – he still believes that the industry is resilient and will bounce back stronger than ever.

Keys to being successful in this industry

‘It really comes down to understanding the consumer and being willing to challenge boundaries. Our industry is about creativity – let creativity be rooted in human thrills. If you can take the narrative of the human experience, and find a creative layer and outlet to communicate this to a wide range of people, then that is the right step to success.’

Other interests

Sewraj studied archaeology and is obsessed with it. He relishes the opportunity to interact with archaeological relics and has a Roman ring that is 1900 years old. ‘I like the story of us and where we come from.’

To see Sewraj’s views on creating successful campaigns, using creativity for change and 2020 industry trends, view the video below.

 

Sewraj’s Dettol project, which he touches on in the video interview:

 

LOERIES 
www.loeries.com

Modern Marketing Digital TrendCamp: Where Does Your Brand Feature When It Comes To All Things Online?

By
Modern Marketing
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Our Modern Marketing Digital TrendCamp video features Craig Fester, Online Marketing Specialist at 1-grid, who focuses on positioning your brand/business online. 

The video is live on our YouTube channel – don’t forget to subscribe to the channel for more videos on advertising/branding/marketing trends and topics.

Send a 3-4 minute audible video of yourself at home. The video should be about a general advertising/branding/marketing trend/topic (not a product or company promotion).

To submit your video and for more information, please contact thapy@practicalpublishing.co.za

1 GRID.COM
saskia.schuldig@1-grid.com
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