Bradly Howland, CEO, Alkemi Collective and President of the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA), says one of his team leads submitted a first draft of a client strategy document in under two hours. It was polished, well-structured, and covered all the expected ground. It was also, on closer reading, almost entirely generic. The […]
Darren Morris, CEO of Lucky Hustle, says half the room thinks AI is coming for everyone’s jobs. The other half thinks it can magically do everyone’s jobs. Both sides are missing the point: AI is not the threat; unoriginal thinking is. AI Adoption Is No Longer The Debate The South African industry is already deep […]
Jacques Burger, CEO at The Up&Up Group, says as creative industry leaders, we like to believe we are in the business of rational persuasion. We talk about being data-led, insight-driven and optimised. We measure what works and we defend what we can prove. We build cases, not just campaigns. And yet, quietly, often uncomfortably, we […]
Leslie Adams, Sales Director at Reach Africa, says Connected TV (CTV) receives just 7% of total media budgets, despite delivering a knockout punch on returns (30% higher ROI according to Analytics Partners). The question worth asking is why, because CTV is not new anymore, and the evidence is strong. Audiences have already made the move, […]
Xoliswa Mkize, Senior Client Success Manager at Humanz, says working on fintech influencer campaigns across Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Uganda, and Zambia has reinforced a simple but critical lesson: influencer marketing across African markets does not scale through duplication, it scales through precision. Pan-African marketing strategies are often built on the assumption that Africa can be […]
The agency-client relationship is undergoing a radical transformation in 2026. The days of ‘creative for creative’s sake’ have officially been replaced by a demand for uncompromising accountability. With every cent of marketing spend under scrutiny, the definition of ‘value’ has shifted from the volume of output to the velocity of impact. According to Neill Robertson, […]
Garon Campbell, Founder and Director, Breadbin Productions, discusses why AI prompting is pulling editors upstream. Most editors recognise this pattern, even if it is rarely called out directly: the footage arrives, the first assembly begins, and somewhere along the early cuts, it becomes clear that something is not working in the way it was expected […]
Steve Duck, Chief Revenue Officer: Media at Tractor Outdoor, says South Africa now has roughly 16,200 billboard faces, with steady growth over the past six months, and digital inventory expanding even faster, with roadside screens up around 10% year-on-year. But most of that growth continues to concentrate in Gauteng, where new sites are added to […]
Nombulelo Ntakakazi, Marketing Academic and Lecturer at Milpark Education, discusses responsible marketing’s role in a marketplace where confidence must be earned. There is no doubt that consumer trust is evolving. Shoppers are willing to spend 51% more with retailers they trust compared to those they do not, but that trust is fragile. In fact, building trust requires an […]
Mogorosi Mashilo, Founder and Director at Trender, a VML supplier development partner, says research only becomes useful when you know how to use it effectively. That starts with gathering the right insights to achieve your specific goals. It also means knowing how to interpret the information you receive and use it strategically. Here’s where many […]