The last stretch of the year often pushes creative teams to the edge, says Darren Morris, CEO of Lucky Hustle. Every year, as the festive season approaches, the advertising and creative industries face a familiar tension. Brands push out campaigns and year-end content at full speed, while creative teams feel the growing pressure of constant […]
South Africa’s retail economy runs on predictable rhythms and nowhere is this more visible than in the country’s mid-market malls. Far from being discretionary or ‘nice-to-have’ shopping destinations, these centres serve as essential retail hubs for millions of South Africans who shop close to home, commute through connected commuter nodes and make frequent visits that sustain local economies. Retail accounts for [...]
Viewers might go on holiday, but viewing certainly doesn’t. Leslie Adams, Sales Director at Reach Africa, says for years, the industry has repeated the same old December cliché: Come the unofficial start of the summer holidays with the long weekend of the 16th, expect all audiences to pack up, head out and ‘switch off’, leaving […]
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 […]
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 […]
Tara Turkington, CEO of Flow Communications, asks: What’s the point of using an agency? It’s a provocative question, but one that every organisation and agency needs to grapple with. The traditional model – where agencies operated as siloed service providers, responding to briefs and delivering outputs – is being disrupted. The world we work in today demands something different: integrated, agile [...]
As South African retailers prepare for the most lucrative period of the year, key insights show that businesses focusing solely on Black Friday and Christmas are missing out on significant revenue opportunities. The Digital Media Collective’s (TDMC’s) analysis reveals that successful peak season campaigns should span multiple high-impact periods rather than focusing on single events. The extended peak season now spans [...]
For decades, retail has been a fallback option rather than a destination. Yet this is the sector that employs almost one in five South Africans and contributes significantly to GDP. Behind these impressive numbers, however, lies a stark gap: more than three-quarters of the customer-facing workforce have no formal or transferable retail qualifications. The result has been chronic skills shortages, uneven [...]
The continent is in the midst of a profound shift in how entertainment and media (E&M) is created, consumed and monetised. This is according to PwC’s latest Africa Entertainment and Media Outlook – Perspectives Report 2025–2029. The report reveals that Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa are not only outperforming global benchmarks but are also redefining the future of media through mobile-first [...]
With online content becoming more dazzling by the day, it’s getting harder to wow people and harder still to make content that leaves any kind of lasting impression. Add to that the growing trend towards screen fatigue and digital detoxing, and the message is clear: if brands want to stand out, digital-only is not the way. But pairing it with a [...]