On Wednesday, 6 November Pat on Brands (POB) held its season finale of the Pat on Brands Dialogues under the theme Marketing in 2020 starring Alistair Mokoena, Gugu Nkabinde and Nontokozo Madonsela. The dialogues were hosted at Tshimologong Precinct in Braamfontein.
A little bit about the Pat on Brands Dialogues
The Pat on Brands Dialogues is a series of events that encourage a conversation between seasoned marketers and the younger generation of marketers. The dialogues start with the seasoned marketers aka storytellers sharing their stories about their journey in the industry followed by the audience asking pertinent questions on the theme. The MD of Pat on Brands – Thokozani Pat Mahlangu then facilitates the dialogues. Storytelling is at the center of the dialogues as it is the most powerful way of transferring knowledge and wisdom.
Marketing in 2020
As we are approaching the end of 2019, it is appropriate to reflect on the year 2019 was and most importantly look forward to what 2020 holds for marketing. The storytellers shared powerful insights on some of the marketing trends that will emerge in 2020. Purposeful Marketing and Influencer Marketing were at the center of discussion.
Purpose-driven work
“Brands need to do more than chasing the bottom line. They need to play an active role in addressing some of the social ills that our country is facing, and they need to do so without treating it as “CSI projects” said Alistair Mokoena, Ogilvy South Africa CEO. Mokoena also encouraged the young marketers and entrepreneurs to do work that fills them with purpose, to live a life in service of something greater than themselves.
Who influences who?
One of the most important questions that were asked in the evening was whether influencer marketing will still have a place in 2020. In response to this question Gugu Nkabinde CEO and Founder of Gugu Intimates posed a question “who influences who?”. Marketers need to look beyond vanity metrics i.e likes, comments, followers, etc and dig deep insights. Nkabinde gave examples of influencer campaigns including the one where she ran a campaign with an influencer with over 200k followers. She gave the influencer a voucher code to share with her followers and that influencer only managed to sell two items.
The objectives need to be clear for influencer marketing. If the objective is to drive perhaps the influencer with the highest number of followers is the ideal choice versus the one with a smaller following.
There’s always food in the fridge
Nontokozo Madonsela Group CMO at Momentum and Metropolitan Holdings made a call to the young marketers to be resourceful and have an entrepreneurial mindset. She said, “there’s always food in the fridge” adding that marketers need to use what they have at their disposal and budget should never be a constraint to producing great work.
Special Pats go to…
- The storytellers for dedicating their time to share their knowledge and wisdom with the future leaders of industries
- Tshimologong Precinct for opening their doors to host the Pat on Brands Dialogues.
- Cucumbers & Cream for making sure that attendees are well-fed
- Varsity TV for capturing every moment of the dialogues
- Lilo for always gifting the storytellers Netflorist for the surprise and delight for the storytellers
- Netflorist for the surprise and delight for the storytellers.
- Everyone who attended the dialogues.
