Brand summit to look at branding SA as a country
Particularly interesting will be a discussion about the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” and how South Africa should best prepare for it
The Brand Summit South Africa, successfully inaugurated in Cape Town in May 2018, will this year be hosted at The Forum in Bryanston, Gauteng on June 6-7.
The inaugural event was opened by South Africa’s Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, who delivered an address anchored on the spirit of and values enshrined in the Preamble to South Africa’s Constitution.
Gary Leih, a highly respected brand specialist and Founder of Leih’s Truth and Propaganda, delivered a paper on the importance of country branding.
Other speakers at the inaugural summit were Prof Thuli Madonsela, former Public Protector of South Africa, Bonang Mohale, CEO of Business Leadership South Africa, Kganki Matabane, CEO of Black Business Council, Mteto Nyati, CEO of Altron, Simon Sussman, Chairman of Woolworths Holdings, Themba Maseko, former CEO of the GCIS, Neeshan Bolton, Executive Director of the Achmat Kathrada Foundation, and other prominent leaders in corporate South Africa, media, politics, education, sports, community development, social justice, etc.
Delegates came from as far afield as Nigeria, Ghana, France, Ethiopia, Namibia, Kenya, Russia and Switzerland, with others sending video recorded messages from Beijing, New Delhi, Budapest and Moscow.
“The partnership with the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (PRISA) and City Nation Place Ltd is a natural one for this event,” said Solly Moeng, summit convenor.
“Much of the content of the summit’s programme revolves around issues of country brand/destination reputation management, which include public relations and communication management, stakeholder engagement, reputation management, destination marketing strategies and best practice. Professionals in all these areas of activity have a lot to contribute and to learn from the planned discussions,” he said.
PRISA executive director Victor Sibeko said: “For us, Brand Summit South Africa will provide an ideal opportunity for our members to move from theory to discussing a real, evolving, brand, a country brand. A discussion on South Africa, the country brand, is very close to our hearts and will be exciting to analyse from various touch points.”
City Nation Place creates forums around the world for sharing expertise to promote best practice. Bringing together national government teams, city marketing boards, mayoral teams, destination marketing organisations and investment promotion boards, City Nation Place forums have become the go-to events to learn how to develop and implement a collaborative vision of the brand strengths and ambitions of a country, city, region or place, to drive economic development.
Absent from the 2018 summit, now introduced into the 2019 programme, will be a brand-new discussion panel consisting of “leaders of the future”, dynamic speakers under the age of 35 who will share their views and expectations of South Africa in the context of fast-evolving domestic, regional, continental and global dynamics. Particularly interesting will be a discussion about what they understand by “Fourth Industrial Revolution” and how they think South Africa should best prepare for it.
In addition to an expected bigger African and global delegation, the 2019 keynote address will be delivered by the much-respected Kenyan Prof Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba, associate professor of public law and founding dean at the Kabarak University School of Law in Kenya.
Sisa Ntshona, CEO of SA Tourism, will also speak at the 2019 summit.
For more information and to register as a delegate or nominate a South African brand for the awards, go to www.sabrandsummit.co.za, email info@sabrandsummit.co.za or call 021 671 4356.
