Marketing gurus share ideas for standing out
AUCKLAND PARK — Two of the country's marketing and brand gurus shared what sets them apart.
Two of South Africa’s most revered names in marketing, Alistair King and Katherine Madley shared their knowledge and expertise at UJ’s Kingsway Campus on 26 March.
Hosted by the Department of Marketing Management, the two shared experience and what it took to build brands. King, the co-founder of King James Advertising Agency has worked with big names including, Allan Gray, Kulula, Johnny Walker and Bells. He reflected on the unorthodox way in which his company worked to build the Allan Gray brand.
“It came down to good old-fashioned, gut and intuition. Allan Gray got to know us as people and not just an agency and every piece of advertising we have won has been through a very personal introduction. We worked with simplicity so from the get go, you already know what you will be getting.”
King said people easily get excited and swayed by the ‘next big thing’ but Allan Gray’s seemingly conservative nature worked wonders for them. “The ads were about having a single goal and sticking to it.”
He added that the marketing industry is undervalued, solidifying that the Allan Gray brand was built on intuition, mostly, “It was all from the heart and the client had the capacity to believe in that.”
Katherine Madly has worked for the First Rand Group. She recently took up group innovation at Alexander Forbes and occasionally guest lectures at UJ. She explored the question Does your business have feet of clay?
She said the most important factor in creating customer and employee satisfaction was attending to people. Madly referred to an incident where a Cell C customer shamed the service provider with a big banner a couple of weeks back.
“You ask yourself what could possibly drive someone to spend all that money just to make a point. It is simple – being ignored, is one of the worst human experiences.”
She gave some tips on how to produce a brand with a higher purpose and to impact popular culture in a unique way.
- Don’t ignore your stakeholders.
- Ensure that you keep your staff informed.
- Never let the sun go down on a client complaint.
- The art of service must be integrated into your brand’s DNA.
- Learn how to confidently confront your brand’s bullies.
- Reward service and innovation.
- Make sure you have a silver bullet.
