Online advertising revenue in South Africa is expected to reach R183-million in 2006, and to pass the R200-million mark in 2007, according to a new survey from World Wide Worx. Read More

A groundbreaking South African research project that explores the power of networks and the impact of word-of-mouth marketing has come up with fascinating findings about major local brands and has generated a revolutionary new marketing tool. Read More

“When will the so called ‘emerging’ middle class finally be recognised as having emerged?” was the question asked by Beatrice Kubheka, Managing Director of African Response at the From Pap to Pasta to Sushi event hosted by her company last week. Read More

Commissioned by Walpole and undertaken by Added Value, the research cracks ‘the DNA Code’ of luxury brands, categorises luxury consumers and compares their motivations in different markets. Read More

Corporate marketing groups – especially bandwidth-challenged small-to-mid-sized departments – can be so focused on tactics and fire fighting that they jeopardize their marketing investment. There is a tendency to overreact to events, to tackle symptoms rather than underlying fundamental problems and to jump at the opportunity to please the boss. Many times, this kind of tactical knee jerking may be fatal. Read More

Two surveys are currently conducted in the automotive industry in South Africa. Both surveys track vehicle quality and customer service offered by the different automotive brands. Both aim to assist manufacturers in identifying quality problems as well as help consumers in making informed decisions when purchasing cars. Very importantly, both surveys are published. Read More

Travel consumers want atmosphere, memories, escapism, responsive hosts and their expectations met, according to Synovate’s first measurement of the South African Domestic Tourism Barometer, a unique study focusing on the upper LSM’s. Read More

The introduction of mobile number portability (MNP) during the second half of this year promises to benefit the country’s millions of cellular subscribers by increasing competition and forcing mobile operators to sharpen their focus on customer service. Read More

“Just like any form of job creation, BEE carries with it the opportunity to make ordinary lives better,” says Beatrice Kubheka, Managing Director of African Response. Too often, with the increased and now intense focus on scorecards and deadlines, the concept of BEE boils down to numbers - numbers that are very much dependent on the control and ownership in companies. Read More

Do yourself a favour and do some online searches on the matter of “Brain Drain”. It’s freaky to see how many countries, even China and the USA, complain about the brain drain in their countries – I mean really now! Apparently many USA-based companies outsource their knowledge work load and responsibilities to China. Read More

It’s quite funny, really, whilst contemplating the relevance of policies and procedures in companies of any size, an article appeared in a local newspaper about a rather big organization concerning this exact matter… and it most definitely made my day when I read the article as it proved a point. This company claimed that it had put in place stringent and extremely rigorous policies and procedures, and therefore it is rather impossible that anything could go wrong in their organization and processes. Read More

Over the last decade, brands and brand-builders have been challenged by the rapid evolution of the market that defines them. The emergence of Generations X and Y as the dominant forces in purchasing decision-making has changed the way that brand-builders have considered their market. Brands and their guardians have been placed under increased pressure to identify and market to ever-smaller segments of brand-consumers. Read More

One of the most traumatic things you will ever experience as a sales or marketing manager is having all the right info, sales statistics, plan your forecasting according to that and then still battle to sell anything. “Not even one of the idiots in your team can get anything sold this financial year…” What the heck is going on! Read More

Sometimes, giving your customers a choice is just not on. Not always for their sake, but for your sake. Also not always for the reasons you think, but also for some reasons that may seem as trivial as the fact that you may seem like a Jack-of-all-Trades… master of none. Read More

It is one of life's great frustrations when you rush off to the shop to buy formula for your hungry and screaming baby at home, whom you have left in the desperate clutches of your partner, and your usual store is out of stock. It gets worse when you go to the next store and they do not have any either. Read More