Digital marketing is not actually the way of the future
On 2 November, The IMM Institute hosted their regular ‘IMM Friday’ session in Rosebank, Johannesburg. During these sessions, The IMM gets together some of the most influential minds in the spheres of advertising and marketing to share their knowledge and experience.
In this particular session, heavyweights such as:
- Ahmed Tilley, executive creative director of Black River Football Club (the creators of all the Nandos campaigns);
- Justin Spratt, CEO of Quirk Digital Marketing;
- Rob Mclennan, executive creative director at Net#work BBDO;
- Gordon Muller, CEO at GSM Quadrant;
were on the bill speaking about everything from the future of advertising to the future of radio.
It is well documented how marketing can assist HR by, for example, building stronger customer relationships, through internal brand building. This means that it is necessary for us, as HR practitioners, to learn more about marketing principles and new developments.
With this in mind, I’ve picked out a few interesting points from this presentation:
| The future of advertising is not in print or even in digital – digital is just a medium you use to market your product. The future of advertising is, was, and always will be in the idea behind your ad. So make sure that the value behind your product is strongly communicated through your advertising and that the idea behind it is strong so that people who respond to your advertising will not be swayed by the promise of a free IPad or the like, and will actually be responding to your advertising because they want your product. | |
| The creative directors and copy writers in agencies must work closely with the guys who understand the code so that the creatives’ ideas can be successfully translated into code. Otherwise you run the risk of getting a shoddy product in the end. | |
| Radio is the oldest digital medium and is the medium which reaches the largest number of people in South Africa. So, when you’re planning your marketing campaigns for next year, don’t discount radio – you would not be reaching your target market if you do… | |
| Don’t cut corners when you’re deciding where to concentrate your marketing spend for 2013: Make sure you carefully do your research about which medium will best reach your target market. Above all, don’t decide to cut costs in your marketing spend because if you do, chances are very good that you’ll end up not reaching the right people because you’ve decided to use a cheaper advertising medium. |
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Lia Marus is the editor of HR Pulse. She has a BA in French, Italian and Linguistics from UCT, an MA in translation from Wits and a Postgraduate Diploma in Management from the Wits Business School. She is currently studying towards her LLB through Unisa. Lia started her career off in corporate communications, where she worked as a sub-editor, researcher and marketing coordinator. She then heeded the call of the publishing world and went into the business-to-business publishing field. She worked as a sub-editor as well as a chief sub-editor. Before joining ITWeb, she managed an HR guidebook at a leading international publishing company. |
