How Customer Expectations Reshape Marketing

How does your marketing change when customers start using your brand differently? Pride Mnene Hlungwani, Senior Marketing Manager at bp Southern Africa, joins Mongezi Mtati to explore how customer expectations should influence brand strategy and customer experience.Recorded at the Nedbank IMC Conference, this conversation examines bp’s evolving role in everyday shopping, the value of understanding customer routines and how loyalty data can make communication more relevant. Pride also shares why franchisees and frontline teams belong in the conversation about what customers need.We explore the balance between a global brand’s core and its local expression, including regional food preferences and bp’s involvement in Red Bull Shay' iMoto through bp Ultimate. Pride reflects on the openness marketers need to support ideas shaped by South African culture.Five insights to take into your marketing decisions:Reassess what customers rely on your brand to provide.Make loyalty communication useful within their routines.Combine data analysis with knowledge from customer-facing teams.Create room for local culture within the brand strategy.Let listening and feedback improve ideas before execution. Sponsored by award-winning digital agency Rogerwilco. Hosted by Mongezi Mtati.Thanks to our production partners, Soweto Media, for the production and post-production on this episode.___________________________Buy us coffee here to help us grow.___________________________Produced in collaboration with our partners, Soweto Media.___________________________The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:AppleSpotifyYouTubeFollow us on:LinkedInFacebookXInstagramSend us mail!Support the showBuy us coffee here to help us grow.Follow us for more on:YouTubeLinkedIn InstagramSend us mail! Support the showBuy us coffee here to help us grow. Follow us for more on:YouTubeLinkedIn Instagram

How people find music can show how culture takes hold. Siya ‘Slikour’ Metane remembers listeners using Datafile Host to discover and share songs. A routine born of need gave people a way to hear something new and pass it on. For marketers, there is something to learn in how that routine worked and why it stuck.Mongezi Mtati talks to Slikour, Group CEO and Founder of SlikourOnLife, and Kabelo Mabalane, a musician and endurance athlete, on The Lead Creative at the 2026 Nedbank IMC Conference.How repeated behaviour becomes something people pass onWhat Kabelo recognised in early amapianoWhy Slikour keeps coming back to purpose as attention shiftsWhat a grocer can learn from the way customers shopWhat it means to back people building their own businessesContinue the Nedbank IMC series with Dr Thebe Ikalafeng on what turns belief in African brands into brand preference.Sponsored by award-winning digital agency Rogerwilco. Hosted by Mongezi Mtati.Thanks to our production partners, Soweto Media, for the production and post-production on this episode.___________________________Buy us coffee here to help us grow.___________________________Produced in collaboration with our partners, Soweto Media.___________________________The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:AppleSpotifyYouTubeFollow us on:LinkedInFacebookXInstagramSend us mail!Support the showBuy us coffee here to help us grow.Follow us for more on:YouTubeLinkedIn InstagramSend us mail! Make a donation to Threads for Ikasi, a foundation that provides school uniforms, dignity packs and other essentials to children in townships, rural areas and under-resourced communities. To support them, go to: https://threadsforikasi.org Support the showBuy us coffee here to help us grow. Follow us for more on:YouTubeLinkedIn Instagram

How can African brands turn belief in the continent into customer preference? Dr Thebe Ikalafeng, Chairman of Brand Africa, joins Mongezi Mtati at the 2026 Nedbank IMC Conference to examine what influences the brands people choose.Thebe explores the historical preference for foreign products, the growth of African brands and the barriers emerging businesses face when trying to reach customers. A young beverage entrepreneur’s experience with a branded fridge makes the distribution challenge concrete.Key insights:How perceptions of African quality influence brand preferenceWhat successful African brands could help others understandWhy trust depends on how a brand fits into people’s livesThe human judgement Thebe wants to retain when working with AISponsored by award-winning digital agency Rogerwilco. Hosted by Mongezi Mtati.Thanks to our production partners, Soweto Media, for the production and post-production on this episode.___________________________Buy us coffee here to help us grow.___________________________Produced in collaboration with our partners, Soweto Media.___________________________The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:AppleSpotifyYouTubeFollow us on:LinkedInFacebookXInstagramSend us mail!Support the showBuy us coffee here to help us grow.Follow us for more on:YouTubeLinkedIn InstagramSend us mail! Support the showBuy us coffee here to help us grow. Follow us for more on:YouTubeLinkedIn Instagram

If your team can produce content faster, what keeps it distinctly yours?Dawn Rowlands, CEO of dentsu Africa, discusses the importance of data quality and adaptable design systems with Mongezi Mtati on The Lead Creative, recorded at the Nedbank IMC Conference.She describes using conversational signals to inform campaigns and explains why the foundations behind the output deserve attention as production accelerates.In this conversationHow the quality of the underlying data affects creative output.Why design systems need to support adaptation as well as recognition.The risk of producing work that resembles the competition.What marketers need to understand about platform distribution.Why quicker tools also require a workable approval process.The discussion also explores customer loyalty, changing agency competition and the decisions needed to put greater ambition into practice.Sponsored by award-winning digital agency Rogerwilco. Hosted by Mongezi Mtati.Thanks to our production partners, Soweto Media, for the production and post-production on this episode.___________________________Buy us coffee here to help us grow.___________________________Produced in collaboration with our partners, Soweto Media.___________________________The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:AppleSpotifyYouTubeFollow us on:LinkedInFacebookXInstagramSend us mail!Support the showBuy us coffee here to help us grow.Follow us for more on:YouTubeLinkedIn InstagramSend us mail! Support the showBuy us coffee here to help us grow. Follow us for more on:YouTubeLinkedIn Instagram

Marketing can master AI and still miss what matters to people. As advertising and brand teams adopt new tools, how much attention are they giving to the psychological changes that come with them?Tahaab Rais, Group Chief Strategy Officer of Publicis Groupe MENAT, joins Mongezi Mtati on The Lead Creative for a conversation recorded at the 2026 Nedbank IMC Conference.Rais explores how technology changes the people brands serve and the teams creating the work. Five key insights for your marketing strategyUnderstand the human changes behind your technology plans.Give people a reason to value your brand through the four E’s.Use community passions to develop culturally relevant ideas.Build channel thinking into the brief from the start.Address team confidence as AI changes the creative process.Sponsored by award-winning digital agency Rogerwilco. Hosted by Mongezi Mtati.Thanks to our production partners, Soweto Media, for the production and post-production on this episode.___________________________Buy us coffee here to help us grow.___________________________Produced in collaboration with our partners, Soweto Media.___________________________The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:AppleSpotifyYouTubeFollow us on:LinkedInFacebookXInstagramSend us mail!Support the showBuy us coffee here to help us grow.Follow us for more on:YouTubeLinkedIn InstagramSend us mail! Support the showBuy us coffee here to help us grow. Follow us for more on:YouTubeLinkedIn Instagram

The people who will drive your brand’s future growth may already be influencing what gets bought today. Gugu Mthembu, CMO of Telkom, explores why brands should listen to younger audiences now and use that understanding to think about the products they may need in five years.Gugu shares how Telkom’s approach to the creator economy began with African language radio DJs and the communities that trusted them. She explains why a brand’s role in culture depends on understanding those relationships and contributing value as audiences move between platforms.In this episodeChallenging whether a category is meeting people’s needs.Connecting with young people before they become direct customers.Understanding trust in creator and radio partnerships.Keeping people central to platform decisions.Sponsored by award-winning digital agency Rogerwilco. Hosted by Mongezi Mtati.Thanks to our production partners, Soweto Media, for the production and post-production on this episode.___________________________Buy us coffee here to help us grow.___________________________Produced in collaboration with our partners, Soweto Media.___________________________The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:AppleSpotifyYouTubeFollow us on:LinkedInFacebookXInstagramSend us mail! Support the showBuy us coffee here to help us grow. Follow us for more on:YouTubeLinkedIn Instagram

Algorithms optimise towards the familiar. Brands, however, need to be remembered for something distinctive.In this episode of The Lead Creative’s Marketers’ Brief series, Refilwe Maluleke, Executive Head of Marketing at Discovery Health, and Bridget Harpur, Head of Marketing at Volkswagen South Africa, join Mongezi Mtati and Bizcommunity Managing Editor Danette Breitenbach to explore why intelligent, experienced marketing teams still produce advertising that looks and sounds like everything else.In this episode, they unpack:Why algorithms can push advertising towards a sea of sameness.How crowded briefs and approval committees weaken promising ideas.Why data tells marketers what people do, but not necessarily why they do it.What 100 million impressions mean when nobody notices or remembers the work.Why performance marketing must support, not replace long-term brand building.How marketers can nurture intuition and develop the next generation of talent.Marketers’ Brief draws out the insight behind the decisions leading marketers make, explores the changes reshaping the industry and looks ahead to where brands are going next.Thanks to our production partners, Soweto Media, for the production and post-production on this episode.___________________________Buy us coffee here to help us grow.___________________________Produced in collaboration with our partners, Soweto Media.___________________________The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:AppleSpotifyYouTubeFollow us on:LinkedInFacebookXInstagramSend us mail!Support the showSend us mail! Make a donation to Threads for Ikasi, a foundation that provides school uniforms, dignity packs and other essentials to children in townships, rural areas and under-resourced communities. To support them, go to: https://threadsforikasi.org Support the showBuy us coffee here to help us grow. Follow us for more on:YouTubeLinkedIn Instagram

Influencer marketing investment is growing, but consumer trust remains uneven. What separates creator partnerships that build brands from those that generate a brief spike in attention and disappear?In this episode of The Lead Creative, Mongezi Mtati speaks to Fluence Africa Founder and CEO Jolene Roelofse and content creator, storyteller and media personality Alphi Mkhwanazi.They explore why long-term creator relationships often produce more believable work, why brands need to look beyond follower counts and how agencies help translate marketing objectives into briefs creators can use.The conversation also covers creative freedom, co-creation, unclear expectations, campaign backlash and the role of AI in the future of content creation.This episode was created in collaboration with our production partners, Soweto Media.___________________________Buy us coffee here to help us grow.___________________________The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:AppleSpotifyYouTubeFollow us on:LinkedInFacebookXInstagramYouTubeSend us mail! Make a donation to Threads for Ikasi, a foundation that provides school uniforms, dignity packs and other essentials to children in townships, rural areas and under-resourced communities. To support them, go to: https://threadsforikasi.org Support the showBuy us coffee here to help us grow. Follow us for more on:YouTubeLinkedIn Instagram

AI may be changing advertising, but is it really the industry's biggest challenge?In this episode, Mongezi Mtati sits down with Alistair King, co-founder of former King James, creative at large and Vice-Chairperson of the Philipstown Wirecar Foundation, to unpack the future of creativity, brand building and agency life.They explore why so much advertising feels predictable, why brands often mistake relevance for imitation, and what made campaigns like Allan Gray and Bell's stand the test of time. The conversation also delves into the internationally acclaimed Philipstown Wirecar Grand Prix documentary and what it teaches marketers about culture, storytelling and creating work that genuinely resonates.___________________________Buy us coffee here to help us grow.___________________________The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:AppleSpotifyYouTubeFollow us on:LinkedInFacebookXInstagramYouTubeSend us mail! Make a donation to Threads for Ikasi, a foundation that provides school uniforms, dignity packs and other essentials to children in townships, rural areas and under-resourced communities. To support them, go to: https://threadsforikasi.org Support the showBuy us coffee here to help us grow. Follow us for more on:YouTubeLinkedIn Instagram

In this episode of The Lead Creative, Mongezi Mtati speaks to Chris Botha, MD of Park Advertising, about why brands are playing it safe and what it’s costing them. He shares his perspective on the tension between data and creativity, why shrinking budgets should drive braver decisions, and how media consumption is shifting in a world where audiences increasingly avoid interruption.Get tickets to the Nedbank IMC Conference:To stand a chance to win a ticket to the Nedbank IMC Conference taking place on 17 September, subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletter here, and enter on our LinkedIn page.___________________________Buy us coffee here to help us grow.___________________________The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:AppleSpotifyYouTubeFollow us on:LinkedInFacebookXInstagramYouTubeSend us mail! Make a donation to Threads for Ikasi, a foundation that provides school uniforms, dignity packs and other essentials to children in townships, rural areas and under-resourced communities. To support them, go to: https://threadsforikasi.org Support the showBuy us coffee here to help us grow. Follow us for more on:YouTubeLinkedIn Instagram