Many entrepreneurs spend years focusing on products, services, marketing plans and financial forecasts. While all of these are important, one of the most overlooked growth drivers in business is often something far less tangible: relationships, says Nicole Mirkin, Founder of AURA.

For years, brand visibility meant dominating search engine rankings. That model is shifting. Many people now receive direct answers from AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity, or through AI-generated summaries embedded in search results, says Thelma Ngoma-Mavhunga, Senior Communications Specialist at Flow Communications.

There is a strange performance built into strategy. We walk into boardrooms, project slide decks onto screens, clear our throats and speak in the language of confidence: "The consumer wants, the market is moving, the opportunity is clear, the brand must," says Inamangwe Mtumtum, Senior Integrated Strategist at Boomtown.

Venelize de Lange from media update considers what neuroscience teaches marketers about consumer attention through looking at their dopamine fluctuation when exposed to different marketing strategies.

Moonlighting, VML and Edelman have made it into the Gerety 2026 shortlist for South Africa as Gerety Awards reveals the global shortlist after the executive jury sessions taking place around the globe. The finalist's selection recognises outstanding work from 36 countries and highlights the campaigns, brands and agencies that most impressed this year's international jury.

Effie Worldwide has released the 2025 Effie Index®, the definitive global ranking of marketing effectiveness.

The World Out of Home Organization has elected two new board members. Elizabeth McIntyre, CEO of Australia's Outdoor Media Association (OMA) has joined the board of the World Out of Home Organization along with Felipe Viante, Co-Founder of b.drops and President of the Brazilian Out of Home Association (ABOOH.)

Ogilvy Namibia has concluded a three-month creative mentorship programme with the College of the Arts (COTA). On Wednesday, 10 June, eight students presented full marketing campaigns to representatives from Paratus Namibia at the agency's Windhoek offices.

Tasked with creating a brand for a generation that lives a large portion of its life online, M+C Saatchi Abel has partnered with MTN to launch 'Pi by MTN', a digital-first brand built to reshape how modern South Africans manage their mobile and home connectivity.

Every June, the South African marketing industry does something curious. It sets aside an entire month to talk about youth, and then spends most of it talking about age, says Marilize Jacobs, Founder of VocalCord PR & Reputation Management, and Thabani Mnyakeni, Chief Creative Officer at TM Relations.