Marketing & Selling

The data on Connected TV (CTV)'s Return On Investment (ROI) is difficult to ignore. However, the slower pace of adoption is much harder to explain. Imagine a marketing channel that consistently delivers 30% higher ROI than almost every other medium in your media mix. Most marketers would naturally prioritise it. Yet CTV receives only 7% of total media budgets despite delivering exceptional CTV investment returns.

The recent amendments to the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 (CPA) Regulations introduced a formal compliance framework for direct marketing in South Africa. The CPA Amendments took effect on 15 April 2026. For property practitioners who rely on cold-calling or other direct marketing methods, the rules have changed. These methods include SMS campaigns, neighbourhood canvassing, and outsourced lead-generation services.

Katy is a hugely successful American pop star. Her fame carried her to extraterrestrial heights and even extended briefly into outer space for an unforgettable 10 minutes and 21 seconds. Beyond her music career, she has established a suite of companies to safeguard her various commercial ventures. Killer Queen, LLC serves as the vehicle through which she protects and manages her intellectual property rights.

What is the biggest benefit of your customer portal? Is it the cost and efficiency savings you achieve by reducing reliance on call centre staff? Or perhaps it is the increase in customer satisfaction that comes from allowing customers to manage their accounts on their own terms, whenever it suits them?

Most editors recognise this pattern, even if they rarely call it out directly. The footage arrives, and the first assembly begins. Somewhere during the early cuts, it becomes clear that something is not working as expected. The pacing feels slightly off. The tone does not fully land. Moreover, a scene that looked convincing on paper struggles to hold together on screen.

A piece landed in my feed recently that stopped me mid-scroll. Michael Farmer, a veteran advertising strategist, recently published a devastating analysis called Madison Avenue Media Madness. It examines what digital advertising has actually done to the world's biggest brands over the past 15 years.

Most loyalty programmes are built once and then applied across the board. While this approach may seem logical from an efficiency perspective, what works in aviation does not carry into hospitality or retail. Yet many programmes are still built as though customer behaviour follows a single pattern.

The Chief Marketing Officer role has transformed - but most organisations are still hiring as if it hasn’t. Artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones, social media, influencers and shifting customer expectations have transformed the way growth is achieved. Yet many organisations continue to misunderstand the evolution of the role.

For a long time, the digital playbook for businesses was relatively straightforward. Invest in SEO, rank on Google, drive traffic to your website and convert that traffic into customers. That model still holds value, but it is no longer the full picture.

The rapid growth of e-commerce has fundamentally reshaped the global retail landscape. It has pushed retailers to rethink how physical stores engage with modern consumers. However, rather than diminishing the role of brick-and-mortar retail, this shift has accelerated the evolution of experience-led shopping destinations. These destinations continue to attract consumers, tenants and investors alike.