The presentation includes overviews of 18 sectors including the economy, crime, the formal and informal retail market, the financial sector and the telecommunications market. It also looks at the consumer in terms of population, education, HIV/AIDS and tourism. In addition to academic and research reports we’ve spoken to industry experts to make sure that the information is relevant and useful for the business community. The 2015 Landscape Report is bigger, better and more user-friendly than before.

The study’s research focused on consumer behaviour in households with an income of less than R6500 per month (a staggering 70% of the South African population and 80% of our children) and showed that generally marketers are not doing a good job of connecting with the mass market.

We have called phase two of the study Connecting with the Majority and it has two objectives. The first is to better understand the touch points that marketers can develop in order to connect with survivors, and the second is to formulate a view on how effectively those touch points are used right along the route to market. Field researchers in five locations around the country spent a five-month period getting to grips with issues such as, consumption patterns, sources of income, informal and formal traders and decision-making dynamics in households.

This market is increasingly important. It is growing and undergoing change at many levels, often at the expense of traditional marketers and their brands. Added to this much of the activity is unrecorded. Without a thorough understanding of all of this, it is extremely difficult for marketers to grow sales and thereby market share. Marketers who wish to succeed in this attractive market may have to rethink their strategies dramatically.

The concept of long-term business sustainability has gone beyond planting trees and conserving the environment and marketers should now be playing a key role in boardroom sustainability debates.

We look at the link between competitive advantage and corporate social responsibility and what it means for marketing departments. This is especially relevant in South Africa where there is such a huge gap between rich and poor.

Traditional thinking no longer adds significant value, but how do you push your team beyond those boundaries? With the goal of invigorating thinking in marketing in South Africa, the UCT Unilever Institute is making a short documentary film to showcase some examples of innovation in marketing in SA. Due for release in March/April 2015, this will be available to members of the Institute.

We will also host a one-day Innovation Masterclass for Marketers in July with international speakers and take-aways to help shift your team into a dynamic new space. (more info here ….)

More than 20 experts and professionals are interviewed, including the marketing directors of several major South African companies and the CEOs of our top advertising agencies. Together they show how best to combine traditional marketing methods with cutting-edge strategies in order to create integrated marketing communications.

In addition, two in-depth case studies look at how Flora and Cell C turned their businesses around by successfully communicating their new strategies and brand propositions to the South African public.

The Mar:Com training programme is aimed at both students and professionals.

In 2010 Branded was distributed free of charge to all the South African education institutions that teach marketing and was later sent to each of the UCT Unilever Institute’s members as well. Over 1500 copies have been distributed to date and it has become a training resource mainstay at many of the country’s tertiary institutions.

The documentary, which charts the lives of four middle-class black South Africans, originated from a UCT Unilever Institute research project which investigated South Africa’s burgeoning black middle class. Interviews with a number of research respondents revealed a complex relationship between traditional values and consumer behaviour, as well as some compelling stories about how ordinary South Africans are negotiating societal transformation.

The film received the coveted Dikalo trophy and was one of only two films to receive an award for excellence at the 2010 Cannes International Pan African Film Festival where it received a Jury award. In 2011 Forerunners was selected for screening at the Montreal International Black Film Festival and at the United Nations Association Film Festival in San Francisco, where it won the award for best cinematography.

Announcing the prestigious Jury prize, the Pan African Film Festival judges praised this rarely told positive story about Africa’s development:

“for its writing quality, film mastery as well as the mature and modern outlook of a category of people that are searching for perspective, permitting themselves a professional career, making a comfortable life for themselves far away from the poverty of their childhood.”

Jury member Sofi Delaage wrote that while the world knew a lot about both the poverty-stricken and the very rich in South Africa,

“we didn’t know about how the children of the past will reconstruct the future and it’s very nice to follow them and to know they exist and that there is a possibility of hope and a better future. Forerunners gives you hope that it’s possible to create a new society.”

Further praise for Forerunner at the 2011 Cannes Pan African Film Festival from Basile Ngangue Ebelle – Festival Director:

“It represents an Africa, a South Africa, full of colour. We have a mirror to the world of the future, a South Africa that is full of hope. Across the film one sees South African creativity and that is the strength, that is the beauty, and that is like … an element of the driving force of life. It is a documentary that brings us a lot of hope. When one watches it, one cannot remain indifferent. The film is a beautiful aperture through which to see life.”

Catherine Ruelle – Honorary President:

“… [the film’s characters] don’t forget about their ancient traditions and they won’t forget. It’s very important for us, we all lose that in Europe, we are losing our memory, we are losing our past, we are losing our traditions, our values.”

The Majority Report is a comprehensive cross-disciplinary study which takes an in depth look at the drivers that influence the majority market, showing that marketers are generally failing to connect with this vitally important segment.

The report will help you steer your brand towards its optimal potential by:

• illustrating how many marketers continue to employ out-dated strategies
• demonstrating that this market presents vast potential for marketers who are willing to rethink their marketing strategies
• explaining how households manage to survive despite huge income constraints
• bringing you up-to-speed with the complex dynamics that are shaping this market
• shedding light on the socio-economic forces that make these consumers so different to their counterparts in the developing world
• providing fresh insight into the daily lives and consumption patterns of this segment
• addressing waning brand loyalty and suggesting ways of turning it around
• introducing new approaches to improving brand penetration and regaining brand ownership
• offering valuable guidelines on how best to connect with this segment.

It combines information, statistics and predictions for marketers and strategists to use as planning tools when formulating a marketing strategy. The presentation includes overviews of the economy, crime, formal and informal retail as well as financial and telecommunications facts. It also looks at demographics, education, HIV/AIDS and tourism.

The Landscape Report is available free of charge to companies who are members of the UCT Unilever Institute.

The growth and prosperity of this market is crucial to the health and future of the economy. The black middle class is helping create a vibrant and stable society by increasing South Africa’s skills base, deepening employment and widening the tax net.

As this market has matured, it has become much more complex than marketers and advertisers originally assumed it to be and marketers are not adjusting fast enough to meet the needs of this rapidly transforming market segment. This new order demands new strategic thinking from businesses and manufacturers – from how they create and sell products, to the way they distribute and market them.