The 18th annual Pan African Media Research Organisation’s (PAMRO) Conference which took place in Cape Town last week, was an overwhelming success that saw more than 150 advertising, communications and media professionals from 22 countries on the continent and abroad gather to debate, network and reflect on the past year’s challenges and achievements.
“The conference is an annual highlight for many marketing professionals and it is exciting to witness how it grows from strength to strength as the years go by. The debate among delegates is rigorous, the solutions inspiring and the calibre of presentations is increasingly impressive,” says Jennifer Daniel, PAMRO Executive Director.
A highlight of the conference was the awarding of the 2017 Piet Smit Achiever of the Year Award to Oresti Patricios, PAMRO Treasurer and CEO of the Ornico Group.
“It’s always a pleasure to see excellence in the industry recognised,” says PAMRO Vice President Sifiso Falala. “And Oresti is a worthy recipient of this accolade. Aside from being a tireless contributor to PAMRO’s success, Oresti is a true Afro-optimist whose entrepreneurial vigour as founder and CEO of the Ornico Group is an inspiration to us all.”
Other highlights of 18th PAMRO conference include:
Nanzala Mwaura, Director Connect of Ipsos SA, was awarded Best Paper for her well-received talk on The African Middle Class, which looked into how we can define a class across 54 diverse countries on the continent. The results may come as a surprise to marketers who have attempted to apply a one-approach-fits-all strategy to reach African consumers. It’s important to remember, says Nanzala, “that Africa is not a country”.
Wayne L. Hull, Managing Director / Head of Accenture Digital looked into how consumer expectations are beginning to transcend traditional industry boundaries. Hyper personalisation through the use of data is the key to success in a digital world where consumers are looking to all service providers to create seamless personalised experiences across industries. For example, consumers are beginning to expect the same level of personalisation from their banks as they might receive from, say, Uber or Air BnB.
Leana Less presented fascinating findings on the increasing importance of data for consumer marketing. Most enterprises are able to store about 80% of their data but of this a mere 0.5% is analysed. Agile marketing based on data finding is the way of the future and while data can be challenging there are significant gains to be had from leveraging it correctly.
Samantha Loggenberg, Research Director, Qualitative Intelligence SA, explored the under-25 market in South Africa and how increasing access to digital technology is changing their attitudes and behaviour towards TV. With a rise in popularity of content on demand among this sector, it’s important for media suppliers to take heed of the changing environment with its complex and, even, counter intuitive implications for the industry.
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About PAMRO
Pan African Media Research Organisation’s (PAMRO) mission is to create a uniform research infrastructure for African countries, and to use the same measuring and target marketing methods so that results of different countries can be compared validly.
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