Campaign: The huge opportunity from political chaos
SOURCE: https://www.campaignlive.com/article/huge-opportunity-political-chaos/1587685
The huge opportunity from political chaos
For marketers today, working in an increasingly unstable global market in terms of politics and economics, uncertainty is one of the few certainties. But brands have a significant role to play...
Campaign, July 27, 2019.
(Image courtesy of Campaign)
Sarah Gooding Kobus, the deputy general manager of WE Communications works in Johannesburg, South Africa and describes the business environment as a"minefield".
Working on B2B tech brands is especially challenging because rolling blackouts from electricity providers, for instance, are common with significant impact on businesses and their ability to be productive.
"There was a period a couple of months ago where every single day, offices would go down for four hours at a time," she says. "Morale was really low among employees because they’re not able to be as productive as they’d like. This instability is largely down to our tumultuous political environment."
As well as this, the other major factor affecting B2B brands and the way they are perceived, is the high profile media coverage of corporate corruption, such as in the Bell Pottinger scandal. This spate of corruption scandals saw many leading international corporate brands in hot water. Consequently, as well as blackouts, riots and protests against corporations are also commonplace.
"South African consumer trust in the B2B space has been really hurt and damaged," says Gooding. "In spite, or arguably perhaps directly as a result of this, out of all the countries surveyed in the Brands in Motion global study, South Africa has by far the highest ethical expectations of a brand and its behaviour, from the factory floor all the way up to executive leadership."
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