For years, marketers have focused on understanding the consumer. but in 2026, there’s a new question: Are you marketing to the consumer—or to the technology advising them? Because increasingly, the decision-making process is no longer human-only, it is AI-assisted. The New Decision-Making Journey: Traditionally, the consumer journey looked like this: Awareness → Consideration → Purchase Today, it looks more like: Prompt → Algorithm → Recommendation → Validation → Purchase Consumers...Continue Reading
For decades, brands controlled discovery. Media budgets dictated visibility. Creative dictated perception. And consumers followed. That model is broken. Today, discovery doesn’t start with brands—it starts with people, platforms, and communities. Social media has effectively become the new search engine, with consumers turning to platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube as their first point of discovery for products, services, and even opinions. But more importantly, they are not searching for...Continue Reading
In today’s market, brands are listening more than ever. Tracking sentiment. Running surveys. Monitoring social conversations and yet — many are still getting it wrong.Because what consumers say and what they do are no longer the same thing. Welcome to the growing tension between consumer sentiment and consumer reality — and why understanding this gap is becoming one of the most important strategic advantages for brands in South Africa. The...Continue Reading
Ghosting means breaking off a relationship by stopping all communication and contact with the partner without any apparent warning or justification, as well as ignoring the partner’s attempts to reach out or communicate. Let us think relationship marketing and efforts driven to sustain a relationship with the said customers. It is apparent that ghosting is topical in the social spaces this is in terms of affectionate relationship in this way...Continue Reading
The Zeitgeist in our sociological setting dictates that the lighter one is – from a pigmentation point of view – the lighter you are on the eye. Is this a complete fallacy or a truism crafted by society that would have to be adapted as a norm? Pearl Thusi, actress and radio personality, relays in the Mail and Guardian that she suffer from what she terms MDD- Melanin Deficient Darkie...Continue Reading
