The Importance of Consumer Insights First and foremost, it is imperative to understand what an insight is and not confuse it with an observation or a trend. Following a certain pattern, habit or having a way of doing things at a particular time or place does not constitute as an insight but rather as a...Continue Reading

Expect more product placements in South African music videos and songs! Product placements within music videos is not a new concept in South Africa, however not a lot of artists in South Africa previously were aware of this as a potential second income stream. Music artists particularly in the South African Hip Hop category are...Continue Reading

More convergence of service, retail and manufacturer brands. Consumers can now buy a cellphone, TV set or game console from a bank. Consumers can also send and withdraw money from a retail store. Manufacturers such as the automotive brands, are giving more consumers the opportunity to drive their cars for product experience before purchasing. In...Continue Reading

 World-Class Citizenship. Urban consumers are no longer looking for the best in South Africa, but for the best in the world! With the increase of international retailers such as Zara, streaming into the South African shopping spaces, modern high tech transport services such as Uber, as well as fast food chains such a Burger King...Continue Reading

Sandton City has a heart of gold and while the centre is proud of being Africa’s ultimate shopping destination, Sandton City always seeks ways to help those for whom just buying a loaf of bread every day is often a struggle. According to Statistics South Africa’s 2014 figures, 23-million South Africans are still living in...Continue Reading

Using data from a collection of 40 million images and their 400 million all-time downloads, Shutterstock analyzed which popular colors are set to dominate design in the coming months. Color impacts everything: web and graphic design, fashion fads, even home decor. Some of the trends we saw this year, like a change from natural palettes...Continue Reading

  The majority of people worldwide wouldn’t care if 73% of brands disappeared tomorrow, increasing to 92% if you focused only on the US consumer (Havas Media Group, 2013). It’s a challenge for both established organisations and start-ups to create offerings that are meaningful, relevant and worth people’s hard earned cash. Doing good is no...Continue Reading

Supporters seeking to raise funds to renovate the Kamine Zoo in Hitachi, Japan, have launched a brand billed as “the only jeans on earth designed by dangerous animals.” Sheets of material are attached to tyres and big rubber balls that are tossed into enclosures with lions, tigers and bears – who use their teeth and...Continue Reading

This season, the trend for winter bags, in terms of size, can be wrapped up in the phrase ‘go big or go home’. And I know that if you consider yourself a practical lady, you’ll appreciate this because a bag that’s able to keep all your essentials and then some, is worth holding on to...Continue Reading