This was just one of numerous nuggets of business advice from internationally recognised marketing specialist Prof Doug Mattheus, who gave a public lecture on reinvention this week at Nelson Mandela University’s Business School in Gqeberha.
Prof Mattheus is an adjunct professor in the School of Management Sciences in the Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences at the University.
Hosted by the Faculty, the event also featured an exhibition of work by township entrepreneurs in the Missionvale Peri-Urban Training who have partnered with the University on a small business training programme.
“Some companies re reinventing. Sadly, some do not. How come some companies are moving and others are not?” asked Prof Mattheus.
To answer this, he highlighted six key marketing areas:
-
Placing the customer experience within the brand
-
Moving at the customer’s speed
-
Having a point of difference that sets you apart
-
Having multiple touchpoints, including price
-
Instilling a corporate culture where people love and live the brand
-
Staying relevant: how do you reinvent yourself?
“Living in SA is not easy, we have a complex and deeply unequal consumer environment,” he asked. “Which market are we talking about: the flash shopping mall, or the huge informal market?”
It was also fast paced, with short business cycles.
Prof Mattheus cited grocery giant Shoprite Checkers as “the darling of marketing”, in part because it had successfully reinvented itself, developing cutting-edge logistics to meet growing demand for convenience.
“Shoprite is the biggest grocery store across the continent and has done fantastically well.
It is using technology to get products to customers cheaper and faster and is the most customer-centric shopping experience on the continent. Every single touchpoint is thought of.
“For years, as marketing professionals, we’ve looked at cases far away and it is wonderful to have a South African case study.”
He acknowledged the power of technology, and artificial intelligence in particular, but said it would not replace people. “There is place for both because even in an always-on, ever-increasing digital world, business is by people, for people, so we always will need the human touch.”
Prof Mattheus gave several other real-life examples of innovative marketing where businesses – large and small – made key changes to enhance the customer experience.
These included a young African entrepreneur exploring alternative Christmas décor for a plush shopping mall, two big-name London sporting clubs adapting to attract players and spectators and a wine estate using geese as an innovative marketing tool, in addition to a few global brands.
Prof Mattheus said every business, big or small, needed to ditch the attitude of “I’d like to help but it’s not my department”.
“Let’s not kid ourselves, we have to do more of the hard work for customers than ever before. We need to make it intuitive and easy, because customers will talk.
“Read the room and adapt because the world has changed.
“Reinvention starts with a mindset – and it is people who make the place. In the service industry it is often those small ‘moments of magic’ that make the difference.
“Moments of magic are all around us. What do you do to create these moments that wow your customers?
Returning to the title of his address, Prof Mattheus suggested that marketing professionals could learn change lessons from creatures such as:
-
Chameleon: changes non-stop, adapting to evolving environments in a second
-
Butterfly: changes slowly and deeply, fundamentally
-
Bull: change is the ultimate irritant, I see it, and I charge at you
-
Hedgehog: I don’t like change but attacking is not my thing so inside I hide and close off
-
Duck: I combine continuity and change, gliding across the waves of change smoothly, but under the water, my feet are moving non-stop.
The message was: “Change your mindset: change is not a punishment”.
Faculty Dean Professor Hendrik Lloyd highlighted the value of marketing, saying it was a “cornerstone” of a successful business.
“The world is undergoing rapid change and constant transformations that we have never seen before,” he said.
It was therefore important to understand and embrace the future of marketing and its critical role in business, in the quest to stay competitive.
“With the rise of digital platforms, shifting consumer expectations and preferences, and technological advancements, there are a multitude of challenges. More importantly, there is an unbounded range of opportunities as well,” said Prof Lloyd.