HDI to be an official sponsor at the Nedbank Integrated Marketing Conference

Johannesburg-based consulting firm HDI Youth Consultancy has been announced as a sponsor of the 2019 Integrated Marketing Conference to be held in March next year at Fox Junction in Johannesburg. This year’s event features 20 experts speaking around the theme “Marketing Gets Nak*d.”

The conference lasts only one day, and is aimed specifically of eliminating the jargon usually associated with the world of marketing in order to hone in on the core of the industry – improving overall performance and enhancing returns on investment. HDI’s position as a sponsor is logical given the current market scenario in South Africa.

The country has one of the youngest populations in the world, a number of whom are set to enter the workforce and the consumer market in the near future. Parallelly, the consumer market and the business environment in South Africa are rapidly digitalising, which opens up a world of opportunity for the marketing sector.

HDI Youth Consultancy was conceptualised with the very objective of making brands resonate more with the youth in South Africa, based on which it designs its solutions centred on youth sentiment. The firm specialises in using social media and other digital avenues to open channels of communication between brands and the youth, and has recently rebranded to further expand the scope of these offerings.

Not only does the participation from HDI make the conference a futuristic endeavour, but it also ties in to the larger theme of breaking down the jargon around marketing. As a consulting firm catering primarily to the youth, HDI has a wealth of experience in conveying brand terminology through accessible language.

As part of its involvement as a sponsor, the firm’s Junior Board of Directors (JBoD) will all be amongst the experts delivering speeches. The JBoD is a unique concept initiated when the firm was founded 20 years ago, and features youngsters between the ages of 8 and 23, split into three age groups.

Commenting on the event and its goals, CEO at HDI Bongani Chinkanda said, “Often brands don’t get youth when it comes to marketing to them. They focus on an idea, on a product or service, and not on the youth itself. To market to the youth, you’ve got to immerse yourself in youth culture and then create products that are relevant.”

He added, “Brands need to realise that they aren’t just competing with another brand, they’re competing with a culture. We want to be part of that future. The youth are the biggest influencers of the future and we exist to make that future more meaningful. You have to ask, ‘how do you remain relevant and future proof your brand?”

CEO of the Integrated Marketing Conference Dale Hefer added, “The HDI Youth Consultancy is an excellent fit for a sponsor of the IMC. Their approach to immersing a brand in a culture, speaking directly to a clearly defined target audience and catering explicitly to their needs is exactly what we are talking about when we say that marketing needs to get naked. Brands need to learn how to become a part of the conversation, to speak to their audience in a language they understand.”