IMC EP 02 | Pat Mahlangu: Why the Future of Marketing Is Deeply Human #businessofinfluence

<p>THE NEXT BIG SHIFT IN MARKETING IS NOT DIGITAL. IT IS HUMAN.In this episode of the Business of Influence IMC Series, hosted by Leroy Marc, two industry colleagues sit down at one of South Africa&#39;s most important marketing conferences for a conversation that captures exactly where the industry is headed and what it needs to leave behind to get there.The conversation opens with a story of entrepreneurial perseverance that reframes what success in this industry actually looks like. The Youth Owned Brand Awards, the YOBAs, represent over 10 million rand invested and five years of significant financial strain, and the person behind them will tell you without hesitation that every cent was worth it. Not because of the returns but because of the impact. Young entrepreneurs finding legitimacy, gaining business growth and receiving validation from high-calibre judges who authenticate their work in a way that no cash prize ever could. That is the kind of platform the industry needs more of and invests in far too rarely.The agency model conversation is where this episode gets most provocative. The traditional pitch process is broken, costly, time-consuming, and increasingly designed to favour the agencies that can absorb the losses rather than the ones with the best ideas. The speakers make the case that emerging and independent agencies need to stop competing on that playing field entirely and start building their own, creating platforms, properties and relationships that attract clients organically rather than chasing briefs in a system that was never built for them to win.The future of marketing insight that closes this episode is the one that will stay with you longest. As digital content becomes commoditised and AI-generated work floods every channel, the thing that becomes most scarce and therefore most valuable is human connection. The next big shift is not a new platform or a new format. It is analogue. It is in person. It is the kind of genuine encounter that no algorithm can replicate and no brief can manufacture.The fact that this conversation happened at a live industry event is not incidental. That is the point.Business of Influence is brought to you by Style ID Africa.—Enjoyed the podcast? Join the conversation using <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/businessofinfluence">#BusinessOfInfluence</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/imcseries">#IMCSeries</a>Listen and Follow UsApple: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video