JOHANNESBURG; Mar 26, 2021 – Steering your brand in the right direction and maintaining that focus is more difficult than ever. It is both a science and an art; and great marketing professionals understand that in these turbulent times, sticking to the plan while compensating for the variance is the key to success. For this reason, Accenture Interactive has collaborated with the Marketing Achievement Awards (MAAs) to celebrate marketing professionals who excel in the science and art of strategic marketing.
The MAAs values the bold brands and the marketers behind them who were true to their vision, stayed on course and were accountable to the bottom line. The MAA’s are open to all brands, client-side marketers, in-house marketing teams, agency professionals, independent marketing consultants, entrepreneurs.
Haydn Townsend, Managing Director at Accenture Interactive in Africa adds that awards such as these encourage this forward-thinking methodology and make room for more innovation in the field. “We know the real magic happens at the intersection of purpose and innovation. In our country, brimming with creativity and opportunity, we are proud to sponsor the Marketing Organisation of the Year Award. An award of distinction, as we believe that the future of marketing lies in reimagining business through experience,” he says.
We are so grateful to have fantastic partners like Accenture Interactive on board," says Mohale Ralebitso, Chairperson of the Marketing Awards Council. “As it is only with their support that we are better placed to create awareness for just how critical marketing is to business success and for how significantly the profession can be counted on to drive industrial and economic resurgence."
According to Townsend, businesses that continuously transform their customer experience efforts to consistently wow their audiences at all touch-points, are the ones who most successfully win, serve and retain their customers. They become businesses of experience, setting experience in the board room as a CEO priority because it ties back to every aspect of a company’s operations. Research by Accenture highlights that 56% of COOs, 53% of chief strategy officers (CSOs) and 51% of chief financial officers (CFOs) said their company will fundamentally change the way it engages and interacts with its customers.
A great experience is defined not by what you offer but by how well you enable your customers to achieve the outcomes most important to them. COVID-19 has so far changed the experience of being a customer, an employee and a citizen. People are turning to brands that provide security, and that they can trust in a time of uncertainty. “In a world of uncertainty, today’s leading brands are creating promises not only to shareholders but to customers, employees and societies. Promises of consequence that drive purposeful change for everyone. Experiences are where these promises are felt,” states Townsend.
To meet the ever-increasing expectations of modern customers, companies must deliver always-on, immersive CX that shape and transform an individual’s entire path-to-purchase in real-time. “As innovators in this moment, we’ve got to ask ourselves: Are we improving everyday lives? Because anything less is wasted potential. We can do better; people deserve better,” states Townsend.
"At Accenture Interactive, we connect deep human and business insights with the possibilities of technology to define and deliver new realities. It is time for brands to focus on experiences that can make lives easier, healthier, safer, more productive and rewarding," he concludes.