Advertising is not dead, technology has enabled it - Andy Rice

"Great brands are built on true human insights, and new channels have changed behaviour not the beliefs or values. Technology is an enabler, not an end of advertising, and customers 2.0 looks more like customers 1.0," Rice pointed out.

Combine digital with traditional media

He said digital media works better if it is combined with traditional advertising. The more things change the more they stay the same, Rice said, wondering why marketers would suddenly look at consumers in a different way in this age of digital delight.

"We are still absolutely the same because we still want to belong to communities and get some kind of affiliation. We still want to explore, be rewarded and enjoy shopping, he said.

"We still want to create and be creative or be part of the creativity process. We still want to be entertained, and heard when we complain about our daily experiences, and these traditional requirements of human nature have become more fulfilled in the digital world."

Rice added: "We still want to get close to fame and the whole concept of celebrity appeal allows us to do it more effectively.

"We still want to converse, like we are now doing on Twitter and Facebook. This is one important issue marketers need to understand better as their brands are debated over and over again - conversations marketers do not have control over."

Be conductors not controllers - Rice

Rice urged marketers - as the leaders of driving brands - to be the conductors not the controllers if they are to become successful in the current digital space.

Speaking about leadership, Gary Bailey said a good leader needs to learn, be emotionally intelligent and be tough but humble.

"How do you beat tough? By being humble and grateful. Be emphatic, observe, evaluate, feel, relate and respond," Bailey, a former Manchester United and Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper, said.

"Emotional intelligence is one of the critical points of leadership," he said, adding that from his own experience he has found out that women are more emotionally intelligent people than men.

"I am not only talking about CEOs and managers because leadership applies to everyone in an organisation. I want to stress that each and everyone in the company must provide leadership every day in order to move the organisation forward.

Plan for the future

"What you focus on is what you get. You will still encounter the negative, but deal with it in the positive way. A good leader needs to make time to plan for the future. If you don't plan for the future, you will never be successful. And the only way you will find time is when you raise your energy."

Meetings Africa is one of the continent's biggest business tourism platforms aiming at exposing local and international buyers to a range of services and products to the range of services and products in Southern Africa's MICE (meetings, incentives, conference, exhibitions) industry.. There are close to 200 exhibitors currently displaying their products at the groundstairs hall of the centre. The event, opened yesterday, 21 February 2011, by minister of tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk, will end tomorrow.

For more:

• Bizcommunity Search: Meetings Africa
  
• Twitter Search: meetingsafrica OR "Meetings Africa" OR MeetingsAfrica2011
  
• Google News Search: Meetings Africa
  
• Official site: www.meetingsafrica.co.za

Updated at 10.09am on 23 February 2011.