Joint venture with Indian direct marketing agency

Data and data analysis lies at the heart of direct marketing, an industry conservatively estimated to be worth R7.3 billion in South Africa according to an initial research study undertaken by the Direct Marketing Association of South Africa (DMASA).

“There are a number of good direct marketing agencies is South Africa, but none has anything approaching the level of analytical skills that exist in Cartesian Consulting. The JV puts 5th Dimension in an exceptional position considering the burgeoning direct industry in South Africa and Africa and its dependence on numbers and analytics,” explains Keith Wiser, MD of 5th Dimension.

Analytics enhances a marketer's ability to reach its target customer in the most effective and efficient manner. A key benefit to using analytics is that it helps companies measure what was previously hard to analyse.

“Analytics provides the data to the marketer to target the right individual for the right offer or promotion at the right time - this is the heart of direct marketing. Any resource that can enhance the effectiveness of this targeting ultimately increases the success of the campaign and drives towards the holy grail of DM, the loyal repeat buyer. Analytics allows companies to focus their spending on the areas of greatest return and fundamentally shifts the direct marketing industry away from blind acquisition toward intelligent retention,” explains Wiser.

“The JV is already paying dividends with 5th Dimension currently in negotiations with one of South Africa's leading retail groups which is particularly looking for the level of marketing analytics that 5th Dimension can offer,” he concludes.