Sanlam appoints Incubeta as digital media planning and buying partner

“Retaining the Sanlam business after an already successful five-year relationship is a huge win for Incubeta. We have worked closely with their teams during their digital marketing transformation journey and we are honoured that they have put their trust in us to continue the journey with them,” says Daleen Spence, Business Unit Director at Incubeta and Sanlam account lead. 
 
The three-year contract will see the Incubeta team building on their previous success including digital media, technology enablement and everything related to the Google Marketing Platform, from technical implementation, to consultancy, as well as training. The team will also be designing and delivering scalable digital marketing solutions, across data, technology, media, creative and conversion optimisation. 
 
The Incubeta core team will be reinforced by a wider team of experts including media traders, data analysts, strategy and media planners as well as digital consulting specialists. 
 
“Incubeta has worked with a number of the top financial service providers in South Africa over the years. We understand what it takes to operate in a highly competitive and ever-changing marketplace where affordability, legislation and responsible lending practices make generating leads and ultimately conversions that much more complex. We are particularly proud of how we have managed to bridge the gap between digital activation and backend conversion to give a truer attribution view and return on ad spend in the complex financial services space,” comments Roan Mackintosh, Incubeta’s MD MEA. 
 
Commenting on the deal, Sanlam’s Chief Executive: Brand, Sydney Mbhele says: “We are looking forward to continuing our work with the Incubeta team. Together we have already made significant improvements to our digital performance, adopting an integrated planning and reporting approach, improving on our marketing automation and refining our attribution modelling.”
 
Commenting on the selection process, Mbhele says: “Incubeta’s submission was very impressive and of a high standard resulting in the panel's highest ranking according to the evaluation criteria.  We believe Incubeta is the right partner as their expertise, knowledge and service offering are incredibly compelling and they were the strongest candidate to help us deliver on our business growth.” 
 
Looking ahead, Mackintosh says 2022 will bring greater demands from a more sophisticated digital customer. 
 
“Successful brands will need to adopt an agile response in order to serve an increasingly demanding and impatient customer. Expectations are for an immediate, convenient and seamless experience across the brand. Getting this right will require solid foundational technology, a scaled personalisation strategy, but also a fail-fast, test and learn operating model. Having a trusted digital marketing partner to rely on has never been more important,” concludes Mackintosh.