Introducing... #MarketingFridays

Photo by Desire Photo Studio

To get some first-hand insight into the monthly event, I attended last month’s session, on 20 July, featuring Avatar co-founder and MD Veli Ngubane on creatively backing your ideas.

The event is sponsored by the IMM Graduate School and is currently held at Randlords in Braamfontein from 8:30 to 10am. Going forward, however, it will be held on the last Friday of every month.

Marketing Fridays was launched in April to bring together marketing enthusiasts and professionals, from the student- to founding/CEO-level to engage on marketing-related topics in an informal setting. The session comprises a talk, networking with like-minded industry folk and a hearty breakfast before heading to the office.

“So far, we have received really great feedback in terms of interest and we will continue to open up the industry and get more people to understand what marketing is all about,” says Chauke, who believes that success in marketing starts with knowing the influential people in the industry and understanding the conversations they like to have their coffee with.

Chauke’s vision for the event series is to grow the platform and wider marketing community:

It’s building a strong marketing community where collaboration is much simpler, where we’re able to work collectively to do amazing work… Currently, we’re Johannesburg-based, but I would like to see us going into different pockets in the country and really effecting change within the industry.

In the interview, Ngubane says that he hoped to share Avatar's story of perseverance and create awareness as to the mistakes they've made in order for others to learn from them and do better. “I don’t want people to make the same mistakes as we did. We are in a position to help other entrepreneurs; we’re in a position to have our story inspire them and give them the confidence to start building businesses, so I hope what they took is a realistic interpretation of how we do Avatar, with the hopes that they will grow their own businesses to even surpass what we have done, because we need more South African and more African founded agencies.”

So, look out for Chauke’s videos every Friday, do join the network if you’re in Johannesburg, and make sure to tell all your marketing friends!

The next session takes place on Friday, 31 August, featuring Masego Motsogi, MD at Grid Worldwide on the subject of branding. R100 entrance including coffee (of course) and breakfast.

For more info, go to MarketingFridays.com or contact Nyiko Chauke directly at moc.liamg@uahc.okiyn. They’re always looking for interesting topics or guests to invite to their sessions, so if you would like to contribute or recommend, fill out the form here. Follow #MarketingFridays on Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter.