Nedbank IMC 2026 draws more than 3,700 delegates from 28 countries

Presented under the theme Shift Happens™ - Are You Ready?, the one-day programme examined the changes reshaping marketing, business and culture, and what those shifts require from the people leading brands across Africa.

More than 25 speakers, including four international keynotes, took part. The programme featured Dr Gcina Mhlophe, Suhayl Limbada, Kabelo Makwane, Fran Luckin, Roanna Williams, Marc de Swaan Arons, Sheldon Tatchell, Thebe Ikalafeng, Tiffany Markman, Tahaab Rais, Jarred Cinman, Conn Bertish and Kabelo Mabalane, with Donovan Goliath as host.

"We can count delegates, countries and speakers, but what matters is what people are still talking about after they leave. The response to Suhayl's challenge to stop sanding the local edges off our work says a great deal. African marketers do not need to make themselves smaller or more generic to travel. Marketing is Business® means understanding the culture, the customer and the commercial consequence of the work," said Dale Hefer, founder of the Nedbank IMC.

"Marketing has to do more than attract attention. It must understand people, shape growth and contribute meaningfully to the business. The Nedbank IMC creates an important African platform for that conversation, bringing experienced leaders and the next generation together to learn, challenge convention and move our industry forward. Nedbank is proud to continue supporting it," said Khensani Nobanda, group executive: group marketing and corporate affairs, Nedbank.

The shifts shaping marketing

Across the programme, speakers returned repeatedly to a small number of commercial realities: technology is changing how marketing work is produced, culture remains central to relevance, creativity must still earn attention, and marketers need a clearer understanding of the businesses they are expected to grow.

The programme moved from Dr Gcina Mhlophe's opening exploration of storytelling and memory to Suhayl Limbada's challenge to African marketers to use culture and context as strategic assets. Sessions addressed artificial intelligence, leadership, brand building, entrepreneurship, human writing in an automated world, the changing role of the CMO and the responsibility of African brands to compete with greater confidence.

Public responses after the conference repeatedly singled out Limbada's Stop Making Global Work keynote and its challenge to build brave ideas from local culture, humour and language. Mhlophe's reminder of the power of African stories and identity also travelled well beyond the room. Other widely shared takeaways included Roanna Williams's observation that "constraint is a gift", the CMO conversation led by Thebe Ikalafeng, the continuing value of human judgment in an AI-powered industry, and the need for brands to listen more carefully to younger consumers.

Kabelo Mabalane closed the speaker programme with a personal reflection on change, discipline and reinvention. The conference then ended with the reveal of The Sound of the Shift, a track created in real time by SlikourOnLife using material gathered during the day.

The next generation was in the room

More than 1 000 students participated through YOUTH1000, the Nedbank IMC initiative run with MASA. School learners were also part of the day. A further 60 University of Johannesburg students gained practical work experience on-site as part of the team delivering the conference.

The youth panel, supported by Plug'd by Telkom, brought younger voices directly into the programme, while the Plug'd by Telkom and UJ Student Challenge gave students a live industry brief centred on connection and opportunity. The winning team was announced on the main stage.

A growing African marketing community

The 2026 conference also marked the first formal gathering of the Nedbank IMC Speaker Alumni, presented by SAB. Around 60 former speakers returned to the conference, bringing together people who have contributed to the platform and the industry over several years.

The first MASA Pavilion gave the association and eight of its patron members a dedicated home at the conference. Kaya 959 broadcast live from the venue, while Google Cloud's role as Innovation Partner extended the content beyond the stage through the Innovation Studio and a podcast series featuring the conference presentations.

The official 2026 Nedbank IMC white paper, produced in partnership with dentsu and written by Red & Yellow academics, is now in development. It will draw together the most useful thinking from the programme and translate it into practical implications for marketers.

The Nedbank IMC is organised by IMC Academy, with Nedbank as the naming sponsor. The conference will return in 2027.

Catch up on the conference

The conference presentations are available as a podcast series produced with Google Cloud: https://etkinlik.ai/imc17sep/podcasts
The Sound of the Shift, created live on the day by SlikourOnLife, is available here: https://soldistro.lnk.to/nedbankimc

For media enquiries, interview requests with the organisers, and high-resolution assets:
Ibrahim Lukombe | moc.ecnerefnoccmi@miharbi

Media assets:

High-resolution conference images are available here: Hi-Res Picture Folder
To find out more, visit www.imcconference.com

About the Nedbank IMC

The Nedbank IMC is Africa's Biggest Marketing Conference™. Built on the principle that Marketing is Business®, the annual hybrid conference brings together leading African and international thinkers for a fast-paced programme with no sales pitches and no death-by-PowerPoint. For more information, visit www.imcconference.com.