Industry leaders who can be described as some of the foremost thinkers in their respective fields delivered insightful and thought-provoking content to an engaged audience of marketing professionals.

A prominent theme of the conference centred on the importance of understanding the humanity of customers and utilising the power of ‘storytelling’ to differentiate a brand from its competitors.

Top insights from Day 1’s keynote speakers:

Gary Leih, founder of OFyt with topic ‘Cleaning up the Marketing Messaging Mess’: “You can't expect integrated communication sprouting from un-integrated partnerships” and “3 steps to pain-free communication: a unique and tasty insight, an idea and a cunning media mix.”

David Moffatt, MD of Hellocomputer with topic ‘Break. Make. Create – Some surprising benefits from a culture of hacking’: “’Personal’ is universal: we respond best to compelling and vivid individual-oriented messages” and “Successful integration means integrating into someone's life at a highly relevant and meaningful intersection.”

Lwandile Qokweni, MD of Carat South Africa with topic ‘Redefining Media’: “As the mobile revolution continues and new media formats find their way into consumers lives, we need to adapt how we deliver advertising to consumers” and “We need to shift from outputs to outcomes, plan content across media channels, and have a proactive and creative media strategy.”

Lani Carstens, MD of John Brown Media SA with topic ‘Content Marketing – What’s your story?’: “Disruption is over. A seamless in-channel experience is what consumers have come to expect today” and “We are communicating with humans, not LSM's, data or technology.”

Top insights from Day 2’s keynote speakers:

Jonty Fisher, MD of Bletchley Park with topic ‘Leading in leaner times – Getting closer to your customers’: “The brand performance gap lies between your company/brand purpose and your customers' motivations, emotions and drivers” and “3 keys to leading in leaner times: Be human; Be relevant; Be interesting.”

Koo Govender, CEO of the VWV Group with topic ‘Experiential Marketing Re-defined’: “Experiential marketing has the power to amplify brands and is going to be ‘the new black’” and “The experiential journey must extend from brand awareness, right through to point of sale and after sales experience.”

Aidan Baigrie, Client Partner at Facebook with topic ‘Facebook – A roadmap for Africa’: “Scale is not about reaching everyone - It’s about reaching those that matter to you” and “With 52m active Facebook users in Sub Saharan Africa, Africa is going digital and mobile is at the centre. Personalisation at scale is coming back and the journey is only 1% complete.”

Melissa Attree with topic ‘Strengthening the online/offline marketing link’: “Give your consumers what they need, not what they think they want. Curating the right information is key” and “Story-telling is an authentic way of telling your brand’s journey. Tell stories through immersive experiences.”

Top agencies including the likes of Vserv.mobi, Bletchley Park, Everlytic, Roth Communications, 25AM, Dentsu Aegis Network, John Brown Media, Quirk, Colourworks, and NXT Digital delivered a wide-ranging programme of interactive workshops over the two days.

Lead sponsors Vserv.mobi offered incredible support to the planning and execution of the event. Jacqui Boyd, sales director, South Africa had this to say: “We are delighted to be associated with the IMC conference once again. Year-on-year, the conference sets a new benchmark for the industry and our experience this year was phenomenal. With high calibre speakers, large attendance of delegates, informative workshops; the conference continues to be one of the best marketing conferences in South Africa.”

A massive thanks to all our sponsors Vserv.mobi, kulula, Oude Meester, Uber, Oakley, Digicape, Brandseye, Ray-ban, Scheckter’s Energy, Ampere, ReVite, and Destiny Magazine for their contribution to yet another successful IMC Conference.

“This is my third IMC Conference and it gets better every year. The entire conference was exciting, informative and insightful and I will definitely be back next year,” says Nadia McDonald, Social Media community manager at Primedia.

Registration for IMC Conference Johannesburg taking place on Monday, 6 and Tuesday, 7 October 2014 is now open.

To book, click here. Alternatively, visit and like the Facebook page or follow @IMCConference on Twitter.