Trend analyst Dion Chang and leaders from South Africa’s marketing industry, Pepe Marais and Jay Badza, are set to speak at the event, which takes place on Thursday, 25 October in Johannesburg.

Dion Chang

Keynote speaker Chang will address the 'Second Wave of Disruption, and the skills and mindset required to pivot'.

Chang has gained a wealth of insight into the relationship between brands, consumers and communication channels during his 20 years, as well as in the world of media.

His mantra, which he aims to promote both personally and through his trends analysis company, Flux Trends, is: 'trends as business strategy'.

By drawing on global perspectives and local knowledge to establish and track developing trends, Chang and Flux Trends aim to provide insight into how best to stay ahead of the curve amidst the disruption confronting businesses and individuals today.

Pepe Marais

Marais will present a talk titled 'Breakthrough creative advertising and communication', drawing in part on his recently published book, Growing Greatness.

The book aims to emphasise the importance of discovering a business’s deeper purpose and using this as the company’s lodestar.

Marais says that this has made a critical difference to the success of Joe Public, a leading brand and communications group, of which he is co-founder and group chief creative officer.

Both Marais and Joe Public have won a host of industry awards. Since 2004, Marais has served on judging panels for the Loerie Awards annually, as a judge at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival twice and as a member of the executive committee of the Creative Circle since 2007.

Jay Badza

Badza is the founder of boutique brand marketing communications consultancy, Orchard On 25. His presentation aims to tackle 'the death of the brand ambassador and rise of influencer marketing'.

Badza has more than 12 years of experience in marketing (the last two spent running his own consultancy) and has worked with top local and international brands developing and implementing communication strategies targeting the black middle class, youth and the affluent market.

He is also a World Economic Forum global shaper, representing the Soweto Hub in South Africa, and has twice participated in the Shape Africa Summits for the World Economic Forum.

He was recently appointed as a member of the Advisory Committee for Tshwane University of Technology’s Department of Integrated Communications.

Marketing the Future aims to provide a platform to stimulate thought and discussion around some of the critical challenges and opportunities emerging from the marketing industry today.

The event takes place on Thursday, 25 October from 09:00 to 13:00 at the Nedbank Auditorium, Rivonia Campus, 135 Rivonia Road, Sandown, Johannesburg.

For more information, contact [email protected] or visit www.immgsm.ac.za. You can also follow the IMM Graduate School on Facebook or on Twitter.