The BCSA Presents the 2018 Brand Commune - Business and brand digital transformation

The digitisation of the workplace is no longer a future concept to be dreamt of and spoken about broadly. It’s here now and it impacts how we do business. Has your business begun its digital transformation journey? The Brand Council South Africa (BCSA) has invited anyone from the advertising and marketing, brand, and business world to join the discussion with local industry leaders.

The event will host a panel discussion to vigorously discuss the other side of digital transformation with our panel of experts. Leigh-Anne Acquisto, BCSA Chairperson will facilitate this discussion with key players from a cross-section of the digital community. Ultimately, this event seeks to bring about an understanding of the implications of this transformation, where South African businesses should start to invest in their journey, and what this looks like on all sides.

Joining our panel will be Scott Gibson, Group Executive of Digital Business Solutions at Dimension Data Group, Yatish Narsi, Chief Experience Officer at Grid Worldwide, Jonathan Houston, Head of Digital Marketing for HKLM and Mike Sharman, Owner of Retroviral Digital Communications.

Scott Gibson boasts a career trajectory that includes working for Gary Player and Deloitte Corporate Finance in London before leading the Dimension Data listing on the London Stock Exchange. He was subsequently made VP, Group Finance of Dimension Data which took him back to South Africa. Scott’s passion for the possibilities of the digital economy saw his career progress from MD of Conscripti, a joint venture between Dimension Data and Tata Consultancy Services, to Britehouse Group CEO. When Britehouse became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dimension Data, Scott was appointed Group Executive of Dimension Data’s newly established Digital Practice, now Digital Business Solutions. In this role, Scott oversees Dimension Data’s digital and application competences and is responsible for accelerating their client’s digital transformation journey.

Yatish Narsi is a partner and shareholder in one of South African’s largest design and build practices and has spent 13 years in the retail interiors business, developing solutions for brands across multiple categories, including apparel, QSR, FMCG, telecoms, banking, and workplace. His experience in interior design helped him develop a keen understanding of the three pillars of design that scale across disciplines, including human-centred design, operational design, and brand and strategy. To date, Yatish has worked with well-known and beloved brands such as ABSA, Standard Bank, the TFG Group, Due South, Markham,Tile Africa, Wimpy,Steers, Mugg & Bean, Nandos,MTN,Jet, Coricraft, and Toys R Us.

Also joining the panel is Mike Sharman, whose work you will be familiar with if you’ve seen RocoMamas’ #ElectionBurger campaign, Douwe Egberts yawn-activated coffee vending machine, and the BraaiPhone for Castle Lager, to name just a few. Mike is the co-founder and owner of Retroviral, an award winning digital communications agency and the creative powerhouse responsible for creating memorable digital campaigns like these. He is also the co-founder of Webfluential, a platform that establishes relationships between consumers and brands through influencers. His voice will be a welcome addition, affording participants the opportunity to glean from over 12 years’ worth of experience with successfully implemented business-supporting traditional and digital communication campaigns in the consumer and b2b technology, finance, and entertainment sectors.

The final person joining the panel is Jonathan Houston who is passionate about digital marketing and digital strategy. During the day, Jonathan is the Head of Digital Marketing for HKLM. Jonathan’s work at HKLM includes strategy conceptualization, focusing on the alignment of digital marketing to business strategy as well as assisting HKLM’s clients on fulfilling their digital objectives. Jonathan is also the author of Internet Marketing for Entrepreneurs, a 50 000 word body of work which touched on the subtleties of digital marketing which are often overlooked.

Event details:

Date: 9 May 2018

Venue: Bella’s, 66 Rivonia Rd, Chislehurston, Sandton

Time: 6:00 – 8:00 pm, Registration from 5:30pm

Registration starts from 5:30pm and seating is limited.

Non-members of the BCSA will pay a R250 fee.

Book your ticket at https://www.brandcouncilsa.org/event/business-brand-digital-transformation/ or email admin@brandcouncilsa.org