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The Lead Creative
The Lead Creative episodes
- Belief in Africa Doesn’t Always Translate into African Brand Preference
How can African brands turn belief in the continent into customer preference? Dr Thebe Ikalafeng, Chairman of Brand Africa, joins Mongezi Mtati at the 2026 Nedbank IMC Conference to examine what influences the brands people choose.
Thebe explores the historical preference for foreign products, the growth of African brands and the barriers emerging businesses face when trying to reach customers. A young beverage entrepreneur’s experience with a branded fridge makes the distribution challenge concrete.
Key insights:
- How perceptions of African quality influence brand preference
- What successful African brands could help others understand
- Why trust depends on how a brand fits into people’s lives
- The human judgement Thebe wants to retain when working with AI
Sponsored by award-winning digital agency Rogerwilco.
Hosted by Mongezi Mtati.
Thanks to our production partners, Soweto Media, for the production and post-production on this episode.
___________________________
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
___________________________
Produced in collaboration with our partners, Soweto Media.
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The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:
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- YouTube
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Support the show
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
Follow us for more on:- YouTube
Send us mail!
Support the show
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
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17 min - Why Marketing Leaders Should Question the Loyalty They Expect Of Customers
If your team can produce content faster, what keeps it distinctly yours?
Dawn Rowlands, CEO of dentsu Africa, discusses the importance of data quality and adaptable design systems with Mongezi Mtati on The Lead Creative, recorded at the Nedbank IMC Conference.
She describes using conversational signals to inform campaigns and explains why the foundations behind the output deserve attention as production accelerates.
In this conversation
- How the quality of the underlying data affects creative output.
- Why design systems need to support adaptation as well as recognition.
- The risk of producing work that resembles the competition.
- What marketers need to understand about platform distribution.
- Why quicker tools also require a workable approval process.
The discussion also explores customer loyalty, changing agency competition and the decisions needed to put greater ambition into practice.
Sponsored by award-winning digital agency Rogerwilco.
Hosted by Mongezi Mtati.
Thanks to our production partners, Soweto Media, for the production and post-production on this episode.
___________________________
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
___________________________
Produced in collaboration with our partners, Soweto Media.
___________________________
The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:
- Apple
- Spotify
- YouTube
Follow us on:
- X
Send us mail!
Support the show
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
Follow us for more on:- YouTube
Send us mail!
Support the show
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
Follow us for more on:- YouTube
20 min - The Biggest Shift in Marketing is Psychological, Not Tech or AI: Tahaab Rais
Marketing can master AI and still miss what matters to people. As advertising and brand teams adopt new tools, how much attention are they giving to the psychological changes that come with them?
Tahaab Rais, Group Chief Strategy Officer of Publicis Groupe MENAT, joins Mongezi Mtati on The Lead Creative for a conversation recorded at the 2026 Nedbank IMC Conference.
Rais explores how technology changes the people brands serve and the teams creating the work.
Five key insights for your marketing strategy
- Understand the human changes behind your technology plans.
- Give people a reason to value your brand through the four E’s.
- Use community passions to develop culturally relevant ideas.
- Build channel thinking into the brief from the start.
- Address team confidence as AI changes the creative process.
Sponsored by award-winning digital agency Rogerwilco.
Hosted by Mongezi Mtati.
Thanks to our production partners, Soweto Media, for the production and post-production on this episode.
___________________________
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
___________________________
Produced in collaboration with our partners, Soweto Media.
___________________________
The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:
- Apple
- Spotify
- YouTube
Follow us on:
- X
Send us mail!
Support the show
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
Follow us for more on:- YouTube
Send us mail!
Support the show
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
Follow us for more on:- YouTube
17 min - What People First Marketing Means for Algorithms
The people who will drive your brand’s future growth may already be influencing what gets bought today. Gugu Mthembu, CMO of Telkom, explores why brands should listen to younger audiences now and use that understanding to think about the products they may need in five years.
Gugu shares how Telkom’s approach to the creator economy began with African language radio DJs and the communities that trusted them. She explains why a brand’s role in culture depends on understanding those relationships and contributing value as audiences move between platforms.
In this episode
- Challenging whether a category is meeting people’s needs.
- Connecting with young people before they become direct customers.
- Understanding trust in creator and radio partnerships.
- Keeping people central to platform decisions.
Sponsored by award-winning digital agency Rogerwilco.
Hosted by Mongezi Mtati.
Thanks to our production partners, Soweto Media, for the production and post-production on this episode.
___________________________
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
___________________________
Produced in collaboration with our partners, Soweto Media.
___________________________
The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:
- Apple
- Spotify
- YouTube
Follow us on:
- X
Send us mail!
Support the show
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
Follow us for more on:- YouTube
10 min - Are We Making Advertising for Algorithms or for People?
Algorithms optimise towards the familiar. Brands, however, need to be remembered for something distinctive.
In this episode of The Lead Creative’s Marketers’ Brief series, Refilwe Maluleke, Executive Head of Marketing at Discovery Health, and Bridget Harpur, Head of Marketing at Volkswagen South Africa, join Mongezi Mtati and Bizcommunity Managing Editor Danette Breitenbach to explore why intelligent, experienced marketing teams still produce advertising that looks and sounds like everything else.
In this episode, they unpack:
- Why algorithms can push advertising towards a sea of sameness.
- How crowded briefs and approval committees weaken promising ideas.
- Why data tells marketers what people do, but not necessarily why they do it.
- What 100 million impressions mean when nobody notices or remembers the work.
- Why performance marketing must support, not replace long-term brand building.
- How marketers can nurture intuition and develop the next generation of talent.
Marketers’ Brief draws out the insight behind the decisions leading marketers make, explores the changes reshaping the industry and looks ahead to where brands are going next.
Thanks to our production partners, Soweto Media, for the production and post-production on this episode.
___________________________
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
___________________________
Produced in collaboration with our partners, Soweto Media.
___________________________
The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:
- Apple
- Spotify
- YouTube
Follow us on:
- X
Send us mail!
Support the show
Send us mail!
Make a donation to Threads for Ikasi, a foundation that provides school uniforms, dignity packs and other essentials to children in townships, rural areas and under-resourced communities.
To support them, go to: https://threadsforikasi.orgSupport the show
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
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1 hr 10 min - Why Influencer Marketing Works for Some Brands and Fails for Others
Influencer marketing investment is growing, but consumer trust remains uneven. What separates creator partnerships that build brands from those that generate a brief spike in attention and disappear?
In this episode of The Lead Creative, Mongezi Mtati speaks to Fluence Africa Founder and CEO Jolene Roelofse and content creator, storyteller and media personality Alphi Mkhwanazi.
They explore why long-term creator relationships often produce more believable work, why brands need to look beyond follower counts and how agencies help translate marketing objectives into briefs creators can use.
The conversation also covers creative freedom, co-creation, unclear expectations, campaign backlash and the role of AI in the future of content creation.
This episode was created in collaboration with our production partners, Soweto Media.
___________________________
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
___________________________
The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:
- Apple
- Spotify
- YouTube
Follow us on:
- X
- YouTube
Send us mail!
Make a donation to Threads for Ikasi, a foundation that provides school uniforms, dignity packs and other essentials to children in townships, rural areas and under-resourced communities.
To support them, go to: https://threadsforikasi.orgSupport the show
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
Follow us for more on:- YouTube
1 hr 12 min - Advertising Has A Sameness Problem, Not An AI Problem
AI may be changing advertising, but is it really the industry's biggest challenge?
In this episode, Mongezi Mtati sits down with Alistair King, co-founder of former King James, creative at large and Vice-Chairperson of the Philipstown Wirecar Foundation, to unpack the future of creativity, brand building and agency life.
They explore why so much advertising feels predictable, why brands often mistake relevance for imitation, and what made campaigns like Allan Gray and Bell's stand the test of time.
The conversation also delves into the internationally acclaimed Philipstown Wirecar Grand Prix documentary and what it teaches marketers about culture, storytelling and creating work that genuinely resonates.
___________________________
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
___________________________
The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:
- Apple
- Spotify
- YouTube
Follow us on:
- X
- YouTube
Send us mail!
Make a donation to Threads for Ikasi, a foundation that provides school uniforms, dignity packs and other essentials to children in townships, rural areas and under-resourced communities.
To support them, go to: https://threadsforikasi.orgSupport the show
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
Follow us for more on:- YouTube
1 hr 19 min - Why Safe Advertising Makes Brands Forgettable
In this episode of The Lead Creative, Mongezi Mtati speaks to Chris Botha, MD of Park Advertising, about why brands are playing it safe and what it’s costing them.
He shares his perspective on the tension between data and creativity, why shrinking budgets should drive braver decisions, and how media consumption is shifting in a world where audiences increasingly avoid interruption.
Get tickets to the Nedbank IMC Conference:
To stand a chance to win a ticket to the Nedbank IMC Conference taking place on 17 September, subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletter here, and enter on our LinkedIn page.
___________________________
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
___________________________
The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:
- Apple
- Spotify
- YouTube
Follow us on:
- X
- YouTube
Send us mail!
Make a donation to Threads for Ikasi, a foundation that provides school uniforms, dignity packs and other essentials to children in townships, rural areas and under-resourced communities.
To support them, go to: https://threadsforikasi.orgSupport the show
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
Follow us for more on:- YouTube
45 min - Marketing Leaders on the Impact of AI, Culture and Creativity in Brand Building
CMOs are balancing speed, AI and increasing complexity while trying to keep brands distinctive and relevant. In this episode of Marketers’ Brief on The Lead Creative, Abey Mokgwatsane, CMO of Investec, and Jessica Wheeler, Chief Brand and Customer Officer of Nando’s, unpack how they are navigating brand discipline, culture and creativity.
Get tickets to the Nedbank IMC Conference:
To stand a chance to win a ticket to the Nedbank IMC Conference taking place on 17 September, subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletter here, and enter on our LinkedIn page.
This conversation is hosted by Mongezi Mtati of The Lead Creative and Danette Breitenbach, Managing Editor of Bizcommunity, and sponsored by the award-winning digital agency Rogerwilco.
Thanks to our production partners, Soweto Media, for the production and post-production on this episode.
___________________________
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
___________________________
Produced in collaboration with our partners, Soweto Media.
___________________________
The Lead Creative Podcast is available on:
- Apple
- Spotify
- YouTube
Follow us on:
- X
Send us mail!
Support the show
___________________________
Follow us for more on:- YouTube
Send us mail!
Make a donation to Threads for Ikasi, a foundation that provides school uniforms, dignity packs and other essentials to children in townships, rural areas and under-resourced communities.
To support them, go to: https://threadsforikasi.orgSupport the show
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
Follow us for more on:- YouTube
1 hr 2 min - Marketing Is Business: Building Lasting Brands and Communities
Marketing has never had more tools. But has it ever had less patience?
In this episode of The Lead Creative, host Mongezi Mtati engages with Dale Hefer, CEO of the Nedbank IMC Conference, which welcomed over 3,300 delegates from more than 20 countries in 2025, marking a record-breaking year.
Before leading one of Africa’s largest marketing conferences, Dale built and sold top ten South African agency, Chillibush.
We unpack:
• Why marketing must be treated as a core business function
• The difference between audience and community
• Why credibility compounds in brand building
• The risks of short-term marketing thinking
• How AI exposes weak strategyThis episode was produced and edited at Solemix Studios.
If you’re a content creator, marketer, producer or artist, Solemix Studios will offer you 30% off your first project. Tell them The Lead Creative sent you, and click here to book their studios.
Send us mail!
Make a donation to Threads for Ikasi, a foundation that provides school uniforms, dignity packs and other essentials to children in townships, rural areas and under-resourced communities.
To support them, go to: https://threadsforikasi.orgSupport the show
Buy us coffee here to help us grow.
Follow us for more on:- YouTube
1 hr 6 min
About The Lead Creative
From the publisher's feed
The Lead Creative podcast hosts a series of conversations with great minds behind some of the leading brands, businesses, organisations and top ideas that we all love. From advertising thought…
leaders, forward-thinking brand leaders, innovative digital marketing minds to content creators - the podcast gives into what makes the world engage with some of the top brands. Founded and hosted by Mongezi Mtati, the podcast shares analysis, trends, and strategic intelligence.