How do marketers prove the value of creativity and marketing effectiveness in boardrooms dominated by numbers and shareholder expectations? For Mandisa Theko-Khitsane, CMO at Sanlam Retail Mass and Effie Awards South Africa judge, the answer lies in connecting creativity to impact.
She explains that data tells the story of how customers experience a brand. Creativity, then, is the art of turning those stories into campaigns that resonate with people’s lives. For Mandisa, customer relationships are not won at acquisition or saved only at retention, but nurtured in the everyday in-between.
This perspective also extends to leadership. Convincing a board to back creative work requires proof. It means using data to demonstrate value, building trust with leadership, and showing how ideas translate into sales, retention and brand equity.
Highlights from this conversation:
- Creativity must be tied to measurable business outcomes.
- Vanity KPIs are not enough; marketers need to track real impact.
- Customer journeys require continuous investment, not just start and end points.
- Boards value data, so marketers must frame creativity in business terms.
- Effective creativity is rooted in the realities of the communities we serve.
Mandisa’s lens, sharpened by her role as an Effie judge, challenges marketers to see effectiveness not as a campaign outcome, but as a mindset.
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Our podcast audio editing and audio production are done by: Maishe Rakgoale.