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A.M.C. MEMBER NEWS
Dark Marketing under spotlight at first live IMM Fridays event
By our News Team | 2022
Institute of Marketing Management relaunches in South Africa and kicks off with first of planned monthly breakfast events.
The Institute of Marketing Management South Africa (IMM), one of the founding members of the African Marketing Confederation, has been formally re-launched and kicked off its new programme of events and activities for the local marketing community on Friday (27 May).
Its first ‘live’ event in the post-Covid era was an IMM Friday breakfast held at the institute’s new premises in the Johannesburg suburb of Parktown. This featured Matthew van der Valk, Executive Creative Director at brand agency VMLY&R, as guest speaker on the topic of Dark Marketing. Or, as he prefers to call it, ‘Beyond-the-Line Marketing’.
Despite its ominous title, Van der Valk believes Dark Marketing is an increasingly important element in the marketer’s toolbox.
Photo courtesy of Institute of Marketing Management South Africa
As he told the audience: “It’s the stuff you don’t see above the line or below the line. This is why I’ve started calling it beyond the line; because there is no line. You are looking at distribution; you are looking at people’s influence within specific communities; you are looking at borrowed interest. It’s about using the mind of the consumer as a medium.”
Dark Marketing initially used by regulated brands
For a long time, dark marketing has largely been used by regulated brands as a way of connecting with consumers through innovative, non-restricted avenues. The likes of the tobacco and alcohol industries, casinos and online gaming, arms and ammunition, and even big pharma count among this number – which no doubt has added to the perception of subterfuge attached to the approach.
But Van der Valk said that, increasingly, the human learnings from these marketing efforts are crossing over into other mainstream industries, spurred on by new controls and consumer privacy legislation which will make it harder for marketers to reach consumers using traditional approaches.
Van der Valk was recent interviewed by Strategic Marketing for Africa, the magazine of the African Marketing Confederation, on the topic of Dark Marketing. You can read it on page 48 of the magazine by clicking here.
The aim of the IMM is to bring together like-minded individuals to share thoughts and experiences within the rapidly changing marketing environment. The IMM offers a wide range of value-added products and services for marketing professionals who are Associates in either an individual or corporate capacity. Find out more about the IMM here.
For those marketers who missed the first live IMM Friday event, a video recoding will be broadcast this week. For details check the IMM website or Facebook page.
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