
Futures Sport & Entertainment launches an African-based operation
Launch of Futures Africa follows its three-year appointment as Cricket South Africa’s full-service research and analytics partner.
INDUSTRY AWARDS
By our African Marketing Confederation News Team | 2025
IMM Institute’s glamorous gala dinner and excellence awards evening in March promises to be a highlight on the local calendar.
The IMM Institute, one of the founder members of the African Marketing Confederation, will host its Gala Dinner and IMM Excellence Awards in Johannesburg, South Africa on 7 March 2025.
This annual event will not only honour those who have excelled in the fields of marketing and supply chain, but also provide networking opportunities for local industry professionals.
IMM Institute CEO Irene Gregory (right) with Pat Mahlangu at last year’s event. Photo: IMM Institute
Irene Gregory, CEO of the IMM Institute, says there is an increasing need for the integration of marketing with supply chain.
With marketing being a key driver of creating demand for products, it is essential to bring suppliers on board to ensure they can fulfil product orders in a timely manner to meet increasing demand, she emphasises.
“Achieving this involves seamless collaboration between marketing and supply chain teams, eliminating silos, and ensuring that all practices uphold the highest standards in environmental, social, and governance affairs,” Gregory explains.
“Our Gala Awards Dinner promises to be an informative and glamourous evening during which networking opportunities abound. We have an incredible line-up for the event, featuring Govan Whittles from [South African investigative journalism television series] Carte Blanche as our host, with extra oomph provided by the amazing ‘Simply for Entertainment’,” she says.
Gregory adds that the IMM Institute is excited to have award-winning marketing and media entrepreneur Pat Mahlangu deliver the keynote address. Mahlangu, who has more than a decade of experience in the sector, is the founder of Pat on Brands, a digital platform at the forefront of brand insights.
An author and lecturer who has served on various industry bodies, Mahlangu has founded several companies and is committed to youth empowerment, creating the ‘Top 16 Youth-Owned Brands Awards’.
In 2023, he was named one of the ‘Top 200 Young South Africans’ by the Mail & Guardian newspaper and was honoured as the Emerging Marketer of the Year by the IMM Institute.
At the banquet, the IMM Institute will bestow its Excellence Awards in 10 categories. These include Marketer of the Year, Emerging Marketer of the Year, Corporate Marketing Team of the Year, Supply Chain Professional of the Year, and Entrepreneur of the Year.
Of particular importance are the two Lifetime Achievement Awards – one in Marketing and the other in Supply Chain.
You can find out more about the Gala Dinner and IMM Excellence Awards here.

Launch of Futures Africa follows its three-year appointment as Cricket South Africa’s full-service research and analytics partner.

Scepticism caused by greenwashing doesn’t promote further fact-checking. Instead, consumers disengage from all product-sustainability claims.

D.A. Twum Jnr Fellowship promotes mentorship, hands-on learning and creative industry exposure for next generation of creative leaders.

Don’t redesign packaging simply because modernisation is fashionable. Rather modernise when pack likeability has declined.

Marketers said to be ‘over the moon’ as once-in-a-lifetime branding opportunity floats into view on Artemis II spacecraft.

Company has operated in Africa for two decades and will leverage its expertise to bring new brands to the Kenyan market.

Paper discusses how industries such as tobacco, alcohol, gambling and ultra-processed food have invested heavily in marketing strategies.

When more than 400,000 of its chocolate bars were stolen, the brand didn’t go ‘formal’. Instead, it went on a clever PR offensive.

French-based supermarket group Carrefour will open its first supermarket in Guinea in partnership with Imperial Group in mid-April 2026.

As part of its English Premier League sponsorship, global beer brand Guinness has unveiled a new campaign for its Guinness Foreign Extra Stout.

Insights from Helen McIntee-Carlisle on Africa’s shift from commodity supply to global brand ownership, powered by AfCFTA, trade access, and innovation.