While most brands obsess over metrics, market share, and media ROI, something bigger is happening in the background — and it's not in your dashboards. There's a widening gap between what brands measure and what audiences actually feel.
While most brands obsess over metrics, market share, and media ROI, something bigger is happening in the background — and it's not in your dashboards.
There's a widening gap between what brands measure and what audiences actually feel.
In South Africa — where 76% of consumers say they "no longer trust advertising" (Edelman Trust Barometer SA, 2024) and 3 in 5 Gen Zers prefer unpolished, creator-driven content over branded creative — the obsession with performance is causing emotional disconnect.
It's not a data problem. It's a meaning problem.
We're living through what I call a "Meaning Recession."
More media. More platforms. More impressions. And yet — less trust. Less recall. Less belief.
In 2025, the average South African scrolls through 7,000+ branded messages per day. They remember fewer than 10. What's the common thread among the memorable ones? Emotional disruption — not creative perfection.
When Cell C needed to relaunch their brand, we didn't build a campaign. We built a moment.
Two live performance acts. Three weeks of creative war rooming. Zero slides. All feeling.
The story wasn't told at people. It was staged with them. Human performance met screen manipulation. Resilience became visible. The new logo didn't just appear — it emerged through story, movement, and tension.
Because people don't remember brand guidelines. They remember goosebumps.
I don't just craft strategy decks. I create visceral belief systems. Because in a fragmented market like ours, the brands that win aren't the ones who say the most — they're the ones who move the room.
I call this Kinetic Emotional Impact: the moment when brand meets body. When you stop planning content for a feed, and start designing experiences for the soul.
This isn't about being different for the sake of it. It's about being memorable for the sake of meaning.
The brands that will thrive in the next decade won't just track engagement — they'll engineer emotion.
They'll stop asking "How many people saw this?" and start asking "How many people felt this?"
Because in a world where everyone is shouting, the brands that whisper the right words in the right way will be the ones people lean in to hear.
The room is waiting. Are you ready to read it?
Let's discuss how these insights can be applied to your specific challenges and opportunities.