In times of flux, empowering teams to be honest about what they don’t know and giving them the support to explore can lead to unexpected breakthroughs

Article published in businesslive.co.za/redzone – 09 June 2025 – 08:00

by Tarryn Knight

IMAGE/PICTURE SOURCE: Unsplash/Kyle Glenn

The world is in flux, with unprecedented geopolitical upheaval and long-standing alliances in tatters. For many professionals in what used to be considered in decades past the “flow phase” of their careers, the past five years have increasingly shattered guardrails and baselines that we’d come to reference in our work.

In the industry I operate in, everything is in flux too. Globally, the automotive sector is undergoing its biggest revolution in more than a century, with the internal combustion engine challenged by hybrid and electric vehicle technology. Locally, the surge in Chinese imports is disrupting established original equipment manufacturers that have invested in our country.

The South African automotive marketing landscape is no longer simply about adapting to digital engagement. It’s about navigating a volatile mix of economic pressures, technological disruptions and shifting consumer expectations.

Multichannel advertising strategies remain essential for effective prospect management, and consumer research online before purchase is still the crucial journey for advertisers to navigate. However, the rising cost of living in South Africa is forcing consumers to delay purchases or opt for more affordable alternatives, affecting marketing return on investment (ROI) for the valued, established brands. This, in turn, puts pressure on securing the marketing budget year to year.

Data analytics is the lifeline of ROI, but even with sophisticated data, predicting consumer behaviour in this environment is becoming increasingly difficult. The R593m spent on automotive marketing between July and December 2024 represents a significant investment, and the pressure is on to demonstrate tangible results in the face of economic headwinds.

Then there’s the not-so-silent elephant in the room: generative AI and large language models. Everyone’s talking about them, but beneath the hype lies a genuine sense of uncertainty. It’s no longer about programmatic ad-serving and such predictable applications. The real challenge is understanding how AI will fundamentally reshape content creation, customer engagement and even the very definition of marketing creativity.

Marketers can’t afford to be complacent, but they also can’t afford to assume the ground is stable in the direction they choose to go in. The state of flux in all areas should fuel a sense of urgency and a willingness to experiment, adapt and embrace the unknown. The future of automotive marketing in South Africa depends on it.

“Find the edge of your comfort zone and live there. Be your own disrupter”

Given that I find myself in spaces that are unfamiliar in every way this year, I’ve explored four checkpoints to help me steer through the new reality.

The first is that when our reality is disrupted, there’s a risk that we jump to conclusions to feel secure. In doing so, we cut short the time we should allow for being open to all the choices and resources that might become apparent if we keep an open mind and ask ourselves and others the hard questions. My suggestion: surround yourself with experts in their respective fields and build relationships and partnerships that help you embrace the chaos. Challenge assumptions together in a spirit of mutual trust and respect with genuine curiosity to uncover uncharted ground and new approaches. Seek the friction that sparks true innovation.

Second, learn to be comfortable with discomfort. Find the edge of your comfort zone and live there. Be your own disrupter. Embrace the reality that there is never going to be a “new normal”. I find I can summon the energy and insights to do so in my professional life from what I do outside work. Having spent all my formative years as a dancer and having never played a ball sport, I recently took up golf. It’s an entirely new discipline to me that demands and rewards patience, focus and resilience. Challenging yourself to unfamiliar experiences and skills outside work can bring tremendous confidence to embrace the uncertainties in your professional world. One aspect of that is acknowledging that building new neural pathways and muscle memory takes time. You just need to keep taking that next best step.

Third, you need to lean completely into the role of you and your team in the evolving business ecosystem. For example, as a marketing professional, you’ve really got to embrace the financial performance of your brand. You have to find how to both protect your department’s budget and be a proverbial “good soldier” in the larger business success at the same time. It’s about understanding how you and your team dovetail effectively with internal stakeholders to drive the performance and health of the business. We must clinically measure results and our role in delivering them, embracing the reality that marketing experts contribute to financial outcomes. It’s no longer about being a cost centre; it’s about being a contributor in tangible terms of ROI and being able to measure that.

And I’ve saved my favourite checkpoint for last: the key indicator of your effectiveness as a leader is in how your team members flourish. “It’s amazing what you can achieve if you don’t mind who gets the credit” is a quote I live by. Focusing on the achievements, growth and exposure of your team members increases their collective successes, and being the support that your peers and superiors need enhances your capacity to navigate the challenges facing the business as a cohesive unit. As a leader, the only person you should compete with is yourself. Embrace your mistakes as a catalyst for making you a better, more empathetic leader. This gives your team “permission” to be brave and try new things themselves, knowing you’ll take the same stance with their mistakes.

In automotive marketing, as in global geopolitics, we must accept — and as leaders, empower our teams to accept — that we’re operating on fluid ground and in short sprints of “the next best decision”. Where we’ll end up may become clear in time, but living fluid is the new normal.

Tarryn Knight is head of marketing at Ford South Africa.

THE BIG TAKE-OUT: In automotive marketing, as in global geopolitics, we must accept — and as leaders, empower our teams to accept — that we’re operating on fluid ground and in short sprints of “the next best decision”.

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