BRANDING
BRAND AGILITY
IN COMPLEX
ENVIRONMENTS
- A VIRTUE!
By Tabani Moyo
A
s the people of Zimbabwe, we
have entered the new frontier
of perpetual socio-economic
and political meltdown. At every turn
of our existence as a people, we are
struck by one plaque after another –
whether man-made or unleashed by
the devil incarnate forces.
The national economy is in
convolutions! The national polity is
defined by vile and cruel personalities
who have since positioned the
country to the rest of the world as a
laughing-stock.
This creates a very complex
environment in which both the
local and the global brands ought to
deal with competitively. The United
States (US) War College in the
1990s gave birth to the term VUCA,
which is the acronym for ‘Volatility,
Uncertainty, Complexity and
Ambiguity’ to define an environment
which is characterized by rapid
change and uncertainty.
The Zimbabwean environment is
not immune from this complex
environment with the forces of
change being driven by policy
inconsistency at government level
and the Internet revolution that
has come to define our collective
existence. Survival of brands depends
on ability to act fast in adapting to
the volatility and uncertainty born
out of these brutal exigencies.
It is in this fluid environment that
the marketing function ought to
streamline the art of total marketing
across the veins of its systems with
‘‘ One can therefore conclude by arguing
that local companies should now rather than
later invest heavily in fostering the values of
agility across board. This should start with
the top management leading by example
and rewarding actions and behaviors that
support agility.’’
76 MAL 17/17 ISSUE
agility as its bloodline. The marketing
philosophy should be highly complex
than ever before given the changing
tastes of the customers globally.
While my mind was enveloped in the
mist of the collapse of our national
economy and the pursuant albatross it
continues to exert our national ‘throat’,
I was pinched to a present surprise.
DStv, the pay-per-view premium
brand, which broadcasts through
satellite, dropped a wonderfully
surprising message to my television
scream to the effect that the month of
February was ‘on the house’!
The month of February is generally
viewed as the month of love and
true to it, DStv gave me true love
as a brand. After the excitement
on the good news delivered by the
brand to my lounge, I took back my
marketing cap and realized that the
brand specifically and the company
at large had taken its understanding
of VUCA and strength of agility to
dizzy heights.
In November 2016, the company
had launched the campaign, DStv
– Business Unusual across its five
offerings namely: DStv Premium,