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2021 Global WiM Awards: Africa Spotlight Series - Nobuntu Ndlovu

06 January 2022

2021 Global WiM Awards: Africa Spotlight Series - Nobuntu Ndlovu

The 2021 Global WiM Award shortlist has been announced and as we prepare for the Awards Ceremony is set to take place very soon, we shine a spotlight on the amazing shortlisted women from across the continent.

For the second edition of the Africa Spotlight Series we speak to Nobuntu Ndlovu, Group Digital and Brand Executive for Cresta Hotels in South Africa.

 

WiM Africa: What does it mean to you to be shortlisted for the 2021 Global Women in Marketing Awards?

NN: I have always been a misfit with a crazy take on life. I see things differently, struggle to fit in, but today I am honoured and excited to be shortlisted for these awards!

Seeing my name amongst these Globally successful Women in Marketing was just the confirmation I needed to believe in myself. I am genuinely phenomenal, and no amount of imposter syndrome can take that away from me.

 

One of my values is humility, and I keep a low profile, do my best to be humble and let my work speak for itself. It has also enabled me to build an excellent team platform within my organisation, which helps me produce the work that allows me to be nominated today.

 

My name, Nobuntu, embodies the spirit of ubuntu, which in my culture means "I am because we are". This philosophy enabled me to build community trust, growth and buy-in within the marketing and broader business function; my work community.

 

This nomination is not just for me, but for my team too, because we worked through a pandemic and saw travel freeze, yet we did not give up.

 

I am obsessed with Brene Brown; we are best friends in my head. She enabled me to have courage and show up as my authentic self; I have been able to break so many barriers and become a successful powerhouse. This nomination is a testament to that.

 

WiM Africa: The hospitality industry has suffered some setbacks throughout the global Pandemic; how has it, if at all, changed the way you market to and engage your customer base?

 

NN: I look after the Cresta Hotels brand, a regional powerhouse in the Southern African market. While Covid has had a significant impact on us, we are visionaries that look beyond the Pandemic. I am proud to say we recently added a new property to our portfolio, Cresta Grande Cape Town – amid Covid.

 

I always tell people that travel and tourism are on the frontline of the Pandemic. The day countries announced the first lock-down, we saw its immediate impact on the loss of business. It was hard to process, and as a result, it affected our mental health.

 

We went into panic mode initially, trying to do as much as we could. Looking back, I believe it was similar to a grief cycle where you have to go through certain stages to reach a point of acceptance.

 

Once it was clear that global travel was closed, we needed to focus on our base audience, which is our local travellers. In addition to that, we needed to understand how we can deliver personal service in a low touch economy.

 

We re-developed a lot of our standard operating procedures to ensure that we are putting the safety of our guests first. We then built [a] new value proposition, identified effective channels and built [a] unique connection to ensure that we remain meaningful, different and salient in the minds and hearts of our guests.

 

Due to budgetary constraints, we had to be very creative with how we did our work—looking at Social media platforms and tapping into Communities to build that Word of Mouth we desperately needed.

 

We are also tapping into digital technologies to firm up on our travel tech to deliver a superior guest experience.

 

Our local communities have been very supportive; visiting our properties for business or leisure ensured that our doors remained open and retained our staff.

 

The last two years have not been easy for us; we have had to make many sacrifices and use the growing data to make critical business decisions, such as understanding the small window periods we could make some money.

 

Some of our competitors had to shut down, so we remain grateful that we have a business to talk about two years into the pandemic.

 

WiM Africa: We love how passionate you are about purpose-driven marketing. What is your favourite purpose-driven marketing campaign?

 

NN: The Dove Real Beauty Campaign is my all-time favourite purpose-driven campaign. Seeing the sketches and the results made me realise how women have been affected by unattainable beauty standards.

 

When I was in college, I was so self-conscious of my body. Today, when I look at those pictures, I was such a beautiful young girl; however, I never thoroughly enjoyed those years because I used a rigid lens on myself.

 

Today we talk about self-love and even have Self-Love Sundays. Dove's formative purpose-led campaigns were the building blocks in sparking conversations amongst women, enabling us to see and appreciate who we indeed are. Dove gave us the voice and vocabulary we needed to articulate why we failed to see ourselves as beautiful and gave us the mental tools to move forward.

 

They have stayed the course and continue to deliver purpose-aligned campaigns. They moved beyond profit focus and were still able to provide phenomenal growth.

 

I always tell myself and the team to start with the Why, and when we understand that, we can deliver authenticity through our brands. And for you to produce a successful purpose-driven campaign, it starts with an authentic leader.

 

 

Check out all the 2021 Global WiM Awards Shortlisted Women.

Further information on the Awards Ceremony to be announced soon!



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