[Interview] Helen McIntee-Carlisle, President, African Marketing Confederation

In this interview, Helen McIntee-Carlisle, President of the African Marketing Confederation (AMC), shares her insights on the evolving marketing landscape across Africa.

Drawing on her extensive experience as a marketing educator, global collaborator, and industry leader, she discusses how the AMC supports marketers in navigating challenges, advancing digital transformation, and positioning Africa on the global stage.

As AMC President, how does your background shape your vision for marketing across Africa?

As Co-Founder and President of the AMC as well as elected First Vice President of the newly launched World Marketing Council, I have been fortunate enough to have travelled extensively in Africa and around the world, I have lectured in marketing at MBA level at most major universities in Southern Africa and so I am very fortunate to have built strong relationships  with fellow marketers and business leaders.

I believe this has given me valuable insight into the challenges we face on the African Continent. The AMC is also now collaborating with UN Tourism on their Brand Africa project. We share their vision of 'changing the narrative' and repositioning the continent. They are sharing valuable research and information available to help us understand more about Africa; we can then pass this onto our member associations to assist their members in developing better marketing strategies.

How does the Confederation support marketers in navigating regulatory, economic, or technological barriers?

As the AMC is part of a larger education and training group, we have access to a vast array of skills in all these areas which we are able to offer as support services to our member countries.

We also assist African countries in establishing their own marketing association if  they don't have an existing one – a sort of marketing association 'in a box' that we have developed.

What are the key initiatives the African Marketing Confederation is currently undertaking to support marketers across Africa?

Over the past few years, we’ve signed MOUs with the Asia Marketing Federation, the European Marketing Confederation, and the Chartered Institute of Marketing UK.

We are also collaborating with UN Tourism on the Brand Africa project to reposition the continent globally. Recent initiatives include launching the AMC Tourism Chapter to support Destination Marketing courses and country branding, and incorporating Francophone countries through Club Marketing Avis+, representing seven French-speaking nations.

We are partnering with the West African Retail Association (WARA) to develop an AMC Retail Marketing Chapter. As a founding member of the World Marketing Council, AMC contributes to global research projects and professional designations. Our Annual Conference, the continent’s largest networking event, will be held in Livingstone, Zambia in September, alongside the Asia Marketing Federation’s annual conference.

How would you describe the current state of marketing across Africa, and what key trends are shaping the industry today?

Busy and exciting. Marketers in Africa are young, savvy and vibrant – full of new and innovative ideas and products. Collectively we believe it is Africa's time to shine and we are working hard to position Africa positively on the global stage.

Key trends include the huge interest in AI, something the AMC is delving right into, as well as data collection and analysis. In retail marketing there is an interesting trend of brands moving towards Phygital – a retail mix of physical and digital marketing.

There is also a huge 'Back to our roots' mentality amongst African marketers and consumers alike, with a drive for recognising each country's unique cultures and rich heritage, mainly through the art of storytelling.

How is digital transformation influencing marketing strategies across the continent?

Marketers have long recognised that research and data collection is imperative in crafting effective strategies. In theory this is the segmentation process, collecting and analyzing data gathered digitally is a really 'Behavioural and Psychographic Segmentation on steroids'. It allows us to really get into the minds and behaviour of our consumer and is vital to the marketer's survival as the world moves into social media and social commerce as their main means of purchasing. 

Is there a gap between global marketing standards and African practices, and how is it being bridged?

Yes, in certain countries, a significant gap exists. Africa has unique challenges for marketers including socio-cultural factors, 'red tape', non-homogenous markets, language barriers, supply chain difficulties, weather extremes and lack of infrastructure.

Together with the CIM (UK) we have embarked on a project to identify these gaps and benchmark and map all our member association's qualifications against the global standards. In addition to improving our marketers knowledge and skills, this will allow African marketers more employment mobility around the world.

How does the Confederation plan to expand its reach and influence over the next 5–10 years?

The AMC plans to welcome new member associations and develop Student and Retail Chapters. In partnership with Asia, Europe, and soon the Americas, we will focus on our four committees: Research, Education, Events, and Publishing. We aim to expand our well-received Strategic Marketing for Africa magazine into a Journal of African Case Studies for use in universities and business schools.

Through the World Marketing Council, we will launch the Global Marketing Agenda to track marketing trends and challenges by continent. The AMC recently introduced the Chartered Marketer Africa (CM(A)) designation and is preparing to launch the Certified Professional Marketer Africa (CPM(A)) with the Marketing Institute of Singapore, both globally aligned with an African focus.

What excites you most about the future of marketing in Africa?

There is so much interest in Africa now – it is a massive, young market. As we all know marketing is critical to the success of any business – so I see every industry on the rise; sports, agriculture and property, basically every element of the African economies are all focusing on building their brands at home and cross border. In addition, country branding is growing as tourism to the continent is a key focus area (UN Tourism have a Gastronomy Tourism arm focused on showing African food to the world).

All in all, Africa is rising and the AMC marketers are ready and not waiting.

www.africanmarketingconfederation.org