[Interview] Judith Middleton, CEO, DUO Marketing+Communications, South Africa

DUO Marketing+Communications is a South Africa-based public relations and digital marketing agency that has been supporting the technology industry across Sub-Saharan Africa with a significant client portfolio and a product offering that extends beyond PR right to digital lead generation services.

Judith Middleton the CEO talked to Marketing Report about the business model of the agency, the focus on tech industry and the opportunities she foresees for PR and marketing firms as the African tech industry continues to grow.

Can you share the founding story of your company and what motivated you to focus specifically on the tech sector? 

Back in 2000 after a few years in the UK working for a variety of both tech, PR and advertising agencies, I was fortunate to secure the position as Marketing Director of the Cape IT Initiative (CITI now called UVU Africa) in Cape Town, a section 21 company whose purpose was to drive awareness of Cape Town's IT sector both locally and internationally. 

By 2002, we  had  built  Africa's first tech incubator called The Bandwidth Barn which turned out to be an incredible success, housing some of South Africa's tech entrepreneurs in a communal space, sharing services, offices, infrastructure, networks and also some instances collaborating on business deals and RFP’s.

What I witnessed was that marketing, PR and advertising agencies were promising these tech entrepreneurs incredible services to drive sales and yet took no accountability for results.  The idea to build a unique approach to delivering marketing and communications services was born out of a need to do better and build a niche agency that understood the growing Tech landscape but that sold value rather than swapped time for money.

20 years later,  DUO is a medium sized PR and Digital Marketing agency with a significant client portfolio and a product offering that extends beyond PR right through to digital lead generation services. We have built this business on our core values; integrity being at the heart of it.

What are the key trends you see shaping the tech industry in Africa right now?

Africa's tech landscape is diverse and incredibly complex, with each region offering unique characteristics and opportunities. It should never be approached as a single, uniform market. This is a key learning from our work across the continent representing international brands entering Africa and South African brands expanding into new markets. The greatest opportunity in my mind is a young, skilled workforce and a growing digital economy. We know that in Africa, in many instances innovation is born out of necessity rather than convenience and this is what drives continued growth in technology on our continent.

Here are 5 that are top of mind:

The expansion of fintech across Africa is transforming the continent's financial landscape, with companies like Flutterwave (Nigeria) Paystack (Nigeria) M-Pesa (Kenya)  Yoco (SA)  and Ecentric (SA) enabling seamless online payments and reshaping transactional experiences for businesses. Among our key clients, Mukuru stands out for advancing accessible remittance services, promoting financial inclusion for individuals across Africa.

ECentric, focuses on enhancing payment solutions that empower businesses to streamline e-commerce transactions and optimise their digital capabilities. This momentum in fintech and e-commerce presents a significant growth opportunity, driven by major players like Amazon and Takealot. Additionally, there’s an exciting prospect to stimulate the sector with tier 2 and 3 retailers, bolstered by robust logistics networks and last-mile delivery solutions, ultimately accelerating digital transformation across African markets.

The renewable energy sector in Africa is also experiencing remarkable growth, fueled by projects from companies like SOLA. Leveraging advanced solar technologies and a strong commitment to sustainability, SOLA is driving efforts to expand energy access, significantly lower carbon footprints, and foster economic development across African communities. This sector addresses the continent’s energy needs but also aligns with global climate goals, creating a pathway for sustainable economic growth and improved quality of life for millions. Renewable energy promises to become a cornerstone of Africa’s development, empowering communities and building a resilient, green future and that really excites me.

Healthtech, possibly one of Africa’s greatest requirements, is addressing long-standing challenges in healthcare accessibility, quality, and affordability. Innovations in telemedicine, mobile health applications, and AI-driven diagnostics, healthtech companies are bridging gaps in healthcare delivery across urban and rural areas alike.

Zipline (originally from the USA but found great success in Rwanda) uses drones to deliver medical supplies to remote areas. As the daughter of a farmer, I'm so inspired that this type of technology is becoming available to those that could not previously access these services. Mobile-based health services enable patients to consult with doctors remotely, reducing travel burdens and wait times, while AI-powered tools are improving the speed and accuracy of diagnoses. This trend is improving healthcare outcomes but also fostering a more inclusive healthcare system by reaching underserved communities. We are honoured to collaborate with companies such as Medical Diganostech who build diagnostic test kits which are affordable, accurate and accessible to all.

The EdTech sector with mobile, low bandwidth solutions is another trend we see taking the lead on the continent. Companies like uLesson provide accessible learning resources and redAcademy focuses on in- person digital skills training to prepare students for the tech workforce.

Both approaches are an essential component in our skills development initiatives  to boost job creation and  stimulate our economy. Interestly we have seen global learning companies come in and attempt to  “transplant” their solutions in Africa with little consideration for cost, accessibility and connectivity. In all instances, Africa has to be considered for all her nuances, challenges and opportunities. We are unique in almost all circumstances and rarely have we seen global Edtech just “fit” seamlessly here.

While the continent's venture capital landscape is heating up, with startups securing record-breaking investments, I do think that this is due to a continued pipeline of global tech success stories coming out of Africa.  Although DUO focuses on scale-ups rather than startups, the surge in venture capital funding is a positive sign, as international investors closely watch Africa for the next breakout innovation.

Organisations like Endeavor play a pivotal role by empowering high-impact entrepreneurs in emerging markets with resources, mentorship, and networks essential for scaling. Being part of this vibrant entrepreneurial community in Cape Town is an enormous privilege for me personally, connecting DUO to Africa’s exciting growth trajectory.

How do you tailor your services to meet the diverse needs of clients across different African markets?

This is a tough one because for each client it is so different but we do approach our client campaigns with the following considerations before we draft strategies and build go to market plans. We use what we call the “DUO recipe” to create a concept, plan the appropriate content and then think about and test the platforms relevant to the target audience. Before we embark on any campaign, we prepare in depth market research and insights and present this back to the client to ensure we are aligned.

We look at competitors, consumer behaviour, values and preferences. We also need to consider language, tone, local customs and even our approach. In most instances we have to consider how trust will be earned if we are entering new countries and so much thought needs to be given on how best to do that. In some instances it could be using radio (it's still very influential in Kenya) and in other instances it could be done via ambassadors, credible media or social media. We have unfortunately seen many campaigns fall flat by not fully taking into account best practices or “ testing before truly investing” .

How important are partnerships with tech influencers or media outlets in Africa for your business model?

I’d say that relationships with media outlets (journalists and advertorial teams) are the most important aspect of success for us at DUO. Relationships with journalists are fundamental to editorial media placement (and if newswires produced quality rather than volume maybe I'd have to retract that but for now), relationships are still critically important to us.

The advertorial teams provide incredible insights into best practice, broad reach and engagement, reporting and measurable results on their respective platforms. The future of PR will remain in quality and credibility and not AI driven bumf which anyone can generate.

Most of our clients have tried the AI approach to PR content generation and have soon come to realise that what existing generative AI platforms produce is “more of the same” and cannot extract the nuances, true thought leadership or even align to relevance or news of the day. Quality content remains our biggest differentiator and the journalists we work with know that they can trust us for insightful, valuable content.

What are some of the biggest challenges you face in executing PR or digital strategies?

In summary to this I think there are 4 key challenges that stand out for me in execution:

Expectation management - most clients just want immediate sales and credibility in their brand/product. This is not possible without the fundamentals and foundation work.

The rate of success is exponential if the initial two phases are done well and tested thoroughly. It also saves significant time and costs for the client because lead generation is costly and a complete waste of money unless you test first.

Training CEO’s/CMO’s to measure campaigns effectively - sadly many still measure PR on AVE (Advertising value equivalent) The world has long since moved away from this reporting criteria. Today it's data driven with measurable data emerging from Hubspot and google analytics if you set things up correctly to start with. This data provides rich insights into how to evolve and iterate on any campaign.

Alignment and integration - too often we see campaigns on external platforms not aligned with internal assets such as websites, email signatures or even SEO. Testing the full multi channel approach to any campaign is so imperative to its success. Learnings enable change and change enables greater impact.

Measurement - this has always been a grey area in PR as many agencies use a variety of measurement tools or processes but what is value to DUO’s clients? Value is when strategy implementation and results meet business objectives. This we need to demonstrate on a monthly basis with whatever tools fit the brief. These could include:

Share of voice, sentiment analysis, reach, best performing content, engagement, website traffic etc but again, measured against business goals in every instance.

What opportunities do you foresee for PR and marketing firms like yours as the African tech industry continues to grow?

Expansion into the UK and Europe - not necessarily to build an office offshore but with the “death of distance", we will lean into global opportunities as the skills crisis deepens across the world and Africa’s skills and price tag becomes very attractive. That's not to say we will sell cheap services- we won't. We sell quality first and do so from the best place in the world!

Our next Business Unit will launch in February 2025 to service our UK and Dutch partners at Plexus as they look to outsource some of their conceptual and content work - especially in the digital space which is easily managed from South Africa. Being part of Plexus PR globally has given us great confidence in our digital abilities and enabled us to build strong partnerships with over 20 sister agencies across the world. This has given us insights into global best practices for client management, campaign approaches, new business development and investor insights.

How do you plan to expand or adapt your services in response to the evolving landscape of technology in Africa?

There is a simple answer to this: We listen to our clients. We listen to their challenges and build solutions to support them. In most instances our clients trust us to experiment a bit and come back with data driven insights as to why a campaign may or may not work. We have a recipe approach at DUO: Concept first, content second and implementation third. What this means is that every campaign needs a concept and only once this is fully unpacked do we build the content. This could mean a video, a webinar or whatever it is going to take to deliver the concept to the relevant target audience and then only do we think about the delivery vehicle/platform. Everything we do has a strategic, measurable intent and outcome.

What personal experiences have most influenced your approach to leadership within the tech PR landscape in Africa?

I'm curious by nature and so I spend a lot of time investigating or “going down a rabbit hole” as my team calls it. I'm a real data nerd but I'm also deeply commercially aware of value. My goal is to ensure that our clients receive irrefutable value and that our team learn, stretch and enjoy the process of delivering excellence.

I study completely unrelated things like integrated healthcare and scaling entrepreneurial ventures to stimulate my brain but I also love podcasts and accessing information to the world's greatest thinkers in that way. I travel a lot for pleasure and I make a real point to invest in friendships that matter to me. Conversations with great minds are one of life's greatest joys for me

Parenting, interestingly, has been one of my greatest lessons. My son remains my greatest teacher and continues to remind me of what really matters in life. I pinch myself daily that he chose me.

www.duomarketing.co.za