Introduction to ICEW 2012
The World’s leading Customer Experience Event is coming to Johannesburg: 27th - 28th March 2012
In March 2012 the Focus Group are bringing their prestigious Customer Experience event to South Africa. Their UK-based annual European Customer Experience World (ECEW) attracts speakers from international brands such as the Disney Institute, Coca-Cola, Yahoo, Unilever, Starbucks and Virgin as well as the leading published experts such as David MacLeod, Chair of the UK Government Task Force.
The Focus Group are proud to confirm speakers from South African based companies ABSA, Sanlam Finance, MTN, Sun International and Consulta.From outside SA, CE expert Robin Lawton - who has advised companies such as Ford, 3M, General Electric, AT & T and American Express will be giving a keynote speech. Jamie Naughton from Zappos Inc - a company whose growth in the on-line clothing sector in the US has been based on CE, and who have a turnover in excess of $1bn pa - will be providing insights for delegates, as will Anthony Thomson, Chair of Metro Bank - the first bank to be launched in the UK for over 150 years, and Alan Wilson, Professor of Marketing from the University of Strathclyde Business School.
The event will be chaired by well-know South African TV and film personality Leeande Reddy, well-known in SA as MC at prestigious corporate events.
Why the time is ripe for a leading Customer Experience event in South Africa.
In response to growing numbers of delegates from South Africa attending Focus Group events in the UK, the Focus Group surveyed leading companies in SA and found that 90% believed that Customer Experience is the “answer to challenging times”. Over 80% felt that they needed to listen to the voice of the customer.
Recent research performed by Consulta Research indicates SA brands are ready to adopt the customer experience techniques that have helped US and UK brands distinguish themselves and their balance sheets. The ‘maturity model’ of Customer Experience currently places South Africa as “mid-to-low mature”. This means that the focus on how companies interact with their customers is ripe for change in SA from the standard model of focussing on customer acquisition, to majoring on Customer Experience. CE concentrates on trying to retain customers and make them ambassadors for brands they feel an affinity with; Starbucks for instance underwent phenomenal growth not due to advertising spend, but because their customers spread the word – due to the CE they received.
CE presents a great opportunity for SA brands to thrive. This new direction means that brands need to prepare by learning more from practitioners and suppliers to get them started and to help them on their journey.
Companies and vendors dedicated to becoming front-runners by differentiating their brands using CE are encouraged to contact us now to get involved with the event. The Focus Group is characterised by engaging tightly with participants – speakers, sponsors and attendees - by involving them in the event planning process. This approach has yielded a better attendee experience and better sponsor results since the Focus Group was founded over 10 years ago.
The Focus Group run events which concentrate on improving all aspects of corporate interaction with customers and employees. Bringing together the leading proponents of Customer Experience and Employee Engagement (speakers from major brands as well as academic researchers) together with organisations ready to take action, gives everyone a front-row seat at the forefront of new developmental thought. CE is proven to increase bottom-line results, and we provide our attendees with real-life techniques to achieve success.
Further information on the event, as well as logos and other support information, are available from Maggie Wheeler, Conference Producer (maggie.wheeler@thefocusgroup.org.uk
Update: 6th March. Due to circumstances beyond our control, the speaker booked from Virgin Active is unable to attend the event. We apologise to attendees but can assure them that when this event was being promoted the speaker was booked and we have only just been informed that he cannot attend.