A South African brand management agency, Brand Leadership Group was the brain behind the political communication that led to the success of Professor Atta Mills, the opposition NDC presidential candidate who was sworn in as Ghana’s president recently. Mills, a former vice-president in the Rawlings era defeated the ruling party, NPP's Nana Akufo-Addo in a tightly contested run-off on 28 December, 2008 claiming victory with 50.23% of the vote to Akufo-Addo's 49.77%.
Brand Leadership Group which was appointed by the opposition party early 2008 envisioned and implemented the campaign right up to the run-off which became necessary when a clear winner could not emerge from the initial poll. Blending the principles of marketing, branding and political campaigning, the agency came up with a strategy founded on what it called the "four-phase political branding" campaign designed to reassure committed voters, win swing voters and re-establish the NDC and Mills as the best custodians of Ghana's values, ambitions and prosperity.
To bring the campaign alive, Brand Leadership developed and implemented a multi-media campaign including TV, radio, print, outdoor, internet, publications, public relations, events, road shows and media training for key party spokespersons and leadership. The campaign was massively launched with a rally at the National Theatre and broadcast live on major media running for eight months.
The Brand Leadership Group, an integrated marketing services and brand management company founded by Thebe Ikalafeng who has been recognized as one of South Africa's top 10 thinkers in marketing along with former South African state president Nelson Mandela in a survey by Ipsos Markinor and dubbed "Mr. Brand" by the Mail & Guardian. An award winning marketer and advisor, he is the founder of the 2008 Fin Week "Marketing Services Company of the Year," The Brand Leadership Group and a non-executive director of Mercantile Bank Holdings and Foodcorp Holdings, and a member of Durban University of Technology council, Vega School of Brand Communications advisory committee, and the Sunday Times Marketing Excellence council.
A chartered marketer, Ikalafeng graduated cum laude with a BSc. and an MBA from Marquette University in the USA and has been awarded the American Marketing Association/Marquette University Award for Marketing Excellence. Passionate about brands and their relationships with and impact on people and nations, Thebe is a sought after speaker, prolific writer and advisor globally on personal, political, commercial and nation branding and related matters.
Described as terminally stylish by the Sunday Times, he's been named the best dressed man in South Africa by Fairlady, one of the top five best dressed men by GQ Magazine and one of the 40 Most Stylish South Africans by Style Magazine.
