Bernice Samuels - Marketing Personality of the Year

Trevor Ormerod and Bernice Samuels

The awards ceremony saw the cream of the crop in the marketing and media community acknowledge and celebrate the best brands in South Africa.

With more than 20 years experience in business, marketing strategy development and implementation, Samuels has been a key driver behind developing well-known corporate brands in South Africa and Africa including MNET, MTN and now FNB. Since her appointment at FNB in January 2011, she has been responsible for the management of FNB's brand positioning and overall marketing alignment across the business.

Samuels adds that "I love what I do and I am curious about the role of emotion in influencing buying decisions. I believe that in our world of overloaded channels of communication and the general lack of trust with advertising messages, finding your brands true emotional core and expressing it through your brand's story is essential."

"Brands are the new institutions of modern society, and thus consumers look to brands which inspire them, as well as guide and demonstrate the values and behaviours that are integral to us as human beings. As such, thinking about our customers as real people with real needs and not as targets, is fundamental to our approach to marketing," she concludes.