Author Archives: alison@thebrandsurgeon.co.za

I love how Checkers who were second in the South African retail market (and struggling) managed to transform their business. I think this was probably a combination of being brave, partnering with the right suppliers (e.g. RTT and Checkers 60/60), really understanding consumers and reading the trends correctly!   The transformation of South African supermarket chain […]

In addition to the 5 Ps, market research helps SMEs identify their Unique Selling Propositions, also known as USPs. A USP is what makes a business different, relevant and attractive compared with competitors.  Many SMEs struggle to explain why customers should choose them. They may say they offer “quality service” or “affordable prices”, but competitors […]

In today’s crowded entertainment landscape, understanding your audience is no longer just an advantage. It’s part of creating content that is more likely to be seen, understood, enjoyed and remembered.  At The Brand Surgeon, we’ve started doing more testing of the appeal of streaming series. A great movie or series takes creativity, talent and investment, […]

The Brand Surgeon just spent 2 days putting a tender together for a client. I really don’t love doing tenders, but they seem to be a necessary evil these days.   I can’t help asking myself if there isn’t a better approach to researching tenders in South Africa that moves away from manually refreshing fragmented government […]

Yesterday our team spent 45mins with a research house who was trying to brief us. However, they really didn’t know the exact specifics of the brief and so we queried this with their supervisor and today, my team had another 45min meeting with them to clarify everything. This is both unnecessary and frustrating. In this […]

The Brand Surgeon have done several amazing pieces of research in the Agricultural Industry over the years. However, not nearly as many as we’ve done other industries like Insurance, Vehicles, FMCG, Finance etc. Why is this?  Recently we’ve done several quotes in the SME farmer space, and it got me thinking about the disparity in […]

What can the largest global sporting event teach us? The brand possibilities in these 39 days is endless. This year it had 11 official sponsors and 15,000 social media creators and there are lessons to be learned for understanding how brands compete for attention, build emotional connections, and create cultural relevance. FIFA generated approximately $2.7 […]

The Importance of Fieldwork in Research By Tebogo Dlamini, Field Manager at The Brand Surgeon  After thirteen years in field management, I’ve learned that fieldwork is more than data collection — it’s the foundation good research is built on. Technology has changed the landscape, but face-to-face fieldwork remains vital, especially in Africa, where diversity, inequality, and […]

 A USP is a unique selling proposition! What is your product, service or brands USP? If you don’t have one, then price becomes the differentiator and you become a COMMODITY!   So your marketing needs to get really creative when product differentiation isn’t obvious.  In more commoditised categories, where products can look interchangeable and price quickly […]

I wanted to share some of the insights from an absolutely brilliant article by Kelly Mackenzie on the Psychology of Premium.  I always say VALUE = PRICE plus BENEFIT and sometimes that BENEIFT is perception!  Kelly says that people don’t pay premium prices by accident. There’s psychology behind it. If I put a generic bottle […]