The 18-24 urban youth space is one that many brands have struggled to crack because the audience is very a fickle and hard to please market with more access to information than any other generation.
One of the reasons spaces like Braamfontein Johannesburg have become so popular is because it’s transformed into a creative arts hub and a melting pot for young creators in fashion, music and arts space who are moving urban youth culture forward.
2020 has seen the creative niche arts space become even ‘cooler’ because of its endorsement by urban centennials who are essentially taste makers and drivers for ‘cool’.
Elaine Mukheli
Elaine is a 20-year-old third-year student at the University of Witwatersrand and songstress. Elaine made history with her debut 7 track EP titled Elements released in September 2019 reaching no.1 on Apple Album Charts making her the first independent South African music artist to achieve this.
The project already sits on more than 2.5 million streams making the R&B songstress a force to be reckoned with. Elaine has also been featured on international shows such as the Joe Budden podcast and Ebro Darden’s radio show.
The young creative has already created video content in partnership with Sportscene on a campaign promoting Nike Sportswear Air Max 90.
Lesedi Riba AKA Macc Gee
Lesedi Riba popularly as Macc Gee is a 22-year-old fashion stylist designer and model. ‘Drip’ is an urban street colloquial term used by ‘Braamies’ when referring to clothing or fashion and is an important part of the culture.
Macc Gee is at the forefront of this with more than 170,000+ Instagram followers and an average of 2 000+ engagements per Instagram post he is arguably one of the most influential menswear fashion influencers amongst his peer group in 2020.
His most recent brand partnership campaign was the Steers ‘Hit A Lick’ #Phandapreneur online series collaboration between urban youth digital publisher, Zkhiphani and Steers.
Prior to this Macc Gee has worked with brands like Palladium, Timberland, H&M, Superdry, Puma and Cotton On to name a few.
Vincent Mphofu AKA Uncle Vinny
Vincent Mphofu popularly known as Uncle Vinny is an 18-year-old actor, radio presenter and events curator.
Uncle Vinny, alongside international rapper YBN Cordae and singer DaniLeigh recently partnered with Puma for the Puma Fast Rider Sneaker campaign making him the youngest South African to be featured on an international Puma campaign.
Uncle Vinny was also the host of Cotton Fest 2020 organised by Riky Rick and shortly after this was featured on the Steers ‘Hit A lick’ #Phandapreneur video content series in partnership with Steers to help promote the Steers Phanda Meal alongside Macc Gee and food vlogger, Luyanda Mafanya.
This is an opinion piece by Bonga Mpungose, the co-founder and executive board director of Lelentle Trading and Projects (PTY) LTD publisher of Zkhiphani.com, one of South Africa’s biggest urban youth digital portal.
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