The continued development of the creative economy and celebration of creative excellence across the region helps grow businesses according to ABinBev one of the Loeries’ partners for Loeries Creative Week.
“Creativity sells and supporting bodies like the Loeries ensures the sustainability and growth of the creative economy. Great work, and the people behind great work should be celebrated … this drives engagement, reputation, and motivates the creatives to keep raising the bar,” said Ramona Kayembe, ABinBev Marketing Culture & Capabilities manager; Africa Zone.
She applauded the Loeries for a stellar job, in the lead up to and during Loeries Creative Week, in bringing together thought leaders and renowned regional and international creatives on virtual platforms to discuss strategies and share ideas in line with the theme #CreateChange for good.
Presenting her Loeries Creative Week talk titled ‘Nurturing a Culture of Creativity’, Kayembe said it was important to elevate creativity and innovation as part of the business culture something ABinBev, like many companies, found of paramount importance in the face of challenges presented by Covid-19.
In her talk Kayembe presented a case study of how in 2017 ABinBev undertook an internal culture restructuring when the company was plagued by generally safe, short-term, campaign focused creative work which was doing very little to build its brands.
“The online world still alluded us as we struggled to crack the code. It is at that time we knew we needed to change and create work that would impact society and our consumers. We embarked on a journey to be more purposeful and relevant,” said Kayembe.
She said the solution involved shifting from behaviors that were bureaucratic, hierarchical, risk adverse and short-term oriented to empowering their staff, encouraging collaboration, embracing creativity and innovation as well as looking past the short-term to plan for the future.
“We put creativity at the forefront to catalyze a cultural change and ignite a passion for learning and within our marketing team and our partners to lead future growth. Essentially, we’ve created an environment of inspiration and collaboration where our people are empowered to bring bold ideas and take risks and inviting external points of view to provoke and inspire us,” added Kayembe.
To watch her entire talk, visit www.loeries.com
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