What lies ahead for Cell C?
Can the new Cell C management team turn the fortunes of this great South African brand around?
Strategically Cell C are in a very tight spot.
They are competing in a category with two of the biggest brands on the African continent and historically the headwinds directed specifically at them are acute.
Should they continue to position themselves in the way that they always have, or play by the rules set by their bigger rivals; they will certainly fail. The margins for catastrophic failure for them are incredibly thin.
But there is a very real opportunity for them right now should they choose to take it. If they stop for a moment and critically evaluate their strengths, while exploring the plausible and possible forward-orientated opportunities that are opening up in the medium-term time horizon there is a distinct reason to be optimistic about the future of the brand.
Their future aspirations will need to be tightly connected to their strategy which needs to directly inform their incessant innovation program. They'll need to relentlessly explore a tirade of creative ideas, process them, use them to further inform their strategy and tirelessly funnel them into a world-class marketing machine. The mission needs to be relentlessly driven by senior management who then also actively craft a compelling culture that supports the vibrant emergence of innovation as a by-product of the collective, coherent energy of everyone involved.
In our experience having worked with many organisations to solve their strategy and innovation challenges - that's the process that works.
Will they be able to do it?
Here's this week's Daily Maverick piece...
Jon Cherry