Creating value perceptions

The fifth session of season two of The Daily Maverick Marketing Masterclass Series explored how marketers can create and manage value perceptions that transcend price. The conversation was hosted by David Blyth and Khaya Dlanga from eatbigfish Africa, alongside two industry experts: Gugu Mthembu, chief marketing officer at Telkom, and Janet Kinghorn, brand therapist and fractional brand officer.

Their discussion revealed how value perceptions become sustainable competitive advantage, separating market leaders from commoditised competitors.

Value-price confusion

The session kicked-off by addressing a common misconception in marketing: the conflation of value with price. This isn't merely semantic confusion, it represents a trap that can undermine years of brand-building efforts.

Kinghorn reinforced this distinction through the lens of consumer psychology, explaining that marketers should be careful about how much emphasis they put on promoting price. A brand's value, over the long term, needs to consider how it makes people feel and what relationship marketers are trying to build with consumers beyond price. Otherwise, it becomes a zero-sum game.

This price-focused approach doesn't just damage profit margins, it fundamentally alters how consumers perceive and relate to brands. When price becomes the primary value signal, brands lose their ability to command premium positioning or weather competitive attacks.

Telkom's value transformation

Mthembu's account of Telkom's transformation provided a compelling example of strategic repositioning with value at its heart. When the company entered the mobile market, initial success came through being "the cheapest in the market," attracting consumers seeking value from an affordability perspective. However, this positioning proved unsustainable.

The solution required redefining ‘value’. Telkom focused on attributes that mattered most to customers: longer validity periods that kept people connected for extended periods, night connectivity for the night owls, and network partnerships that provided coverage everywhere. These functional benefits created tangible value beyond affordability.

The transformation wasn't just about product features, it required shifting consumer understanding of what value means in relation to the Telkom brand. This strategic pivot demonstrates that even established market perceptions can be redefined when brands think systematically about value creation.

The pillars of effective value building

Kinghorn identified three essential elements that brands must master to build sustainable value perceptions: relevance, authenticity, and distinctiveness.

This framework challenges the common obsession with constant innovation and change. Instead of chasing the latest trends, successful brands focus on consistency over time, leveraging existing assets while building on them systematically. The approach requires identifying what makes your brand distinctive, whether through product features, emotional connection, or even sensory elements like smell or sound. The key insight is that these three elements must work together. Brands cannot simply be different without being relevant, nor can they be relevant without being authentic to their core identity.

Comprehensive measurement beyond sales figures

Effective management of value perceptions requires measurement that goes beyond just traditional sales figures. Mthembu outlined Telkom's holistic approach to tracking progress across multiple dimensions. "We use a number of different metrics that are spread across brand, commercial, behavioural and experience metrics - it's important that we don't just look at a narrow set of metrics," she explained.

The measurement framework includes indicators like social sentiment and Net Promoter Scores at key touchpoints, which provide real-time insights into consumer perception shifts. Brand health metrics track equity trends over time, helping identify what events or activities positively or negatively impact consumer relationships. Behavioural metrics prove particularly valuable in data-rich categories. Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) indicates when consumers reduce spending, suggesting that they're finding more value elsewhere. Churn rates reveal when customers no longer prefer your offering over alternatives. Experience metrics like Customer Effort Score measure how easy it is for consumers to interact with your brand, directly impacting value perceptions. This comprehensive approach to measuring both leading and lagging indicators ensures brands can identify and address perception shifts before they impact bottom-line performance.

Managing expectations to build trust

One of the session's most practical insights concerned the critical relationship between a brand’s promise and its delivery. Kinghorn highlighted a dangerous dynamic that many brands fall foul of:

"When you put something out there, you're setting an expectation for the customer. Sometimes, I've noticed that we set an expectation and believe it's going to be amazing - that it's going to be the answer to all our problems, but in reality, we can't deliver on it."

This disconnect between what a brand promises and its actual delivery represents one of the fastest ways to destroy value perceptions. Consumers form relationships with brands based on consistent experiences, and when reality falls short of expectations, trust erodes rapidly. The solution requires honest assessment of capabilities and authentic communication about what the brand can actually deliver. "You need to be open and honest about what your value is to consumers and how you deliver on that," Kinghorn advised.

Adapting value across different consumer segments

The conversation also addressed how value perceptions can shift across different consumer segments and highlighting the need to manage brand consistency. Mthembu explained how Telkom navigates this challenge:

"Telkom is as relevant to the affluent market as it is to the mass market. It's as relevant to the older generation as it is to the youth. But for youth, it means something else."

For younger consumers, value centres on social connectivity and having endless data to stay current through social platforms. For older consumers, value focuses on reliable connection with family members when needed. The core benefit – connection - remains constant, but its expression adapts to different life contexts and priorities. This approach allows brands to maintain consistent positioning while tailoring communication to resonate with specific segment needs. The key is identifying the underlying human needs that transcend demographic differences, while expressing how your brand delivers on this need in a consistent way but in messaging that feels relevant to each audience.

Learning from category-wide perception shifts

The discussion included powerful examples of entire categories shifting value perceptions over time. Mthembu highlighted China's remarkable transformation from a country previously associated with poor quality to one recognised for functional innovation, particularly in the automotive market.

This country-of-origin transformation demonstrates that even deeply entrenched perceptions can be shifted through consistent delivery and strategic communication. Chinese vehicle brands now compete on value rather than just price, offering features that established competitors struggle to match.

The example illustrates that perception change is possible at any scale, from individual brands to entire countries or categories, when supported by genuine improvements in delivery and consistent messaging over time.

Practical strategies for resource-constrained organisations

The session addressed how startups, small enterprises, and NGOs can create value perceptions without massive marketing budgets. Kinghorn's advice focused on clarity and differentiation:

"Understand what your role is in that category. If you line up all the organisations in your space, why is a consumer going to come to you, and not the next guy?"

The foundation is developing a clear elevator pitch that immediately communicates relatively value. "If you can't do an elevator pitch in five seconds, you're done. Be clear, because that's how people are going to remember you."

For smaller organisations, the approach requires focusing on specific audiences rather than attempting to serve everyone. "You don't have to be amazing for everyone. You have to be amazing for a particular audience," Kinghorn emphasised.

This incremental approach recognises that most successful brands have built their positions over years of consistent effort rather than overnight success. Small organisations can compete effectively by being exceptionally good for a specific audience segment rather than mediocre for a broad market.

The long-term perspective that drives success

The conversation concluded with emphasis on patience and being intentional about building value perceptions. Mthembu's closing advice captured the essential mindset required for success: "Value perceptions can be shaped, but it's a long game. You have to be patient, you have to be deliberate, you have to be intentional. It's not an overnight job, and you have to make sure that as you do it, you are building trust with your consumers."

Kinghorn reinforced this long-term perspective with a crucial insight about brand management: "Your brand is always on, even if you're not promoting it, your brand is always on in the minds of consumers. Make sure that what you're putting in their minds is what you want to stay there."

This understanding shifts the focus from tactical campaigns to strategic relationship building. Every interaction, every touchpoint, every communication either builds or erodes value perceptions. The brands that understand this cumulative effect, and manage it systematically, are the ones that transcend price competition.

The strategic imperative for South African marketers

For South African marketers navigating economic uncertainty and competitive pressure, the message was unambiguous: brands that successfully shift from price-focused positioning to value-based relationships will be the ones that thrive regardless of economic conditions or competitive intensity.

The conversation reinforced that in an age of informed consumers and endless choices, value perception can become the sustainable competitive advantage that separates market leaders from commoditised competitors. For marketers willing to think strategically about what value really means and execute consistently over time, it represents the clearest path to both business growth and lasting customer relationships.

This nine-part series is designed to offer practical, real-world insight for marketers navigating complexity, career growth, and creative leadership. It reveals how South African marketers can lead the way by building Capability, Value and Impact. To view the Marketing Masterclass series, visit Daily Maverick Events.