"Although his focus is on people, his interest intersects with company's in the area of retail. We have teamed up with him to develop an understanding of consumer thinking and behaviour through knowledge-sharing sessions with our clients," says Darren Katz, director of Primall Media.
"The company will be emphasising the retail trends angle going forward. We believe that a numbers-only approach to research gives an incomplete understanding and sometimes a misleading perspective of consumers. Through his knowledge, we aim to offer advertisers a holistic approach to retail media and the people who frequent the retail space."
Chang is an innovator and creative thinker whose opinion is sought after in the South African business arena. While his feet remain firmly planted on African soil, he uses a global perspective to source new ideas, gauge the zeitgeist and identify innovative trends. His analyses enable him to specialise in tracking shifting social dynamics, and understand the consumer mind-set.
The alignment commissions Chang as the Unlimited subsidiary's brand consultant and activator of its vision and passion for the retail advertising arena. "His respected trend opinion was magnetic to our vision for our premium retail media offering. He is an invaluable force and by tapping into his intellectual capital, we will enhance our delivery of thought leadership and cutting edge media solutions in the retail space," adds Katz.
Chang's forte lies in identifying and analysing macro trends, including politics, economic indicators, youth culture, media, entertainment and the technology, which affect social dynamics and therefore daily business interactions. With the workshops planned for Primall, he will extract this cross-section of data relating to the retail media environment and package the findings for the company to re-assess the shifting social landscape and formulate new, forward thinking, marketing and business strategies.
His experience includes being a consultant for Nokia Global in Helsinki, managing JD Group CEO Change Management, creative interventions for AngloGold Ashanti's urban tribes design competition auditions, Nederburg's wine auction sensory experience and merging finance and fashion for the Sanlam Fashion stock exchange at SA Fashion Week.
He has also held positions such as fashion editor of Elle magazine, fashion director of True Love Magazine, television presenter and chief judge of SABC 2's Fashion Your Future and portal editor of Fashion Portal-MTN, to name a few.
