South Africa, May 4 -- The conversation took place in a masterclass hosted by Johanna McDowell, CEO of the Independent Agency Search & Selection Company (IAS), featuring Melanie Forbes of Cell C, Buli Ndlovu of Nedbank and Lance Coertzen of Twizza.

AI is a tool, not a strategy

Despite AI dominating industry conversation, the panel treated it with grounded pragmatism.

One marketer's framing cut through the noise: before reaching for AI, get the human intelligence right.

"You still need the curiosity and creativity of human beings - then you use AI to scale it. Consumers have real tensions. AI is an enabler. It shouldn't be the soul of what you create."

A useful tool, in other words. But not a substitute for understanding people, and n...