The DMAT usually costs R2,000 to write and is designed to certify the knowledge of both up-and-coming and experienced digital marketers. The test is drawn from Red & Yellow’s digital marketing textbook eMarketing: The Essential Guide to Marketing in a Digital World, which is available for anyone as a free download and, like the test, is fully accessible on a mobile device.
“Our textbook was first published in 2008 and is now in its sixth edition. It has been downloaded more than a million times (and counting), making it the most downloaded digital marketing textbook in the world”, says Wesley Fredericks, MD at Red & Yellow MD. “It is also used by hundreds of colleges and universities around the world, and we feel immensely proud to be able to offer this certification opportunity to deserving South Africans at this time of enormous economic need.”
The test is written online, can be done at a time that suits you and takes two hours. “It’s not an easy test”, warns Fredericks. “If you want the Red & Yellow name on your CV, you need to be prepared to work hard for it. But we know that South Africa is blessed with truly fantastic digital marketing talent and we’re confident that they’ll perform well.”
Paula Hulley, CEO of the IAB SA, echoes Fredericks sentiment. “The IAB SA supports the Red & Yellow DMAT initiative as an incredible means of enabling both digital aptitude and digital opportunity at a time where it could not matter more. Digitisation has never happened faster than it is happening right now. This opportunity to equip our industry with critical digital marketing skills gives agencies and brands a real opportunity to bridge the gap.”
Textbook author and Red & Yellow chairman Rob Stokes, adds: “What excites me most is that digital marketing services can easily be performed on a work-from-home basis, which should really open up opportunities for these folk, whether on a full-time or freelance basis.
Furthermore, with the weakening of the rand, South Africa is growing in its importance as a global outsourcing hub for such services so this offers a real international opportunity for those that are prepared to put in the effort.”
Here, Stokes tells us how the pandemic has affected the School, more on this and their series of initiatives in response to the global crisis…
Red & Yellow’s purpose has always been to change the world through education, specifically through our Alumni and their ability to think creatively. We are a premium education provider, which means that even though we already offer more bursaries than anyone else, not everyone can afford the Red & Yellow experience. So, while we couldn't afford to give away our online courses, we worked on extending the value of our free downloadable eMarketing textbook.
By making our DMAT free for 1,000 unemployed South Africans, we could create an opportunity that would have a real impact on their future earning potential.
The digital marketing industry needs a benchmark and given the pervasive use of our textbook across the world, it made sense for us to create a means for people to rate and prove their proficiency in this sought-after discipline.
Registration opened on 19 May and the response (when writing this a few hours later) has been amazing. Less than half the places are left, so folks should act fast to avoid disappointment.
We’ve really tried to focus on giving people as much value as possible. For example, we’ve created Lockdown Bootcamp online courses – comprising three or four selected modules (extracted from our standard core courses) at a much lower price point. This gives someone bite-sized learnings of highly-relevant subjects, and an accelerated career development opportunity (at an affordable price). Folks are then able to come back and complete the full course when they can afford it. We have offered a number of bursary slots to our agency partners for them to help their affected staff, and we have offered a number of different added-value opportunities to our corporate clients. For entrepreneurs, we’ve partnered with Over the Rainbow by making an extracted version of our Entrepreneurial Thinking course available to their client base for free.
And we've provided our full-time bursary students with the relevant equipment to ensure their education is uninterrupted.
Red & Yellow is very technologically savvy, so our full-time school hasn't missed a beat. Classes have gone completely online and student feedback indicates that not only are they enjoying the learning experience, but we’re also doing way better than many other educational institutions (based on their friends’ feedback). I am proud to say we haven't missed a single teaching day. Our corporate sales have taken a huge knock, however, as almost all spend is on hold. Our online courses are somewhere in the middle. Demand and leads have gone up, but people are really struggling with affordability.
The free offer is only available to the first 1,000 unemployed South Africans to write the test. Register here.
