Why a blended approach to marketing is needed in Africa

Matthew Nkala, a digital director at The Catalyst Africa, explores why a “Millennial” or “Gen Z” on the continent differs from elsewhere in the world and how marketers need to adjust their strategies accordingly (Image supplied)

Spend time on global marketing forums or scroll through LinkedIn, and you’ll see the same message repeated that Millennials and Gen Z are the people approving budgets and choosing partners.

They grew up online, and they search before they speak to sales, prefer a quick video to a brochure, and trust social proof more than cold calls.

In Africa, Generation X is still making the decisions. These are leaders who built their careers on relationships, trust, and consistency. They’re not anti-digital; they just engage on their own terms.

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Who’s really calling the shots?

Across South Africa and the continent, Gen X still holds the senior titles.

They run businesses that survived economic shifts and digital waves.

Their decision-making style reflects that:

• They value meetings over messages.
  
• They prefer clear, detailed proposals over trending videos.
  
• They weigh reputation more than reach.

So, while Western marketers experiment with TikTok campaigns for B2B, African marketers are still closing deals over coffee and formal presentations.

It’s not resistance. It’s rhythm.

How generations are defined depends on when you went online

Globally, generations are divided by birth years:

• Millennials: born between 1981 and 1996
  
• Gen Z: born between 1997 and 2012

Those numbers make sense in the US or UK, where access to the Internet started early. A Millennial there might have had a home computer and email as a teenager.

In Africa, the story is different. Many people born in the same years only got online much later – often in their late 20s or 30s, when smartphones and data became affordable.

While they fit the age definition of a Millennial, they weren’t raised in a digital environment.

Their relationship with technology came through work, not childhood.

That difference matters. Two people born in 1984 – one in London, one in Ladysmith – may belong to the same generation on paper, but their digital maturity is worlds apart.

Africa’s Millennials often bridge both eras: they respect traditional credibility but embrace digital convenience. They are fluent in both boardrooms and browsers.

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Why Africa needs its own B2B playbook

If you apply a Western strategy directly, you’ll miss the mark. In most African organisations today:

• Gen X makes the final decision.
  
• Millennials influence the research and evaluation.
  
• Gen Z is entering, bringing digital expectations that will soon reshape the process.

That’s three distinct mindsets in one buying cycle. Ignore one, and your message falls flat.

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Building a blended approach

As marketing teams in Africa, we need to build bridges, not silos.

That means:

• Keeping relationship marketing strong while expanding digital reach.

• Designing campaigns that educate Gen X and engage Millennials and Gen Z.

• Using social proof, video, and content to support the credibility that traditional tactics already create.

• Treating digital platforms as an extension of real-world reputation, not a replacement for it.

• The sweet spot lies in balance – digital tools that deepen human trust, not replace it.

The question we should be asking

Instead of asking “How do we market to Millennials and Gen Z?”

Maybe the real question is: “How do we speak to every generation in one message?”

Because Africa’s boardrooms aren’t defined by birth years. They’re defined by connection – and that’s still the language that sells.