“Tenacity and trust are our new currencies,” says Martin Botha, Chief Operating Officer of Sense of Africa South Africa. “We are redefining everything we know and reassessing everything we do to ensure that we retain our trust with suppliers and clients, and draw on the tenacity of our team to emerge stronger and retain and grow our market share in 2021.”

The newly rebranded Sense of Africa South Africa took a few tentative steps during the COVID-19 crisis, all strategically thought out with careful consideration. Some might consider a rebrand in the midst of this crisis very risky, when many businesses were making very different decisions about closing their operations and scaling back on sales and marketing efforts. As an industry leader, Sense of Africa South Africa made the only choice that was in line with its values and forged ahead with the rebrand, as it has trust in the recovery of its markets, clients and stakeholders, and in the resilience of its staff.

The company saw this as a great opportunity to show its tenacity in staying on course and ensuring that its future is secured in our distribution channel. It was able to execute all collateral, business card, travel guide and website changes to the new name, utilising technology and in-house talent in its creative and marketing teams. Across most of social media platforms the company has more followers and interaction than ever before. The rebrand was met with positive feedback and the hashtag #itjustmakessense, continues to trend!

Joining the African footprint has been a very positive move across Africa, and a trusted brand name now unites the various country offices. This positions the company perfectly for its strategy of consolidation and cross-selling in the business.

No tourism company has been immune to the human tragedy of rightsizing their business, and Sense of Africa South Africa faced some very difficult business decisions over the past few months. The call to action that faced the senior team was to ensure that every staff member was treated with respect and honesty, and that the right decisions were made for the entire Sense of Africa brand in South Africa.

By redefining the company’s pillars in Sales, Business Development, Contracting and Operations, it is confident that its core structure is aligned to the new normal. Staff who are flexible, adaptable and able to take on additional roles in the current situation are key to survival and recovery.  Consistency at every level of the business has been retained with its long-standing relationships, key language skills in source markets, and consolidation within teams. “Because of the enormous sacrifices made by all our people, both past and present, we have a market-leading DMC with a credible brand and strong leadership to take us through the tough times,” says Merle Kwan, Operations Director of Sense of Africa South Africa.

Suzanne Benadie, Sales and Marketing Director, says: “With a refreshed portfolio of vital services for the international markets, including a health, safety and hygiene verification product,  we are confident of remaining relevant and reliable to our core clients, and to attract new business through our trusted relationships.”