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Articles by Brandon de Kock
South Africa’s consumer class is back on the road
Even as spiking petrol and diesel prices are squeezing South African wallets tighter than the backlog of oil tankers trying to get through the Strait of Hormuz, new car sales are showing strong growth. For the 2025 calendar year, passenger car sales alone peaked at 422 000 units, which is a 20% growth on the previous year and the highest level recorded since 2014. And 2026 has started in similar fashion with over 39 000 units sold in March, an 18% increase for the same period year-on-year.
Guest column: So who exactly is the ‘premium’ wine buyer?
VAT hikes, increased government spending and a debt that amounts to 76% of our GDP. There’s no better time than March 2025 to be a wine drinker! But amongst the doom and gloom of news headlines, there’s a half full glass: according to our Treasury, the group of people who personally earn more than R30K per month is outgrowing inflation, and the group of individuals who personally earn more than R1 million a year has been growing around 20% a year for the past four years.
Are Air Fryers a trend or a revolution?
In kitchens across South Africa, air fryers are taking on cooking tasks, from quickly crisping up those weekday chicken nuggets to baking South African classics such as melktert on a slow Sunday. If you haven’t jumped on the trend yourself, you no doubt have friends and family who have, and by now many of us have eaten something cooked in an air fryer. But what you may not have realised is how fast this modern appliance has taken over our collective kitchen countertop.
How happy are South Africa’s middle class youth?
The massive problem of South Africa’s unemployed youth will rightly be at the centre of the discourse during the country’s Youth Month. It’s not only that we have one of the highest youth unemployment rates in the world, reported by StatsSA in Q1 of 2024 as 45.5% among people aged between, 15 and 34 years, but also the fact that this intolerable rate is perpetually trending upwards. At the sidelines though, there are also other conversations happening regarding the state of the nation’s youth.
Has radio found a new normal for the SA middle class?
Free and far-reaching, democratic and community-building, informative, entertaining and companionable, radio is just about the only legacy medium still thriving in South Africa. The country’s radio landscape is abundant with over 320 public, commercial and community radio stations ensuring universality and delivering a collective listenership that is estimated at 80% of the population.
inding insight… on golf courses and mountain tops!
In a commercial world that seems drunk on data, how can brand owners and their agencies best use it to create sober brand strategies? A career or two ago, as editor of a golf magazine, I found myself invited to the redesign of a top-rated golf course on a luxury estate. All was going well until we got to the picturesque 18th hole and its island green, literally surrounded on all sides by water.
How taxpayers are dealing with power failures
Why join this discussion? Join Business Maverick journalist, Neesa Moodley in conversation with Brandon De Kock and Ferial Haffajee. Together they will discuss- TheSA Blackout Report by BrandMapp-Silverstone, which addresses how middle market South Africa (the taxpayers) have been affected, how they are feeling and how they are dealing with power failures and blackouts.
Guest column: Who’s really buying wine off the top shelf?
It was back in 2019 that producer body Vinpro asked us at WhyFive, a consumer insight consultancy, what we thought middle-class-and-up wine drinkers looked like. (NB: When I say ‘adults’ or make any other collective reference in what follows, that’s who we’re speaking about, not ‘everyone’). It’s our area of expertise: the 13 million adults out of 43 million total who live in households earning more than R10K per month. Surprised there are so few? Welcome to the real world.
Return to the office, or the rise of hybrid work?
Before the pandemic disruption, the sun was already setting on the era of office drones and cubicle dwellers. The sudden mass exodus of workers from the workplace two years ago has only accelerated the development and uptake of technologies that make a vast number of employees capable of remote work – and proved more quickly, and on a global scale, that people working from their homes are still productive workers.
The Truth at Last
Has South Africa’s middle class staged the greatest comeback in history? Brandon de Kock, director of storytelling for BrandMapp, South Africa’s largest independent annual study of the taxpayer base, will be in talking to Business Maverick journalist Ray Mahlaka about , ‘the distinct possibility that although the glass is nowhere near full, it might well be more on the half full side than half empty.
AUTOFORUM
Insurance data confirms SA car industry’s steady recovery Nov 16, 2021 Bradley Du Chenne, Hippo.co.za, BrandMapp, Brandon de Kock. Insurance data confirms SA car industry’s steady recovery As South Africa’s automotive industry continues on the road to recovery, new data from comparison platform Hippo.co.za reveals an encouraging increase in the number of motorists looking at car insurance.
Do middle class South Africans care about the climate crisis?
Have you noticed that the planet seems to be throwing something of a temper tantrum? Western Germany has been roiled by devastating floods, Haiti has been shook to its core by massive earthquakes and wildfires are still sweeping through the United States. Rain has fallen on the summit of Greenland’s ice sheet for the first time on record.
Hello, is there anybody out there?
It’s almost instinctive to latch onto phrases like ‘changed forever’ and ‘never be the same’, but for those of us who work in the world of trends and behaviour, that’s a recipe for disaster. In short, you need to be patient and wait long enough to see if the idea you just threw into the air is a stick or a boomerang.
30,000 South Africans detail their digital experience during 1st pandemic year
In the first year of Covid, across the shutdown world, digital has been a frontline worker. Internet connections, devices and apps have helped us to keep working, studying and going to school. More than that, at the worst of lockdown times, we've been able to still connect with friends, family and community, as well as shops, healthcare providers, personal trainers and bankers. Cut off from real-world culture, digital has also dominated keeping ourselves entertained.
BrandMapp 2021 demystifies pandemic influence on SA shopping landscape
As with every other aspect of life, the pandemic has changed how and when we shop, as well as where and what we buy. Consumers have gone digital and tried out new delivery modes, as well as switched brands and relentlessly shopped for value. There's talk of the 'homebody economy' firing up DIY, hardware and gardening sales; and the 'nesting economy' that's emerged from our focus on our home-bound creature comforts.
LETTER: Heathfield High School also in desperate need of attention
By Opinion 15m ago by Brandon de Kock Open letter to Premier Alan Winde, MEC Education Debbie Schafer, Western Cape Government It is with great concern that we note that you attended to the matter at Brackenfell High but that you have not responded to an equally important matter at Heathfield High School.
Podcasting enters puberty: Hello…are you listening?
At the moment is seems that the more things change, the more they…change! But what do we know about the way that our listening habits are changing – and are podcasts all they’re cracked up to be? As we enter unknown territory armed only with three layers of fabric and the faint smell of bleach, it’s extraordinary how much crystal-balling there is going on.
Market Research Wrap: The Netflix effect on the battle for eyeballs
Market Research Wrap: The Netflix effect on the battle for eyeballs by MarkLives (@marklives) Our weekly wrap of the latest market and consumer research: How big is Netflix Online purchasers seek mother-tongue And introducing The Eardley Analysis The war for eyeballs Written by Brandon de Kock, WhyFive Insights director, this fifth and final selection of interesting insights from the 2018/19 BrandMapp survey examines the eyeball war initiated by industry disruptor, Netflix. by Brandon de Kock.
Market Research Wrap: Media Inflation Watch reveals declining exposure
Cheryl Hunter (research at marklives.com)’s weekly wrap of the latest market and consumer research: Media Inflation Watch Q2 2018 has been released, covering advertising rates and performance trends, plus an MIW Index (a Cost Per Thousand calculation), and revealing a problematic overall performance. This is according to Mike Leahy, Media Manager managing director. Very different pictures continue for the two categories of TV.
Market Research Wrap: Youth fear for their financial future
Cheryl Hunter (research at marklives.com)’s weekly wrap of the latest market and consumer research: After last week’s introduction, here’s the first in a selection of interesting insights from the 2018/19 BrandMapp survey that we will be sharing over the next few weeks from Brandon de Kock, WhyFive Insights director. by Brandon de Kock.
Market Research Wrap: The elusive upper 30% income segment of SA
Cheryl Hunter (research at marklives.com)’s weekly wrap of the latest market and consumer research: Over the next few weeks, WhyFive Insights will be sharing a selection of insights from the 2018/19 BrandMapp survey, including what’s worrying the youth; why banks should be nervous; the future of money; the rise of Uber; and SA exit strategies. This week Brandon de Kock, WhyFive Insights director, explains why ‘you can(’t) always get want you want’ in research.
What if you had 48hrs in Cape Town | IOL
The Mother City always features on ‘top ten’ lists – and for good reason. Curious culinistas get a world-class menu of foodie opportunities, sun slaves can’t resist the Atlantic seaboard and nature lovers get an eye-watering visual feast. Here’s how to top up your ‘I-heart-Cape-Town’ tank in just 48-hours. The best part? You don’t have to take a single day of leave.
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