MarketingMix

M E A S U R A B L E M A R K E T I N G I N S I G H T S I Vol 26 Issue No. 5/6 I 2008 I R25.00 incl. vat

 [ contents ]

02 consulting editor and editor’s note 26 podcasting and content on demand

consulting editor – Nici Stathacopoulos – a note from a Ryan Till takes a closer look at podcasting, and how to
direct marketer extraordinaire about, the direct marketing incorporate it into the marketing strategy
industry, and also a note from Fulvia Becatti

04 legislation update 27 internal engagement

the DMASA brings us the facts and the major issues Terri Brown and Grace Harding explain why internal
surrounding the introduction of the Consumer Protection marketing should be considered an important part of a
Bill into Parliament company’s strategy

06 a message from the DMASA 28 CRM and data management

Monique Smith tells direct why effective data management
08 DMASA founder member profile is becoming a crucial part of CRM
Avis and Platinum eProducts discuss the benefits of being
associated to the DMASA 29 loyalty
Nici Stathacopoulos points out the difference between a
rewards programme and true brand loyalty
10 direct mail
Kathryn Price McKay explores some of the exciting
30 custom publishing
new applications that marketers can use in their direct mail
Martha Dimitrou tells direct why custom magazines give
campaigns
marketing campaigns a lift
12 CEM 31 awards in direct marketing
Bob Thompson tells direct why marketers should be direct zooms in on local and international direct marketing
focusing on managing their customer’s experiences awards
more closely
35 research highlights
14 variable data printing A sneak peek at a few Forrester Research reports focusing
Loren Botha talks about the power of digital technology, on direct marketing
and how variable data printing is helping marketers
develop personalised campaigns case studies
36 budget/bulksms.com
15 data
Jonathan Manners wonders why companies are scared 37 look & listen/volkswagen citi
of data
38 fnb/94.7
16 direct marketing and credit data
Thamir Hassan explains how credit data could be used to 39 lexus/children’s hospital trust
create more targeted direct marketing campaigns
40 mweb business/woolworths
18 innovative direct marketing solutions
Melvin Chagonda shares some ideas around adopting a 41 pcmall/primaplus
more innovative approach to direct marketing
42 seef properties/transunion
20 search marketing
43 wiredloop/sasko flour
Stafford Maisie tells you why search marketing is becoming
a powerful tool
44 cell c/bmw
22 direct marketing in south africa
45 bmw/chabad house
Fraser Lamb expresses his views on where the direct
marketing industry is at locally, with some interesting
pointers on how agencies can go digital 46 sports sponsorship
how to leverage sport and get the best from your
23 mobile media in DM sponsorship spend
Rick Joubert explains why direct marketers need to focus
on mobile media 52 central SA
find out why the Central SA region is the country’s hidden gem
24 direct marketing today
Patrick Collister shares a new model of direct marketing, visit www.marketingmix.co.za for more information
and tells direct why the lines is now vertical about marketing mix news, events and expert opinions

direct > 2008 1

 [ ed’s notes ]
a word from
the top
consulting editor’s note
I am proud to be associated for the third year in row with direct, the
direct marketing magazine published annually by Systems Publishers.
It’s never an easy task to put together a magazine which requires the
industry to contribute to the extent that we require from our colleagues.
To this end I am amazed at just how enthusiastic everyone has been to
ensure we yet again have a world-class magazine to bring to you. We
are privileged to have international contributions again and are
pleased to see that marketers are willing to share their case studies with
each other.
This publication carries similar topics to the previous two editions,
but focuses on the here and now, future trends and, of course, as each
year passes the ever-changing dynamics that the Web and digital pres-
ent to us. These media can no longer be billed as ‘new’ or ‘flash in the
pan’ – and the most important component of both is the reality that
they have the potential to deliver to marketers the ability to truly harness
customer knowledge to develop real CRM! There is also a fresh insight
into creativity and awards as well as legislation and internal marketing.
I am still astounded after so many years in the CRM industry how
marketers believe that CRM is a reward (read points) programme and
that budgets are not allocated on the true need to enhance the cus-
tomer offering, but on the old traditional way of marketing – 80 per
cent ‘ATL’ and the balance to everything else in the mix. Hopefully, the
messages we continuously put out and the proof presented in case
studies will start to shift this world view!
Hopefully, in the not too distant future, marketers will realise that the
customer is not a moron (as aptly said by David Ogilvy) and with the
over-saturation of media and the prolific clutter in the marketplace, they
will embrace the notion that speaking to customers in relevant, rewarding
and regular ways will provide the springboard to loyalty and, in turn,
increased brand presence and profitability.
Enjoy this read – it’s worth keeping on hand as a reference!
Nici Stathacopoulos is the managing partner of proximity#ttp, the
maverick agency, that is well-equipped to handle new kinds of
challenges. proximity#ttp fuses the core disciplines of strategic and
creative thinking to develop ideas that bring brands closer to
customers, creating customer action.
nici stathacopoulos, managing partner, proximity#ttp
editorial staff
publisher: Terry Murphy
consulting editor: Nici Stathacopoulos
editor: Fulvia Becatti
advertising sales: Robyn Andrews
layout: Spencer van Graan
2 direct > 2008
editor’s note
Direct marketing is certainly coming into its own, now, more than ever. And
the reasons for this are obvious: getting your consumer to like you and
support you is tougher than ever!
I quite like the definition of DM posted on the Caples Awards website
(www.caples.org): “the practice that statistically evaluates the present and future
re-contact value of the data collected from those who respond to emotion-
based ethical advertising requesting an immediate (interactive) response”.
While exactly what separates good DM from not-so-hot DM is not always
clear, to me this definition seems to get to the bottom of things. From this
definition, I infer that DM needs to be measurable, it needs to focus on
retaining customers by engaging their emotions and getting them to
interact; and it needs to be ethical.
SA’s direct marketers certainly give the international gurus and creatives
something to talk about, and I think that as we get more exposure to
international trends (and more opportunities in the mobile and online
space), we will become an even greater force in the global DM arena.
Some of the trends to watch out for: the green trend (think recyclable paper
for your direct mailers) and, of course, the boom in search marketing.
Google Maps is set to make a dent in the local market, and will create
new opportunities for brands and companies. Then there’s the pressure that
the current economic situation is putting on all of us. In this economic
climate the winning brands will be those that develop really simple and
cost-effective solutions that put the customer first. (I hear that Home
Depot stores in the USA are developing a range of cheaper paints for
cash-strapped home improvers as well as specials that allow whole homes
to be re-carpeted for just US$200). Likewise, the winning DM agencies will
be those that can give their clients solutions that really WOW the customer,
without breaking the bank. Clients need to be more courageous, so do
agencies, to allow everyone to think outside of the box.
fulvia becatti, editor, direct
proprietor and publisher:
Systems Publishers (Pty) Ltd.
1st floor, North Block, Bradenham Hall, Rivonia
T e l : (011) 234 7008
© 2008 Systems Publishers.
The opinions in this publication do not necessarily represent the views of
the publisher
Printed by: ContiPrint
 [ legislation ]

consumer
update:
protection bill
By Gary Simpson

The briefing by the Department of Trade and Industry to the National

Council of Provinces (NCOP) and National Assembly (NA) committees
tasked to deal with the Consumer Protection Bill took place on 6 and 7
May 2008. The Bill has only been introduced into the NCOP at this
stage and will be introduced to the NA as soon as it has been dealt
with by the NCOP. Parliament goes into recess again at the end of
June 2008. Some very strong themes came through at the briefing and
also in the questions asked by committee members. The DTI raised the
following points and issues:
 The Bill is not meant to duplicate existing laws, but to create a

system of predictable rules for consumers; to codify rights that cannot

be contracted out of; to create a system that is not reactive as
regards consumer redress and to provide for enforcement
mechanisms.
 The need to balance consumer rights with business rights based

on fairness.
 The fact that the consumers have unequal bargaining power when

entering into contracts; that there is the common law principle of

‘buyer beware’ was highlighted, and also that common law is judge-
made law that is inaccessible to the consumer (and if the consumer
goes to court, this is at a cost that most consumers cannot afford).
 The insurance industry must be exempt from the Bill, but there was

an ‘agreement’ reached with Cabinet that the relevant financial

services legislation and insurance legislation would have to be

brought in line with the Bill within two years from the date of its
promulgation (the way the Bill is drafted at present means that
the Bill is not meant to duplicate insurance products sold by intermediaries – those that do not give
advice according to the FAIS Act – are still subject to the Bill.
existing laws, but to create a system
Submissions will have to emphasise this).
 Credit agreements (as regulated under the NCA) are meant to be
of predictable rules for consumers; to
exempt from the ambit of the Bill while assets sold (eg cars) under
codify rights that cannot be contracted the agreement will be subject to the Bill (though the Bill is drafted at
present so that these agreements will be subject to it). This will also
out of; to create a system that is have to be pointed out in submissions.
 Self-regulation does not always work; reference was made to the
not reactive as regards consumer banking industry and its codes.
 The airline industry, the recent food price-fixing scandal, Fidentia (as
redress and to provide for regards abuse of innocent consumers), the banking industry, certain
retailers, pyramid schemes, price errors on goods, cooling-off rights,
enforcement mechanisms.
imported goods problems, timeshare deals, SMS marketing

4 direct > 2008


campaigns, branded goods (misleading adverts and goods that
claim to be branded but are fake) and SMS competitions all fall
under the spotlight, as do problems with returning goods or
obtaining refunds, estate agents and lay-byes.
 Foods products (labelling, expiry dates, free foods and government
feeding schemes) were also issues mentioned.
 There was broad concern for illiterate consumers and rural
consumers. It was felt that even with better labelling of products, an
illiterate consumer would still not be empowered.
 The previous draft contained a clause on official languages but due
to a compromise with business it was removed. Also, the DTI had the
dual role of encouraging businesses (by not increasing costs of
doing business) and protecting consumers. The fact that the clause
was deleted was not received favourably by the committee members
who felt that the plain language requirement was not much use if it
was in a language that the consumer did not understand;
 Many committee members relayed bad experiences they had had as
consumers or that constituencies had had – some of which were with
credit agreements, debt counselling matters (ie debt counselling was
too late as consumers are already over indebted at the stage they
approached a counsellor) and also insurance products (both of
which are meant to fall outside the ambit of the Bill, according to the
DTI).
 Committee members also expressed their dismay with free goods
distributed to consumers that are expired or past their sell-by-dates.
 Questions were asked about the applicability of the Bill to the state –
the DTI said that the intention was that where the state is the supplier
of services or goods, consumers should be able to use the provisions
of the Bill to act against the state (such as municipalities). The way
the Bill is drafted at present, the definition of state has been omitted
and the possibility of actually suing parastatals or state-owned
entities is something that needs to be commented on.
 The need to educate consumers about their rights. The DTI said that
this would be the role of the Commission until industry codes placed
a ‘duty’ on its members to educate consumers.
 Misleading adverts were also discussed, especially for “health”
products making untested claims.
 The aim of the Bill is also to encourage better service delivery instead
of tying consumers into agreements to retain them;
 The argument that SA has many unsophisticated consumers, so the
Bill might be considered inappropriate does not stand; SA operates
in a sophisticated global and local market. All consumers, no matter
their standing, have a right not to be ripped off.
 After discussion on the threshold clause, it appears that the Bill needs
to elaborate on what a transaction is and how it will be determined
to avoid misconceptions.
 When discussing the clause on strict liability, the DTI said it knew that
this was a contentious clause. It was particularly important as
concerns imported goods and consumers being able to have
recourse against a local supplier.
 It is very well to have legislation in place to protect consumers but
[ legislation ]
the regulations will only be drafted
next year, which is very concerning as
many of the provisions of the Bill are
dependant on the content of these
regulations.
efficient enforcement and education of consumers about their rights
is needed.
 The position of provinces was also discussed, as was the role of the
Tribunal, courts and ADR mechanisms.
 The possibility of class actions was raised; comment is needed on
this topic, since class actions pose a problem in SA where there are
no rules for such actions.
 Though the DTI said that the Bill does not require small businesses to
register, as with other laws, the business names provisions will require
businesses to register their names, and there will be compliance
costs (eg displaying prices and writing out sales records, etc).
 Generally, as regards the costs of implementing the Bill to business,
the DTI said it had done a regulatory impact assessment (the memo
attached to the Bill says that the Bill will cost the state R51.3 million
in ‘financial implications’, but I do not know of a regulatory impact
assessment/RIA having been done by the DTI, hence BUSA is
undertaking a selective RIA using SBP). I think some of these
abbreviations should be written out in full.
The committee members in general felt that the Bill was long
overdue and they looked forward to it being passed. The head of the
NA Committee on Trade and Industry said that the role of Parliament
was to pass laws for all its citizens and that its role did not end once the
law had been passed. It urged members to be involved in the imple-
mentation of the laws it passed. He also said that they must look for
unintended consequences in the laws they deal with and ask (after the
implementation of the law): ’have we achieved what we sought to do?’
The Bill was officially introduced to the NCOP on 14 May 2008.
Submissions will be called for by the NCOP and were to be submitted
by 23 May 2008. The aim is to have the Bill introduced into both
houses of Parliament by the end of June 2008, with the Bill finalised
and made law by November 2008, but with a year to implement. The
regulations will only be drafted next year, which is very concerning as
many of the provisions of the Bill are dependant on the content of
these regulations.
Although the NA is likely to also call for submissions, it is imperative
that submissions are made to the NCOP as well.
Gary Simpson, DMA legislative portfolio head
garysimpson@theunlimitedworld.co.za
direct > 2008 5
 [ dmasa ]

professionalising a
???????

multibillion rand industry –

DMASA calls for accountability, integrity
and delivery from members

The direct marketing industry has changed – dramatically! In the face

of implementation of laws that potentially could have crippled the
industry, the Direct Marketing Association of South Africa (DMASA)
mobilised its members and industry to lobby government and engage
in a spirit of co-operation and goodwill. The result has been the devel-
opment of bills and acts that will protect the privacy of individuals and
juristic persons yet still allow direct marketing to continue without any
drastic limitations. In fact, the result has been the professionalising of
an industry that has come together to ensure direct marketing takes its
rightful place as an omnipotent marketing and communications tool
that deserves the attention of all brand owners and consumers of
products and services.
“There has been an incredible amount of work done by our
legislative sub-committee and the result has been the fostering of a
spirit of cooperation between the SA Law Commission, the Department
of Trade and Industry and the direct industry,” says Brian Mdluli, CEO

direct marketing tool amount spent in 2007 description

AMS R100 000.00 Audio messaging service.

SMS R3 330 000 000.00 Short message service, including service messages that have
advertising linked to them.

MMS R393 515 625.00 Multi media messaging from machine to individual. This figure
does not include individual-to-individual messages.

DIRECT MAIL R160 000 000.00 This figure represents direct mail that has a response platform
and the figure includes creative and production costs.

CATALOGUE R1 500 000 000.00 Catalogue mailings – creative, production and mailing costs
included in this figure.

CALL CENTRE R1 200 000 000.00 Cost of outbound contact centres, excluding customer services
contact centres.

DIRECT TO HOME R500 000 000.00

INTERNET ADVERTISING R254 000 000.00 Website advertising that has a response platform.

ESTIMATED EXPENDITURE R7 337 615 625.00

6 direct > 2008


of the DMASA. “In fact, government’s action in an industry that failed
to self-regulate is probably the single precursor that forced an
alarmingly unprofessional industry to reconstitute itself into a healthy,
active industry that conforms to the highest standards and ethics,
delivering a marketing practice that is explicitly designed to talk to
consumers in dialogue that is tailored to their needs. Today, the
spotlight remains on the real value of direct and brand owners have
sat up and taken notice!”
This is hardly surprising when you consider that the DMASA’s first
initial research has shown the local industry to be worth at least R7.3
billion based on research data received from a poll of some of its
members as well as key industry players and associations. However, the
figure is highly conservative and the DMASA believes it will be
significantly greater once the research study covers its full scope. “This
study forms part of our ongoing research into the direct spend for 2007
and the figures quoted are averages that have been gathered from the
sources listed, including the SA Post Office, 5th Dimension Marketing,
AC Nielsen, Marketing Web, Direct Marketing Association of SA,
Multimedia, Primedia@Home, Computer Facilities, Vibrant Direct,
BPeSA and Waspa,” explains Mdluli. The DMASA will continue to
monitor the figures on a monthly basis and is also calling on all
industry players to submit their figures to members@dmasa.org – all
figures received will be kept confidential by the DMASA and only
overall figures per category will be divulged for public consumption.
professional status for direct
marketers
The DMASA together with the Services Seta has developed a process
for professional registration of direct marketers that allows them to
apply for an assessment of competence once they reach 2 500
qualification points and, which if passed successfully, will provide the
candidate with a registration number. From there the direct marketer
can progress towards ‘practitioner’ status through to the ultimate
qualification of a Chartered Direct Marketer based on successful
completion of various continued professional development (CPD)
programmes as well as years of experience. For more information go to
www.register.dmasa.org
“Essentially, this process of professional registration for direct
marketers takes direct marketing out of the realm of being perceived
simply as an activity within the marketing field, and positions it as a
profession,” explains Mdluli. “Considering the tremendous changes
afoot in the direct industry both from a technology and legislative point
of view, it is high time that direct marketing achieves professional status.
Chartered accreditation is the professional registration awarded to
direct marketing practitioners who possess the qualities that characterise
a true professional and is the highest level that can be achieved within
the industry based on academic qualifications and experience. It measures
the depth of a marketer’s knowledge and experience as a basis for the
ultimate professional recognition within the direct industry,” adds Mdluli.
Assessment and training will be provided by some of the most
accomplished professionals in the field of direct marketing, hand picked
by the Services Seta and the DMASA to mentor upcoming direct
professionals. “This process also provides prospective employers with a
means to truly benchmark a direct marketer’s skills and level of
qualification on a formalised basis, something which has been relatively
lacking in the industry,” concludes Mdluli.
[ dmasa ]
“according to proposed law, any company
embarking on a direct marketing campaign
will be required to run their list
against the Opt-Out Register and
ensure that any names on the register
are deleted from their database.”
direct marketing association’s
opt-out register gets multiplatform
functionality
The DMASA has launched multiplatform functionality for its Opt-Out
Register via SMS, Internet and a call centre which allows consumers to
remove their details from mailing lists used by the association’s members.
To add your details to the ’Don’t Contact Me‘ list – previously known as
the Mail Preference Service (MPS):
 SMS DMA followed by your ID number (this is crucial) to 34385.
 Phone the call centre on 0861 DMA or DMA (362 362)
 Visit www.dmasa.org to access the DMA’s Opt-Out Register
Since the launch of the DMASA’s Opt-Out register in March 2007,
75 000 consumers have registered. Registration via any one of these
methods serves the sole purpose of removing consumers’ names and
addresses from all prospect mailing lists used by members of the
association. “According to proposed law, any company embarking on a
direct marketing campaign will be required to run their list against the
Opt-Out Register and ensure that any names on the register are deleted
from their database. Although consumers will see a reduction in the
unsolicited direct mail they receive, not all commercial mail will stop.
For example, they may continue to receive mail from companies with
which the do business – for example, a banking institution – where they
have provided consent for them to market to them. In addition, they
may continue to receive mail addressed to the ‘resident’ since the mail
is not personalised,” explains Mdluli.
The Opt-Out Register has been developed by the DMASA in
response to required government legislation to professionalise the
industry and curb unsolicited marketing messages via mail, SMS, e-mail,
telephone and post to unsuspecting consumers. When consumers register
with the DMASA’s Opt-Out Register, their name, home address,
telephone and email contact details are placed in a ‘do-not-contact’
file. DMA members are required to run their list of prospective
customers against the file and remove individuals who registered so
that they do not send their mailings to these individuals. There is no
cost to DMASA members for this service; however, non-members will
have to pay a fee to the DMASA for the list. The Opt-Out Register is
updated monthly.
for more information contact the DMASA on
(011) 781 8032 or visit www.dmasa.org.
direct > 2008 7
 [ dma founder members ]
DMA
founder members
The DMA founder members are ABSA, Avis, Computer Facilities, FNB,
Home Choice, MTN, Nedbank, Platinum eProducts, the RCS Group
and the SA Post Office.
“The companies comprising the set of Founders provided seed
capital to facilitate the appointment of an Executive Director, and the
establishment of a DMA office,” says Colin Hudson, Founder Member
liaison. “They see the DMA as playing a critical role in supporting the
industry and providing services to collectively represent the industry in a
variety of forums. They also take marketing seriously and are
themselves leaders in different aspects of direct marketing. The DMA
appreciates the participation of Founder member companies in
additionally sharing expertise to assist others with personal
development, thereby raising overall standards and professionalism in
the direct marketing industry”.
The direct marketing industry is undergoing change thanks to the
amendments that are being made to marketing legislation. The DMA’s
founder members are positive about these changes and the role of the
DMA in facilitating them. Thulani Nzima, sales and marketing director,
Avis, says: “The DM industry has always had a strong legislative
presence in its daily operations. Like all aspects of marketing, we are
glad for that involvement; however, with the Consumer Protection Bill
being promulgated soon, a deeper understanding of the change is
“like all aspects of marketing, we
are glad for that involvement;
however, with the Consumer
Protection Bill being promulgated
soon, a deeper understanding of
the change is necessary.”
necessary. The DMA has made understanding of this bill much easier.
The DMA’s bi-monthly legislative forums for the industry provide us
with a great opportunity to seek clarity, and register our views in a
systematic manner.”
Bob Lafite, CEO, Platinum eProducts, says that the impact of the
legislative changes (such as the development of the National Credit
8 direct > 2008
the mass consumer market in SA
is economically vulnerable, and
so the challenge to the direct
marketing industry is to strike a
balance between protecting the
vulnerable on the one hand and
promoting their participation in a
vibrant market economy on the other.
Act) will go a long way to eliminating unhealthy practices and opening
the communication channels to clients through proper disclosure and
documentation. “If as an industry we can demonstrate our ability to
comply with the new Act and, importantly, its objective as far as
protecting our clients are concerned, the positive spin-off in terms of
market credibility and better consumer relations will far outweigh any
negative aspects of new legislation,” he says.
The founder members agree that the DMA’s role within the industry
as an information provider is vital. “It is important to keep abreast of
industry developments such as proposed legislation. The DMA, as the
industry representative, communicates its concerns and queries to
government before bills are enacted into law. It also enables us to
benefit from the learnings of other association members,” says Nzima,
adding that the regular forums encourage interaction and networking.
Lafite believes that the mass consumer market in SA is economically
vulnerable, and so the challenge to the direct marketing industry is to
strike a balance between protecting the vulnerable on the one hand
and promoting their participation in a vibrant market economy on the
other. “In this regard, an organisation such as the DMA has a vital role
to play in defining and articulating the industry’s interests at a national
level,” he says.
Direct marketers are working hard to get a firm grasp on current
and future trends, including trends in digital media and mobile, for
example. “Last month we attended a conference held by our advertising
agency. One important learning from the conference is the growing
power of the Internet. As a result, we are looking at increasing our
spending in the digital arena and increasing our focus on e-commerce
and website marketing,” says Nzima.
 [ direct mail ]
what’s new in
direct
mail?
by Kathryn Price McKay
That’s a tough question. Especially since selling through the mail has
been around pretty much for centuries. Even before the post office or
stamps, for that matter, were around there was direct mail: circulars
sent by travelling salesmen via Pony Express, scrolls carried on foot by
messengers telling wealthy men (and their wives!) that a merchant ship
had arrived laden with expensive goodies from far off climes. You get
the picture.
The point is, over the years, DM’s raison d’etre has remained pretty
much unchanged – send a message to get someone to buy something,
or at the very least show some sort of interest in buying something.
That takes care of the why – but the how and the what – those
have really changed. In fact, they are still changing and will change
some more ad infinitum because change in direct mail is the key to
its survival.
Let’s face it. The average consumer has the attention span of a gnat
– and today there’s huge competition for a share of that abbreviated
attention span. To get in, to get read, to get opened at all, to get
actioned specifically, a direct mail piece has to be either 100 percent
relevant or really, really irresistible.
For example: You’re the consumer and you’ve really been wanting to
buy the latest Acme Cookbook. In that moment – or pretty close to it –
well, how about an envelope that
smells like gravy, boeuf bourguignon
or hot dogs (you may be a little
peckish after all). Or a brochure that
doesn’t just show you mouth-watering
food pictures coupled with easy-to-
prepare recipes, it talks to you
about them.
10 direct > 2008
a mail piece neatly drops through the door, advertising said cookbook,
with a handy number to call Acme AND easy payment terms.
Amazingly, you happen to have a few minutes to spare, and no other
pressing mail to attend to, so you open it immediately, and call the
toll-free number, which is staffed until late at night for your ordering
convenience. What could be better? In fact, you buy three copies – one
for your mum and another for your best girlfriend! This scenario is the
fairytale ending, the happily ever after with which direct marketers keep
themselves warm at night... the right offer to the right person at the
right time.
But here’s another more likely scenario. You’re just an average Joe
(or Josephine) getting home from work later than you should, picking
up the mail, before traipsing indoors, weary from another day with your
nose to the grindstone. You don’t even want to think about dinner – let
alone owning a cookbook that you may use once a year. What’s going
to make you open that mail pack? What’s going to make it irresistible?
Well, how about an envelope that smells like gravy, boeuf
bourguignon or hot dogs (you may be a little peckish after all). Or a
brochure that doesn’t just show you mouth-watering food pictures
coupled with easy-to-prepare recipes, it talks to you about them. Or
what about an offer that’s strategically linked to a national take-away
chain, so that if you call and order now, your dinner will be delivered to
you along with your copy of the cookbook.
If that sounds like science fiction to you – and you’ve just been
mailing the same old stuff over and over, well it may be time to wake
up and smell the rose-scented paper. Because, we can now print scents
on continuous stationery, which makes it viable for large mail quantities
and not just small niche mailings. Sound-chip technology is now
happening in South Africa in pretty much record time – no need to pay
exorbitant prices or go through the East. Strategic partnerships are big
news in every other advertising format – why shouldn’t they play a part
in direct mail?
And then there’s a whole plethora of other advances that direct mail-

ers can add to their arsenal... You can print magnets onto the back of
ordinary bond paper (and pop the magnet out from inside the body of
a letter, brochure or leaflet). Even better, the text on these magnets can
be personalised! There are sparkly glitter inks, and even a new spot UV
printing process that prints UV varnish as a 5th colour – no need for a
separate print process, no drying time and much lower costs. That’ll
get your outer envelope (OE) looking spiffy. And what about variable
printing? It allows you to literally write your consumers’ names in the
stars... or in leaves, flowers or (back to our recipe book example) even
spaghetti. Even more exciting, did you know that you can now print
pretty much anything onto fruit and veg? Imagine an avo handed to
you at the traffic lights on your way home that says: there are 10 ways
to turn this into a delicious meal in under 10 min – call 0860 DINNER
now for Acme’s Latest Cookbook...
There are also some older techniques that have been around for a
little longer, but either hasn’t infiltrated mainstream direct mail in South
Africa the way that they have internationally or simply aren’t being used
creatively enough. For instance, we happily die-cut letters and
brochures – but how about a die-cut outer envelope? Imagine our
Acme Cookbook mailer arriving in a tomato-shaped OE? And then
there are thermo-inks, which intriguingly reveal a message when
heated or cooled: really interactive and great as a competition entry
device... but hardly used. Holograms have also been around for a
while, but it seems they too have yet to grab direct marketers’ attention.
That’s just in South Africa. Internationally, advances in printing that
aren’t quite here yet – or aren’t quite cost-effective enough – are being
used in mainstream direct mail. Ultraviolet printing, which enables a
piece of paper that might appear blank indoors to reveal a message
when taken outside could, be really funky on your OE. And I hear
[ direct mail ]
isn’t it time you tried something new
to attract their attention? And if your
suppliers aren’t telling you about all
the new, funky things they can do
with DM, perhaps you need to start
shopping around...
there’s a new die-cutting machine (in Switzerland, the US and now
Australia) that can produce shape-cut and saddle-stitched multi-page
books and folded brochures quickly and a whole lot more cost-
effectively per unit than traditional methods. Overseas, paper engineers
are becoming more and more a part of a print company’s offering with
pop-outs, fold-outs, and flip-over-and-overs more and more in demand
as marketers struggle to make their direct mail communication stand
out from the crowd.
Ricky Uys, sales manager at Lithotech Afric Mai says: “We can do
things in printing today that clients can’t imagine – we keep innovating
because that’s what the market demands. And while some innovations
might come at a price, others are really a whole lot more affordable
than you think. In terms of ROI, most of our clients are pretty pleased
with the results.”
So, if you haven’t tried – or even heard of – some of these new
techniques, it might be time to do some research – and then some
testing. Or are you willing to let the ever-declining response rates
continue to fall? Today’s savvy consumers are getting a whole lot more
picky about which pieces of mail they open and respond to and which
pieces of mail they put straight into the bin. Isn’t it time you tried
something new to attract their attention? And if your suppliers aren’t
telling you about all the new, funky things they can do with DM,
perhaps you need to start shopping around...
Kathryn Price McKay
creative consultant, Primaplus
kathryn@primaplus.co.za
direct > 2008 11
 [ cem ]
customer experience
management:
engaging your
‘right brain’ with
customers
by Bob Thompson
In the mid-1990s, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) became
a popular buzzword. Theoretically, CRM is a business strategy to build
loyal customer relationships that result in long-term profitable growth.
But, a more common perception is that CRM is a technology-centric,
inside-out, tactical project concerned with organising customer
information or automating marketing, sales or service processes.
That’s all well and good, but observing my own experiences, I could-
n’t help but ask: What does CRM – as it’s commonly practiced – have
to do with the wonderful time my wife and I had at a local restaurant,
when we were surprised with a free dessert? Or does CRM explain why
we drive 30 minutes to visit those friendly and competent people at our
dentist, when other dentists are much closer?
Or did CRM make any contribution whatsoever to the skillful way a
sales rep sold me a car by not selling me at all? I doubt it. Or, to use a
brand almost everyone will recognise, has CRM helped the local
Starbucks become my office away from my home office because it’s a
relaxing and fun place to meet people or read the paper while sipping
on a grande latte?
All of these experiences, and many more, influence my feelings
and behaviour. That’s the point of Customer Experience Management
(CEM), because it’s about mapping, improving and delivering valuable
experiences to the customer. You can call these ‘moments of truth’, a
term popularised by former Scandinavian Airlines CEO Jan Carlzon in
the 1980s as he turned around the struggling airline.
CEM is concerned with all customer interactions, not just those that lend
themselves to automation. And it deals with the customer’s perception of
value, which has both functional – ‘Did it do what it was supposed to do?’
– and emotional – ‘Did I enjoy how I was treated?’ – components.
Some CEM proponents, most notably CEM author and professor
Bernd Schmitt, go so far as to say that products can be turned into
experiences. I’d have to agree that’s one of the reasons I have an iPod
and spend too much money at my local Starbucks!
CEM helps managers to see their customers with the ‘right brain’ –
concerned with perceptions, feelings and interactions that are harder to
quantify but oh, so valuable, nonetheless. Instead of just looking at
how valuable the customer is to the enterprise, CEM requires an
inspection of the enterprise’s value to the customer. Rather than
recording transactional information like leads, opportunities and
average handle times, as many CRM systems do, CEM maps the
experience from the customer’s point of view.
12 direct > 2008
Technology to support CEM could take you far from conventional CRM
software, which tends to focus on internal processes. CEM is also more
creative, where well-trained, helpful and friendly people play a critical role.
In practice, the dividing line between CRM and CEM is blurred. In our
research, we found that 80 per cent of the ‘best practices’ recommended
by CEM experts are the same as those that we’ve proven deliver ROI in
CRM projects. For example, the No. 1 driver of CRM success is developing
a customer-centric plan. That is also the starting point for CEM.
Whatever labels you prefer, rest assured that top-performing companies
are adept at left- and right-brained customer management.
In a survey of customers we conducted in April 2006, only 22 per
cent of customer respondents agreed that companies ‘currently provide
an excellent customer experience’. That’s a tremendous opportunity for
competitive differentiation, given that our survey also found that
customers rate the quality of interactions as equally important in earning
their loyalty as the products and services they purchased.
Does CEM really work? You bet it does. Our study also found that
CEM effectiveness scores ‘predicted’ improved business performance
(profitable growth) and that growth leaders earned CEM scores 29 per
cent higher than laggards.
CEM is a critical development in customer-centric business
management. To develop genuinely loyal relationships, make sure
you’re delivering experiences that your customers remember and enjoy.
Bob Thompson is CEO of CustomerThink Corp., an independent
research and publishing firm focused on customer-centric business
strategy, and founder of www.customerthink.com. Thompson is a
popular keynote speaker at conferences worldwide and has written
numerous articles and reports, including Customer Experience
Management: A Winning Business Strategy for a Flat World.
Bob Thompson
CustomerThink Corp
bob@customerthink.com
 [ variable data printing ]
variable data
printing (VDP)
and why it’s THE way
to market by Loren Botha
The technique of variable data printing (VDP) is a direct outgrowth of digital
printing; it harnesses computer databases and digital print devices to create
high-quality, full-colour documents, with a look and feel comparable to
conventional offset printing. By using variable data in producing marketing
communication, you create touch points and promotional offers that are
more personal, relevant and contextual, this ENGAGES the customer.
Being just a little more personal in how you help, hunt, handle and
hold on to customers across every channel of engagement can have
major benefits. The same applies to the process of prospecting, acquiring,
cross-selling and up-selling accounts. In today’s homogenised
world, customers want, expect and desire a more customised and
personalised experience. This begins with marketers working much
harder to individualise their offers, opportunity, overture and outreach in
every form of in-person interaction.
Fundamental to applying this marketing technique is the depth, value,
reliability and availability of customer data that can provide behavioural,
transactional, demographic, psychographic and ethnographic insights.
Not only is an abundance of data available inside organisations, but
sophisticated data integrators, information service providers, direct
marketers and predictive analytics firms can bring more intelligence and
knowledge to the process of how you leverage and action customer
profiles, histories, propensities and inclinations.
Yet, in the face of customers’ need for greater intimacy, understanding
and personal handling, many marketers are not yet fully embracing or
exploring new ways to reach, resonate with, and respond to the market
in a more individualised and effective way. For the customer, there
is a deep and almost insatiable desire to be heard. Customers are
desperate to have a relationship where they are nurtured, cared about
and recognised.
For marketers, there is a mandate to derive greater ROI, increase
response rates and advance the customer experience. Marketers must
extract value from the abundance of data that typically lies dormant
and unused in many CRM and customer support systems.
Marketers are still missing the mark on how to leverage and use
data, and because of this they are unable to realise the full potential of
14 direct > 2008
personalisation tools, services and solutions. It is also worth noting that
true personalisation goes far beyond mail merging and including a
customer’s name on a given piece of collateral. To reach a customer
there must be a multi-channel, multi-level personalisation strategy that
takes all customer points of interaction into account… print, Web,
e-mail, text message, call centre etc.
Take your monthly account statement. You can use that ‘transpromo’
merchandising opportunity to include a highly targeted, personal offer
or product coupon that is based on past consumption patterns,
transactions and behaviours. By bringing a colourful or graphical
personal message to this monthly, always-read vehicle, you gain
customer attention, cost-effectively deliver offers, and minimise the use
of inserts that are often neglected and discarded. Response rates on
transpromo campaigns frequently exceed 20 per cent and provide
immediate impact to top- and bottom line performance, not to mention
the environmental benefits of reduced print output.
As companies discover the value of personalised communications,
there will likely be greater budgetary resources devoted to individualised
messaging techniques. Importantly, marketers need to employ more
effective communications techniques to maximise the value and ROI of
their customer acquisition and development initiatives.
The success of direct mail marketing has been relative and depends
on goals and industries. Traditionally, publishing relies on direct mail to
solicit subscriptions and consider a three to five per cent response rate
above decent. Direct retailers, who mail more frequently, look for a
higher response. For small companies, a successful direct mail campaign
would eventually generate enough revenue to cover the costs of the
mailing. Those costs would include the list, if one was bought, creative,
postage, paper, printing and the labour associated with the mailing. In
other words, a successful mailing breaks even.
With the advent of new technology, this has changed due to the
ability to produce more creative and dynamic direct mail pieces. Full
colour, printed graphics, copy, fonts, numbering, etc. can now change
on each piece printed and deliver totally unique mailings. Success rates
have soared and hover around the 30 per cent to 40 per cent mark
and in some cases as much as 80 per cent.
By knowing your customer, and their touch points, your marketing
collateral, whether it is personalised or customised, will stand a greater
chance of success. It must be said that VDP must be used appropriately as
its success is determined by the quality of the database, relevance of the
message or offer, and be supported by good copy and design execution.
Loren Botha
business development consultant
Antalis for the Kodak NexPress
loren.botha@vodamail.co.za
 [ data ]

who needs data? by Jonathan Manners

To answer this we need to embark on a journey starting with the

following question:

would you share your data with your

biggest competitor?
Understandably, companies do not want to share their data with
their competitors because these competitors would gain the ‘upper
hand’. So how come this data is so valuable to competitors yet the
companies holding the data do not use it to its full potential?
 Companies think they know their business backwards and do

not see the need for analysing their data to find out what they
already know.
 Clients are scared of their data. They may believe the data is in

a poor state or simply do not understand it. Often, data is cap-

tured for financial purposes to run the business and using it for
marketing purposes has not been considered.
 Money! Data packages are expensive and don’t always give the

right answers.

why are you scared of data?

Using data in a marketing sense is no more complicated than a
baker baking cakes (if a particular cake sells, he bakes more; if it
doesn’t, he stops baking it).
Similarly for data, we want to find out how we make our money
and do more of that. Plus we want to find out where we are losing
money and stop doing that – not that marketers can or ever will
fathom the concept of an exit strategy.
The only complications are how these data findings are present-
ed and how to turn them into actions. Next time you think about how realistic a loyalty figure is, I sug-
gest you think of one or two real-life examples.
and the money issue?
Marketers need to understand that, like CRM, data analysis is not a the marketing strategy
software tool that you can plug in and play. Real insights come ‘I need to market _______.’ Insert just about any product in the
from a real person looking at the data with their marketing hat on. space provided and you end up with the following marketing
Similarly, when it comes to CRM software packages, the important strategy: ‘LSM 8-10; TV, radio and print in these relevant magazines.
thing is not the software itself. What counts is how the data within Are we readily admitting that we know nothing about our
the package is interpreted. So next time someone tries to sell you customers other than they are LSM 8-10, watch TV, listen to radio
an all-encompassing CRM software solution, ask them what this and read magazines?
software knows about your business, your market, your customers Just because everyone else is marketing in this way, why should
and your competitive landscape. you? Do you want to lead or to follow?

bursting some bubbles in conclusion

Quite rightly, companies measure customer satisfaction and loyalty
– but often they are doing the engineering equivalent of measuring
temperature with a ruler. Why do call centres measure customer
satisfaction by the number of calls answered in the day or by how
many times they answered the phone within three rings? Maybe
what the customer really wants is a solution to their query.
It is not just call centres that measure in this way. Think about the last
time a motor manufacturer phoned you to ask how your service was.
They don’t seem to ask about the things that went wrong. But don’t
worry – they have covered the important issues such as “Did the person
greet you politely?” and “Did the person explain the invoice to you?”
In the words of Benjamin Disraeli: There are three kinds of lies: lies,
damned lies, and statistics.
Anyone can produce statistics but it is their interpretation and
usage that makes them valuable. The first two of the above (lies and
damned lies) will not help your business (unless you are into establishing
large-scale ATL bragging rights). The last one (statistics) can – and
will – give you the upper hand over your competitors.
Jonathan Manners
analytics director, Wunderman SA
jonathan_manners@za.wunderman.com

direct > 2008 15

 [ credit data ]
direct marketing
and credit data
– experiences from the credit industry
When it comes to direct marketing, the lessons are often repeated and
yet are seldom learned from. Within the credit industry, the challenges
are not very different. Credit providers are on a continuous drive to
increase sales and grow their customer bases. As part of these efforts,
credit providers are particularly interested in running direct marketing
campaigns to their internal customers for up-selling and cross-selling
purposes or to external customers to grow their customer base.
As we all know, there are several aspects to running a successful
direct marketing campaign, including the communication channel, the
creative, the product being offered and the customers being targeted.
However, the emphasis is often incorrectly placed on the creative
approach and the offering at the expense of the selection of targeted
customers. While the creative and offering are no less important,
mailing a wonderfully executed creative to the wrong customers will be
a wasted effort and cost.
In the case of offering a credit product through a direct marketing
campaign, the credit provider will have to target customers who are
likely to be interested in the product being offered. In addition, those
customers who respond to the offer must be qualified from a risk and
affordability perspective, especially based on legislation (the National
Credit Act).
right respondents, right strategy
Adopting a ‘spray-and-pray’ strategy – where limited segmentation is
carried out during marketing planning – will result in high costs and
wastage of marketing expenditure. In the credit environment, poor
targeting poses significant damage. Poor selection of prospects means
that many who respond to such marketing campaigns will be classified
as poor credit risk. Many prospects, who are normally denied credit
through normal application channels because of their poor credit
rating, are keen responders to direct mailing campaigns for credit.
This results in some excellent but inappropriate response rates;
these prospects respond only to be turned away when assessed for
creditworthiness and affordability. In the meantime, the credit provider
continues to incur other costs and risks. In many cases, these ‘bad
prospects’ are so significant in number that call centre and other
fulfilment operations are overwhelmed by the volume of prospects that
do not present any value to the business. This also has implications
such as increased cost of processing applications (from paperwork,
telephone call and effective use of resources). There is also the
16 direct > 2008
by Thamir Hassan
in the case of offering a credit
product through a direct marketing
campaign, the credit provider will
have to target customers who are
likely to be interested in the
product being offered.
reputational risk in marketing to inappropriate prospects. A very negative
message is created about a brand that offers products to individual
prospects only to decline them later.
The lesson to learn from all this is that selecting the right prospects
starts and ends with the intelligent and effective use of data. To
ensure a cost-effective marketing campaign targeted at the right
prospects, one needs to work with a simple, but structured database
marketing process.
The first step is a proper understanding of the credit provider’s
existing customer base, the products being offered and any previous
marketing campaigns carried out by the credit provider so that one can
learn from them.
If there were no campaigns carried out previously, then it is critical to
ensure that the internal operational systems and validations are aligned
with the campaign in terms of dealing with responders. Many well
designed and executed direct marketing campaigns fail because
internal systems cannot deal with the responders efficiently resulting in
a loss of sales.
extracting the right information
The initial list of prospects for direct mailing can be obtained from
different sources, one of which is list providers. However, these list
providers have millions of records to offer. Accordingly, certain parameters
will have to be defined to narrow down the selection of prospects.
Because of the limited information held by some list providers, the
 [ credit data ]

selection parameters are usually limited to age, gender and geography.

Some list providers have more selection criteria such as census data,
deeds information, etc.
Typical parameters for the initial extraction from lists are an age
range, a specific mix of gender percentages and certain geographical
constraints, such as proximity to the credit provider’s branches.
While these demographic parameters are valuable, they still cannot
offer the marketer enough information to make the appropriate selection
of targeted prospects. Enter credit data, which can play a major role
in making the selection of targeted prospects much more powerful
and intelligent.
The credit provider can request the extraction (within certain limitations)
of credit data from a credit bureau for the prospects on the list. Credit
data is a very rich source of information at an individual level.
It describes our credit activity in terms of our enquiry for credit, how
many credit products we have, how much money we have borrowed,
how are we use our credit limits, etc. It also describes how we are
paying back our debt and whether we are in financial trouble.

analysis and selection

Credit bureaus have also developed models based on this data such
as credit-risk scores and income estimation.
Based on the credit data and models, we can now make a very
knowledgeable assessment and selection of the intended prospects for
direct mailing, not only based on demographic characteristics, but on
actual, measurable consumer credit behaviour
Data on payment behaviour and credit-risk scores will help us to
eliminate poor credit risk prospects before approaching them. The who cannot afford the product being offered, not only protecting
estimated income of the prospects coupled with known existing borrowing us from inappropriate respondents, but also ensuring compliance
and estimated other expenses will give us a reasonable view of the with legislation.
affordability of these prospects. This will enable us to remove all those Further analysis of the credit data can help us to identify the
prospects who will likely want to acquire the product we are offering
and who are creditworthy and can afford the product.

successful implementation
The final selection of prospects to contact will be a smaller percentage
of the initial list we started with. However, this shorter list is now very
targeted in terms of risk, affordability and desire for the product. This
represents a base of fully qualified, measured and appropriate
prospects; hence ensuring that there is no wastage of marketing,
these well planned and structured operations and strategic resources on inappropriate prospects.
With such a campaign, there will be no requirement to carry out any
campaigns result in excellent further assessments when the prospect responds apart from the
National Credit Act regulations in terms of declaring income and
response rates and very high expenses before deciding how much credit to offer the prospect.
These well planned and structured campaigns result in excellent
conversion or take-up rates. It also
response rates and very high conversion or take-up rates. It also
provides a positive brand image of provides a positive brand image of the credit grantor that makes offers
and accepts prospects.
the credit grantor that makes The simple lesson to be learned here is to let analytics and data drive
the marketing process – not the other way round.
offers and accepts prospects.
Thamir Hassan
CEO: TransUnion Analytic and Decision Services
thassan@transunion.co.za

direct > 2008 17

 [ innovative dm ]
tailoring innovative marketing
solutions to meet DM needs
In a tightening consumer environment, squeezed by mounting debt,
escalating interest rates, spiralling food prices, and many other rising
costs topped by the orbiting price of energy – coal, electricity, LPG,
petrol and diesel, marketers have to assess their cost structures
carefully. Traditional advertising remains a given but direct marketing
accompanied by skilled experiential activations and sampling on a
face-to-consumer basis is becoming a critical element of all
advertising campaigns.
In this economic climate more and more advertisers are seeking
better returns on their marketing spend. Many businesses find
advertising campaigns costphenomenal amounts of money, for
some, excessive.
Direct-to-home advertising solutions are often the answer, as
providers of this alternative form of marketing concentrate on
cost-effective service levels and focused-audience targeting abilities.
With this in mind, advertisers should consider the benefits derived
from innovative marketing solutions in venues where the promotion
communicates directly with the consumer. Offerings should include
tailor-made packages to suit clients’ needs and activations in venues
such as homes, businesses, events and intersections.
To maintain and accelerate superior service to clients the media
owner must be positioned to collect and analyse relevant data for
further marketing requirements, and deploy consulting teams to
advise on the comprehensive strategies for dynamic, effective business
distribution campaigns – from branding distributors to delivering
creative, appealing messages cost-effectively and without wastage.
Demand has required PRIMEDIA@HOME to develop a new product,
Public Mobilisation. This is an interactive marketing package suited to
the marketing needs of government’s communication initiatives. To
achieve the benefits, the operator’s trendsetting Store Carnival was
adapted and restructured as Public Mobilisation.
Interactive, the platform generates anticipation and excitement
around government activities and new promotions or events in various
environments through creating exciting educational experiences
incorporating music, entertainment and sales promotion techniques
that build a celebratory atmosphere and increase awareness of
government initiatives.
The Government Communication and Information System (GCIS)
recently awarded three government tenders to PRIMEDIA@HOME,
based on the dynamics of Public Mobilisation. “We are appointed
GCIS’ communication partner of choice for home direct distribution,
bulk delivery of government information products – including the State
of the Nation Address (SONA) and Imbizo. The list of tasks include a
range of additional promotions, including 2010 updates and the
distribution of the SA Year Book, and many other publications, including
the nationwide distribution of Vuk’uzenzele, a strategic government
magazine,” says Melvin Chagonda, Chief Executive Officer.
Home Direct provides distribution of unaddressed advertising and
promotional material to homes nationally to an exclusive 70 per cent
share of the South African door-to-door market through 34 branches
covering 6.4 million households, or 76 per cent of the total South
African population.
“The GCIS’ SONA direct marketing interaction in May required
18 direct > 2008
by Melvin Chagonda
distribution of 1.5 million leaflets targeted at the LSM 1-5 market via
this medium,” Chagonda says.
The marketing campaign also included advertising inside 8 500
Cell C Community Chat containers, each located in a peak traffic
and high convergence township area. Each container attracts about
500 customers per day and provides exceptional focused exposure for
GCIS’ communications. Consumers make over 120 million call
minutes nationwide, per month, from Cell C’s outlets. During their
forced dwell times as they spend at least two minutes per call, their
eyes willingly lock into whichever advertisement is positioned above
each mobile instrument inside the container.
“GCIS and other clients can also target passing pedestrians and
car, taxi and bus commuters with the recently launched external
Community Chat branding opportunities. The containers have
effectively been transformed into three-dimensional platforms visible
from far and wide,” Chagonda adds.
ensure your distribution partners
have a thorough understanding of
your target audience and the capacity,
both in infrastructure and database,
to reach that audience effectively.
Another element of the campaign is the direct distribution of SONA
communication to various one-stop government service centres
located in rural areas and townships, where the community members
go to consult government officials about social grants, identity documents
and passports. PRIMEDIA@HOME made deliveries directly to libraries,
post offices and youth organisations to saturate the market.
Winning the Vuk’uzenzele tender requires PRIMEDIA@HOME to
distribute the multi-lingual magazine that enhances awareness of government
programmes. “Its core focus is to meet public information needs on
socio-economic opportunities created by government programmes and
how to access these opportunities – especially among those with less access
to mainstream media,” Chagonda explains.
Targeted at the LSM 1–5 rural and deep rural markets, 1.6
million copies of the magazine are distributed door-to-door every
six weeks via Home Direct. Delivery is also made directly to
government service centres and departments, libraries, hospitals
and clinics, rural post offices, police stations and regional GCIS offices.
Public Mobilisation was launched based on an in-depth, well-
researched understanding of the target market that GCIS is trying to
reach, which is the key to a successful campaign.
A last tip for advertisers – ensure your distribution partners have a
thorough understanding of your target audience and the capacity,
both in infrastructure and database, to reach that audience effectively.
Melvin Chagonda
CEO, PRIMEDIA@HOME
melvinc@primehome.co.za
 [ search marketing ]
why search
marketing works
Wherever you are in the world, whatever your line of business, these
are challenging times. Costs are rising fast, competition is increasing
and the overall economic climate is more uncertain than it has been
for years.
The result is that company budgets are being studied closely
everywhere to see where they can cut costs.
Now, more than ever, online search marketing should be at the top
of every CEO’s strategy for the flexibility, targeting and measurable
cost-effectiveness that it gives to business.
By removing the guesswork and replacing it with actual numbers,
search marketing puts the advertiser in control. It enables them to target
precisely, pay only for results and stay firmly in charge of costs. It turns
advertising from an art into a science.
First, there are no high upfront costs when advertising online. There
are no expensive TV commercials to film or poster sites to rent. Search
advertisers need only draft three lines of ad text and bid for keywords
they’d like their ads to appear against – words that users looking for
their products are most likely to type into the Google search box.
Second, advertisers connect with potential customers at a time when
they are searching for information – which makes it far more likely that
this potential will turn into new sales. Instead of taking a scatter-gun
approach, search marketing enables advertisers to target warm leads.
Third, it is payment by results. Advertisers only pay if a potential
customer makes the decision to click on their ad. As this is an active,
deliberate decision, it’s far more likely to be rewarding for the advertiser.
What’s more, the cost is in the hands of each advertiser. It is entirely up
to them how much they are willing to pay every time a consumer clicks
on their ad.
Fourth, the Internet allows advertisers to root out waste and target
their potential customers by geography and time. Advertisers can target
a continent, country, region or even a square-kilometre radius if it suits
them. So, a travel company offering specials on last-minute weekend
fares out of Birmingham can ensure its ads only appear to those
searching from the city on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
The key factor is the return on investment. Search marketing deals
in cold, hard numbers: advertisers know their cost per customer
acquisition down to the very last cent. In fact, Google provides free
tools to advertisers which enable them to see how many times their ads
are being seen, how often they are being clicked on, how many users
are entering and leaving their website, average cost per click and even
the advertising cost per purchase.
It’s the sort of information which the most expensive market survey
20 direct > 2008
by Stafford Maisie
online search has changed the
dynamics of marketing, allowing
firms to target very accurately
consumers who are actively
searching for products or services
they are interested in.
could only hint at without any hope of achieving the same level of
accuracy. It enables advertisers to make accurate decisions on the cost
and benefit of their campaigns.
In the past, the underlying principle of mass-market advertising was
to shout it loud and shout it wide. Or, to put it bluntly: send out your
relatively undifferentiated message in the face of thousands in order to
reach the hundred or so for whom it’s relevant. But, this has become
more difficult and less measurable with media fragmentation and the
growth in TV channels, radio stations and magazine titles.
Online search has changed the dynamics of marketing, allowing
firms to target very accurately consumers who are actively searching for
products or services they are interested in. If a user types in the term
‘credit card’ in the search box, it’s because they are interested in
applying for a credit card. This is known as pull marketing, as the users
are specifically requesting information on the product or service you
are selling.
It also better serves the needs of consumers who are suffering the
same pressures as businesses. With less money in their pockets, they
are more determined than ever to spend wisely and are more likely to
take the time necessary to ensure they do so.
CEOs also need to take heed of Internet trends. According to
eMarketer, there are now 37 million people online in the UK,
representing 60 per cent of the population, all connecting, creating,
sharing and communicating. According to the latest Forrester research,
55 per cent of households have broadband installed, and people in the
UK are now spending an average of seven hours of their leisure time
per week online. With the cost of Internet access falling and the
speed of broadband accelerating, the Web is going to become an
 [ search marketing ]

if search marketing can tell you

exactly where every cent has been
spent and only gets spent when
someone shows a deliberate
interest in your product, then it
should be a business necessity.

increasingly powerful tool in the hands of consumers searching for

what’s on offer and comparing prices. CEOs need to make sure they
are following consumer trends.
Google is confident in the continuing appeal of search marketing in
tougher times. Companies increasingly appreciate the control that
search marketing gives them – which is all the more important when
money is tight. If search marketing can tell you exactly where every cent
has been spent and only gets spent when someone shows a deliberate
interest in your product, then it should be a business necessity. It’s why
the predictions of the doom merchants on Web advertising have
proved so wide off the mark.

five tips for success with search

marketing

target
Search marketing allows advertisers to target ads to a captivated
consumer by matching ads to search queries. Advertisers enter a
list of keywords related to their business, and can bid to trigger an ad
when a user types in that query. Advertisers only pay when someone
clicks on their ad.

test
Start with a small budget and see what works for your business.
Experiment with different creative text and strategies to see what works
and optimise your campaign as you go. If something doesn’t work
change it. If it does, improve it and make it work even better to grow
your business.
control
Online advertising allows you to spend as much or as little as you
want. Programs like Google AdWords allow you to lower and raise
your daily spend with a simple click to reflect your business’ needs. For
example, if you sell beds and you want to empty the warehouse to
make room for a new delivery, increasing your daily budget to increase
traffic to your site could increase sales.
analyse
Online advertising produces a wealth of data for analysis (but don’t be
put off by this, it is extremely user friendly!). Rather than simply looking
at the volumes of traffic arriving on your site, analyse conversations
and the customer journey through your site, which allows you to
improve your campaigns and their profitability.
mix
If you’re running an offline media campaign, support this with an
online campaign that mirrors your offline message to ensure that
consumers get consistent information about your brand wherever they
are searching.
Stafford Maisie
SA country manager,
Google

direct > 2008 21

 [ dm in sa ]
direct marketing in
south africa
by Fraser Lamb
Direct marketing in SA is in a state of flux. Some of our direct marketers
are world class. Others, however, have been approaching marketing in
the same way for years, and have enjoyed enough success to justify not
having to do things differently. But with new legislation heading their
way, they will be forced to change.
The National Credit Act has already come into effect. The Consumer
Protection Bill is looming, and once it becomes law, permission-based
marketing will become the only option for marketers wishing to use
direct channels. Those marketers that have actively trained customers
not to pay attention to endless irrelevant mailshots, e-mails and text
messages will soon be found out.
So how will direct marketers in SA ensure that they are able to form
meaningful and relevant connections with their customers? One of the
main barriers to relevance is the intelligent application of data, an asset
that many businesses still do not fully recognise.
Of course, there are South African marketers that do get it right.
Many of our clothing and furniture retailers have established successful
‘club’ programmes with membership in the millions. BMW does direct
well, mainly because it has worked hard to produce a custom
magazine that is genuinely worth reading. Ford is starting to embrace
the concept of retention through meaningful dialogue with owners of
its vehicles.
The challenge for agencies now is to demonstrate that the real
power of direct lies in how it can contribute to customer retention and
growth. But any retention effort will come to nothing unless people
within a business get their bonuses not because they have helped keep
existing customers, but have continually acquired new ones. As with any
aspect of marketing, direct should be an integral part of business
strategy, rather than simply an addendum to it. Get that right, and
direct marketing will no longer be a compliance headache, but a
powerful opportunity for building relationships with customers many
years into the future.
wunderman explains how to think
digital
The Wunderman Network has developed this handy guide (How to
think digital), which explains to analogue marketers why their careers
are over, and how they can evolve to become digital marketers.
key pointers:
 Digital has more impact because it has the potential to hit the right
people at the right time Forget demographics – your core target is
the people who are thinking of buying from you.
 Digitally enhanced word-of-mouth marketing is the most powerful
form of digital media, but use it carefully (get it wrong, and you’ll be
buried!). A key measurement is connectivity of an audience. And
bad reviews aren’t always bad for your brand.
 Digital media is interactive; it’s about getting people to do things,
22 direct > 2008
rather than to think things. Make sure that the doing part is simple
and carries some sort of reward for the consumer’s efforts.
 Spend as much time thinking about what happens after the click as
you do thinking about everything leading up to the click.
 Don’t keep people waiting (for your website to download or your
online ordering service to load).
 You cannot afford to be a dataphobe; learn to handle all data with
care. Get the right (accurate) data, organise it correctly, don’t
analyse it in isolation; think about whether you’re right to ask
people for more information at a particular point, and whether the
information is going to give you real insights. Make sure the networks
between the various departments that use this data work.
 Digital media will continue to evolve, so don’t wait for the dust to
settle; instead, adopt a permanent beta mentality in your marketing
planning.
 Smartly managed digital relationships can last a lifetime (it beats try-
ing to find new customers).
 Save money on media by finding the right partner, making sure they
can bring real value to the table and won’t cannabalise your user
base in the process.
 Web 2.0 is the ‘channel of we’, so start working with your con-
sumer. Think in herds rather than in individuals.
 Experience is a great form of marketing and should be the starting
point for the marketing campaign.
 Be very careful around privacy issues.
 Digital media need to evolve, and will become more efficient. Make
sure you know enough to predict the future of marketing and media.
 The people who tried your service yesterday are talking to those
who will try it tomorrow. Tell the truth and learn to cope with criticism.
 There is a growing demand for products and services that can be
delivered instantly.
 Boring isn’t boring at the moment of truth (ie when you’ve just
bought a bread-maker, the user manual is fascinating).
 Localisation involves much more than just a translation.
 Just because it’s digital, doesn’t mean it’s better. Make sure that
digitisation means the quality of your service goes up, not down.
Fraser Lamb
CEO, Young and Rubicam Brands
fraser_lamb@za.yr.com.

using mobile
media in direct
marketing by Rick Joubert
Today, the cellphone is available to marketers as a fresh and integrated
response channel to use within their overall marketing mix. It is also a
standalone medium, equally effective for delivering brand or direct
marketing messages.
Mobile is emerging as a particularly powerful direct marketing
channel in developing economies like South Africa, where large sectors
of the population do not have access to other digital media (Internet or
e-mail) or indeed, a postal address for traditional direct mailers.
The mobile medium presents an exciting and cost-effective
alternative to traditional cold calling and postal direct marketing,
and with penetration levels approaching 80 per cent of the adult
population, allows direct marketers to target a previously unreachable
mass market.
Of course the same permission guidelines and direct marketing best
practice applicable to traditional direct channels should apply to the
use of the mobile channel. The escalation in the levels of unsolicited
SMS spam is of great concern and the direct marketing industry needs
to ensure that rogue marketers and list brokers are not able to
compromise the growth of a fantastic new direct medium by abusing it.
Vodacom has taken the initiative and established a permission-based
mobile direct marketing platform called AdMe (www.adme.co.za),
positioned to provide an outlet for consumers willing to be marketed to.
Through the AdMe platform’s powerful profiling and segmentation
capabilities which cuts across demographic, geographic, sociographic
and interest attributes, marketers can target very specific market
segments aligned to their message and brand/product’s target audience.
Since AdMe’s public launch in mid January 2008, the campaign
has generated more than 800 000 unique visitors to the AdMe
mobi-site (mobile Internet site) and over 150 000 qualified opt-in
members, using only mobile advertising and marketing techniques –
testimony to the effectiveness of the medium!
Mobile is an effective medium for both delivery of and response
to a direct marketing message and is being used by many direct
marketers for both lead generation as well as the primary campaign
delivery channel.
When used to facilitate lead generation or profiled data collection,
mobile can be used as ‘pure play’ (eg a mobile Internet campaign for
call-back or a Please-Call-Me campaign with a call back, SMS or
USSD response call to action) or simply as a ‘back channel’ to
facilitate an instant response (eg using an SMS short code or a USSD
form) where the call to action is then delivered via traditional channels
such as radio and print.
When used to facilitate the execution of an actual direct campaign
[ mobile media ]
to a permission database, the most effective mobile channels are SMS,
AMS (voice messaging), MMS (multimedia message) and WAP push –
these are rapidly evolving and new channels are always in development,
making this an ever-evolving medium that lends itself to new and
exciting initiatives.
As an example, marketer’s leveraging the AdMe platform can target
a highly defined audience through an MMS which includes up to 30
seconds of audio and video content, with up to 4 000 characters of
text. The message may include a call to action such as a click-to-call
(the user phones you) or call-back link (you are notified that the user
expects your call), a link to the marketer’s Mobi-Site, which is accessible
on the consumer’s mobile phone, or a simple SMS response. With
these types of response mechanisms both the outbound and inbound
actions are tracked and measured. Depending on the type of
campaign, and alignment of the message and targeting attributes,
marketers can conservatively expect average response rates of between
two per cent and 15 per cent through AdMe.
Mobile also enables direct marketing campaigns to be cost-effective
(between R0.01 and R2.00 per contact depending on the channel),
ubiquitous (millions of South Africans use voice calls, SMS, USSD
and WAP every day of their lives), actionable and adaptable in
real-time (as campaigns can be changed quickly based on real-time
consumer responses).
According to the Direct Marketing Association of South Africa, it is
estimated that almost half of all direct marketing spend is already
accounted for by mobile as a medium. Therefore, serious direct
marketers should develop a strong mobile direct marketing competence
if they wish to remain competitive within the marketing industry.
For further information, go to www.on-the-line.co.za or
www.adme.co.za
Rick Joubert
executive head (Mobile Advertising & Social Media team)
Vodacom South Africa
rick.joubert@vodacom.co.za
direct > 2008 23
 [ dm today ]
the vertical line
I spend a lot of time looking at work from around the world which
is winning direct marketing awards and I have noticed two things.
Firstly, a lot of it comes from what used to be called above-the-
line agencies.
And, secondly, a lot of it isn’t direct. Not in the strictest sense of
the word, anyway.
Earth Hour, from Leo Burnett, Sydney, is a case in point
(www.earthhour.org). Now, the response required by the communi-
cation wasn’t transactional. It was to get a couple of million fingers
to push a switch to ‘off’. I suppose there was an offer – save the
world. But looked at dispassionately, it isn’t what Drayton Bird
(author of Commonsense Direct Marketing) would have done, given
the same brief.
Also, Tate Tracks from Fallon London, the brainchild of Juan
Chabral, the creative responsible for Sony Balls, Paint et al, not to
mention the Cadbury Gorilla.
The idea was to link art and music and get young people into
Tate Modern to look at, and think about, the work there. Not a
coupon to be seen though there was an offer. Free downloads of
the tracks, which were created by (among others) Chemical
Brothers, who had been inspired by the art.
The point is, direct has been changing at such a rate that it is no
longer a discipline, it has become an attitude.
Thus it is legitimate to say, as one creative director told me:
“Getting someone to laugh out loud at your idea is as direct a
response as you could wish for.”
It is an attitude about how communications works rather than
about how to make a sale.
Thanks to digital media, all communication can soon, loosely, be
one on one. A commercial may go viral and the YouTube link
spread from inbox to inbox, which is what happened with Dove’s
24 direct > 2008
by Patrick Collister
essentially, this is a left-of-line
activity, where direct marketers
come into their own, identifying
discrete audiences for a specific
message. Right-of-line thinking is still
less discriminating. Its attitude is
broadcast rather than narrowcast,
measured by the number of eyeballs
attracted rather than sales made.
Evolution ad. It may have run once in Holland, but it has been seen
over five million times online. And it too won awards at Cannes and
elsewhere in DM categories.
Quite frankly, Lester Wunderman would probably not recognise it
as direct marketing.
neither above nor below but beside
the line
There was a time when the demarcation between above and below
the line was clear. This is no longer the case and some commenta-
tors and, indeed, some agencies, have talked about how there is no
line any more.
Well, the line does still exist. Certainly in the UK within the minds
of most marketing directors there is a clear distinction between
brand advertising and marketing services and few would entrust
both to one agency.
Elsewhere in the world, marketers are forced by budget to consol-
idate their communications into one shop rather than two, three or
even four, as is the case in Britain or the US. And it’s in these
agencies that you get to see most clearly that the line is still alive
and well. But it isn’t horizontal. It is vertical. And as a result, what we
are beginning to see is the emergence of beside-the-line agencies.
In developing the theme here, I’d like to pay tribute to Mark
Hancock, Director of Strategy at Proximity, London, and one of
those planning types with a brain the size of an IBM mainframe. He
was, I think, the first to speculate that the line has simply changed its
axis when he wrote, “There is a general misconception around the
roles of communication based on the belief that rational messaging
(BTL) will lead to behaviour change following the deployment of

emotional ATL communications. This is nonsense. The integration of
digital has meant that all communication needs to be emotively
charged to succeed. Moving sound and image – the best drivers of
emotional responses and brand ‘likeability’ no longer resides in the
ATL agencies” – but in all creative agencies irrespective of their
discipline.
Here’s a little chart:
The vertical line is now like the marker on a radio. On the far left
you have rational, on the far right you have emotional. In every bit
of communication, you slide the line further away from or closer to
those two end-points, depending on the nature of the task.
The vertical line assumes that every pack, email and microsite will
have a bearing on the brand just as every TV ad will have an
influence on the nature of every offer in one-to-one communication.
Or should have, at any rate.
The vertical line gives DM agencies permission to push up and
out from their traditional roles as purveyors of acquisition materials
and closer to brand country, using online, ambient and even
broadcast media to do so.
the left-of-line agency
Perhaps a more accurate way to differentiate agencies is as left-
of-line or right-of-line. So, reflecting left-brain/right-brain theory,
left-leaning agencies will specialise more in logical, transactional
messaging with right-of-line agencies concerning themselves with
emotional engagement.
Left-of-line agencies create positive response to the offer or
promise. Right-of-line agencies create positive response to the
communication itself. Both need to be branded.
The important distinction is that the two sorts of agency are no
longer differentiated by media as they used to be. Both agencies
may use the same channels, but they will use them for very different
purposes. An idea that gets people to interact with the brand online
and become a part of the experience is ‘direct’ in many ways but at
the same time it is also an undiluted piece of brand communication.
[ dm today ]
the end of the big idea
If the concept of the vertical line helps explain how old-style ATL and
BTL agencies are now beginning to occupy the same spaces, with-
out putting each other out of business, it also helps signal that the
day of the Big Idea may be at an end.
Big Ideas really only suit marketing directors of big companies.
They are easier to manage than swarms of little ideas and they allow
the bigwigs to feel they are in control. In truth, what may well suit the
brand best are lots of little ideas, which, together, add up to a lot.
Richard Branson seems to have understood this intuitively from
the very start. And Nike seems to be pursuing little ideas with typical
energy and success. No end line, no unifying style, no one bold
thought. Rather a series of engagements which allow the brand to
appear local even while it is a global behemoth.
Compare and contrast that with Gillette, say, whose campaigns
featuring top sportsmen are obviously made at some global centre
and are then pushed out to the regions.
Why these ads look and feel so incredibly wooden is, I suspect,
because they are driven by old-fashioned demographics. The think-
ing is: young males across continents are all influenced by the same
sort of sporting role models they envy and admire. Ergo, bung a
couple of those sports stars in the adverts and make sure the sched-
uling is spot on so you reach those young shavers wherever they
gather and hey presto! You sell a lot of razors.
If you buy the vertical line theory, then there is a third consequence
to it for DM agencies. It is the mechanic that allows DM agencies to
grow out of that slurry pit at the bottom of the chart, acquisition, and
into the profitable areas of retention and brand by speculating,
identifying, testing and proving that the most valuable customers may
not be those identified by demographics – but by behaviour.
lost gamers are all ages
To identify the over-fifties as Silver Surfers, for instance, is segmentation
by demographic. But what about surfers who are Lost in Space? (Both
my son and my wife are committed gamers). Or the In-and-Outs who
see the Web as no more than an electronic Yellow Pages? The moment
you start identifying audiences by what they do and where they go,
rather than by age and income, you can’t help but have interesting
(small) ideas.
Essentially, this is a left-of-line activity, where direct marketers
come into their own, identifying discrete audiences for a specific
message. Right-of-line thinking is still less discriminating. Its attitude
is broadcast rather than narrowcast, measured by the number of
eyeballs attracted rather than sales made.
However, the two approaches are blurring. And that for me is the
joy of direct marketing right now. It’s where some of the most interest-
ing ideas in marcomms are taking shape as smart marketers learn to
use direct tools to build their brands in new beside-the-line ways.
Based on an article written for Directory Issue 7. Directory is a quarterly
publication showcasing the best new ideas in direct marketing from
around the world. For more information, visit www.directnewideas.com
Patrick Collister
editorial director
Directory
patrick@creative-malters.com
direct > 2008 25
 [ podcasting ]
podcasting and
audio downloads:
content on
demand
by Ryan Till
Podcasting is enjoying an interesting time in South Africa. Although
technically not a direct marketing tool, as it is predominantly specific
programmes requested by listeners as opposed to marketer-driven
outbound communication, it does serve the purpose of engaging
specific target groups.
Essentially, podcasting falls into the broader category of audio
downloads. In the case of radio, that would be giving listeners the
chance to consume exactly what they want, when they want it.
So in this sense, more often than not, the core purpose of podcasting
is to allow consumers access to great content, rather than for marketers
to market their products.
Podcasting came to South Africa with much fanfare, but that initial
hype has subsided quite a bit. Those who do offer podcasting services
have invariably found the niched products in their content offering, and
package those products for a mostly niched subset of their entire market.
it’s also important to note that
South Africa has incredibly high
levels of mobile phone penetration,
but is very far behind, relative to
developed nations, as far as Internet
penetration is concerned.
While podcasting represents a great opportunity to offer listeners a
value add, it is to an extent limiting: it’s only available to those with a
computer and only appeals to those with an affinity for podcasting.
To bridge this gap, many content providers are moving into the
mobile realm. Today, almost every cellphone is Internet-enabled,
allowing consumers the opportunity to access content more readily
and easily.
So while traditionally, a person would have to be sitting behind
their computer and log onto a website to access the podcast or
audio download they can now download audio via their cellphone.
This substantially broadens the reach of this content beyond the
traditional ‘podcasters’.
26 direct > 2008
At Primedia Broadcasting, we have worked hard to find a system to
make audio and video available, on demand, to almost anyone with a
mobile phone. The success of this has been based on the fact that
we’ve made access incredibly easy – as far as the listener is concerned
it’s all via SMS.
By way of example, we have instituted this system on two of the
biggest comedy features on the Rude Awakening breakfast show on
94.7 Highveld Stereo – the daily Traffic Joke and the Stupid Sports
Joke podcasts.
Listeners interested in hearing either of these jokes after the broad-
cast that morning simply SMS the respective word (JOKE or STUPID) to
33VIP and then click on the reply SMS that comes back to their phone.
This automatically downloads the latest version of the content they
have requested. Most of them are not even aware they’re doing this
over the Internet.
Despite the advances in this regard, it’s important not to leave the
traditional podcast market behind. To this end, we also make the same
downloads available on our website.
It’s worth noting that many older phones don’t handle large file sizes
well, and that’s where traditional podcasting comes into its own –
enabling people to download and listen to longer pieces of audio (such
as interviews, press conferences or special features).
Taking into account the penetration of mobile phones, and the
typical radio listener’s habits, we’ve noticed listener response definitely
favours mobile phone downloads as opposed to podcasts. Although
this isn’t rocket science, it’s simply the most innovative way we’ve seen
any radio station offer content on demand to its audience.
It’s also important to note that South Africa has incredibly high
levels of mobile phone penetration, but is very far behind, relative to
developed nations, as far as Internet penetration is concerned.
I really feel that concentrating on the mobile phone is the key to
giving today’s tech-savvy users exactly what they want: access to great
content on demand.
Ryan Till
chief operating officer, Primedia Broadcasting
ryant@primedia.co.za.

engaging your
internal
market
by Grace Harding and Terri Brown
Internal marketing provides a welcome solution to the challenge of
communicating with employees in a way that captures their hearts
and minds.
In spite of a global trend towards a more engaged employee
communication approach, many companies still operate under the
mistaken belief that because employees are on the company payroll
they’re obliged to pay attention to whatever the company tells them.
But the fact is that, either consciously or unconsciously, employees tune
out when they encounter communication they feel is irrelevant,
confusing, overwhelming or boring. And while you may feel comforted
knowing you sent an e-mail, memo or newsletter, you may also be
shocked to learn how few employees read, let alone internalise and act
on the information contained in them.
The reason for this is not that employees are inherently disinterested,
but rather that they’re swamped by communication (the average
person encounters 30 000 messages a day, according to Anders
Nylstrom). Internal communicators have lost sight of the reason for
communicating, which is to bring about a desired behaviour in employees
that delivers on the business strategy. They’ve become so enamoured
with communicating for communication’s sake, and send out endless
newsletters, memos, posters, desk-drops, e-mails and intranet posts.
The net result is disengaged, communication-fatigued employees.
If businesses want to mobilise employees and direct their energy
towards business objectives, they need to take a new approach – one
that’s dynamic, creative and, above all, engaging. It has to be
communication that hooks employees in on a cognitive, emotional and
behavioural level and reinforces the cultural and strategic fundamentals
of the company.
welcome to the world of internal
marketing.
Think of it as marketing turned inside out. Internal marketing relies on
similar principles to traditional consumer marketing and advertising,
and applies them to the internal market (employees). It’s a communication
ethos that can be applied to any message regardless of size, scope or
type. We’ve used it effectively for everything from once-off, short-term
messages to ongoing internal campaigns that last indefinitely.
Underpinning it is an approach that uses communication to engage
employees so that they behave in a way that delivers on a given
business objective.
[ internal marketing ]
encouraging employees to define the
behaviours for themselves, rather than
dictating behaviours chosen by executive
leadership, proved immensely powerful
in ensuring greater participation (84
per cent), ownership and buy-in.
So, how to get it right? To begin with, internal marketing demands a
mind shift when it comes to how companies perceive employees.
Traditional communication no longer works because it’s patronising,
uni-directional and draconian – an approach that the new generation
of employees doesn’t respond to in the way that its baby-boomer
predecessors did. Only when companies start to see their employees as
individuals who can be trusted to add valuable input, will they manage
to set the correct communication tone and thereby capture the ears,
minds and hearts of employees.
How internal marketing is expressed practically and the difference
that it can make to a business’ bottom line is perhaps best illustrated by
an example. Actuate was recently briefed to help Absa Corporate and
Business Bank improve its client satisfaction and employee climate
survey scores. In order to do so, we needed to conceptualise an
internal marketing campaign that would communicate the behaviours
necessary to address both employee and client concerns.
Being familiar with the pitfalls of traditional employee communication,
we took employee engagement as our starting point and divided the
employee group into teams with team leaders, each of whom was
equipped with a facilitation pack containing a facilitator’s guide, flip
chart, marker pens and a voting system. Employees then set about
identifying the behaviours they believed would help improve customer
and employee satisfaction through a manager facilitated process.
In all, over 1 000 employees participated and identified 500
behaviours. These were clustered into seven key themes, each with four
behaviours, which were approved by the business leaders as being
appropriate before being packaged into an employee guide.
The same list of behaviours might have been defined by an executive
team, but the net result would have been very different. Encouraging
employees to define the behaviours for themselves, rather than dictating
behaviours chosen by executive leadership, proved immensely powerful
in ensuring greater participation (84 per cent), ownership and buy-in. It
also sent out a clear message that the business trusts and relies on
them, values their input, and is therefore prepared to give them
accountability.
Grace Harding, co-founder, Acuate
Terri Brown, co-founder, Acuate
(011) 343 9100
direct > 2008 27
 [ crm ]

using CRM
and data
management
by Monique Smith

With the average individual receiving thousands of marketing messages

every day, South African consumers are suffering marketing fatigue.
Coupled with the challenge of clutter, businesses have also been
realising for a while now that it is far more expensive to acquire new
customers than it is to retain existing customers. While this scenario
presents some obvious challenges to marketers it also delivers great
opportunities for direct marketing interventions.
However, successful direct marketing campaigns require insight into
the customer or else they are bound to also disappear into the clutter.
Marketers need to know how old their customers are, whether they
have children, and their lifecycle and lifestyle needs? What are their
personal preferences? What is that something special that will really
excite them? The list of questions is endless.
Knowing your customers intimately and being able to use the
information to nurture a relationship and develop tailored offerings that
meet their needs is the Holy Grail of marketing. However, while many
aspire to this elevated state of customer understanding, few businesses
actually manage to implement effective customer relationship
management (CRM) processes successfully and leverage customer data
to support their direct marketing campaigns. To achieve this, the member information used needs to be current
and accurate but, most importantly, the data needs to be relevant.
eBucks uses the data it collects to tailor promotions, competitions
and marketing communications to the specific needs of individual
eBucks collects data in many members. For the data to be relevant to the business’ requirements it
needs to include basic demographics such as age and gender as well
different ways such as member as psychographics such interests and preferences.
eBucks collects data in many different ways such as member surveys,
surveys, data enhancement
data enhancement questionnaires and formal research. Some of the
questionnaires and formal research. most valuable and relevant details required to tailor member offerings
lies in the transactional and usage data eBucks collects based on how,
where and on what members spend their eBucks.
In piecing all these bits of information together, one ends up with
The trap many companies fall into is to simply deploy a CRM a well-rounded picture of the member. If relevant data has indeed
solution without interrogating their data requirements and developing a been collected, this picture is invaluable in developing targeted
real CRM business strategy. Without understanding the kind of customer marketing campaigns.
data the business requires and how it will be used by different parts of At the heart of a successful CRM programme lies an understanding
the business, many companies will become disillusioned with their CRM of what the business needs to know about its customers, a strategy on
investment and never realise the true potential of their data. how it will actively collect and manage this data throughout the
For rewards programmes such as eBucks, CRM and data manage- customer’s lifecycle and, most importantly, the ability to use the data to
ment form a fundamental part of the business. eBucks’ main drive is to support direct marketing campaigns to grow customer relationships.
understand members’ behaviour through the data it collects through Monique Smith
various channels and means, thereby gaining insight that will enhance head of Member Experience, eBucks
the reward experience for the member. Monique.smith@ebucks.com

28 direct > 2008


in pursuit of
loyalty
by Nici Stathacopoulos
The very nature of a human being is to engender loyalty from all the
other beings they have a relationship with; the most common of these
is the relationship with their dog. It is natural to assume that a pet will
display loyalty to their owner; after all, they get fed free, nurtured,
played with and loved; tenets of any great relationship. Beyond that we
have happy marriages where a couple are truly in love with their part-
ners and will behave in a certain way with their partner that ensures
their loved one doesn’t display disloyal behaviour.
Is it possible to translate this behaviour into a consumer-to-brand
experience? Why do I, a mom of two teenage sons, want to display
loyalty to my mobile provider? Why do I want to display loyalty to the
brand of car I drive? The only answer I, as a marketer and a consumer,
can give is that I want to get something real back from that brand.
‘Real’ for me means:
 Great service
 Decent pricing
 A brand I identify with
 A product or service I need and /or want
 I receive help when I need it.
[ loyalty ]
In turn, loyal customers’ actions can be seen as follows:
 They have emotional equity in your brand
 Your brand is their first choice
 They look to you to solve their needs/problems
 They ask you for guidance
 They discuss your offering not your price
 They positively suggest how you can improve
 They want you to succeed
 They advocate ‘their’ brand to others
 The emotional equity translates into positive buying behaviour.
Loyalty will be engendered when customers transact with your brand
again and again of their own free will. Many businesses confuse
rewards (points, discounts) programmes with loyalty programmes.
However, a points-based programme (less so a discount programme) is
part of a retention and database building strategy, not a loyalty strategy.
In fact, many programmes, such as air mile programmes, often engender
a feeling for the customer that he is a prisoner, forced to continue flying
with the airline due to a build up of miles – which they can never
redeem – but the seats are uncomfortable, the food awful and the
check-in service appalling.
According to Colloquy, membership of USA loyalty rewards
programmes has reached 1.3 billion, but the average household
belongs to no less than 12 loyalty programmes, and only 4.7 yield
active participation. In my opinion, the word ‘loyalty’ does not describe
these programmes. Simply call it a rewards programme.
To optimise customer loyalty, besides understanding product and
brand loyalty, customer loyalty must be derived from the customer
experience and relationship. This can be done by building knowledge
of the customer (database marketing), which should be both research
and experience data, which then enables marketers to understand the
motivation of customers and therefore price- enhance customers’
experiences, not only targeted communications.
Therefore, creating loyalty among your consumers is a brand
personalised event that cannot be commoditised with a rewards
programme. It is the experience the discerning consumer has and the
reason why they choose relevant brands. Differentiate and prove real
value to high-spending customers to ensure continued buying behaviour.
Change the value that your customer experiences.
The clutter in the marketplace confuses and distresses the consumer,
who has become even more stretched for time and has less disposable
income, especially in the recession we currently find ourselves in. And
the varying degree of media messages has increased countless fold –
as Seth Godin puts it: “Television was a miracle, in a heartbeat it all fell
apart – TV commercials ceased to be the one-stop shop for all
marketers – we’ve got so many other ways to hear stories they’ve lost
their effectiveness.”
The reality is there are only so many consumers, we are all going
after this potentially lucrative segment, with little product differentiation,
shorter product life cycles, intense competition, price wars and, finally,
media saturation – so we need to find differentiated ways of building
loyalty towards our brand that translates into positive buying behaviour
that is sustainable over time.
Nici Stathacopoulos
managing partner, proximity#ttp
nici@proximityttp.co.za
direct > 2008 29
 [ custom publishing ]
customer
magazines can
improve your
DM performance
by Martha Dimitriou
Customer magazines are about connecting customers to brands
through engaging and useful content. If the brand-generated content is
relevant and of a high quality, the time customers spend engaging with
the brand is increased and their relationship with it is enhanced by the
positive experience. Once a brand has the customer’s attention, it has
the opportunity to improve its image, create higher levels of awareness,
increase loyalty and ultimately impact the bottom line.
The effectiveness of customer media (magazines and increasingly
online and mobile components) can, to some degree, be measured by
their ability to inspire two-way communication between the brand and
the customer. Hundreds of companies, across all industry sectors, have
discovered that a customer magazine can deliver measurable results.
Unlike other means of communication, such as advertising and direct
mail, consumers do not find magazines intrusive. In fact, research
reveals that consumers are more likely to take action as a result of
reading magazines than from watching television.
Successful customer magazines work to specific objectives, which must
be measured and met. These magazines should balance the needs of
the client against the aspirations of the reader. Achieving that balance is
not easy but, as our clients can testify, the rewards are great.
To understand the success of customer magazines, one has to under-
stand their effectiveness; how the magazine affects the image of the
brand it’s communicating; how it supports and personifies the brand,
and impacts the customer’s behaviour.
effectiveness
Edgars Club Magazine is produced for fashion and beauty retailer
Edgars in South Africa. It has a current ABC of 918 222 (Jan–Mar 08),
goes out monthly to all Edgars Club members and is one of South
Africa’s biggest fashion and beauty magazines. Research was conducted
by Millward Brown SA on the September 2006 issue of the magazine.
The results confirmed what Edgars had been sensing about their
customers, says Stacey Schubart, Edgars Club publications manager.
“While our customers are fully aware that they are reading a customer
magazine (which is fundamentally about selling more products and
Edgars Club services), they still love to read it and they are more loyal
to us as a result of it,” she maintains.
The numbers make for a great case: 75 per cent of Club members
read at least half of the magazine and, on average, pick up each issue
30 direct > 2008
2.7 times; 91 per cent think the magazine they receive is informative,
and 85 per cent actively enjoy reading it. Two-thirds find it both relevant
and entertaining. One in five consumers would even be prepared to
pay to receive a customer magazine. Nearly a third keep it and another
33 per cent pass it on to their friends.
the impact on customer behaviour
Time and again clients have indicated or confirmed that the unique
selling point of customer magazines is their ability to create a dialogue
with customers. In doing so, they support other elements of the market-
ing mix and generate an increase in sales. The Millward Brown report
indicated that 24 per cent of readers purchased a product or service
from Edgars as a direct result of reading the September 06 issue of the
Club magazine. That amounted to approximately 220 000 customers
making a purchasing decision as a direct result of reading the publication.
An impressive 48 per cent of Edgars Club Magazine readers visited an
Edgars store as a result and are more likely to go on using the company
or to select it for another purchase in the future, while 18 per cent
recommended Edgars to a friend after having read the magazine.
In a climate where companies are constantly vying their customers’
attention the research showed that customer magazines are a
compelling tool – on average, customers choose to spend 31 minutes
reading Edgars Club Magazine. This equates to 62 television ad spots
(30 seconds each) – at a fraction of the production and flighting cost.
Ultimately, effective marketing is not just about the quality of the
marketing message that we put out, it is also about the quality of
attention given to the message. Customer media facilitates true
two-way communication and constant feedback allows customers to be
a part of the continuous evolution of the brand.
Martha Dimitrou
new business director, New Media Publishing
mdimitriou@newmediapub.co.za

the john caples awards
Fondly referred to as ‘the Caples’, these awards, which have
international chairs in 53 countries around the world, were founded in
1978 by Andi Emerson. They are funded by industry agencies, clients
and suppliers, and run by industry volunteers.
“The Caples Awards is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for creative
people in the direct marketing industry to demonstrate, on an
international stage, how creativity can be used to solve problems. Unlike
other award shows, Caples is only judged by creatives for the sake of
creativity. The one and only charge: Develop the most innovative cre-
ative solution to a real-time marketing problem,” says Gary Scheiner,
Executive Creative Director TBWA, New York (he’s also the senior vice
president of the judging of the Caples). “It is to your advantage to fully
describe the real-world situation your entry had to face, such as excep-
tional competition, new kind of product, low budget, geographical
restrictions, etc. Points are awarded based on the way your team CRE-
ATIVELY addressed these direct marketing difficulties,” he adds.
Stuart Stobbs, a Caples judge and creative partner at proximity#ttp,
says that any direct campaign needs to have a great idea to begin
with. “It needs to have great writing and great creative, and good
results etc, but it also needs to be built on that one great idea, which
will make the judges think: ‘I wish I’d done that’.” The results of the
campaign will back up the great idea. In fact, says Stobbs, there
needs to be the right balance between results and creative idea,
because great results might be the result of a great offer, not of a
really great idea.
Judging is based on the following criteria: creative solution, concept,
copy and art direction. To become a finalist, each entry is vetted by a
the assegai awards
After a four year hiatus, the Assegais were reinstituted last year, as an
independent awards programme for the direct marketing industry, with
sponsorship from the Post Office. According to Michelle Perrow, chair-
person of the Assegai Awards, there are two sections to the Awards. The
first is the media category, which recognises work in all direct media
channels. In this section, judges focus on results and ROI (with the
weighting at 40 per cent for ROI, 30 per cent on strategy, and 30 per
cent on creative). Judges are well briefed, says Perrow, because with
ROI making up such a large component, it is easy to be mislead if one
does not consider the media channel and the audience. For example, at
a glance, an e-mail campaign might deliver better results than a direct
mail piece, because of lower costs and better response rates. In terms of
strategy, it is important that the strategy chosen for the campaign be
optimal, given all the possible strategies in the direct marketer’s tool kit.
And of course, there’s the big idea, and the fit with the brand.
[ awards ]
triumvirate of creative peers during two successively eliminative judging
rounds. In the final round, finalists are numerically scored for copy, art
and concept, by two separate triumvirates of international judges. The
cumulative total of the six individual creative directors is decisive. If no
finalist reaches the preset score for a prize level, no prize is awarded. If
two or more reach the same prize-level score in the same category,
there will be multiple winners.
Aside from the standard awards, there are four additional awards:
 The Courageous Client award for innovative campaigns that inse-
cure clients would never authorise
 The Sackheim Best of Show award, presented to a truly ingenious entry
 The Irving Wunderman award, given to a creative who has achieved
a minimum of 10 years of exceptional direct response work
 The Andi Emerson award, which recognises lifetime service to the
direct marketing industry.
“To be chosen a winner means the problem-solving strategy and
execution was judged ‘excellent’ and the creative ‘superb’,” says Nici
Stathacopoulos, who is the SA Chair for the Caples (and managing
partner, proximity#ttp). “Direct mail has not been superseded by online
campaigns but it’s growing,” she says.
Stobbs goes on to say that since direct marketing is no longer about
the medium, but rather about a philosophy of one-on-one communica-
tions, it’s not surprising that there are more integrated direct cam-
paigns, and increased use of new media platforms. “Increasingly, you
try to enter your campaign into something like the Caples, and you find
that there is no category for your campaign, and that’s exciting, it
means you’re ahead of the game,” he says.
A second section focuses specifically on creative awards, and this
section includes any entries which demonstrate great creative, but have
no results, or entries which might have an ‘unfair advantage’ (eg a
direct event invite for 10 of the media personalities might yield a 90 per
cent response rate, and be deemed to have an unfair advantage). In
this section, art direction and copy are considered by judges (creative is
no longer considered in this section).
The Assegais also recognise student work, with an award for the
young direct marketer of the year, and the student marketing team of
the year, as well as the campaign of the year.
And there are also awards made to the best of breed in the DM
industry, with awards for the supplier of the year, the organisation of the
year, the direct marketers of the year, and the DMA Hall of Fame award).
Of course, the best of the rest is the Inkosi Assegai winner, who takes
home the title of being the best overall direct marketing campaign.
direct > 2008 31
 [ loeries experiential in dm ]

the loeries –
thoughts on
the experiential
category
by Peter Bidenko

I like the way the Loeries have defined their categories, especially the
fact that they’ve created an Experiential Section. It covers a lot more
than what I would have normally thought of as experiential marketing.
But it’s quite simple and logical, if it involves the audience and expects
them to do something with what they’re presented with, then it’s
covered in this category. Whether it’s direct marketing, promo, events,
digital or all of the above.
It’s not to say the advertising section and its work won’t be involving,
in fact, in my opinion all the award-worthy work will be. It’s just that the
Experiential Section covers… umm… experiences. And I guess that’s
what will take away the metal in July.
in my experience the things that
stand out really stand out. It either
makes you laugh out loud, stand in
awe of the audacity and sometimes
even shed a tear. I’m hoping to see
lots of that sort of stuff.
the best experiences win awards
I’ve not seen it done the same anywhere else in the world, so hats off
to the organisers. In fact, I hope it’s copied because it’s good.
Focusing more on direct, much has been written lately about the
changing nature of direct marketing. Yes, it IS an ever evolving,
increasingly harder to define industry. We’ve learned that there are
many more ways to engage an audience than traditional media (and in
traditional I’d include Web these days).
In fact, how we come in contact with people is as much a part of the
creative idea as the creative itself. And that’s where the opportunity for
breakthrough stuff really occurs. And again, it’s also one of the things
that catches a judge’s eye.
But I’d also say the fundamentals of direct still exist… response
driven, customer focused, measurable and two-way.
It’s always excited me because of the way we can get a lot closer
to our audiences. Our job as direct marketers is still to find out
more about our customers and let them tell us what they want. Then
deliver on that. These days we’ve just got a whole lot more channels to
do it with.
At its best, it creates a much closer connection between consumers
and brands. I’ve been pushing the barrow of intimacy lately when
talking about direct creative. When we’re invited in by an audience
and they give us permission to have a conversation with them, the
language we use and the way we are allowed to relate to them is a lot
more intimate.
And with all of that said, a good idea is still a good idea. Right
across the board whether it’s direct, promo, events or digital. In my
experience the things that stand out really stand out. It either makes you
laugh out loud, stand in awe of the audacity and sometimes even shed
a tear. I’m hoping to see lots of that sort of stuff.
Finally, and most importantly, I would imagine we will also award
relevance. There’s nothing worse in the integrated categories of having,
for instance, 16 different channels when one would have been more
appropriate. It probably would realise a better ROI, make for easier
measurability and greater insights for the future and, let’s face it,
create fewer ulcers.
Peter Bidenko
creative director
TEQUILA\ Australia
peter.bidenko@wtbwa.com.au

32 direct > 2008


how the loeries assess
excellence
A Loerie Award is the most sought-after recognition for any work
carried out in brand communication in South Africa. Through the
process of identifying those pieces of work that represent the best executed
innovative concepts, the Loeries define excellence in the industry.
Direct marketing is recognised at the Loeries within the Experiential
category and, as with any of our other categories, we judge submis-
sions on the following criteria:
An innovative concept, bringing new and fresh thinking
 Excellent execution
 Relevance to the brand
 Relevance to the target audience
 Relevance to the chosen medium
Any communication, be it a traditional above-the-line television ad,
a corporate identity or a direct marketing piece, should meet these
five criteria, as they form the foundation for what any brand
communication is intended to achieve.
The fifth criterion takes into account the work’s relevance to the
chosen medium, which, in conjunction with the other criteria, defines
whether a piece of work like a direct marketing campaign has the
characteristics that combine to make a winning piece of work.
The overriding criterion here is creative excellence, which is the key
point that the Loeries seek to award. We are primarily promoting
[ loeries ]
change, rewarding things that are done differently. If an entry excels in
all other areas, but the idea isn’t new, it will not win.
This is not necessarily to say that something that isn’t innovative
won’t work. Communications that promise 50% off all day Sunday –
doors open at 7am, may meet some criteria for a successful
campaign, but if we don’t see innovation or freshness in the idea,
then it won’t be recognised at the Loeries.
Experience shows that campaigns that are innovative are also those
that are most effective in the marketplace. Innovation is what catches
the eye of the public, then wins their hearts and minds, and inspires
them to act.
Andrew Human
MD of the Loeries
andrew@theloerieawards.co.za
judging direct marketing at the
Loeries
Loeries judges are all selected for their expertise in their own fields.
Nici Stathacopoulos, managing partner at innovative marketing
services agency, proximity#ttp, is a Loerie Awards board member
and the local chair for the Loeries Experiential Panel. She defines
what constitutes excellence in a direct marketing campaign.
Direct marketing, with its focus on personal contact with
consumers, and a resulting call to action, is measured by the
response it elicits. In order to do so, a truly excellent campaign will
cut through the clutter of mundane and ordinary marketing with
breakthrough ideas and innovative ways for the consumer or
customer to respond.
To achieve excellence, the marketing strategy backing up the
direct marketing campaign would have to be excellent to start with.
The tone of the campaign and the manner in which it communicates
should resonate with both the audience and the brand. Messages
are effective if they elicit an emotion, make the recipient think or
make use of humour, but most importantly, if they show an
understanding of the recipient by talking in their language. The
message (irrespective of the DM medium even traditional mediums
such as DRTV) must be relevant, rewarding, recognisable and rele-
vant to the recipient – otherwise it won’t be effective and certainly
cannot be deemed to be innovative or creative!
In judging the Loeries, we do take into account results as well
as innovation, because the symbiosis between innovation and
effectiveness is evident. You can be as innovative as you like, but if
you are not effective, the campaign won’t work, and vice versa –
simply put – boring campaigns are not effective.
direct > 2008 33
 [ echo awards ]

the
DMA echo
awards by Duncan Gray

First, a bit of history. The DMA Echo Awards was founded long, long
ago in a country called America which used to rule the direct marketing
world, where letters were five pages long and everything was tested
into submission.
It has hardly changed over the years and sits alongside the Caples
awards and Cannes, in a trio of leading international DM awards, but
they are all quite different.
Cannes is a great brand, a newcomer to awarding DM and is a
fantastic beauty show that we all want to win (but with over 2 000
entries, the odds aren’t good!). The Caples exists to reward creative
solutions to marketing problems and is uniquely only judged by creative
directors. The Echos specifically recognises the DM disciplines of
strategy, creativity and results equally. The majority of winners are
mailings and the show seems rather stuck there – not able to fully
recognise the full breadth of DM channels, probably due to the fact
that many are difficult to measure.
The Echos recently made a point of stressing its creative credentials,
but the other two award shows have occupied that space for much
longer. The Echos was originally founded to award strategy and results
ie account folk. That is why the late Andi Emerson founded the Caples,
to celebrate creativity in DM, and that was 30 years ago!
This is how the Echos works:
 All entries are judged on strategy, creativity and results.
 Judges are a mixed bunch from all aspects of the DM industry,
so there could be a CD sitting next to an agency MD and a data
or digital printing specialist!
 Entries are judged by business category. There are 12 and you
can only submit a piece of work once.
There are three rounds of judging. Round 1 is a regional elimination
by discussion, not scoring, which is done in New York, Denmark and
Australia. If you get through that, Round 2 is held in New York. Here
the work is scored numerically by several, mainly US judges. I have
done it a few times and will also do it this year to help ease the US
opinion bias. Last year a quarter of the judges were from outside the
US, which is a great improvement.
If you get through that you are a finalist and you have to re-enter
your work in book format (they supply one) and pay another entry fee.
These submissions are judged three times by a small group of senior
marketers, mainly American, and scored again numerically. Depending
on the total scores, Gold, Silver or Bronze will be awarded. It is possi-
ble for there to be multiple winners on each level.
Unique to Echos is the Leader award, which is basically a fourth
place. Otherwise, you remain a finalist. There are also a bunch of
other awards (Diamond, Gold Mailbox, etc.) that are given to highest
scoring winners after awards committee discussion.
The best way to win at the Echos is to look at what wins at
http://www.dma-echo.org/gallery.jsp and how best to enter at
http://www.dma-echo.org/echo-cardiogram/docs/sample-entry-
form_2008ECHO.pdf
The Gold winners can be anything from the simple dramatisation
of child abuse by asking people holding an envelope to bend it
and be shocked by the enclosed pencil snapping, as easily as a child’s
bone, to a highly personalised, four-part mailing programme for a
cruise company.
The contrast between the three main award shows can be illustrated
by a winner from Spain titled Lopetegui Deposit. At Cannes it
won a Gold and Best in Show. At Caples it won Silver and at Echos,
just Bronze.
This year, again, I will plough through tediously long and sometimes
badly written entry forms, examine good, average and some extremely
bad creative, and give my honest opinion based on the Echos’ judging
criteria. Winning an Echo is something to be really proud of, as it’s a
long road from brief to the award podium and the recognition of your
industry peers. Believe me, when I say many entrants don’t stand a
chance of winning, because they have not done their research about
what wins and how to submit a good entry.
I’m always amazed at the final mix of international winners, the fact
that the US has actually managed to win some awards and how much
I’ve learnt about digital personalised reward programmes delivered at
the expense of too many trees!
Duncan Gray
executive creative director, Proximity London
gray.d@proximitylondon.com

34 direct > 2008


research highlights
here are some of the top direct marketing reports from
Forrester Research, which you should be reading
do you have the right digital skills?
In his report (Agencies must build digital skills to survive, 11 April
2008), Peter Kim found that traditional marketing agencies see their
business threatened by digital agencies. Consumers are increasingly
living a digital reality, and competition has emerged based on digital
criteria. Analogue agencies must shift their thinking holistically, to a
model that emphasises consumer focus over specific channel skills.
To start this shift, agencies must:
 Plan experiences with a consumer-centric approach
 Formulate creative ideas, incorporating digital insight at the
beginning of the creative process to ensure the media gets the proper
treatment and attention
 Exploit emerging research tools and techniques
 Use the tools being recommended to clients (blogs, wikis and online
video, for example)
Internal digital skills must be built up at three organisational levels;
that is hiring digital executives at top level as well as retraining middle
staffers and attracting future digital talent. Independent agencies will
not last long, as clients will demand cross-channel expertise, so they
will need to be integrated into larger agencies.
maintaining customer experience
during an economic downturn
Bruce Temkin writes (Eight steps for keeping customer experience momen-
tum during an economic downturn, 25 April 2008), that during economic
downturns, it is common for companies to lower their financial outlooks,
and sometimes place less emphasis on customer experience. Temkin
makes the following recommendations to customer experience executives:
1. Keep an eye on the customer in spite of the focus on financial issues.
2. Prioritise key moments of truth: pick the right areas of customer
experience, as there is less money available to spend on wide-ranging
customer experience initiatives.
3. Avoid across-the-board cuts: the majority of cuts should be in areas
that have the least impact on your most important customers. In some
cases, it may be best to cripple the experience for less important
customers if you can deliver better experiences to your most important
customers.
4. Aggressively seek usability improvements that enhance customer
experience
5. Focus on small-scale cultural changes
6. Communicate! Keep all of the people connected with your customer
experience efforts informed of any shifts in priorities, even if only
informally.
7. Don’t give up on innovation: There may never be a better time to
innovate than when your competitors are cutting back.
8. Gauge the CEO’s appetite for customer experience: if he/she
decides to cut back on customer experience, your job may
become redundant.
[ research ]
getting value out of CRM
Forrester Research offers companies five steps to take to ensure that
they get optimal value from their investment in CRM (Topic overview:
customer relations with management 2008, by William Bond).
1. Anticipate and exploit customer and technology disruptions, such as
the new solutions based on social networks, for example
2. Strategise to pinpoint quick wins, especially in the areas of customer
strategy, process, technology and people. Recognise the need for
change in these areas, lead it and become a part of it, and then take
the necessary steps to maintain that change. Be selective about how
and where to invest resources and focus CRM investment.
3. Justify CRM investment to prove value.
4. Select the right CRM solution by establishing clear evaluation criteria
for all initiatives.
5. Optimise customer processes with best practices.
direct marketing: green enough?
Forrester Research’s David Frankland, writes (Direct marketing needs a
green wake-up call, 18 April 2008) that consumer concern for the
environment cannot be ignored by direct marketers. “Piles of unread
catalogues and credit card offers make direct marketing an easy target
for criticism,” writes Frankland. In his research, he found that most
agencies neglect green issues and rarely consider environmental impact.
Most direct marketers decrease their impact at the margins through the
use of environment-friendly materials, for example. But this is generally
done to save costs, increase response rates, or be seen to have greater
relevance (rather than being the result of environmental concern).
Environmental concerns must be embraced. Some simple strategies
include:
 Starting small – include a recycling call to action asking your
customers to recycle your mail, packaging and products
 Auditing and disclosing your environmental impact
 Promoting your green activities cautiously
 Acknowledging that going green does not equate to saving costs
 Developing a set of industry of standards.
For more information, or to register and purchase reports, visit
www.forrester.com.
Simon Macdonald
country manager: South Africa and Mauritius,
smacdonald@forrester.com
direct > 2008 35
 [ case study: budget/bulksms.com ]

client: budget car and van rental

campaign: budget steps
agency: maverick media

A brand-building campaign to increase share of voice and present a

call to action.

solution: Client-branded aircraft boarding steps on 35 units and ran it

for about 24 months at Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth airports.

results: Conclusively successful in achieving our objective. The oppo-

sition sat up and took notice immediately when this campaign was
launched, something that had never happened before, as Budget simply
didn’t have the budget to play in that arena and could not sustain
above-the-line campaigns of this magnitude.
This was the first of its kind for Budget, and we were extremely happy
with the return on investment. Competitors chastised the agency for not
having approached them before Budget to participate in this space.
Market leaders have since then taken it one step further and have
branded aircraft to participate head-on in that market. Unfortunately,
Equity Aviation has lost the tender to continue operating at airports and,
as a result, this opportunity has now come to an end.
client: bulksms.com
campaign: google adwords for bulksms.com
agency: google
Founded in June 2000, BulkSMS.com (a small messaging services
company based in SA) grew rapidly in its first six months and its owners
were quick to spot the potential for expanding the business into the
international market. Dr Pieter Streicher, managing director, explains:
“South African businesses rapidly embraced the concept of using SMS to
communicate with customers and colleagues. Now, even the major
banks use SMS regularly. We were confident that businesses in other
countries would soon follow suit.”
But BulkSMS.com faced the dilemma of not having sufficient funds to
penetrate international markets and acquire new customers. The
company needed to grow its visibility in foreign markets, in order to
expand, and it had a limited budget with which to achieve this.
solution: In June 2001, the entrepreneurs approached Google. “Our
objectives were to enhance awareness of the brand and acquire more
international customers. Google AdWords offered us a low-cost,
low-risk strategy to penetrate international markets from our base in
South Africa,” says Dr Streicher.
Despite the fact that BulkSMS.com had only US$500 per month to
spend on advertising in the first stage of its expansion strategy, it was
enough for the company to immediately establish an online presence.
The company’s pay-per-impression English text-based ads appeared
alongside relevant Google search results, capturing the attention of
people from all over the world searching for SMS services online. This
established the company’s credibility.
“The whole process of setting up an ad campaign took just three
hours,” says Richard Simpson, director at BulkSMS.com. “Within days,
budget
we attracted customers to our English language website from the United
Kingdom, Australia, the Middle East, India and Malaysia.”
AdWords targets business customers in their local language, and the
text ads appear alongside relevant Google search content. This is
encouraging local customers to click on the ad to find out more. From
the website, they can use a credit card to pay for the company’s services
– directly into a South African bank account. Simpson explains: “Google
AdWords removes the costs involved in setting up a local office or the
hassle of setting up a bank account outside of South Africa.”
results: Fifty per cent of BulkSMS.com customers are now based
outside South Africa – the split being 40 per cent from the United
Kingdom and 10 per cent from Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Simpson attributes this large international customer base to its Google
advertising strategy.
BulkSMS.com is now aiming to increase sales in Europe, particularly
among non-English speaking customers from countries it views as
potentially strong markets for its services. For example, the company has
created a German language version of its South African website, which
makes it possible for the country’s non-English speaking customers to
view BulkSMS.com products and services. The company has already
gained a steady foothold in the German market and is reinforcing brand
recognition through a mixture of print advertising in magazines and
billboard advertising.
Within two years of starting to advertise on Google AdWords,
BulkSMS.com had grown by 37 per cent. Since 2003, it has continued to
grow at the same rate year on year. With 60 per cent of all new cus-
tomers coming through Google, it is not surprising that the company now
allocates 70 per cent of its advertising budget to Google AdWords, and
spends around US$600 a day on this advertising programme. “We’ve
established an acquisition cost per client through our own research and
using Google Analytics. It’s clear that AdWords is a very cost-effective way
of gaining online sales, and this return on investment ensures it remains at
the heart of our advertising strategy,” says Dr Streicher.

bulksms.com
36 direct > 2008
 [ case study: look & listen/volkswagen citi ]
client: look & listen
campaign: egg
agency: mick + nick
Mick + Nick where tasked with developing a themed Easter campaign to be
carried through below-the-line media for retail client Look & Listen. The Hunt
For Your Favourites This Easter competition invited fans to SMS the names of
any two bunnies, ranging from famous bunnies like Roger Rabbit and
Thumper, to infamous rabbits like Donnie Darko.

solution: Mobilitext & Mobiliwin, offered from in-store POS across 18 stores,
the Easter retail catalogue and national daily newspapers over Easter weekend.

results: Generated over 3 600 SMS responses with the winner receiving a
R1 000 Look & Listen voucher. All user info was preserved as per Mobilitrix’s
look & listen user privacy terms.

client: volkswagen citi

campaign: citi campaign
agency: ogilvy
The challenge for Volkswagen and Ogilvy was (and still is) to keep the Citi
brand top of mind, relevant and desirable within the entry level youth
market, and to thereby continue increasing sales at a time when:
 The product/brand is 22 years old and nearing the end of its life cycle

 Pressure from competition is great, and constantly increasing –

new-generation vehicles, better safety and technology with modern design

 The brand had realised little advertising support since 2002.

solution: Ogilvy developed a campaign which would meet the following

Citi objectives:
 Resonate and connect strongly with the youth market

 Reassure current customers of their choice in Citi

 Entice new customers to the Citi brand

 Position the brand appropriately among its competitors

 Keep the brand fresh and exciting

 Communicate that Citi is not on its way out. On campuses, scrolling display posters, tabletop ads, campus TV ads
The campaign involved a 360-degree, multimedia approach. and static desktop ads took the message to students.
Traditional ATL media was used in conjunction with online and cellphone
advertising as well as advertising on university campuses across the results: Visitors and page views (www.citilife.co.za):
country, to communicate the Citi message. The campaign was developed  Total number of visits to site 48 345
to appeal to first-time buyers, 18 – 24 year olds (with media targeting  Number of unique visitors 26 569
extending to 29 years and older).  Number of page views 772 065
The campaign was built around a Web-based competition, whereby the – Total for vw.co.za for same period 2 508 000
public was invited to enter at a dedicated Citi (community) competition  Average time spent on site 11’41”
website, www.citilife.co.za, to win a Citi R-Line. To enter, one had to – Average for vw.co.za for same period 6’19”
register on this site and upload a photograph that represented Citi Life.  Pages per visit 15.97
Members of the public could vote for their favourite photo as well as – This is high – average is between 4 and 5.
engage in other interactive activities, such as e-mailing photos to friends. – Average for vw.co.za for same period was 7.3 pages per visit.
The public was driven to the site by online and offline advertising. Online  Bounce rate 24.57 per cent.

advertising took the form of banner ads strategically placed on the 5FM, – Percentage of people who landed on the site and left immediately.
CareerJunction, MSN Messenger and Student Village websites as well as on – This figure is low – average bounce rate is between 35 – 40 per cent.
the Volkswagen corporate website. The competition was also advertised with  11 129 e-mailers sent out

a graphic ad on MXit. Ogilvy created a Citi Life group on the social  3 452 e-mailers opened (31 per cent)

networking site, Facebook, where people could engage and interact with
the Citi Life concept via information fed from the competition administrator, Membership and uploaded images:
or they could enter the competition through a link from the Facebook group  Enabled images 5 365
to the Citi Life website. To make sure that Internet users arrived directly at  Members 8 301
the Citi website when searching for it on Google, a search engine optimisation  Votes 14 165
campaign, Pay Per Click (PPC), was put into place.
MMSes and SMSes (as well as e-mailers with click through to the com-
petition website) bearing the ad were sent to the Volkswagen database
between the ages of 18 and 30. volkswagen citi
direct > 2008 37
 [ case study: fnb/94.7 ]
client: first national bank
campaign: remember me? a letter from the destitute
agency: action ambros

FNB has seen an unacceptable decline in the payment of credit card

accounts. Plus, recent economical strain means that people are no longer
prioritising their credit card bills. The credit card division needed to get
existing Silver, Gold and Platinum card customers to realise the arrears
amount on their credit cards, and to educate them on the risks and legal
implications of not settling these amounts. Customers were encouraged
to pay five per cent of their current balance to restore their credit status.

solution: A creative direct mail pack was created, comprising a card-

board note from a now homeless friend and a letter from FNB offering
the ideal solution. This mailer was sent to a database of 64 334 cus-
tomers, and was personalised to specify the amount each customer
owed on their accounts.
The cardboard note highlighted the implications of defaulting on their
debt and how it affects their standing with financial institutions (it also
highlighted the commonly expressed denial, ‘it will never happen to
me’). This note prompted customers to focus on their own situation and
to take the right steps to correct it. The letter from FNB then offered the
solution, enticing customers to pay the minimum five per cent to restore
their credit status.

results: of the 64 334 customers mailed, 54 106 made a minimum

five per cent payment (a response rate of 84.1 per cent). The total cost
of the campaign was R432 739 (each pack cost R6.37). The total value
of the payments received was over R26 million (which translates into ROI
of more than 5 000 per cent).
fnb
client: 94.7 highveld stereo
campaign: 94.7 highveld stereo podcasts. The rude
awakening traffic joke; the stupid sports joke; and
whackhead’s window on the world
agency: in-house
The Rude Awakening is a breakfast show with a difference. It’s centred on
humour – and lots of it. This has been a mainstay of the show over the
past 11 years and has grown and developed substantially over time.
Listener demand over this period has shown that people love the humour
so much they often want to access it after the original broadcast – either
because they missed it the first time around or just to hear it again!
By introducing podcasts of the show’s three most popular comedy
features we’re able to give listeners access to premium station content,
on demand, via their mobile handset or computer.

solution: Listeners either podcast the relevant feature from the 94.7
Highveld Stereo website or download it on their mobile phone.
On the podcast side, anyone with ipodder software (such as iTunes)
gets the updates automatically on their playlist, while on the mobile side,
listeners SMS a word relative to the content they’re looking for to an
established short-dial number. Accepting the reply SMS automatically
downloads the latest version of that content to their phone. This has been
successfully implemented on the Traffic Joke and the Stupid Sports Joke.
Due to the large file sizes, Darren ‘Whackhead’ Simpson’s Whackhead’s
Window on the World remains available as a traditional podcast via
www.highveld.co.za

results: These three features enjoy around 150 000 downloads

a month, which includes podcasting and downloads to mobile
phones.

94.7 highveld stereo

38 direct > 2008
 [ case study: lexus/children’s hospital trust ]
client: lexus
campaign: j&b met
agency: action ambros
Lexus, as the official vehicle sponsor of the J&B Metropolitan Stakes 2008,
wanted to gather information for its customer database, and also to
encourage race goers to book a test drive.
Meeting objectives would be challenging, given that there would be no vehicles
at the actual event, and Lexus is still a somewhat unknown brand in South Africa.

solution: Lexus decided to target the 700 VIP guests who were invited to
the exclusive event marquee, and bring them face to face with ‘the art of
perfection’ (the streamlined thoroughbred horse as well as a Lexus). The
VIPs each received a pair of binoculars set in a beautifully designed pack
with the messaging: ‘every moment is a close encounter. Even from afar‘.
These guests were invited to submit their details for future contact, and were
entered into a competition where they could win a weekend at a pictur-
esque Drakensberg equine estate boasting three thoroughbred stallions
owned by the Royal family of Dubai.

results: Of the 700 gift packs that were distributed to guests, 294 yielded
lexus leads for future acquisition drives, a response rate of 60 per cent.

client: children’s hospital trust

campaign: december appeal
agency: primaplus
As the fundraising arm of the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s
Hospital, the Children’s Hospital Trust battles it out with other non-profits
for share of wallet. PrimaPlus aimed to raise funds and build awareness of
the hospital outside of regular donors as well as create a sound donor
base that it could look to for regular donations.

solution: By instituting direct mail appeals to both inside and outside list
names (a bought list) PrimaPlus hoped to establish a donor base. However,
with the hospital being in the Western Cape, raising funds nationally was
difficult, and they needed maximum response from a bought outside list,
while activating inside list donors to donate more. Fundraising appeals to
outside lists are usually, at best, set a target of break even, with the
knowledge that the real ROI will come from subsequent donations over the
lifetime of the new donors. This is often hard to accept for an organisation
that is investing substantially in a campaign and may only see results later.
However, this mailing was the exception, and the client saw significant
ROI immediately.
December is a key time at which the hospital needs additional funding,
making it ideal for a DM appeal. The thought of children in hospital at this
time of year was bound to touch hearts, and this was something that could
be played on by including a festive bauble that could be sent back to the
hospital with the potential donor’s name and best wishes, to decorate the
tree in the wards for the children to see. It now felt that potential donors results: Three segments were targeted:
would find it hard to turn down the opportunity to brighten up a children’s  Regular donors (0.3 per cent of mail) – who, through other efforts, were
ward – and sending back a bauble with their wishes, but without financial already making monthly donations. Response rate: 7.7 per cent. ROI
aid would be hard. Also included was a second bauble for the donor’s (R earned/R spent): 67.24:1.
tree – with a ‘thank you’ message as well as a third for recipients to pass  Once-off donors (0.9 per cent) – had made ad hoc donations in the
to a friend, asking them to support the hospital. This fulfilled the need for past. Response rate: 19.2 per cent. ROI (R earned/R spent): 44.41:1
awareness and put the hospital into the homes of a wider audience.  Outside list names – cold prospects (98.7 percent) – the largest, most
An emotive story was told of a child saved through the intervention of challenging group. Response rate: 0.5 per cent. ROI (R earned/R
the Red Cross Children’s Hospital – featuring a picture of him and his spent): 1.27:1 or 27 per cent return on investment.
mother, who donated a kidney to save his life. A ‘miracle’ theme was used  New donors introduced to the database: 387.
– at a time of year when the word is most prevalent – and their baubles
were coloured by children within the wards of the hospital, with the little
artists’ names on the back.
children’s hospital trust
direct > 2008 39
 [ case study: mweb business/woolworths ]
client: mweb business
campaign: mweb business self build
agency: primaplus
MWEB Business created an application to provide small businesses with
the tools to set up their own websites, called MWEB Website Self Build.
The biggest challenge in marketing this product was the targeted consumer’s
lack of understanding of both the functionality of such a product as well
as the need for the Web as a channel in one’s marketing mix.
According to research, small business owners view website tools as requiring
too much maintenance and time. They see them as too costly and think they
may be unsafe or risky. In addition to these hurdles, research also indicated
that people believed that simply having a website meant that business would
come to them – so there was an educating job to be done as well.
solution: The strategy for this campaign was based on overcoming the
target’s initial aversion to such a product as well as on a key insight: that
this market strongly relies on word of mouth to make decisions. We
therefore employed a strategy of testimonials as well as basic education
– where the channel allowed.
The following channels were used: press (only community papers),
client: woolworths
campaign: woolworths myschool programme
company: virtual market place
Established by Virtual Market Place (VMP) in 1997 with the aim of improving
communication between parent and school using technology to meet the
challenge of raising funds, MySchool is a community-based rewards
programme that benefits a common cause rather than the individual. The
concept behind the programme is simple: parents and other relatives join
MySchool (at no cost) and shop at MySchool partner retailers who contribute
a percentage of the value of the purchases to their specific school.
solution: The relationship between MySchool and Woolworths began
in 1999 when Woolworths was approached to support the concept in
four stores in Johannesburg. As the programme is aligned with
Woolworths’ belief that investing in education will address many of the
challenges South Africa faces, in 2001 Woolworths acquired 26 per
cent of the business, enabling it to expand nationally. The MySchool
programme was rolled out in a phased approach and by September
2003 a national footprint was established. Woolworths purchased VMP
and MySchool in 2006; they continue to operate as independent entities
within the business.
Woolworths has continued to drive the programme successfully through
its marketing campaigns and stores, encouraging customers to become
MySchool supporters. MySchool is closely aligned with Woolworths’ CSI
activities and is a cornerstone of its ‘World of Difference’ loyalty pro-
gramme. In addition, it provides an ideal opportunity for cause-related
marketing activities.
To offer customers without children or whose children have finished
school the opportunity to support other worthy causes, the programme
has been expanded to offer a wider choice of beneficiaries. MyVillage,
which was added in 2006, focuses on selected charities, including the
40 direct > 2008
Web banners (on business sites), a dedicated site to Website Self Build
(which consumers were driven to through other communication
channels), emails to selected small businesses and a direct mail piece
(DL postcard sent to small business owners). The message and tone
was based on testimonials – from the mouths of real Website Self
Build clients – and also punted the price, which drove the consumer
to the website, where they could find more information.
results: This campaign was the most successful for MWEB Business
to date – with a 1 100 per cent increase in leads for the product.
mweb business
Amy Biehl Foundation, the SPCA and the Heartbeat Foundation. MyPlanet
(added in 2007) supports selected environmental organisations such as
The Wildlife Foundation, NSRI, Footprints and the Cart Horse Foundation.
Based on the emotional bond between parent and child, MySchool
has, from the outset, engendered high levels of loyalty and driven
changes in shopping behaviour. Supporters feel empowered to make a
difference with the funds that they raise for their beneficiaries. When the
programme is actively supported by parents, school principals and gov-
erning bodies, there is no question that there is significant sustainable
benefit for the school. At the same time, the MySchool programme also
offers numerous benefits for its retail partners in terms of supporting their
CSI strategies and increasing customer loyalty and support.
results: Today, MySchool boasts over 400 000 active supporters and
some 160 partner brands, and raises funds for more than 10 000
schools around the country. Over R1.5 million is raised for beneficiaries
every month.
Woolworths’ involvement in MySchool has also led to the creation of
value-added programmes in the form of the ‘Making the Difference’
educational initiatives which provide curriculum content for educators on
subjects in which they may not have the required expertise. Launched in
2004, Making the Difference Through Nutrition targets Grade 4 learners
and forms part of the Life Orientation curriculum, encompassing nutri-
tion, healthy living and environmental awareness. Up to two million
learners are exposed to the content of the programme and brand.
Making the Difference Through Design was introduced in 2006 to pro-
vide teachers in the new FET Design Course with a comprehensive and
inspiring resource guide.
MySchool and the value-added programme provide Woolworths with the
opportunity to effectively balance social investment and profitable customer
relationships, as MySchool customers are more loyal and valuable to
Woolworths than most other customers on its database. It further provides
the opportunities for young learners to be exposed to the Woolworths
brand and its way of doing business. This has resulted in positive feedback
from learners, parents, media and government, and has impacted positive-
ly on Woolworths’ BEE strategy and achievements to date.
woolworths

client: pcmall.co.za
campaign: pcmall.co.za adwords
agency: google
Since PCMall.co.za was founded in 2005, it has grown to become South
Africa’s second largest online technology retailer. Its website –
PCMall.co.za – offers IT products to businesses and consumers across
South Africa.
With an easy-to-use online store, nationwide delivery and a call centre
able to process high order volumes, the company is handling an increas-
ing number of consumers. In 2005 PCMall.co.za was nominated one of
the Top Computer Stores in the South African E-Commerce Awards.
Despite being smaller than many of its competitors – it has just 13 employ-
ees – PCMall.co.za is on its way to becoming South Africa’s leading online
IT superstore.
Its biggest challenge was driving traffic to its site. “Before PCMall.co.za,
there was only one major online IT retailer in South Africa, which had a
well-established customer base within the online community. As the new-
comer, we had to work hard to attract customers to our store,” says
Jerome McClement, director, PCMall.co.za.
McClement’s aims were to increase national traffic to PCMall.co.za,
while enhancing brand image and recognition, and boosting product
awareness.
Client: primaplus
Campaign: primaplus year-end self promotion
Agency: primaplus
Before changing its name change, primaplus was known as
PrimaProximity, a below-the-line agency. Although PrimaProximity shared
several clients with other above-the-line agencies, they noticed that more
and more of them were trying their hand at direct marketing strategies…
and encroaching on what they considered their exclusive domain. That’s
when they decided to it was time to beat the other agencies at their own
game…
solution: In the advertising industry, above-the-line agencies are
generally perceived to be ‘more creative’. That’s why, when these
‘creatives’ started trying their hand at direct marketing PrimaProximity
noticed several clients were approaching them to do more work – in
something which PrimaProximity considered their exclusive territory. To
prove that they could be as creative as any above-the-line agency, they
decided to use the invitation to their end-of-year party to accomplish this.
They needed to find a channel that was traditionally direct, but at the
same time completely unique. They realised the key was in the means of
delivery – as that is what DM is all about – and the response channel had
to be clear and just as effective. So they sent out carrier pigeons!
PrimaProximity created branded ‘pigeon boxes’ and attached an
invitation, complete with personalised RSVP slip attached to each box.
[ case study: pcmall.co.za/primaplus ]
solution: After running several trial campaigns with other search engines
and sites, McClement opted for Google based on its unparalleled reach
and administrative and reporting tools.
PCMall.co.za makes use of the Google AdGroup system, and Keyword
Tool to categorise its products and make sure that it reaches as many
potential customers as possible.
Over the past two years, PCMall.co.za has devoted 70 per cent of its
advertising budget to online media. “In part, our strategy targets consumers
who are already likely to be searching for products online. They are early
adopters – people who are keen to have the latest gadgets and use the
Internet to inform their buying choices,” McClement explains. PCMall.co.za
targets the same audience in tits offline campaigns by advertising in men’s
magazines, for example. And it only pays when interested consumers click
through to its website. “With other media we pay merely to display an ad to
potential customers,” says McClement.
results: “The campaign is giving us fantastic results,” says McClement,
pointing to the 11 500 unique visitors that AdWords is driving to its website
each month. “Our sales follow our Google spend almost exactly. As the
number of clicks rises, so too does the number of transactions.”
Google AdWords has also helped PCMall.co.za to achieve the following:
 Gain a better understanding of its target consumers and their
behaviours. “With Google Analytics, we can see exactly where our
traffic is coming from. By acting on this insight, we can improve our
results by modifying keywords and ad text, or creating new images,”
says McClement.
 Better targeting of campaigns online and offline through the use of traffic
stats and AdWords Ad Scheduling (which allowed PCMall.co.za to switch
the campaign off outside of regular South African working hours, thereby
avoiding the cost of click-throughs from non-South African users).
 Strengthening the PCMall.co.za brand image through the use of image ads.
pcmall.co.za
A PrimaProximity representative went to each client to deliver their bird,
and helped the recipient place their completed RSVP form inside a ring on
the leg of the pigeon, and then let the bird fly.
results: PrimaProximity delivered all 60 birds over a period of three days,
and had a 100 per cent response rate. The campaign was also an Echo
finalist.
primaplus
direct > 2008 41
 [ case study: seeff properties/transunion ]
client: seeff properties
campaign: mobilitrix
agency: in-house
Seeff adopts a ‘smart move’ approach to selling properties and
Mobilitrix’s suite of products offers a dynamic, one-to-one communications
platform allowing consumers to request more information or download
photographs, videos and even podcasts via mobile phones while
browsing through property guides or looking at advertisements. Seeff
also benefits from the feedback from buyers and sellers of individual
properties, advertising campaigns and services as this enables it to pick
up new trends in the marketplace quickly. “When looking to buy a
property, access to the Web has proven to reduce the number of view-
ings before purchase, and the mobile Web solution is the logical next
step. It is the most efficient way to get information to consumers and
enhance their buying experience,” says Samuel Seeff, CEO Seeff Properties.
solution: Mobilimedia adds an interactive element to Seeff’s existing
print campaign by allowing prospective buyers to request additional
information such as property images, specs and agent details to their
mobile phones in real time.
Mobilitalk adds a dynamic element to Seeff’s static advertising
client: major sa retailer
campaign: in-store credit card account acquisition
campaign consultant: transunion
With the slowdown in consumer spending following the introduction of
the National Credit Act (NCA) last year, the high inflation rates and the
increases in interest rates, retailers are experiencing a decrease in
through-the-door applications.
To compensate for this decrease, one of the major retailers in South
Africa approached TransUnion to assist in facilitating the launch of a
large direct marketing campaign, which offers in-store cards to appro-
priate new prospective customers. The campaign required a segmenta-
tion approach that defined these prospects, and minimised wastage of
marketing expenditure and maximised return on investment.
solution: Firstly, a large sample of new prospects was sourced from a
list provider. TransUnion assisted the retailer in identifying and segment-
ing the list based on the market segments to be targeted in the cam-
paign (age and gender stipulated by the retailer), taking into account
that the list be restricted to only those that lived up to a maximum of
10km away from one of the retailer’s stores.
The prospects from the initial list were then matched against
TransUnion Credit Bureau’s database. A set of variables (referred to as
the Credit Characteristics) summarising each prospect’s credit informa-
tion was extracted.
Based on a number of credit characteristics, a credit filter model was
developed to identify and filter out prospects having difficulties paying
their debts. The second stage was to identify prospects that fit the profile
of the previous campaign respondents from previous marketing cam-
paigns, and filter out those that did not fit the profile.
In the third stage, the future debt payment behaviour of prospects was
assessed through the development of a customised risk scorecard (that
predicts the future likelihood of failure of payment) and low-scoring
prospects were filtered out.
The final stage was to assess the affordability of the prospects, using
TransUnion’s Income Estimator model, which estimates the prospect’s
gross income. The amount of disposable income can be calculated
based on the prospect’s known credit commitments (provided by the
42 direct > 2008
through an ‘opt in’ Please-Call-Me function, which enables buyers to
request an agent to contact them.
results: In one month, 279 mobile requests to view multimedia
content on Seeff listed properties were received, of which five where
Please-Call-Me and 22 requested additional property information to
be emailed to them.
seeff properties
credit bureau’s database) and on other estimated expenses. Prospects
that did not have sufficient disposable income to afford a new credit
product were removed from the initial list.
This affordability assessment was not considered sufficient to satisfy
NCArequirements, since the income and expenses were not yet declared
by the prospect (this declaration would need to be secured from the con-
sumer prior to a credit amount being offered or a credit agreement
being signed and accepted). To address these legal issues, TransUnion
proposed a novel approach using SMS communication as part of the
direct mailer and fulfilment process.
The direct mailer asked the prospect to calculate their expenses and
then to SMS their ID number, income and total expenses to an SMS short
code (hence responding to the campaign with intent). This was received
by a computer program pre-loaded with the estimated income of the
prospect and their known credit commitments. Based on all this info, the
program calculated the appropriate credit limit and encoded the amount
in a reference that was sent back to the prospect via SMS, requesting
them to go to their nearest store and provide the reference to activate
the credit card with the appropriate credit limit.
results: The retailer was initially apprehensive about the new SMS
option and was concerned that the response rate of the campaign may
be adversely affected.
However, the results of the campaign showed excellent response rates
with very positive feedback on the SMS option to declare income and
expenses.
The retailer calculated the total costs incurred by the campaign and
the purchases made by the new customers and reported substantial
return on investment for the campaign. Responses were excellent and a
conversion ratio in excess of 10 per cent was achieved.
Based on the success of this campaign, the retailer has planned
another major campaign based on similar principles, seeking to reapply
the lessons learnt from the first campaign.
transunion
 [ case study: wiredloop/sasko flour ]
solution: Mobilitalk, the permission-based interactive mobile marketing
product which allows customers to request a Please-Call-Me.
Mobilimail, allows consumers to request a text-to-email for additional
information, which needs to be viewed on a bigger screen. This text-to-
e-mail option will allow this information to be sent to consumers’ e-mail.

results: “In our prepaid vendor deployment business, inbound sales

enquiries tend to create a bottleneck in the telephone system, which leads
to compromised levels of service to existing customers. With Mobilitrix’s
SMS sales pipeline management system we have succeeded in creating
another channel through which to handle new sales enquiries without
compromising our existing customer. The system is user-friendly with remote
client: wiredloop management functionality and can be scaled up or down by my staff
campaign: mobilitrix
independently of Mobilitrix which has greatly improved our efficiency,”
agency: in-house
says Nkululeko Mvulana, executive director, Sandulela.
Wiredloop’s primary need was to drive sales leads from its print media
spend, and to create an effective solution to manage the inbound sales
requests which inundated its telephone system, leading to compromised
service delivery. wiredloop
client: sasko flour
campaign: building relationships with mobile marketing
cgency: mo-b

Sasko Flour has risen to new heights as it has added mobile to its marketing
mixture. After last year’s successful Mara & Friends campaign (‘Mara &
Friends’ was a television show conceived to bring Sasko Flour’s message
of ‘better tasting baking’ to life), Sasko Flour distributed the Quick & Easy
Better Tasting Baking recipe booklet to viewers.
Sasko Flour now has a list of over a 20 000 names and cellphone
numbers. Instead of hoarding numbers in an Excel spreadsheet, mobile
marketing specialist, mo-B (www.mo-b.co.za), worked with Sasko Flour to
assist in integrating the cellphone element into various campaigns and
nurturing its relationship with consumers.

solution: Sasko Flour spoke and listened to its customers via cellphone.
Having sent out the recipe booklets, the company SMSed consumers
asking them what their favourite recipe was, and found that consumers
were truly touched. Sasko also used its database for market research,
asking consumers to comment on whether they liked its packaging; mo-B,
together with Multimedia Solutions, developed an MMS that was sent to
consumers showing them a picture of the current packaging and offering a
R3 airtime voucher as a thank you for their comment. The database was
pre-checked, according to standard procedure, and the message was only
sent to cellphones that were MMS enabled, thus improving the efficacy of Shows: a nationwide road show with competitions with prizes from Sasko
the campaign. Considering the database consisted largely of black Flour. Each loyal Sasko Flour customer is sent an SMS to notify them of
females with families in LSM 4-6 an MMS-enabled average of 62 per cent when it’s going to be in their area.
was good news for the campaign. Mobile has proved to be a powerful weapon in Sasko Flour’s marketing
strategy, and has caused sales to rise. The two things that have stood out
results: The response was awesome – a huge 25 per cent. With the in the use of mobile marketing have been the high response rates and the
positive feedback from consumers on their recipes, Sasko Flour launched its emotive replies Sasko Flour has received from its customers.
own mobi site (mobile website) packed with favourite recipes. Now, Sasko Lisanne Bower, Sasko Flour brand manager says: “Cellphone
Flour customers can go to www.saskoflour.mobi from their cellphones, communication has also created a more personal touch with people
wherever they are, to search for and view their favourite recipes. They can being greeted by name. The personal communication resulted in some
also have the list of ingredients SMSed to them from the website or mobisite, touching replies.
so they know what they need to buy on their next visit to the shops. “The responses showed that we were reaching a wide range of people,
Judging from the 4.4 per cent response rate to the SMS about the including those working in bakeries or home-industry stores that are key
launch of the mobisite, Sasko Flour’s customers are finding this a useful target markets for us, and which we’ll be looking at building on,” she says.
tool. Mara Louw has continued talking to her fans about Sasko Flour
through her mobile fan club messages on Fan Touch (www.fantouch.mobi),
with heart-warming responses.
Sasko Flour also is rolling out the red carpet at its annual Shoppa sasko flour
direct > 2008 43
 [ case study: cell c/bmw ]
client: cell c
campaign: hummerville
agency: proximity#ttp
Churn is a massive problem in the cellular market, so Cell C was looking
to strengthen loyalty through personally relevant one-to-one
communication. However, it didn’t know much about its subscribers.

solution: An above the line acquisition campaign that offered six

Hummers as incentives to join Cell C had been devised separately.
There was no provision made in this campaign to enable existing
subscribers to also have a chance to win any of the Hummers. Therefore
an interactive campaign was proposed whereby existing subscribers
could participate in the competition by giving personal data that would
enable the client to start interacting with them on a more personal level.
An online interactive, living ‘questionnaire’, in the form of a game, was
developed. Players would have to answer personal questions in order to
progress. In the game, each player had to get their Hummer across
South Africa, and interact with various characters to find a place called
Hummerville. The game was intelligent (if you said you were male, you ful man at a crossroad in order to get directions,” says Audrey Price-
would be approached by a female to find out if you are married). Other Dix, Direct Marketing Manager, Cell C.
interesting technology allowed for the player to receive an automated
phone call when they reached a certain point, giving them clues for win- results: 60 000 Cell C contract subscribers were targeted, for
ning additional prizes. Once they had reached their destination, players whom the agency already had e-mail addresses. The total entry rate
were required to look after their Hummer in order to win more prizes. was 42 per cent.
The campaign kicked off with e-mails to Cell C’s subscribers followed The flash game was played by 87.6 per cent and 12.4 per cent
by an SMS and statement stuffers; e-mails kept the campaign going. completed the non-flash game. The total completion rate was 20.5
“The journey through to Hummerville was the central idea and an per cent (these were customers who completed all data fields in the
exciting trip for subscribers to go on. We chose it because it was a great game, which included name, nickname, surname, e-mail address,
way to show off the prize and a fun way to collect data. It was highly birth date, marital status, physical address, children and friend refer-
interactive which captured customer interest and enthusiasm, for exam- rals. The average response rate in South Africa is usually five per cent.
ple, customers received phone calls during the game which gave them
clues to improve their chances of winning. They also had the chance of
playing ‘rock, paper, scissors’ with a San woman in order to refuel, and
they were asked to guess the name of the song being played by a cheer- cell c

client: bmw sa
campaign: the new bmw 1 series 3- and 5-door sports
hatch
agency: ireland/davenport and aqua online
BMW SA required an integrated modular campaign with a strong focus
on digital and innovative media to launch its 1 Series 3-door and
enhanced 5-door models in July 2007. The primary objective BTL was to
generate qualified conquest leads. A secondary objective was to facilitate
test drives and, thirdly, to grow the existing database and awareness of
the new models with a view to future communication.
solution: Current BMW 1 Series owners and prospects were invited to
Come and Meet the One(s) at selected Primi Piatti outlets countrywide.
With an incentive designed especially for the target market, participants
were able to stand the chance to win limited edition branded 1 gig-flash
drives as well as a range of iPod nanos and branded BMW merchandise.
With pre-arranged WiFi access, participants were able to enjoy the
promotion while being able to stay in touch with their office. Added to this,
each participant was entitled to a complimentary beverage of their choice.
Registration for the event was done either via the campaign
website or on touch screens at the venues. Each registered participant then
received a Mobicode (a bar-coded SMS), which enabled them to receive
confirmation (via electronic scanning of the SMS) on the day of the event,
making them eligible for the prizes.

results:
 Total number of Mobicode registrations 2 505
 Total number of Mobicodes redeemed 1 156 (46 per cent)
 Highest percentage redeemed at Canal Walk (Cape Town)
 Total number of test drives generated 648 (56 per cent of redemptions)
 Conquest (non-BMW drivers) target 60 per cent
 Actual conquest (non-BMW drivers) participants 63 per cent.

BMW
44 direct > 2008

client: bmw sa
campaign: the launch of the new bmw m3 coupé
agency: ireland/davenport, aqua online
An integrated TTL campaign was needed to achieve the following objectives:
 Complement the launch of the new BMW M3 Coupé, and position it as
the ultimate expression of BMW technology design and performance
innovation
 Leverage the halo effect of M3 to generate 3 Series leads
 Reaffirm the M positioning through a direct awareness campaign
 Generate scored hot-leads to participate in M communication and brand
events
 Ensure that all communication is consistent in building the BMW brand.
solution: The agency developed a direct campaign comprising both online
and offline elements. The direct campaign elements would:
 Create an emotive experience for loyal customers
 Provide loyal M3, M5 and M6 customers with added value
 Maintain campaign interest through a powerful communication piece
 Retain campaign exclusivity for loyal customers
 Enhance excitement and anticipation for the arrival of the new M3 coupe
via an impactful and intelligent offline communication piece,
 Have a strong tie-in with ATL
 Leverage the halo effect of M3 to generate 3 Series leads
 Establish a direct awareness campaign to reaffirm M positioning
 Generate scored hot leads to participate in M communication and brand
events
 Generate a database made up of 60 per cent conquest and 40 per cent
loyal customers.
The online campaign was modelled on a virtual 3D training centre for ‘M pilots’.
client: chabad house
campaign: miracle drive time pledge
agency: mo-b
The Miracle Drive dinner is a fund raiser event held by Chabad House annually.
This year, instead of asking people to pledge money, Rabbi Masinter wanted
the community to pledge their time to make the world a better place.
Mobile marketing specialists, mo-B was approached to develop and manage
the Miracle Drive Time Pledge campaign on the night and going forward.
solution: To drive participation and excitement, the SMS number was
announced by the MC and immediately a graph of the incoming respons-
es was spread on the big screen showing the results as they happened. As
each participant SMSed their pledge, they received an SMS reply thanking
them for their pledge and confirming what they had promised to do.
What’s more, their friends could also see their promise rolling on the tick-
er tape.
The competition was visible and it made for an exciting and worthwhile
evening. After the hype of all the promises in the heat of the moment,
Chabad House ensured that each participant kept their pledge. So, at the
appropriate time, it sent out a personal message either asking people if
they had done the deed or giving them instructions about the next step.
Based on the success of the Miracle Drive Time Pledge, and having
gathered permission to communicate with mobile messaging in the com-
munity, Chabad House decided to launch a world first for it: a mobisite
(mobile website) with the help of mo-B and Multimedia Solutions. Now,
[ case study: bmw/chabad house ]
 Trainees were recruited through the Online Academy
 Various activities and tests were undertaken
 All results monitored
 The activities and training facilities were ‘unlocked’ over the course of the
campaign
 Each test section was concluded with a profile question
 We exposed the recruits to each test of stamina – mental as well as physical
 Each stage of the tests were passkey coded for direct recipients
 The codes were delivered via direct mail and email – linking virtual and
physical worlds
 Successful completion at the end of the training entitled one candidate to
a trip to Star City, Moscow (the elite Cosmonaut Training Centre).
The offline direct mailer consisted of a specially designed M3 booklet and
a box with two test tubes filled with iron filings. The silver surface in the
centre of the box hid a magnet in the shape of the M3 logo.
The copy on the box invited people to sprinkle the iron filings on this
surface to reveal the answer to the question; what does metal dream of
becoming? The answer was revealed as the M3.
results: For a very niche, intense and highly demanding campaign the BTL
element resulted in an impressive total of 9 398 unique entrants
With an entrant target of 60 per cent non-BMW customers the campaign
achieved a target of 61 per cent non-BMW customers.
The demographics of the target audience were mostly male between the
ages of 25 and 39. The campaign achieved a target of 91 per cent male
and 62 per cent between the ages of 25 and 39
Of the 39 per cent loyal BMW drivers who entered the campaign 18 per
cent was made up of loyal M drivers who all received the direct mailer
couriered to their preferred address.
For the direct mailer a dedicated telephone call handling process was
used to collate preferred courier addresses of all recipients.
bmw
from anywhere in the world, a congregant can visit
www.chabadjoburg.mobi for an inspirational message from Rabbi
Masinter, to look up Halachic times or to find a synagogue near them.
results: With a 47 per cent response rate and each person making an
average of 1.24 pledges on that one night, Rabbi Masinter was confident
that we had started a wave of positive action that would be maintained
throughout the year.
Mobile marketing has been an invaluable communication tool to spread
the message of hope and build an informed and inspired community.
chabad house
direct > 2008 45
SPORTS SPONSORSHIP

Fans for your brand

Sports marketing and sponsorships allow
brands to snuggle up to sports fans and,
hopefully, make a meaningful impression on
them. Amid today’s clutter, empowered consumers
and social networks, reaching the consumer
through sport is the way to go for many brands.
Sports fans read their favourite magazines from
cover to cover, while live sports programming
pulls in huge audiences (and generates
enormous hype). Brands are aware of the power
that sport has when it comes to branding.
Samsung, for example, has taken up a few
sports projects globally to leverage the positive
impact of sports on a brand. Daniel Lamberti of
Samsung Marketing – phones division- explains:
threshold fear that Golf+ will
address by focusing not just on
golf but on the lifestyle around
the game,” says Scholtz. Because
the golfing game requires the
kind of mindset
that spans demographic profiles,
this is a market that is peculiar,
and highly active socially and economically.
In terms of ad spending in the sports media,
insiders say that there is pressure on the media
to provide advertisers with fresh and powerful
solutions. “Clients want more for less, they want
a tangible return,” says Paul Kaye, publisher of
Runner’s World and Bicycling magazines. The
marketing spend is allocated to sports
marketing and sponsorship. BMI data
collected in 2006 found that local
direct sports sponsorship spending
amounted to R2.6 billion, with an
additional R2.2 billion spent on acti-
vating and leveraging these sponsor-
ships. De Villiers says that the figures
for 2007 will be substantially higher, driven
largely by the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which has
seen process increase dramatically in soccer, for
example, the broadcast deal between
SuperSport and the PSL is valued at over R1.6
billion over five years.
“Sponsors now widely recognise that sport

Highest TV audiences
Sports Marketing Surveys reports the highest average audiences by sporting code on SuperSport only (this doesn’t
include M-Net):
 Super 14 Rugby – Highest Average Audience – Sharks vs Chiefs – 17 May 2008 - 537 250 viewers

 Standard Bank Pro20 Series – Highest Average Audience – Nashua Titans vs Nashua Dolphins – 25 April 2008 – 144 290 viewers

 FA Premier League – Highest Average Audience – Manchester United vs Arsenal – 13 April 2008 – 110 167 viewers

“The main focus on sport is the mass appeal it
creates, which crosses cultural and international
boundaries.”
Sports websites are gaining momentum, as
are mobisites and mobile services, and there are
countless blogs dedicated to sports worship,
commentary and discussion. Consider that
SuperSport’s website is ranked among the top
10 fastest growing websites in SA (reported by
Nielsen Online, 5 May 2008), with unique
browser growth of 103 per cent over figures
reported in March 2007.
New magazines with a greater focus on the
lifestyle around sport are entering the market.
Touchline Media, in conjunction with the
MoreGolf Group, recently launched Golf+,
which goes out to a targeted base of 25 000
individuals, according to Jaco Scholtz, publisher
for Touchline Media’s Special Projects Division.
“There is no waste and through their member-
ship of the MoreGolf Group, they have signed
up for a golfing lifestyle,” he says. He points to
the trend towards custom titles, where retailers
who have intimate knowledge of their market
work from a demand-driven base. “There is a
challenge is to provide innovative solutions for properties can offer a number of distinguishing
clients, while ensuring that the content and the characteristics which make them a more
message are relevant to readers. Lamberti adds attractive sponsorship vehicle than other
that with budgets being tighter, companies options.” But, as Marc Jury, acting managing
must secure sports sponsorships that yield the director, Sports Marketing Surveys, says: “Too
best results in terms of brand presence, sales, often research is used to justify sponsorship
consumer recall and brand equity. spend post-campaign and generally is the last
Sponsorships are a viable option for brands element considered when parties draft their
looking to get into the sports mix. “Since 1986, budgetary expenditure.” He emphasises the
sponsorship has been the fastest growing need for research to play a bigger role in the
element of the marketing and communications planning phase to ensure that the leveraging of
mix – and sponsorship of sport properties has sponsorship properties yields the greatest return
certainly been the place where rapid growth has on investment.
occurred,” says Brand de Villiers, group CEO, Owning a sports team or events is yet another
SAIL. He believes that almost R5 billion worth of option, particularly for the brand or company
2010 FIFA World Cup
“Based on the unparalleled spending we have seen on this event, we would have to
say that there is no shortage of confidence related to FIFA 2010,” says Brand de
Villiers, group CEO SAIL. He says that companies are well into their planning phase
for 2010 and, in some instances, are already rolling out initial campaigns here in SA.
Emphasis should be on building awareness and legacy-related programmes, and we
can expect to see an increase in local activity after the European Championships and
building up to the Confederations Cup 2009.

46 MarketingMix I Vol 26 No. 5/6 I 2008

SPORTS SPONSORSHIP
Most watched sports
Initiative Media brings us the facts and figures on the most
watched global TV sporting events. “This information is invalu-
able to marketers and advertisers because many sports federa-
tions still persist with publishing potential rather than actual
TV audience figures. That is to say, they report that billions of
people have the ability to watch a programme, rather than the
number of people who actually do watch it,” says Marc
Taback, managing director, Initiative Media South Africa. When
assessing the value of sport versus other TV content, it makes
sense to use the same approach that is used with the other
programming (ie one that measures actual audience ratings).
These figures also have implications for broadcasters, who are
seeking local success in generating TV audiences.
“Many people watch sport for nationalistic, rather than sporting
reasons. So they will watch a sports event because an athlete
from their country is participating. That means broadcasters
need to pick and choose events wisely to try to predict those
where they believe there is likely to be the greatest local
interest,” says Taback. Using this data to predict likely
audiences for future events is also useful. “Many sports broadcast
rights are extremely expensive, so it is vital that broadcasters
choose wisely in their acquisition strategy,” says Taback.
The ViewerTrack report yielded four
major trends:
1. New formats can quickly achieve success. Both the Cricket
World Cup and also the inaugural Twenty20 World
Championship took place in 2007. The average live global
TV audience for the final of the latter was three times higher
than for the former. This goes to show that a new format,
tailored to understand the needs and demands of busy
individuals in the 21st century, can quickly become popular.
48 MarketingMix I Vol 26 No. 5/6 I 2008
2. Nothing damages TV audience figures more than the
perception of corruption and cheating, in whatever form
that may take. So for example, the final stage of the Tour de
France has always been one of the top 10 most watched
sports events of the year in all of Initiative Media’s
ViewerTrack studies, at least until 2007. However, last year
the cumulative effect of so many years of doping allegations
became so great that TV audiences in a number of major
cycling markets, especially in Europe, fell considerably and
hence the commercial value of the sport is now significantly
lower than it was a few years ago.
3. In a growing number of countries, a sports event was the
most watched TV programme of the year. In an era of
audience fragmentation, few genres are able to attract
viewers to watch in the same numbers as they used to. One
exception to this, however, is live sport. With time-shifting
not being a realistic option for most viewers (since the
beauty of sport for true fans is to watch live and enjoy the
unexpected unfold in front of them), major sport is becoming
an increasingly valuable property for brands to invest in.
4. Soccer has always been the world’s most popular sport, and
its lead over other sports is growing over time. Soccer is the
only sport that truly appeals right around the world, with
previously ‘immune’ markets such as the USA, Japan and
Korea catching the bug over the past few years. The
growing popularity of soccer in these countries, on top of its
traditional heartlands in Europe, Latin America and Africa,
means that the audience figures for major properties such
as the UEFA Champions League, UEFA European
Championships and FIFA World Cup continue to stand out
from the rest of the field. The scale of the investments being
made in soccer reflect this.
For more information or to get a copy of the reports,
contact Marc Taback on (011) 780 6117 or
Marc.Taback@sa.initiativemedia.com.
 SPORTS SPONSORSHIP

Most watched global TV sporting events in 2006 (ViewerTrack):

Ranking Sport Event Ave audience (millions) Total audience (millions)
1 Soccer FIFA World Cup Final (France vs Italy) 260 603
2 American Football SuperBowl (Pittsburgh Steelers vs Seattle Seahawks) 98 151
3 Olympic Games Torino 2006 Opening Ceremony 87 249
4 Soccer UEFA European Champions League Final (Barcelona vs Arsenal) 86 209
5 Formula One Brazilian Grand Prix 83 154
6 NASCAR Daytona 500 20 47
7 Baseball MLB World Series (Game Five, Detroit Tigers vs St Louis Cardinals) 19 55
8 Golf US Masters (Final Day) 17 59
9 Tennis Wimbledon (Men’s Singles Finals, Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal) 17 69
10 Basketball NBA Finals (Game Six, Miami Heat vs Dallas Mavericks) 17 48

Most watched global TV sports events in 2007 (ViewerTrack):

Ranking Sport Event Ave audience (millions) Total audience (millions)
1 American Football NFL Super Bowl (Chicago Bears vs Indianapolis Colts) 97 142
2 Formula One FIA World Championship – Brazilian Grand Prix 78 152
3 Soccer UEFA European Champions League Final (AC Milan vs Liverpool) 72 148
4 Rugby IRB Rugby World Cup Final (England vs South Africa) 33 61
5 Athletics IAAF World Athletic Championships – Men’s 100 metres Final 24 70
6 Baseball MLB World Series (Game 4 Boston Red Sox vs Colorado Rockets) 24 72
7 Handball IIHF World Men’s Handball Championship Final (Germany vs Poland) 23 56
8 Golf US Masters (Final Day) 21 76
9 Tennis Wimbledon (Men’s Singles Final, Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal) 21 52
10 Cricket ICC World Twenty20 Championship Final (India vs Pakistan) 20 40
SPORTS SPONSORSHIP
with the budget to pull it off. “The ownership
of events effectively cuts through the clutter, if
done effectively,” says De Villiers. The trick for
these companies or brands is to maximise on
the opportunity. “The long-term impact of this
strategy remains difficult to predict. Certainly,
title sponsorships (as for Vodacom with Super
Rugby) are not novel and are a feature of every
professional sport around the world. However,
the creation and ownership of events offers a
more significant long-term impact. It’s difficult
to see how this might be sustainable, given the
congestion in the calendar,” says De Villiers.
Smaller sports will have to be clever in
adopting a niche positioning strategy, if they
hope to attract the kind of sponsorships that
can compete with those of the top three sports
in SA. The sports to watch out for says De
Villiers, pointing to the results of a BMI study
into the sports with the largest growth in
spectators between 1995 and 2005, are dance
sport, swimming, hockey and cricket.
Given the emphasis on new media platforms,
online and social networking as well as mobile,
sports media and brands must look to these to
exploit the opportunites that they represent for
two-way interaction with sports fan. “Sports
sponsorship can be enhanced through good
integration across the new marketing platforms.
In terms of the youth, these new forms of
marketing are key as this is the best way to
target them,” says Lamberti. Broadband
connectivity is improving all the time, says says
Fahmeeda Cassim-Surtee, GM: SuperSport and
News, Oracle Airtime Sales (OATS), so
opportunities in this area are improving. “There
is no doubt that both mobile and online
platforms are developing very rapidly at the
moment, but their viewership is different.
Online is heavily viewed in the office
environment, whilst mobile is very personal
‘anywhere’ content consumption,” she says.
Magazine publishers recognised the
opportunities presented by the online space
some time ago, and have been evolving
websites that deliver huge value to the reader
and the advertiser. “We started viewing our-
selves as brands a while ago and merely adapt
our content to our platforms,” says Kaye. “We
can’t wait for broadband! Online, we can
personalise, and harness a sense of community
among riders and runners. Online is also where
we give our readers a voice – they get to
communicate not only with us, but also with
each other,” he says. Kaye believes that unique
online users will overtake circulation, and as long
50 MarketingMix I Vol 26 No. 5/6 I 2008
Picture courtesy EImage
as the magazines keep innovating and keep
users engaged, the online platform will be a
strong revenue generator. While clients still see
Internet advertising as a new platform, successful
case studies are proving that this is a measurable
medium that delivers ROI, says Cassim-Surtee.
“Sports content may need to be packaged
somewhat differently, since there is now the
potential to consume sports in much smaller
‘portions’,” says De Villiers.
Look out for growth in mobile offerings,
which take sports news and highlights directly
to the fan. SuperSport also has content deals
with cellular service providers using a 3G service,
and there are also opportunities for brands to
get involved and get customised solutions,” says
Cassim-Surtee. She explains that there is room
for brands to become content sponsors, or to
create ad stings during content playout, or
static on-screen branding. They must keep in
mind that advertising needs to be quicker and
shorter in the mobile space.
Yet, in spite of the growth of these newer
platforms, nothing can replace the excitement
and value of the live broadcast. “Rights holders
know that their greatest revenue stream is
exclusive live rights, and this will probably remain
so for the medium term at least,” says De Villiers.
These rights holders will work hard to protect
their rights, while creating new revenue streams
on new media distribution platforms.
Marc Taback, managing director, Initiative
Media SA, suggests that advertisers secure ad
spots in final or semi-final matches/games,
especially if South Africa is playing. “It’s more
expensive, but it delivers huge audiences,” he
says. As to the question of which sport is the
right sport to get involved with, the answer is
that it depends on the market that the brand is
trying to target, and also on the brand itself.
Picture courtesy EImage
Questions have been raised around the
power of PVR, which has had an impact on TV
programming in general. “We have not conducted
any formal research on PVR viewing, but our
recent sports qualitative and dipstick research
shows that ‘live’ sport tends to be viewed ‘live’
and, along with news, is thus the most ‘time-
shift resistant’ content,” says Cassim-Surtee.
However, clients need to be smarter about
their creative executions around sports. “The
more relevant the commercial creative is in a
sports environment, the higher the likelihood of
the commercial being viewed,” she adds. Taback
says, “The NFL Super Bowl (Chicago Bears vs
Indianapolis Colts) marks the pinnacle of spot
advertising during a sports event. As a result,
this helped ensure that the NFL Super Bowl was
the number one ranked TV sports event in 2007
in terms of average global audience. Rather
than changing channels during the commercial
breaks, many people actually watched the NFL
Super Bowl because – rather than in spite – of
the adverts.” It’s no wonder that advertisers are
prepared to fork out up to US$3 million for a
30-second spot.
What can we expect moving forward? Eddie
Roux, insights manager at Sports Marketing
Surveys, feels that with the impact of media
fragmentation, IPTV will play an increasing role
in entertainment, especially among younger
audiences. “But technology is also influencing
how older audiences interact – basically
influencing developmental stages. This is
fascinating stuff, and it will be interesting to see
how sponsorship will develop and continue to
grow with new forms of media developing.”
Red Bull’s Air Race, for example, has launched a
dedicated YouTube channel to tap into this (at
the time of writing, it had 3 660 channel views
and 132 subscribers). 
CENTRAL SA INTELLIGENCE
Hidden gem
It turns out that Central SA (the Free State,
North West Province, Northern Cape and parts
of Gauteng), holds a lot of potential for brands
and media. And slowly, the perception of this
region as the dusty outback of the country is
evolving. “Central SA, I feel, still suffers to a
small extent from the perception that there is
no business there, or that the potential business
on offer is small in comparison to the larger
populated regions. Truth be told, Central SA is
the country’s best-kept secret; still a relatively
untapped top-end market with huge wealth
waiting to be accessed and serviced,” says Nick
Efstathiou, OFM marketing manager.
According to AMPS 2007/B there has been a
drop in the overall number of adults classified in
LSM 2 in this region, and a significant increase
in homes that have DVDs, while the number of
52 MarketingMix I Vol 26 No. 5/6 I 2008
overall adults with debit cards has risen to 7.4
per cent, with a significant increase noted in
Bloemfontein. TV trends find that SABC 2 and
SABC 3 as well as e.tv are capturing growing
audiences. Outdoor advertising, likewise, is
flourishing. There have been country-wide
increases in the exposure to bus shelter, trailer,
minibus, train and bus ads, with significant
increases noted in Bloemfontein and Kimberley.
This is a market that is online, active on their
cellphones, curious and engaged. “This market
is very savvy and is connected to the world,”
agrees Efstathiou.
Property trends indicate positive growth for
the central SA region. Marietjie Neumann, area
principal for Pam Golding Properties in
Kimberley, says that the city is enjoying increasing
economic growth, with the Northern Cape
region being buoyed by the strength of the
mining and agricultural sectors as well as
tourism. Demand for homes to rent increased
by over 15 per cent last year, with a further
demand for office rentals. Plus, construction is
set to begin soon on the New Kimberley Mall,
while The Diamond Pavilion is undergoing a R64
million expansion; new business complexes and
a cement plant are also due to open soon,
while Mittal Steel is set to expand its output.
The Department of Minerals and Energy
recently launched the Gold Chain Technologies
project, under government’s Minerals
Beneficiation Strategy, which involves the devel-
opment of a R100 million jewellery factory in
Kimberley. Vodacom Park Stadium in
Bloemfontein is undergoing a R221 million
upgrade, which is due to be completed by
CENTRAL SA INTELLIGENCE
September this year, in preparation for 2010.
The Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg has
also been upgraded.
All in all, very good news for this region.
“However, among key economic drivers of
Kimberley is a definite upswing in tourist
volumes with positive news of a R50 million
project by mining conglomerate De Beers to
upgrade the Big Hole as a tourist attraction,
along with the construction of a R44 million
Protea Hotel adjacent to it,” says Neumann.
The economic downturn that has everyone
tightening their belts and their budgets is having
an impact on this region, and the negative
sentiment is being felt, says Gary Stroebel, CEO,
OFM. “However, retail business is still strong.
OFM’s direct sales have not yet felt the impact
as our strategies have been based around
relationships, client training and up-skilling, and
solid concepts based on trying to establish an
ROI or at least focusing a client on one or other
tangible outcome,” he says, adding that agriculture
and mining in the region are doing well, and
this has informed the economy. The Central SA
region is the gold, diamond and platinum
mining hot spot of the country, after all.
“Despite the current economic conditions, the
Free State is still a highly active region. For
example, the recent property transaction of
Mimosa Mall sold to Pareto Limited (shareholders
in Sandton City and the JHB convention centre
and owners of Southgate, Tygervalley and
Pavillion – among others),” says Susna Stemmet,
advertising manager, MyWeek Bloemfontein.
“Consumers here are still spending. Car sales
are down, and property stalled, but everything
else is doing okay,” says Efstathiou. Greta
Daniel, regional manager for Pam Golding
Properties in the central provinces, says that
there is little activity over the R2 million mark in
the Northern Cape and Kimberley; but there is
major activity in the lower end of the market.
“In the Free State the market is relatively stable
and seems to be holding its own, although this
market is also affected by the general economic
conditions affecting the property market in SA,”
she says.
In small towns like Clarens and Bethlehem,
it’s the second home market that is being
hardest hit. “A trend we are noticing, particularly
in the Vaal Dam area, is that people are looking
at small towns and are considering commuting
to their places of employment,” says Daniel. She
adds that while there is a reduction in unit sales,
the market in Central SA is not experiencing a
lack of confidence in property as an investment.
54 MarketingMix I Vol 26 No. 5/6 I 2008
Magazines in Central SA:
Note: circulation figures are those distribution figures verified by each magazine’s
distribution department, unless otherwise stated
The Media
Magazines
AMPS reports that magazine penetration in the
region has increased, and publishers are encouraged
by the growing readership in the region. National
magazines (the consumer glossies, for example)
find that the majority of their readership comes
from the urban zones, but they still acknowledge
that the support of the central region is valuable.
As Julia Raphaely, managing director, Associated
Magazines, says: “The central region of SA is just as
valuable to us as any other region. Research has
shown that our glossy magazines are mostly read
by women in the urban areas and more specifically
Gauteng, the Western Cape and KZN. As for the
central regions, the Free State and North West
Province are supporters too.”
Mahareng Publishing, a joint venture between
OFM and Caxton, publishes several titles in the
central SA region.
OFM Wheels is a catalogue-style magazine,
focusing on new and used cars; 20 000 copies of
the mag are distributed at local Midas, Checkers
and Engen stores as well as selected news stands.
The website, www.ofmwheels.co.za, allows
advertisers in the magazine to also feature online.
Play On is a newspaper focusing on school
sports and cultural activities in Bloemfontein;
10 000 copies are distributed to schools in Bloem,
and are also made available at selected stands in
town. Students can also visit www.playon.co.za.
Free community mag Get It is also published
for the following regions: Bloemfontein, Vaal,
Potch/Klerksdorp, and soon, Rustenburg.
MyWeek’s Bloemfontein issue is seeing steady
circulation figures, according to Stemmet.
“MyWeek Bloemfontein has been growing from
strength to strength and now (approaching our
second year) it is rewarding to know that we are
not only seen as a valuable advertising medium,
but, thanks to overwhelming readers response,
also a welcome edition to our readers
households,” she says, adding that their success
is in part due to the fact that the magazine is a
vehicle that cane take clients’ adverts to the
portion of the market with disposable income.
“Advertising income has been consistent over the
last year,” she says.

Community radio stations in the Free State (listener figures
are past seven day figures taken from RAMS April 08):
Community radio stations in the North West (listener figures
are past seven day figures taken from RAMS April 08)
Community radio stations in the Northern Cape (listener figures
are past seven day figures taken from RAMS April 08):
Radio
OFM is one of the commercial stations serving
the Free State region, and it certainly has the
lion’s share of the market. “The OFM
demographic is targeted at the upper end of
the market; LSM 7-10, aged from 25-49. Our
target audience is 50 per cent white, and 50 per
cent black and coloured. The audience we offer
to businesses and brands is of a high quality
with large amounts of disposable income. The
living standard within Central SA is high, and at
a lot less costly than the larger populated
regions of SA,” says Efstathiou.
In terms of programming and communication
channels, the station is committed to an all-
channel approach; its website WOMF
(www.ofm.womf.com) gets around 70 000
unique visits each month, and allows listeners to
interact. The station also makes use of mobile
services to give its listeners access to its content
on the device that ‘they can’t live without’.
Podcasts, says Efstathiou, have allowed
audiences to access content that they would like
to keep and listen to again or share with
friends; they are a great solution for advertisers
who need more than 30 seconds to explain a
new product or service. Local partnerships and
sponsorships of local sports teams (Vodacom
Cheetahs and Gestetner Diamond Eagles, for
example), as well as festivals allow the station to
connect with its audience in a meaningful way.
OFM is opening a branch in the new
Potchefstroom Mall in the next few weeks, and
will be broadcasting daily from the northern
part of its footprint.
Other commercial stations in the SABC’s
bouquet are Lesedi FM, Phalaphala FM and RSG.
Lesedi FM’s largest listenership is in the Free
State. AMPS 2007b reports that the average
household income of listeners is R4 111 and
their average age is 39 years. Phalaphala FM
serves young, urban black listeners in the North
CENTRAL SA INTELLIGENCE
West province. Listeners have an average
household income of R4 188 and an average
age of 33 years (AMPS 2007B).
RSG targets Afrikaans speakers aged 25-49 in
LSM 7-10. The station has an average of 1 135
million listeners a day. Their average household
income is R10 041 and their average age is
48 years (AMPS 2007B). In order to grow
audiences and maximise its visibility, RSG has
embarked on a campaign drive with outside
broadcasts focusing specifically on the
Northern Cape, Eastern Cape, Western Cape
and Karoo areas.
“To support the drive, RSG is also involved
with the Volksblad Kunstefees in Bloemfontein
in July and Aardklop in Potchefstroom later this
year, presenting Die Beiteltjie which is a
production of SABC archive material that was
previously aired on RSG,” says Louise Jooste,
marketing manager, RSG. The station is also
involved with SABC2’s Dorp2Dorp marketing
campaign where the emphasis is on visiting
smaller towns and interacting with people on
their own turf. The annual Gariepfees in
Kimberley is one of the major festivals where
RSG is present through the RSG music stage
and broadcasts from the festival.
“RSG successfully hosted a radio workshop
for high school learners at last year’s Gariepfees
to present the dynamic world of radio to them
in order to spark interest in a possible radio
career, and to explain and show how things
work behind the scenes,” says Jooste.
Added to the mix of commercial stations
there is a plethora of community stations in the
Central SA region offering advertisers a more
localised platform through which to reach
smaller niche communities.
Vol 26 No. 5/6 I 2008 I MarketingMix 55
CENTRAL SA INTELLIGENCE

Newspapers Free newspapers in Central SA (ABC Jan-March 2008)

Newspapers in the region are seeing increased
penetration, according to AMPS figures. “After
Gauteng, the North West is Beeld’s second
largest market with regard to readership, and
it has grown by 31.5 per cent since
2005/2006,” says Gavin Rheeder, marketing
communications manager, Beeld. “We now
have 71 000 readers in this province.” He goes
on to say that this market is very important for
Beeld, given that the Afrikaans market in the
region enjoys a healthy income, which has
been growing steadily. “Naturally, they will also
feel the pinch of the tough economic climate;
the same can be said for advertising revenue,”
says Rheeder. The average household income
for Beeld readers in North West is R4 503,
while for readers in the Northern Cape and
Free State it is R4 948 and R4 166 respectively.
Peet Bodma, manager: Central SA, MCS24
(responsible for the circulation of Media24 Community newspapers in Central
newspapers and magazines in central SA) says SA (ABC Jan-March 2008):
that while there is greater penetration of
newspapers and magazines in the region,
circulation is under pressure, thanks to the
economic environment. This has impacted on
advertising revenue, as well as subscriber
numbers (readers are opting to buy the titles,
instead of subscribing to them). He believes
that this will continue to be a challenge to the
industry, and the titles that survive will be
those that create very niched followings, and
deliver real value to the reader. “We have,
however, seen consistent growth in our
community titles,” says Bodma, “and enormous
growth in our knock-and-drops.” 

Newspapers in Central SA (ABC, Jan-March 2008): Note, figures

are national circulation figures, unless otherwise stated

56 MarketingMix I Vol 26 No. 5/6 I 2008