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 Movember is so much more than just ‘the only time it’s socially acceptable for men to sport sleazy upper-lip hair’. It’s about raising awareness of men’s health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men’s suicide. Interestingly enough, SPARK Media’s research has found that South African men are indeed becoming increasingly focused on their health and, more so, their appearance.

 Gone are the days when the ‘macho man’ merely swished some mouthwash, splashed his face with water and ran a hand through his hair before barrelling out the door. Women are going to find themselves fighting for mirror space and hiding their eye creams because according to Euromonitor, men’s grooming recorded a 13% growth in value sales in 2016. South Africa’s men have become increasingly interested in products specially developed for their needs, and are increasingly likely to shop for their own personal care products.

In fact, SPARK’s 2016 ROOTS research found that 98% of men bought personal hygiene products in the past month. The proportion of men using hand and body cream has increased from 77.2% in 2010 to 82.5% in 2015, more so with black males, of whom 85.9% used hand or body cream in the past 7 days (AMPS 2010 vs 2015).Smelling good is clearly as important to men as looking good. Premium men’s fragrances grew by 16% in 2016 (Euromonitor). AMPS research has shown that perfume and cologne use has increased among men long-term, with 53.3% of men being regular users. A high-quality fragrance is associated with career and social success, and has become an increasingly popular gift for men.

According to Euromonitor, South African brands, such as Sorbet, have jumped onto this trend. Sorbet Man offers exclusive men’s grooming treatments, and the chain has a Sorbet-branded men’s grooming range of skin and hair care products.

Although men are health conscious when it comes to their physique (54% of frequent gymmers, going at least once a week, being men), an extremely concerning statistic to come out of our ROOTS 2016 research, is that 92% of urban males in LSM 4-7 are currently not on a medical aid scheme, and surprisingly almost half (47%) of LSM 8-10 aren’t either. This opens a huge opportunity for healthcare providers to educate and build product awareness in this market.The metro male isn’t going anywhere. Men’s grooming is forecast to maintain strong sales growth. A ramp of new male grooming product development is expected in 2018 and 2019. With a strong opportunity to tap into this male market, SPARK Media’s print and digital platforms offer direct audience solutions, delivering relevant, customised, interest-based audiences.

To find out more on how to effectively connect with this target group, contact SPARK Media on 010 492 8390, visit www.sparkmedia.co.za, follow us on Twitter – www.twitter.com/SparkMediaSA or connect with ‘SPARK Media’ (sparkmediasa) on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Ever wonder how your local paper ends up in your hands every week? It takes much more than the misperception of a paperboy haphazardly tossing papers on pavements. We spoke to Jaco Koekemoer, Managing Director of Caxton Local Media and Coldset Printing at Caxton Group, about the complex distribution process that gets local papers from printer to every household, business and institution’s postbox, each and every week.

“With a local mail system that’s not trusted and expensive courier services, some retailers may make use of knock and drop companies to deliver leaflets to households. But with the cost of printing, it makes better sense to trust a quality, audited distribution method, like Caxton’s, where consumers expect to find your leaflet inside their local newspaper,” says Koekemoer.

Caxton’s 144 local newspapers are printed at 10 printing plants located country wide. Our Johannesburg printing facility prints over 1.5 million copies for distribution weekly and handles between 50- and 80-million inserts monthly. The Johannesburg local papers include an average of 35 vehicles, each distributing between four and seven tonnes of papers over three delivery days in the week, with each driver making approximately 9 000 drops. In big insert weeks, where loads could easily double, they make use of feeder trucks to continuously feed their main distribution vehicles. A considerable load like this calls for a highly specialised distribution method, particularly to ensure that each reader gets their local paper and each advertiser gets their reach, without any wastage.

With a team of nearly 400 personnel, Caxton Distribution has invested over 2.5 million Rand in the workforce and technology behind its distribution process. A state of the art AfriGIS Mapping Solution was specially developed to accurately determine the number of houses, gated communities, institutions and businesses that exist in a specified region. These figures are used to determine Caxton’s footprint boundaries and driver areas for a highly efficient and controlled paper distribution.

Peter Scully, the GM of Caxton JHB Distribution, says, “In my 29 years’ experience in retail distribution, the Caxton distribution systems and process are the best I’ve ever worked with in the industry. Our distribution process has many measures in place to ensure efficient delivery. Drivers receive a drop sheet of all bulk delivery points and signatures are required as proof of delivery. We’ve developed strong relationships with the gatekeepers in gated communities and complexes to gain seamless access.”

“Our telephonic team randomly calls clients and readers within the footprint to ensure receival of the paper. To avoid any wastage, we have a supervisor at every branch, our distribution footprints are constantly updated and every copy of the paper is geocoded. We also have a highly proficient complaints system that promptly investigates and rectifies any distribution issues,” he adds.

“Unlike most knock and drop companies, Caxton Distribution strictly abides by the rules of the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC/VFD), with audits done every six months. This means that we are able to distribute to businesses, institutions and complexes, where knock and drops can’t. It’s what makes advertisers trust Caxton as a quality distributer,” he adds.

As an all-in-one printer and publisher, Caxton offers more affordable, discounted insert rates when a customer prints with one of their plants, as they are able to optimise logistics to ensure lower transport costs. This has placed them as a top print, publishing and distribution solution.

For more information on Caxton Local Media and what it offers visit www.caxtonlocalmedia.co.za.

Retailers are gearing up for what is arguably the biggest retail sales day of the year, Black Friday, on the 24^th November. What can brands do to win their share of mind amongst consumers? Marc du Plessis, Joint CEO of SPARK Media advises.

 Traditionally an American shopping holiday, Black Friday has grown in popularity amongst South African shoppers over the past few years. 2017 is forecast to be as frenzied as ever, with retailers slashing prices by 50% to 80% off usual prices. With the current state of our economy, we’re anticipating that this year participation in Black Friday shopping will be even bigger than 2016 as shoppers gear up to buy as many products as possible at the lowest prices.

Consumers will be on the look-out for the best deals ahead of Black Friday, scouring the internet and media in the weeks preceding this massive sales day. It’s imperative that your brand is front and centre amongst the consideration set. Last year, SPARK Media’s Retail Advertising Network (which comprises a variety of high traffic websites used to showcase catalogues online, including Guzzle and over 70 Caxton-Owned Local News Websites) achieved 580 000 page views two days before Black Friday, 870 000 the day before and over 1.3 million page views on the day.

Evidence-based marketing principles from EBI (Ehrenberg Bass Institute) state that as consumers, we buy brands that we ‘know of’ and ‘think well of’. Brands that occupy a large ‘share’ of our minds are easily thought of in buying situations, and are the most likely to be bought. Marketing efforts need to build this ‘mental availability’ through mass reach advertising and communication.

EBI also supports the principle that mass reach is far better than niched reach, a principle that we wholeheartedly agree with. Through our local community newspapers, reaching 3.4 million households per week, coupled with our collection of digital platforms visited by millions more, we’re in a fortunate position to offer advertisers mass reach into hyper local markets,  delivering advertising and lifestyle communication that is highly relevant to our readers.

So, how can retailers effectively tap into the Black Friday buying frenzy and get the edge against competing brands? Quite simply, by adopting a marketing strategy that makes them the most visible to the most people.

Consumers want to be informed about what is happening close to home, which is why local newspapers are still the central platform for this type of news. Caxton Local Media invests in 141 local newspapers that act as a community mouthpiece, bringing relevant information to the surrounding communities.

34 of these newspapers have an “emerged market” readership, including 11 urban papers in the Soweto areas and 11 isiZulu-written Eyethu papers across KwaZulu-Natal. These papers reach an extremely high number of people, with over 900 000 copies distributed weekly and between five and 10 people reading each issue.

According to ROOTS research, local newspapers are the broadest reaching print media in LSM 4 to 7, with 55% readership which is much higher than in daily or weekly papers. Local newspapers have 66% readership in Soweto, with Alex News alone having a 77% readership in Alexandra.

“Our target readership is no longer emerging. It has emerged. The financially empowered black middle class has more than trebled in the last 12 years driven by BBBEE, education, job opportunities in the civil sector, urbanisation, and access to finance. Our readership is aspiring and has no inhibitions in striving for success and for acquiring the fruits of that success,” says Jaco Koekemoer, Managing Director of Caxton Local Media and Coldset Printing at Caxton Group.

The population size is considerably larger in emerging markets, and is a segment with many unfulfilled needs. Now that their earnings have increased, they are more receptive to bigger purchase decisions. ROOTS research has shown that 29% of households in Alexandra earn between R12 000 and R24 999 and 68% fall within the LSM 6 and 7 profile.

The Caxton’s Eyethu brand is now the largest circulating isiZulu-community newspaper brand in KZN, with a total circulation in excess of 245 000 copies, significantly above the combined circulations of Ilanga and Isolezwe.

The African Reporter is one of the largest, and best-selling, sold community papers in the country, enjoying an extensive distribution exceeding 20 000 issues per week. “Being a sold paper means we have slightly more editorial space to cover a diverse range of topics and we are able to give each story a little more space than might be possible in a free sheet paper with a higher loading,” says Koekemoer.

Caxton prides itself on the high-quality content of these papers, allocating exceptional resources to their production, from highly-qualified journalists to superior printing. Every published story is of relevance, importance and interest to the vast majority of the community. There’s a focus on feel good stories about people in the area, especially where neighbours have collectively helped someone in the area. “Our emerged-market papers aim to uplift the community through positive human-interest stories,” says Koekemoer.

Fun media and consumer facts from SPARK Media

Senior Marketing Scientist, Professor Justin Cohen of the Ehrenburg Bass Institute (EBI) recently addressed guests of SPARK Media in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town on the topic of Mental Availability – what it is and why it matters?

“Let’s get honest, consumers don’t spend time thinking about brands,” says Gill Randall, Joint CEO of SPARK Media. “We have far too much happening in our lives and we screen things out all the time.”

This may sound like common-sense, but the fact is, that most contemporary marketing theory focuses on the belief that consumers actually spend time and energy evaluating their brand choices.

“Most marketers still believe that we are highly rational beings, that we have relationships with brands, that our attitudes drive our behaviour, etc.  We now know that this isn’t true and this belief has the potential to derail our marketing strategies (thanks to discoveries from EBI and others).

We have been members of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for the last 15 years, which has given us access to their wealth of research on consumer behaviour,” says Gill. “The EBI is the world’s largest centre for research into marketing. Their expert team of marketing academics are building a culture of evidence-based marketing, giving us powerful insights into how marketing really works and how brands grow and we were so honoured to have Justin present to us.”

Justin Cohen is one of the Institute’s senior researchers, whose expertise is in route-to-market decision making, emerging markets, retailing, online marketing, and wine and food marketing. He has international experience as both a practitioner and researcher, which helps him to provide transformational, evidence-based strategies for his clients.

“Mental Availability in marketing is the propensity for a brand to be thought of in a buying situation – in other words, is your brand even being considered by consumers,” says Justin. “But it’s not just about being in the game and having great branding – memory structures need to be built in the consumer’s mind in an on-going way.”

Gill adds: “Identify key brand elements that will cue your brands in consumers’ minds – both physically and mentally and this will go a long way in helping buyers think of you – which is the real battle for marketers.”

Justin went on to say that many marketers may think that they have loyal consumers that are heavy category users but the truth is that even the biggest brands have a mostly light user consumer base – that is they have many different consumers using their brands less often. “People shop around and buy products that are in the same category as yours – so build relevant associative memory structures to help easy mental retrieval of your brand at the time of purchase. ” he says.

“Ultimately the message, media, creative and branding quality are what will set your brand apart. Continuous advertising means refreshing memory structures. Prioritise big reach media, avoid excessive frequency, build reach over time, be seen recently and space out your ads.” He uses a great example – given a choice between reaching one person twice or two people once, and he would inevitably choose the two people once option.

Leverage your owned distinctive assets in a creative way. “Nando’s does this really well,” says Gill.” Their advertising is easily identifiable every single time by their specific fonts and look, Game’s pink colour is undeniably theirs and instantly recognisable.”

Finishing off, Justin stressed: “Branding has to be the most crucial step in advertising. If it’s not branded, it’s just entertainment – the goal is to be remembered and to be bought.”

 Want to achieve maximum coverage while showing your full range? Dubbed “front-seat advertising”, Caxton’s local newspaper innovation the PowerWrap, is an effective marketing solution with proven results – perfect for brands who want the exclusivity of foremost hands-on interaction with consumers.

Local press is flourishing with 6.6 million copies delivered to homes and businesses across urban South Africa weekly, and 63% of purchase decision makers reading them (ROOTS 2016). Caxton and SPARK Media are giving brands impactful platforms to reach the right people, at the right place and time, in the right environment, with their highly innovative print solutions.

One of these is the PowerWrap, a world premiere in the printing industry. It’s large-scale, high-quality constat-paper wrapped around the whole newspaper, carrying an advertising message. The masthead of the main copy still stands out, so that the consumer immediately recognises their local newspaper. It gives brands the flexibility of displaying their offerings broadly across a pre-printed three-quarter, four-page leaflet. It gives brands an immediate interaction with the consumer because they need to physically remove the PowerWrap before reading the newspaper. Once removed, as a stand-alone, the Wrap has an extended shelf-life compared to regular print ads. This advertising format gives brands a competitive edge and is best used for store openings, launches and other tactical uses.

This ground-breaking print-ovation has attracted advertisers who haven’t traditionally advertised in local newspapers before. It has become a popular medium for clothing retailers, particularly for store openings, fast food campaigns and pharmaceutical products.

The response to this exciting new ad format has been outstanding, with many brands booking and then quickly re-booking PowerWrap campaigns. There is only one spot available per newspaper per week, so booking competition is fierce. Three of the Caxton’s papers (with a combined print order exceeding 100 000 copies) were sold for each week of the month, three years in advance.

“Our pharmaceutical customer was blown away by their PowerWrap campaign, reporting an immediate increase in market share by just under 10%,” says Jaco Koekemoer, Managing Director of Caxton Local Media and Coldset Printing at Caxton Group, “In December 2016, a top technology retailer pulled their TV and radio to run an eight-page PowerWrap around a million local papers. They experienced the best December in retail sales in the last nine years.”

 

With the retail frenzy of Black Friday and the festive season fast approaching, Caxton Local Media Group and SPARK Media are gearing up for an influx of newspaper insertion demand, as more and more advertisers recognise the power of inserts as a powerful marketing tool.

Local newspapers are the preferred medium for retailers and businesses to bring their marketing communication to consumers. Newspaper inserts are a particularly important part of local advertising, offering consumers a complete brand-in-the-hand, with the convenience of a multitude of trusted product offers available at a glance.

As a premier sales tool, local newspaper inserts are easily accessible by a relevant audience and are designed to be picked up repeatedly, securing its place as an essential part of the multimedia marketing mix. 2016 Roots research found that 62% of South Africa’s purchase decision makers read local community newspapers, of which 93% read advertising inserts regardless of whether they are looking for something in particular or not.

“The month end week at Caxton’s Johannesburg plant regularly exceeds 20-million inserts for the local papers alone. The last week of November 2016 was the busiest inserting week to date at our Johannesburg factory, in fact, the single largest publication had 34 individual inserts with a total product weight of a 100 tons. During that single week, 26.5-million inserts were inserted into 53 local newspapers,” says Jaco Koekemoer, Managing Director of Caxton Local Media and Coldset Printing at Caxton Group

“Caxton’s 10 printing plants are best equipped to handle this type of operation in South Africa. As a one-stop printing and publishing provider, we’re able to offer highly affordable, discounted insert rates with an effective distribution method where consumers expect to find your leaflet inside their local newspaper,” says Koekemoer.

 

The management of Clover regretfully announces that they have been forced to cancel their Guinness World Records title attempt at breaking the Longest Line of Sandwiches at Maponya Mall, today the 7th October, due to inclement weather.The company has been in planning for months to break a 4 kilometre long “Longest Line of Sandwiches record which would have utilised 420 litres of Cream O’Naise mayonnaise, 16 000 25cm baguettes, 64 800 slices of Clover Cheese, 810kgs (or 80 000) slices of tomatoes and 1 650 heads of lettuce,” explains Clover Senior Brand Manager Edith Molepo. “Our teams managed to get to 2468.93 meters before the rains came down.”“However it’s not all bad news though, we are thrilled to be able to still donate the completed sandwiches and unused sizable amount of bread and fresh raw ingredients to our chosen charities Choc and The Gift of the Givers and to Baragwanath Hospital to make delicious sandwiches with,” she says.“We have been overwhelmed at the amount of love shown on social media platforms by celebrities and people at home who were bitterly disappointed we couldn’t continue the record attempt, especially because the enthusiasm for our new Cream O’Naise mayonnaise has been extremely positive. However they have risen to the challenge beautifully and are continuing the fun by making their own attempts at creating the longest line of sandwiches using our newest product on the market, our creamy mayonnaise Cream O’Naise accompanied by #CreamONaiseGWR and #CreamyTilTheLastDrop.We would like to extend a massive thanks to our teams on the ground and to all our supporters at home and to those that made an effort to join us today at Maponya Mall.”

 

Spitfire Inbound, Penquin and Suzuki SA are delighted after being announced as the gold winners in the ‘Best Revenue Marketing Campaign/Event’ and ‘Best Marketing Automation Campaign’ categories at the recent New Generation Awards which identifies winners at the forefront of South Africa’s future communications, media and digital technologies.

 “We went head to head against some really tough opposition and against large agencies,” says Veronica Wainstein, Penquin’s Managing Director, “but being an independent and full-service agency has had a great part to play in our success.”“It is inspiring to see that both categories that we entered with Suzuki SA, we won,” says Darren Leishman, CEO of Spitfire Inbound Marketing. “I believe that, in part, our success is the long lasting client relationships we’ve built over many years, with this client in particular, and being held accountable for our work with measurable objectives and benchmarks – our client’s successes are our successes.”

This year The New Generation Social & Digital Media Awards took place at Montecasino and received a record amount of entries. Awards included best social and digital media marketing campaigns, best use of online media and tools, outstanding individual performers and our main overall winners from the agency and corporate sectors.

Winning campaigns showed on-strategy creative execution that displayed a clear link between the original business objectives and the outcomes enabled by the work.“We’re extremely thrilled with the two Gold Awards that we achieved at New Generation which just reinforces our credo as a ‘results driven agency’ which wouldn’t be possible without the support of amazing clients like Suzuki SA,” concludes Wainstein.

Find out more about Penquin on their website www.penquin.co.za or Spitfire Inbound Marketing at www.spitfireinbound.com