Demand outstrips supply for LSM 1

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Demand outstrips supply for LSM 1 - 6 mag

For most publishers, a print order of a million plus copies of a magazine is usually more than enough, if not a little foolhardy, and just asking for tons of returns. But, in the year that the bi-monthly Vuk'uzenzele has been around, the 1.1 million copies Government Communications and Information System (GCIS) prints get snapped up right, left and centre.

Aimed at LSM 1 - 6 and published by the GCIS, Vuk'uzenzele will soon be audited by the ABC and included in AMPS.

But, what I have found fascinating are the experiences of the people behind the scenes who actually have to handle the distribution of the magazine. Obviously with the bulk of South Africa's population of 47 million falling into the magazine's target market, there is absolutely no way in hell that a million magazines is even close to being enough. In fact, it is very much in the realms of loaves and fishes.

Apparently, in an effort to be fair and ensure that everyone gets their own copy every now and then, the distributors alternate deliveries from one of side of the street to the other.

Got to be wide awake

But, as some not so wide-awake delivery people have found to their detriment, if they happen to deliver to the same side of the street twice in a row, there is hell to pay from those who get missed out. So, very careful note has to made of who got what last time.

So, the question is why not just print more? Well, it's an expensive exercise and subject to fairly severe budget restraints.

Limited ad space

GCIS does not want to inundate the magazine with advertising so, really, there is only limited capacity for revenue generation here and it's fairly likely that what modest space is being made for advertising will get snapped up pretty fast, given that the publishers know exactly who is getting it.

What GCIS does intend doing to make up for the shortfall in the number of copies it can produce is to encourage sharing. The success of which will be reflected in AMPS.

There seems little doubt, given the feedback from the distributors, that Vuk'uzenzele has turned out to be popular among the lower LSMs, in spite of being unashamedly produced by Government.

Sensitive topics

A recent survey of 3500 readers found that the most requested information was pretty obvious: job creation, improving the lives of the poor, building homes, fighting HIV and AIDS, improving health services, reducing crime, service delivery issues, skills training, fighting corruption and economic opportunities.

All very sensitive topics that GCIS insists will be covered in future issues.

More by Chris Moerdyk

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Moerdyk is a corporate marketing analyst and advisor and former head of strategic planning and public affairs at BMW SA. He spent 16 years in ad agencies ending up as resident director of Lindsay Smithers FCB (KwaZulu-Natal). He pioneered and was the first editor of the media and marketing pages in the Saturday Star. Moerdyk is a specialist contributor to Bizcommunity.com.
Email: cmoerdyk@mweb.co.za
Visit Chris Moerdyk's press office.

[29 Nov 2006 16:50]