B®AND hooks its niche

B®AND attracts a 45% corporate readership, a key focus area for the publication as it believes these people influence where advertising is placed and how marketing is conducted. About 8% of its distribution is to communications and marketing personnel in government, having noted a keen interest by government in how brand-building can be made to work for a country. The remainder goes into business schools, and to agencies and media owners. B®AND has a controlled free distribution of just under 3000.

B®AND's success has been the result of a number of factors. Di Paice, B®AND editor, says that establishing the publication in a short period of time was largely due to having identified a new magazine category upfront, which married business with creative and media. "We believe all business is driven fundamentally by marketing, and all marketing has certain creative expression."

The magazine's distinctive design differentiates it along similar lines, conveying the idea that creativity matters in business - something also reflected by the content.

"We carry broad thought leadership articles, and our profiles reflect how leaders in the business community affect marketing activities. Local brand case studies further incorporate advertising and marketing strategies. Our media stories always reflect what the market is doing and how it is changing, so we are at the leading edge of reporting on change in markets," Paice says.

Reader feedback has been overwhelming, with responses almost euphoric from the design community, says Paice. She adds that high level engagement on the letters pages and behind-the- scenes has been from the likes of Professor Steven Burgess, Professor of Business Administration and Research Director at the UCT Graduate School of Business and Professor John Simpson, head of the UCT Unilever Institute of Marketing.

Endorsements have also come from managing directors of advertising agencies, such as Mike Abel, recently named Agency Leader of the Year by AdFocus, Mark Jakins, CE of SABC commercial services, who will soon be moving into even wider corporate involvement, as well as other, well respected marketing directors and media owners.

Paice comments that advertising has remained stable since the publication's launch, a major achievement for a small, independent magazine. "We are attracting advertisers who are interested in creating 'tailor-made' advertising that cuts through the clutter. Our editorial style and design invites a different style of advertising.

"We are also seeing an increased interest from corporate advertisers, such as ABSA, Spar and VW, for example, as we provide a platform for businesses to speak to each other. In addition, we command an extremely wealthy and intelligent readership. While our more traditional advertising has come from media owners and semi-government and politico-economic advertising, such as Proudly South African and Empowerdex, we are also attracting advertising from business schools and recruitment agencies because of the quality of our readership."

B®AND's recipe for success can be summed up by its motto of not being distracted by what any other publication is doing, trusting your instinct and listening to readers' feedback. Paice says B®AND will continue to find out what the market is thinking around key issues. "Every story published is, in fact, takes the market's perception of the subject matter into account."