From Proudly South African to a real print ''player'' - The Big Issue has media empowerment covered

In South Africa's supermarkets-at-the-robots – where consumers can buy everything from black bags to goldfish – The Big Issue is the only magazine on the rack. And it's bright and glossy, sold with a smile – an ideal promotional vehicle, if one could only get one's hands on the cover!

The marketers of the Nelson Mandela Invitational and their colleagues at Proudly South African and The Big Walk have done just that. They've tumbled special supplements with the Big Issue magazine in the month of their events – taking The Big Issue's back cover and fleshing out a second magazine behind it. This is filled with pages of event information and features, plus, of course, prominent ads for event sponsors. When The Big Issue hits the streets, vendors have two magazines to sell in one. The featured event has its own "front" cover, which consumers see at every robot, proudly and confidently punted.

The Big Issue's partners, meanwhile, see benefits beyond unique visibility in their marketing choice. With a circulation of 17,000, The Big Issue ensures a deep reach into a desirable and loyal readership. Big Issue readers drive cars, and they extend the goodwill they show toward vendors at the robots to the advertisers who, after all, are helping to keep the vendors in jobs.

But there's more to The Big Issue story than its magazine. Vendors have access to a range of education, health, training and life skills programmes – all run through The Big Issue's social department – which help them move up and on to real self-sufficiency. The Big Issue's partners know they're making a difference with their adspend: both for their brands, and for a sustainable future for those who need a hand up.

The Big Issue, in other words, is media empowerment. Media strategy can be visibly united with a commitment to good causes through The Big Issue magazine. It's the natural choice for events which – like Proudly South African, The Big Walk and the Nelson Mandela Invitational – have good causes at their hearts.

For more information, contact Ben Williams, Associate Publisher, on Tel: (021) 461-6690, 083 684 1112, or Email: .