NAB quits representation of Eastern Cape communities

These include The Rep, The Mercury, Grahamstown this week, Talk of the Town, Go and Express East London, Algoa Sun, Our Times, Agri, and Ilizwi.

"The daily newspapers sold and distributed in the Eastern Cape are already represented by its holding company, Avusa, so it makes sense that the community newspapers in this area are also taken care of inhouse," says joint MD of NAB Gill Randall.

The decision to centralise all advertising sales within the Avusa national office was undertaken in conjunction with NAB.

"The Avusa/Caxton split in representation of the Eastern Cape newspapers made selling and marketing these products logistically difficult," Randall explains.

"As of April 1, all ads will need to be booked directly with Avusa," said Randall. "Any forward bookings held by NAB will be automatically sent on."

Louise de Winnaar, chief sales officer: national sales adds, “We understand the rationale behind NAB's decision and it presents an opportunity for us to totally centralise all sales for the Eastern Cape titles while providing the best scenario to consolidating our valued client relationships there.

“The restructuring process allows us to meet our strategic sales objectives, optimise our service excellence potential, and collaborate with our clients for a mutually beneficial future. We have a strong Dailies team nationally with established relationships with both agencies and direct clients and have no doubt that this decision will result in a even greater presence in the Eastern Cape and a positive growth in readership and circulation across all our titles.”