Rehana Rossouw
PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela and Vodacom managing director Alan Knott-Craig are pictured shaking hands in the latest edition of the company’s magazine Vodaworld. This in-house magazine not only provides clients with information about how Madiba relaxes, but the latest information about its products.
Airlines and most top hotels have published in-house magazines for decades to entertain clients, but the buck does not stop here. These days, companies involved in financial services and health care are also producing publications of their own, stimulating the growth of the customs publishing industry.
In the United States, custom publishing is a $3-billion industry and this lucrative market has taken off locally. A Cape Town company called Interactive Africa is the first such South African initiative. After more than a year in operation, it is paying off big benefits to its clients.
Interactive Africa assists local companies to improve one-on-one relationships with customers through database communications. It not only produces magazines for companies such as the National Olympic Committee of South Africa, Reebok, Nedbank and Sun International, but includes a marketing consultancy division, has interests in radio and television ventures and introduces clients to new media.
“The basic premise of the magazines we produce is relationship marketing and the development of loyalty programmes for corporate clients,” said Interactive Africa managing director Ravi Naidoo.
“Certain industries lend themselves well to custom publishing, [like Vodacom] where the depth and breadth of product offerings predicate a need for greater space than a single-page advertisement.
“The consumer is carefully monitored and consistently tapped for feedback,” Naidoo said.
Contributors will not be found reporting daily to the company’s offices. Interactive Africa is a “virtual corporation” which employs a host of skilled freelancers to complete assignments and has access to the latest technology.
With modem links and an Internet site of his own, all Naidoo needs is a plug to connect with the designers, layout artists, journalists and photographers he commissions on behalf of his clients.
Interactive Africa also offers networking skills to clients to access political and commercial opportunities, like assisting Vodacom in its successful pitch to sponsor the South African Olympics.