EDITOR'S BUBBLE IS PRINT MEDIA UNDERRATED OR BIG BRANDS DOUBT OUR CAPABILITIES TO ADVERTISE WITH US?

MPHO MAOKA FOR PERSPECTIVE MAGAZINE

Despite what you may have heard, reports of the “death of print” have been greatly exaggerated. A recent survey found out that 88% of magazine readers still prefer to consume articles via print.

While half of respondents to the state-of-the-media survey, aged 14 to 75 owned a smartphone, most of them subscribed to at least one printed magazine . Of course, with the adoption of tablet devices on the rise, this figure could well be out of date already – particularly given the rapid improvement in the quality of digital publications, and the demand for them to do more than merely replicate the content of print titles online. But, regardless of some highprofile print closures in recent years, the stories of doom and gloom in the publishing industry have been tempered by a minirenaissance in independent titles. The old-fashioned paper and ink has an unlikely saviour!

“Ironically, I attribute it to the internet,” states Jeremy Leslie, the man behind magculture.com, a site any self-respecting magazine junkie should bookmark.

Leslie continues: “A lot of people have discovered their opinions and voices writing blogs and sharing in social networks.

“A natural next step is to create something permanent … I think the mainstream publishers have let down the industry and individuals are trying to create better publications.

“But it’s not just amateurs who are responsible. Some of the internet’s big players fashion sites- such as style.com, asos. com and netaporter.com, online kids’ game Moshi Monsters and yes, even Google itself – are now publishing print magazines, using traditional media to refresh the parts of their business model that other solutions can’t reach.

“For online brands, print is a neat way of gaining extra marketing attention and boosting their community, even if there’s no money in it.

“I like the South African magazine models, the print publications that started the empire. They still exist to anchor the brands and define the voices.

“But the money comes from the TV channels, the brand partnerships, the events and their relevant stakeholders.

“You might be able to look at a digital game or magazine on an iPad, but you can’t cut things out, colour-in, take pen to paper or stick it on your wall.

“This idea of the permanence of print, particularly among younger generations supposedly reared in the digital age, is something dear to them.

“When we watch students with books, there’s a very different experience, there’s that power of having something physical that they own, particularly when they write and see their name in print; it’s always there. With computers, it’s all gone at the touch of a button.

“For all the wily charms of the digital world with its tweets, feeds, blogs and apps, there is nothing like the pleasure created by ink and paper,” While admitting that “liveblogging and the pounding waves of the twenty four hour news cycle have their appeal”, our monthly magazine instead takes a leisurely and contrary look backwards over the previous three weeks before publication. We have no interest in creating throwaway media, We want to make something which is treasured, which ends its days making the bookshelf, coffee table or toilet, just that little bit prettier and more civilised. Our readers are often writing blogs anyway because the beauty of online is that it allows them to instantaneously share with a larger audience.

But the relationship with books is different. Kids take books home and they can keep them. Some students come from underprivileged backgrounds, and often, these children only have religious books at home.

It’s often counterproductive to create divisions and make comparisons between the worlds of online and print.

It’s our admittedly unorthodox opinion that the two can co-exist, and in fact should co-exist, But they need to do things differently to survive. The magazine, and indeed any physical book, needs to set itself apart from the web. Physical forms of the written word need to offer a clear and different experience. And if they do, we believe, they will survive. Print does certain things very well. There’s a sense of reward and the luxury of devoting time to the printed page that you can’t put a price on.

But at the same time, there’s an immediacy and ‘shareability’ to the online world that’s just as valuable in its own unique way. However, we found out that the print magazine is so much more efficient in terms of budget and recognition than doing a streaming media website, which we aspired to back then.

So the magazine got a life of its own and grew into a big glossy mag celebrating print’s qualities.

Ironically, the website now serves primarily as an archive for the magazine.

Says Leslie, “magazines are simply very effective ways of engaging with people. To the greatest extent, it just seems like common sense to us that any company would want to communicate with people “More than that, it’s proof that creativity and ideas will always find new ways to inspire younger generations.”

Computers and video games haven’t killed physical toys and games, so there’s no reason why the digital world should kill print. Lack of innovation or providing a poor product is far more likely to do that. The amazing range of technological opportunities that can be used to support and interact with print are definitely a bonus, not a threat.”

Anyone that’s on my table has had to defend me at some point in their life.

Ask any boxer, “In the third round, when he hit you from the side on your ear, how did that specifically feel?”

You wouldn’t dare ask a boxer that. Because you know they’re there to fight.

Meaning now you know I’m here to fight. I’m here to fight for the re-education of what celebrity is.

To say, “Yes, we are celebrities, but yes, we’re also innovators, we’re also inventors, we’re also thoughtful.”

Brand journalism does not mean marketing without a strategy. Every brand needs to have a strategy that includes a clearly defined brand framework, delineating the brand boundaries within which the brand is free to be creative.

The brand framework ensures that the brand’s promise remains consistent. We call our approach “freedom within a framework.”

The brand framework is the editorial policy that defines the distinctive character of the brand, as well as the boundaries within which the brand stories are created.

Mpho Mooka

To be continued in our next issue

BONA 2027 OFFICIALLY KICKSOFF JOINT BID FOR THE 36TH EDITION OF THE AFRICAN CUP OF NATION (AFCON) 2027 BETWEEN BOTSWANA AND NAMIBIA HAS TAKEN OFF AFTER BOTH COUNTRIES SIGNED A MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING IN GABORONE.

BONA2027 bidding team consisting of members from both countries are, The Chairperson Ashford Mamelodi, The Vice Chairperson, John Muinjo Football Expert (Botswana), Phazha Butale, Football Expert (Botswana), Segolame Ramotlhwa, Acting Director of Sport (Namibia), Irvine Ndjavera, Director of Sport (Botswana), Imon Bogosi, Botswana National Sport Commission, Tuelo Serufho, Football Expert (Namibia MSYNS) ,Timothy Tjongarero, Botswana Football Association CEO, Mfolo Mfolo, Acting Secretary General (NFA) Jacqueline Gertze, Football Expert (NFA), Tovey Hoebeb, Secretariat to the Bid Technical Committee and Rogerdeltry Kambatuku

When opening the ceremony, Minister of Youth, Gender, Sports, Arts and Culture Tumiso Rakgare said Botswana and Namibia are united as one. In the past, now and in the future. ‘Together, we come a long way. Our history is rooted in trade, culture, traditions, language, religion and many aspects of life’.

Botswana and Namibia have been trading partners for centuries. Long before our independence in 1966, and long before Namibia’s independence in 1990. Our people have demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt, that together they can harmoniously share food, water, wildlife, diamonds, culture, language and many other beautiful things that life gives them. Like brothers and sisters, we have had a fair share of misunderstanding as is common in all families; it is how we resolved these differences that show you that indeed Namibia is to Botswana what you are to your brother or sister. You resolve your differences amicably and work together for the good of the both of you.

Quoting some famous icons Minister Tumiso Rakgare says accomplished Kenyan Mexican actress Lupiya Nyongo’ once said; indeed, all your dreams are valid. Nelson Mandela, the universal symbol of hope once said; it is impossible until it is done.

‘Now, i have demonstrated that Botswana and Namibia are siblings, we are brother and sister. I have demonstrated the adversity that both countries have gone through during colonisation, and before, and after through our independence. We have remained strong through the storms. We must remain even stronger when we dream together. We must walk this path side by side, with our hands held together as one’. He went on.