Magazines News South Africa

Father's Day competition boosts magazine sales

Ramsay, Son & Parker's annual Father's Day competition once again proved a winner for the publishing house, lifting sales of its five consumer titles at CNA outlets by up to 100 percent, according to group promotions manager, Dean Dicks.

The biggest gain was seen by upmarket niche title, WINE, which saw an increase in sales of 96 percent, followed by Compleat Golfer at 71 percent and Getaway at 70 percent. Flagship publication CAR improved its CNA sales by 56 percent, while the newcomer to the Ramsay, Son & Parker stable, Popular Mechanics, saw an increase in sales of almost 30 percent - a pleasing return given that the magazine was introduced less than a year ago and is still relatively unknown in the marketplace, Dicks said.

The competition, now in its fifth year, is one of the company's most highly successful campaigns - and South Africa's biggest Father's Day initiative - providing a welcome boost to circulation as well helping to grow brand awareness of the titles, Dicks stated.

It is run exclusively at CNA stores and offers readers the opportunity to win a motor vehicle - this year a Toyota RunX, worth more than R150 000 - when purchasing a copy of CAR, Getaway, Compleat Golfer, WINE or Popular Mechanics at CNA in June. The competition receives significant in-store support through window displays, POS posters, dump bins and gondola ends.

As an added incentive this year a R7 000 prize was up for grabs to the CNA store with the best display. The prize was shared jointly by Vincent Park, East London and V&A Waterfront, Cape Town.

The winner of the RunX was Diepkloof resident Abzentina Manda. She is a mechanic at Club Motors in Midrand.

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