According to her, Afrikaans can without doubt hold its own as a scientific language. “Afrikaans is the world's youngest language and is without doubt at the same development level as the oldest established languages of the world. It would be a shame to let it go to waste. Pendoring focuses on the Afrikaans market and places a high premium on subtleness, distinctiveness, originality and neologism in Afrikaans. The support of Afrikaans is therefore invaluable for De Kat, because this is who we are.”

Van der Vyfer feels that it is important to invest in projects such as Pendoring because it ensures growth and the dynamic use of Afrikaans. It is one of those projects that help Afrikaans not to stagnate and to spread as a users' language. She believes that the Afrikaans purchasing power is still one of the most important in our country. Creators of advertisements will be encouraged to create in Afrikaans if they see that the public responds positively to their creations. “Loyalty towards the language must be created, without marketing it exclusively to a certain group.”

Appeal to consumer's nature

Marketing must appeal to the nature of the consumer, says Van der Vyfer. “As an Afrikaans consumer I would rather support the company that provides me with an Afrikaans language option.”

She says there is still too little marketing in Afrikaans. “There are virtually no outdoor advertisement hoardings in Afrikaans, while there are very few Afrikaans radio advertisements. Afrikaans marketing is not strong enough in the public sector. If there were more Afrikaans advertising, there would also be a stronger and more positive reaction to it.”

However, De Kat is excited about the general revival surrounding Afrikaans. “It is a wonderful trend that should be seized. Afrikaans-speakers feel that the time has come to break loose from the past and enjoy a new identity. Many young Afrikaans-speakers do not even know what all the fuss is about regarding the past and would like to go on. That is fantastic.”

“Regarding the marketing and promotion of our own magazine, we endeavour to reach as many as possible readers through the Afrikaans printed and radio media. Much-travelled, well-read and tertiary-educated people are interested in our magazine and we want to reach them – in Afrikaans. With regard to the wider advertising picture in South Africa, we obviously support all Afrikaans advertising and marketing campaigns,” says Van der Vyver.

Going from strength to strength

De Kat is currently going from strength to strength. Van der Vyver says this magazine is experiencing an exciting phase and their circulation is steadily increasing. Because of the demand of their readers, De Kat has been appearing bi-monthly since May 2007. “The editorial vision of De Kat is to provide excellently researched topical articles to its readers about matters that cover a wide interest range.”

“We try not only to cover local people of interest, but also to introduce our readers to people that are relatively unknown but gifted in their own field. Art and culture are also important, as well as cultural-historical, anthropological and geographical stories that fall within the readers' field of interest. The magazine also supports any actions that counteract earth-warming and protect the ecology by publishing ‘green' stories.”

“Subtle and quality advertising in Afrikaans is of the utmost importance. That is why we often help our advertising clients to translate their advertising campaigns into Afrikaans so that we can publish it in our magazine,” says Van der Vyver.

Penwortel sponsors of Pendoring are ATKV, First National Bank, Media24, Rapport, Sanlam, Toyota and Vodacom. Founding partners are ATKV, Caxton, Copy Writers' Forum, De Kat, kykNET, Media24, RSG and Rapport. Other partners are 24.com, De Kat, Die Burger, Interactive Market Systems, Intiem, Klipdrift, kulula.com, kykNET, Newsclip, RSG and Swartland Wines.