Primedia consolidates out of home media platforms

Gary Nelson (ComutaNet)(back row, left); S'Khumbuzo Nkosi (Primedia Outdoor); Graham Bouwer (Primedia Instore); Frikkie Cornelius (Primedia Africa); Kenny Maomela (Primedia Out of Home). Front: Zuretha Steyl-Barnard (Primedia Out of Home); Steve Ratlou (Primedia Out of Home) and Anthia Dhlamini (Primedia Out of Home). Absent: Michael De Charmoy (Primedia Face 2 Face) and Terence Marsh (Campus Media).

Primedia Out Home, previously consisting of Primedia Outdoor, Primedia Instore and Primedia Face2Face, now also incorporates ComutaNet, Campus Media and Primedia Africa, formerly Primedia Outdoor's International Division. The vision of the executive chairman of Primedia Out of Home, Steve Ratlou, is to expand Primedia Africa to deeply penetrate other African markets.

"The expansion of South Africa's out of home advertising industry is a direct result of the burgeoning black middle income segment, in number and buying power. Running parallel to this growth are the producers of goods and services that strive to engage the market with new ideas, products and facilities in spaces where they have sufficient dwell time to absorb the message," says Ratlou.

Increasingly over the last decade many people spend more time outside of their homes, adding to the mounting need for out of home media. This trend has resulted in entrepreneurs forming new, and promising, advertising facilities that can deliver this valued market to advertisers.

According to Ratlou, "Many new advertising platforms in the country have not been as successful as they would have liked, but Primedia Out of Home stepped in to support others that needed only the backing of bigger players to maintain growth curves. We also acquired businesses that sought structured management support and investments to ensure survival.Always ahead of the game, Primedia (Pty) Limited cherry-picked the best of these and acquired some of the finest businesses and their owners to add to our Out of Home division over the years."

For over 10 years the group has applied itself to each business, escalating planning, selling and creative solutions to form greater synergies, while always remaining alert to the needs of the entrepreneurs that launched each company. "We made sure that every business retained its unique and special characteristics," adds Ratlou.

Increased penetration

The decision to consolidate Primedia Out of Home's business units is intended to achieve numerous predetermined objectives.

"Each company has matured and offers hundreds of diverse clients, ranging from Mom 'n Pop stores to the largest of the international manufacturers, increased penetration and greater return on adspend. Add to this the synergies unleashed by the consolidation; a single client point of contact across all of the companies, offering strong, vibrant and cohesive media solutions and we will deliver added value and leverage for our clients' competitive advantage," says Ratlou.

The internal benefits to the consolidated unit are considerable - these include obliterating duplications in operational structures, fully utilising physical and human resources and maximising cost efficiencies.

As these benefits are passed on to clients in the form of bigger bangs for each rand invested, the company claims the benefits are enormous.

"The changes to our operational structure were strategised years ago and have been in the planning stage for a long time. We have worked diligently to address every touch point within and outside our operation to avoid bottlenecks and negative issues affecting a successful restructure. As most adspend is tightening up in the current economy, we are fortunate to have instigated the planning long ago and to be able to install a new, timeous and valuable offering to our clientele. It is not our intention to lay off staff; any casualties will be unintentional.

Importantly, the realignment creates some career benefits for the very capable team across all levels."

Leaders behind the brands

Kenneth Maomela, long-serving ComutaNet executive chairman and highly skilled professional negotiator, has been appointed group rights executive to build the Primedia "one-stop solution" for clients and key stakeholders.

"This role is key to the overall success of the restructured company as it includes acquiring new, and retaining existing, advertising rights, promoting collaborative rights acquisition efforts with sibling Primedia businesses and actively driving tender/proposal call processes through a single bid committee," adds Ratlou.

Zuretha Steyl-Barnard uses her financial and strategic skill sets as COO to add cohesion and direction, while Anthia Dhlamini commences her new role as human capital executive. Primedia Outdoor is led by S'khumbuzo Nkosi, Graham Bouwer is at the helm of Primedia Instore, Primedia Face 2 Face is headed by Michael De Charmoy, ComutaNet is led by Gary Nelson, Primedia Africa is headed by Frikkie Cornelius and Campus Media is led by Terence Marsh.

"We are now better placed to drive complementary and synergistic services for the rest of the business, and the board of directors for each business unit has been reconstituted to ensure that proper integration takes place," Ratlou concludes.