Over the last 21 years ComutaNet has grown from offering cassette tapes with commercials interspersed amongst the latest musical hits distributed to taxi drivers to a media powerhouse offering 11 media platforms. Pieter Groenewald the Managing Director of ComutaNet offers some insights to the company's spectacular evolution.
Today ComutaNet stands as the largest commuter marketing company in Africa with a plethora of media offerings. These include mobile branding, outdoor advertising and interactive promotions as well as replicas of mainstream media such as Star Taxi Music, Commuter FM, Star Radio, and Rank TV. Some media executives associate ComutaNet solely with taxi advertising, Groenewald, while acknowledging that this component has grown in rand terms confides that it actually constitutes a relatively small segment of the company's revenue stream.
With a daily audience of approximately 17 million economically active South African commuters, ComutaNet ‘owns' a market that canny advertisers identifying the “bottom of the pyramid” as a crucial element to their growth strategy, are clearly interested in. This includes the traditional FMCG advertisers and a range of newer marketers coming from the technology, education, finance and lifestyle sectors - this is where today and tomorrow's black diamonds are found.
Yet, while these advertisers all want a piece of this lucrative pie today's commuter is a far more sophisticated consumer than five, ten and fifteen years ago. That's where an understanding of the market proves essential. Through close relationships with its market communities, ComutaNet tends to easily break down barriers by being recognised as a trusted source of information. “We made it our mission to know this market inside out and ‘own' the commuter community market in a way that mainstream media is not able to do,” comments Groenewald.
To meet the demands of advertisers ComutaNet invests more than half a million rand each year in research to ensure that the company's different media platforms are constantly updated and responsive to trends in this dynamic market. “Over the last 13 years ComutaNet has been the only constant player in this space - our competitors may compete with us in one or two spaces but none can match the range, and depth, of solutions offered by our team.”
A competitive advantage that sets ComutaNet apart is a prized in-house audio and television production facility that is kept busy producing Rank TV advertisements for some of South Africa's leading FMCG brands. “Add to this our range of products -10 platforms - and relationships with all the relevant authorities and you understand why advertisers, who are serious about their money and ROI, have been involved with our company for many years.”
A big step in the evolution of the company is media measurability - an increasingly important issue in commuter community marketing. “Accountability is certainly a buzzword for 2008 - we are investing resources into making our platforms more measurable and the industry experts we engaged in this regard have delivered great results.”
One move towards increased accountability was the “Rank Ratings” tool developed by former Universal McCann MD Brad Aigner and endorsed by industry leaders Gordon Muller and Gordon Patterson. Drawing from AMPS and official taxi association passenger counts, which gives media planners a “common currency” for evaluating the audience delivery of Rank TV against mainstream television in any target market.
ComutaNet's recently implemented PDA system, whereby live campaigns are monitored and real time photographs emailed directly to clients, is immensely successful. The unique, instant feedback on interactive campaigns, executions of creative work and the ability to chart levels of interest in campaigns is in high demand. Particularly as ComutaNet is the only company in commuter marketing to have implemented this technology.
Dynamic companies do not ‘just happen' - instead they are the result of leadership encompassing innovation, drive, and motivation. Over the years ComutaNet's management “cogs” have certainly kept the gears meshing. Despite the incorporation of ComutaNet into the Primedia group, the company has kept the energy of its entrepreneurial roots. If you want to catch this consumer segment, ComutaNet is the company to do it.
Brand DNA ComutaNet offers South African marketers access to more than 17 million economically active adults and over 6 million children (between the ages of 10 and 15) on a daily basis. ComutaNet's ten proven media platforms include Taxi, Bus, Train and Trailer Advertising, Star Taxi Music, Commuter FM, Star Radio, Commuter Outdoor platforms, Interactive Promotional Campaigns and Rank TV. ComutaNet is 100% owned by Primedia Pty (Ltd) and a proud member of OHMSA. To find out more about ComutaNet's integrated commuter media solutions visit www.comutanet.co.za
Visit our PRESS OFFICE: Brand DNA ComutaNet offers South African marketers access to more than 20 million economically active adults on a daily basis. ComutaNet's eleven proven media platforms include Rank TV, Star Taxi Music, Commuter FM, Star Radio, Taxi, Bus, Train and Trailer Advertising, Commuter Outdoor platforms and Interactive Promotional Campaigns. ComutaNet is 100% owned by Primedia Pty (Ltd) and a proud member of OHMSA. To find out more about ComutaNet's integrated commuter media solutions visit www.comutanet.co.za- more....
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Today ComutaNet stands as the largest commuter marketing company in Africa with a plethora of media offerings. These include mobile branding, outdoor advertising and interactive promotions as well as replicas of mainstream media such as Star Taxi Music, Commuter FM, Star Radio, and Rank TV. Some media executives associate ComutaNet solely with taxi advertising, Groenewald, while acknowledging that this component has grown in rand terms confides that it actually constitutes a relatively small segment of the company's revenue stream.
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