Primedia Outdoor has expanded the footprint of its Bhamuza billboards beyond the primarily rural locations and into urban environments across South Africa. This is in line with the migration of the ‘bottom of the pyramid’ (BoP) market to the cities.
Originally numbering 40, the company now has 70 structures in its move to expand this route to market. Ten of these additional Bhamuza billboards have been strategically positioned to extend the reach of the product beyond the small towns to include many of the larger cities in the country – Nelspruit, Sasolburg and Pietermaritzburg to mention but a few.
“Outdoor should be the medium of choice when it comes to this market,” says Dave Roberts, CEO of Primedia Outdoor. “Consider that some of the most successful brands in this segment, like Lucky Star and KFC, also dominate share of voice in outdoor.”
Roberts said according to the University of Cape Town University’s Unilever Institute of Strategic Marketing report on the mass market, the BoP – defined as having a household income of 70k per annum and lower – represent a “substantial” 70% of all households in South Africa with a spending power of R300-billion (formal) and R280 billion (informal).
The money comes from social grants, the report says, as the government spends R135-billion on social grants. More than 40% of ‘survivor’ households depend on these grans for more than half of their income.
Primedia reckons shopping patterns within the BoP market help strengthen the argument for outdoor advertising and significantly reduce the number of sites needed to reach a high percentage of this audience.
Bhamuza billboards are found near areas where the BoP market shops: 61% of the BoP market claim to do one bulk shop a month with another 16% twice a month (AMPS 2014). Bulk shopping requires shopping venues with substantial choice and size thus requiring migration to the largest convergence nodes within a given area. As such, Bhamuza boards are strategically positioned to capture the attention.
The fact that Unilever and Coca-Cola were the first clients to come on board, and booked the entire initial package at face value, which Roberts says is a “strong indicator of faith in this powerful outdoor medium to capture significant BoP market share”.
