The miscarriage of a winning concept: Tribute Thursday, 11 December @ 00:00:00 Topic: *Wits Research* *
Introduction
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/Tribute/ was born in February 1987. Greg Psillos, a Greek businessman and merchant turned publisher, owner of Enosi Publishers, owned the two major lifestyle magazines for wealth audiences: /De Kat/, targeting Afrikaans speakers and /Living/, targeting English readers. The vision for /Tribute/ was for it to become the lifestyle magazine of choice for the black middle-class elite. The magazine would feature social pages, and, according to Mehlaleng Mosotho, former /Tribute/ journalist, would avoid “the troublesome clutter of things political”.
/Tribute /sought to create a new image for black South Africans, opposing the degrading images in the mass media. /Tribute/ was intended to honour the successful and society’s movers and shakers. Says founding editor of the publication Maud Motanyane, “/Tribute’s/ philosophy at the time was very simple: There was no virtue in poverty.” Where before people of wealth and success were ostracised and accused of aspiring to be white, after the launch of /Tribute/ these people were accepted and admired.
*The /Tribute/ story*
/Tribute /targeted wealthy, middle class people, upwardly mobile men and women aged 30 upwards. Following their 2002 re-launch they adjusted this, pursuing the wealthy within the 24 to 34 age bracket, despite of the small size of this segment. Explaining this change, /Tribute/ argued that you don’t need to be 30 to belong to the middle class in SA today. The small size of the segment was a problem, as was the fact that as wealthy individuals these people have access to a range of media, including /DSTV/, and expensive glossy magazines. Thus competition for this group is stiff.
The earliest editions of /Tribute/ were between 96 and 112 pages long, later editions were sometimes up to 164 pages long. In 1997 /Tribute/ has a circulation of 10,537. This grew steadily and in 1997 circulation reached 17,458. In 1997 /Tribute /re-launched, and repositioned. The old slogan “/Tribute/ to black excellence”, was changed in 1997 to “It’s who you are”. After the re-launch circulation began to decline, from 15,523 in late 1997 to 5,832 in late 2000.
In 2000, there was no change of slogan but the cover layout and design changed, and a different font was introduced. Sales began to pick up, reaching 11,047 by the end of 2001. In 2002 the slogan changed again to “Capture the moment”, and circulation continued to grow, achieving 14,434 at the end of 2002.
During these years of fluctuating demand /Tribute/ went through many changes of ownership and a series of editors, some of whom stayed only months. From 1987 Enosi Publishers owned /Tribute/, but they declared bankruptcy in 1991. Penta Publishers took over in 1992, but they too liquidated. In 1996 a consortium of Independent Newspaper Holdings and SCM capital bought Penta and in 1998 Pearl Mashabela took over the publishing of /Tribute/ as part of a black empowerment consortium that bought over the business of Penta from Independent Newspapers. The name of the publishers changes from Penta to Nothemba Media. Nothemba liquidated in 2003.
The following is a list of /Tribute/ editor from 1987 to 2003.
Maud Motanyane (1987-1991)
Rene Mathews (1997)
Nomakwanda Sithole, passed away (1991-1992)
Vusi Mona (1997-1999)
John Qwelane (1992-1995)
Sefako Nyaka (1999)
S’bu Mgadi (1995-1997)
Derric Thema (1999-2002)
John Qwelane (1997)
Mphoentle Mageza (2002-2003)
Thami Masemola (2003)
Note that there were four different editors during 1997, the time of the first major re-launch. With the tenuous and uncertain conditions at /Tribute/, advertisers were wary of investing in advertising space. Although managing to secure several loyal advertisers /Tribute/ found it difficult to generate much-needed support. Advertising became an even greater problem following the appointment of Pearl Mashabela, perhaps because Mashabela was a black woman.
The difficulties with ownership, editorship and advertising manifested in many ways. /Tribute/ often experienced cash flow problems, this sometimes meant that staff were not receiving their salaries. It became difficult for /Tribute /to secure committed and able staff. The lack of cash also meant production and distribution problems. Often the magazine reached the shelves late, because /Tribute/ was not able to pay for production and distribution. This lead to further advertiser mistrust.
The re-launches were undertaken to remedy these problems. However these strategies delivered mixed results.
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Conclusion: why /Tribute/ failed
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/Tribute /struggled throughout its life to find a market. They struggled to be accepted by audiences, and they struggled to establish themselves in the marketplace. The many strategy changes the publication underwent meant that advertisers could not be assured of an audience, and were therefore hesitant to commit.
Another factor affecting advertising revenue is the nature of the advertising industry. It is white-dominated, there are few black media buyers or executives. This may mean that money is channelled away from so-called “black” publications by white buyers who are unfamiliar with these publications.
The reasons for the failure of /Tribute/ can be summed up as follows:
SA print media is following global trends: consolidation and concentration. A handful of companies own and control the media, swallowing up smaller publications. These smaller publications, like Penta, find it hard to survive.
Competition in the media market has increased since 1994; /Tribute/ had no competition before that time. What were previously regarded as trashy magazines, /Pace, Drum, True Love/ upped their standards. The emergence of new magazines aimed at the black middle class, like /Enterprise, Y-magazine, /and/ Ebony/ drained readers away from /Tribute/.
The re-launches did not breathe fresh content into the publication. /Tribute/ remained essentially the same over the years, depite re-positioning themselves to target new audiences. For example, the 2002 re-launch targeted younger readers between the ages of 24-34. But /Tribute /front covers still depicted older men such as Jeff Radebe (Minister of Public Enterprises), Monhla Hlahla (CEO, ACSA) and others.
The ABC figures did show some positive trend from 2001-2003, and therefore the 2002 re-launch was not necessary.
/Tribute's /repositioning to target young black middle class achievers was unfortunate because their number is limited. The SAARF AMPS for 2002 bears testimony to this.
Advertisers wanted to advertise in a South African publication, not a black one. After 19994 the emphasis was no longer on colour (race) but uniqueness
/Tribute’s/ cover prize skyrocketed from R12,50 to R17,95. Simple economics says once you hike the prize buyers stay away, and demand slows down.
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Bibliography
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Tribute Magazine, 1997,February issue, p5, p20, p39.
Tribute Magazine, 1997, March Issue, cover
Maud Motanyane, personal communication, October , 2003.
Nick Leo Nichols, personal communication, October , 2003
Pearl Mashabela, personal communication, November, 2003
Console Tleane, personal communication, December, 2003
This article comes from journalism.co.za http://www.journalism.co.za/
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