Rands and sense of media exposure

A FLURRY of national and international travel media have visited Nelson Mandela Bay recently that resulted in millions of rands worth of media exposure.

In August and September, The Bay was broadcast as a tourism hot spot on the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) Morning Live and popular magazine programmes, Top Billing and Pasella.

“Hosting media for the sake of the extensive exposure it brings is high on our agenda and forms part of our public relations approach to marketing the destination. There is also value add to our members who participate when media come to town because they also receive coverage,” said NMBT CEO Mandlakazi Skefile.

Skefile said it would be impossible to host visiting media without the support of members and also stakeholders like South African Tourism (SAT).

“Media hosting is a sure way to market in a cost effective and credible manner. We could never afford to buy the media space received,” said Skefile, who also pointed out that such media exposure is measurable in monetary terms.

“NMBT has contracted the services of a national media clippings agency, NewsClip, that tracks and assesses coverage. With each and every media mention there is a Rand value attached. At the end of each month we are able to track how much media exposure we as a destination and organisation have achieved nationally. For example, according to NewsClip the value of a 10 minute slot about Uitenhage on Pasella on August 8, amounted to R2.3m.

“Such media monitoring also puts NMBT in the position to respond to media comments promptly and when necessary.”
In giving an example of advertising value estimate, Skefile also cited the organisation’s trip to China earlier this year. It was conservatively estimated that media engagements in China would result in R1,5m international media exposure.

Media that have graced the shores of the Bay lately include a freelance journalist who files reports for The Guardian in London, journalists from the Johannesburg based City Press daily newspaper and South Africa’s top selling weekly news and celebrity magazine, Drum, aimed at the black South African family.

“Drum alone boasts a readership of 1,3 million people. We have been advised that there will be a feature on the time its journalists spent here either this coming or the following week.

“The freelance journalist for The Guardian came to us because of our relationship with South African Tourism (SAT). A film crew from Real Goboza, SABC’s celebrity gossip and magazine show have indicated that the footage filmed on location in and around NMB will be broadcast during the new series in December,” said Skefile.

The Bay featured on Morning Live’s Tourism Month coverage in September and Top Billing in July. In addition to being featured on Pasella in August, NMB is scheduled to appear again soon, but no specific dates have been given.

Leisure coordinator Jonker Fourie who manages the media’s visits said in some instances media were very specific about what they wanted to cover. Most are travel journalists, but in some instances leisure and news journalists visit.
“Media were also on the look out for good human interest stories. For example, the journalist from Drum interviewed one of the rangers from Pumba Game Reserve,” said Fourie.

“We promote the destination generally, but sometimes are required to schedule specific trips to tourism products that the media request.”

However, Skefile stressed, that all considered, the support from local media is paramount as it enables NMBT to communicate with the residents of the region: “No rand value can be attached to this as its benefits way beyond any calculated advertising value estimate. Local media remain one of our most valuable stakeholders.”