With 80 years' service to agriculture, the magazine is South Africa's largest in the agricultural sector and offers advice to farmers in a challenging era. Regarded by many in the sector as an indispensable source of information, it provides up-to-date agricultural information enabling farmers to run their properties more scientifically, to compile budgets, make accurate financial projections, employ new technology and work towards the fulfilment of common goals.
It has an ageing reader profile but, together with FCB Cape Town, Landbouweekblad's publishing team has succeeded in recent years to speak, relate and identify with a younger market, and it is still regarded as a conscious and valued purchase.
The creative team comprising executive creative director Francois de Villiers, copywriter Dylan Kidson and art director Brenton Bubb interpreted the key insight into magazine's positioning - that of 'to "boer vooruit" the farmer needs "sy regterhand byderhand" at all times' into a hard call-to-action campaign on radio and in community press.
This was supplemented with full-page full colour in the magazine itself and an online banner on the www.landbou.com site. The banner was adapted into an animated HTML video mailer with a click-through to the on-line subscription area.
All the creative executions were incentivised with a branded, functional and sturdy key ring - reinforcing the idea of having that which matters by your side at all times, as well as 20% discount on the cover price.
Visuals used in the print campaign reinforce the Landbouweekblad's slogan - 'Landbouweekblad - Jou Regterhand, Byderhand' with clever images. In one execution called 'Vet', a man holding a vet's black bag rides behind the farmer on his horse through a herd of cows; in another, 'Scarecrow', the farmer crouches in a field to check the soil and behind him protecting his crop is a live scarecrow.
Critical to the overall subscription drive's success is Landbouweekblad's publishing team's flexibility and willingness to respond to the magazine's readers' requests. For example, research indicated that readers were willing to subscribe provided postal delivery was prompt; if not, they would purchase it within a day of publication. The reason for this behavior is Landbouweekblad's popular classified section, a popular source for value-for-money equipment. However, turnover is quick so a farmer receiving his copy even a day late might miss a bargain. Landbouweekblad's response has been to make the classified section available online exclusively to subscribers ahead of the magazine hitting the shelves.
While it is too soon to gauge the effectiveness of the new campaign, the website has generated over 85 new subscribers to date.
