Staying ahead of the game

Posted on 25. Feb, 2010 by admin in Avusa Media News

Staying ahead of the game is something Avusa Media knows all about affirming its vision with the unveiling of a special 2010 football pull-out supplement Let’s Go 2010. Launched in December on the weekend of the World Cup draw in Cape Town, it heralded the birth of what will be the shortest-lived newspaper supplements in the history of South African newspapers.

Let’s Go 2010 been designed to provide readers with a comprehensive, in depth coverage of every aspect of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. With 32 teams playing 64 games in 31 days at 10 venues, getting quality, moment to moment news out to the fans will be crucial to the success of South Africa’s hosting of the World Cup. In an analysis of the media coverage of the Confederation Cup in 2009 which had only 8 teams, Avusa Media realized that individual newspapers had neither the resources nor clout to offer the most inclusive coverage that an event of this magnitude requires.

Together with Peter Atkinson, Avusa Media Group’s Editorial Consultant, Lets Go 2010, a new Group initiative was designed and launched to coincide with that all important announcement of the World Cup Draw. Peter Atkinson , a veteran of 10 World Cups with the Daily Mirror in the UK was a natural to spearhead the project which would require enormous planning and financial investment to ensure the quality of news coverage that Avusa Media is synonymous with.

For the first time, writers, photographers and sub editors from all Avusa Media titles will work together to ensure that each of the 64 matches is covered in exacting day to day detail led and edited by the highly respected sports journalist Archie Henderson , current Sports Editor of The Times.

All together, 36 issues of Lets Go 2010 will be issued. It will appear once a month until May 16th and thereafter once a week until the whistle blows on the game between Bafana Bafana and Mexico signaling the start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. During the ensuing 31 days, readers will be able to access their free copy of the pullout everyday except Saturdays. It will appear in Avusa Media titles including the Sunday Times, Sunday World, Sowetan, The Times, Daily Dispatch and The Herald reaching an estimated readership of 8.5 million readers per week.

Lets Go 2010 will be supplemented by a brand new Go2010 web site which will carry up to date World Cup News, as well as a mobile phone offering a minute by minute match reports for those soccer fans who are unable to watch a match on television. It was introduced in the UK and Europe four hears ago and is a first for Africa. Another first for South Africa and Avusa Media is the inclusion of the continent football fans into the distribution to ensure that the coverage of first ever FIFA World Cup to be held in Africa is available to all English speaking Africans .

Atkinson says, “We are able to offer the supplement to every English speaking country throughout Africa. Operating on the same basis, the supplement could be inserted in English papers all over the continent. In this way, the reach could extend to over 100-million people each week”.

For advertisers, Lets Go 2010 provides a unique opportunity to reach a broad cross section of South African society. Contact Riaan Malherbe (+27 11 280 5777) or Nadeem Joshua (+27 11 280 3266) to find out how you can be part of this initiative.