by Herman Manson (@marklives) Blue Label Media, a subsidiary of Blue Label Telecoms Limited, last year introduced advertising on prepaid airtime and electricity vouchers distributed through Blue Label Telecoms. The company distributes as many as 100 million prepaid vouchers every month. We caught up with the Head of Sales* at Blue Label Media group, Wayne Miller, to find 
out more about the growth of the company’s advertising business.
MarkLives: You supply prepaid telecom and electricity vouchers. Then you started selling advertising on them in 2010. What has the take-up been like?
Wayne Miller: We’ve seen very strong adoption among South African companies, [which] are always looking for innovative and cost-effective ways to reach their markets. In a market where budgets are under pressure, our prepaid voucher advertisements have resonated with a wide range of clients. Our current advertisers span industries — financial services, medical, FMCG, and more — and our clients report good results for direct response and branding campaigns alike.
As a medium that offers one-to-one communication with customers in an environment as engaging and personal as their cellphones, vouchers deliver really good results at a relatively low cost. What’s more, they reach a high proportion of the population, including poor and rural communities difficult to talk to through television, digital, print or even radio.
MarkLives: Were there any qualms from your telecom clients? If so, what were they, and how did you address it?
Miller: Naturally, the service providers and operators don’t want their brands to be associated with offensive or inappropriate content, so we do avoid content that might offend customers. We also don’t allow networks to advertise on competing networks’ vouchers — I imagine that wouldn’t go down very well.
MarkLives: How effective is advertising on prepaid vouchers?
Miller: Of course, it depends on the messaging, the product and the audience, but the results are exceptional for many campaigns. The most successful campaigns can get in excess of 50 000 responses out of 2 million vouchers carrying the client’s messaging [a response rate of 2.5% — ed].
MarkLives: What audience (LSM etc.) can marketers reach using this product?
Miller: Our audience is primarily in the 4-9 LSM band. That said, prepaid voucher users span the population, from the poorest to the richest. More than 90% of South Africans — including 50% of LSM 10 — are on prepaid.
MarkLives: The number of vouchers going out is amazing — 100 million a month — what percentage of these are going out with paid for advertising?
Miller: It varies from month to month, but I’d say 70% has paid for advertising.
MarkLives: How cost-effective is this as a marketing solution?
Miller: The cost of producing a voucher campaign are exceptionally low and the frequency of consumer purchases are high, with most users recharging 6-10 times a month. We have reach and frequency in a low-cost marketing solution, so I think prepaid vouchers can work as an advertising platform for nearly any brand.
MarkLives: Do you foresee this being rolled out in other markets where Blue Label is active?
Miller: We have nothing specific to talk about, but we’re always considering ways to bring business models that work in one country to other territories where we are active. But we always do this in a manner that takes into account the nuanced need of different markets.
Correction 2014/02/04. In a previous version of the article we incorrectly identified Miller as the CEO rather than the Head of Sales at Blue Label Media. We regret the error.
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