Greg Hughes, CEO of Infixion Media, recently announced the launch of the latest addition to the company’s stable of leading business-to-business magazines –Industrial Buyer Africa.
‘This is one of the most exciting announcements we’ve made in years’ said Hughes. ‘It represents Infixion Media’s first major foray onto the African continent, outside of South Africa and the neighbouring states, and is an unequalled opportunity for companies both locally and abroad to effectively reach African businesses and tap into the continent’s insatiable appetite, which is set to continue for many years to come’ he added.
Using the company’s proven “catazine” format, well known to advertisers and readers of Industrial Buyer over the past twenty years, advertisers are assured higher response levels to their advertisements when compared to traditional media currently targeting Africa.
Hughes went on to say, ‘Industrial Buyer is undoubtedly our most successful publication when it comes to generating direct response and sales for advertisers, so it made sense to base this new title on exactly the same format, providing advertisers peace of mind they will enjoy a meaningful return through Industrial buyer Africa’.
In 1994, after much research, a South African trade and technical tabloid published by our predecessor – Factory Equipment & Materials – was re-designed into a landscape format and re-launched under the title Industrial Buyer. The publication has a controlled circulation with saturation coverage within the borders of the Republic of South Africa, and was one of the first ‘catazines’ in the country’s publishing industry – combining the elements of a catalogue with a magazine. The concept met with immediate and unprecedented success: so much so that a large proportion of the advertisers who took space in the first issue are still supporting the publication today, almost two decades later.
The catazines concept is, in essence, an easy-to-use, response-orientated and cost-effective way to reach, saturate and influence buyers in a targeted industry. Industrial Buyer’s target audience is the combined manufacturing and engineering industries where there is a vast off-take of industrial products, equipment, consumables and services.
‘Due to the unparalleled success of Industrial Buyer, our company has undertaken in-depth research into several new potential markets and it is obvious that Africa, excluding the Republic of South Africa, is totally un-catered for in terms of pan-African, cost-effective, industrial publications. To our knowledge, no such publications serving the awakening industrial giant have ever existed’ explains Hughes. ‘It is with this in mind that the first quarterly issue of Industrial Buyer Africa will be launched in 2013, offering advertisers their first opportunity to address the largest and widest range of consumers of manufacturing, mining and engineering machinery, services, consumables and equipment across the African continent’ he concludes.