Each week, readers of the vernacular "Bukedde" newspaper stand to take home the equivalent of US$1,250, simply from buying an issue of the daily while playing the card game "Bingo".

This is a promotional strategy that has paid off for "Bukedde", printed in Luganda, a language spoken by 25 per cent of Uganda’s population. In the first week alone, its publishers saw a 23 per cent increase in street sales. The newspaper is also expecting a 10 per cent increase in advertising due to the competition.

The game, called Bingo, involves matching up a series of numbers published each day in "Bukedde" with cards that have been distributed in the newspaper. Each card includes a total of eight games, allowing players eight chances in total to become a ?winner. Each day, the newspaper publishes a new number, and at the end of the week, a few lucky players will take home the large cash prize. Over the two-month period, "Bukedde" readers have a chance of winning a slice of US$10,000.

Tom Wasswa, circulation manager for "Bukedde" and its four sister newspapers, speaks to RAP 21 about the logistics of launching such an ambitious strategy.

"This game is very effective, but you need to make sure your objectives are clear before you set out. It is a good game as it is chance-based. Readers believe in it. But it also needs lots of organisational skills - much comes down to details. Know your goal. Ours was to ensure repetitive sales and create excitement amongst readers."

From start to finish, the newspaper spent a whopping US$45,000 on the initiative, and a total of 10 staff members, nine in marketing and sales, and one journalist, were involved in the planning and execution of the project.

The Marketing Strategy

"The beginning of the year is typically a low season for sales, so we thought it would be great for sales if people were able to win cash after the holiday season," says Wasswa. "One week before the competition started, we advertised the game in our newspaper. We also bought radio time and advertised through banners promoting the game. We ran banners in a total of 15 towns."

The newspaper’s sister publication, the English-language "New Vision" had carried out a similar competition the previous year, so "Bukedde" knew the potential of such an initiative.

Advertising for the game will continue throughout the two-month period, and publicity around the weekly winners is also expected to capture the public’s attention - the winners receive print, radio and television time to talk about their experience.

Since 45 per cent of the newspaper’s revenue comes from newspaper sales, and the other 55 per cent from advertising, increasing sales is as important as attracting advertising. Advertising increased by 10 per cent during last year’s "New Vision" Bingo competition. Wasswa expects a similar increase for "Bukedde".

Planning and Execution

In total, the competition required six weeks of planning. "We began planning for this in December. The previous competition took a similar amount of time. We must order the cards from England, have them printed, and install the computer programme to run the competition. In total, this part of the promotion cost almost half of our budget for the entire initiative, US$22,000," says the circulation manager.

In addition, the newspaper had to factor in the time it would take to translate the game into Luganda. Translation was done in-house, so it did not demand additional expenditure, but it had to be factored into the total time required to set up the game.

The nature of the competition was also carefully thought out. "In previous years, promotional strategies had taken the form of raffles, where newspaper readers would send in coupons which would then be put into a draw and the winner would be announced. The Bingo card game was more appealing as the winner automatically knows when he or she has won, so there is no confusion," says Wasswa.

It is also virtually impossible to forge a winning card, as each Bingo card has a reference number that is cross-checked with the computer programme installed.

Production and Distribution

"The distribution of the Bingo cards was a challenge," says Wasswa. "If you just dump them, you won’t meet your key market, turning it into a waste. Last year, we distributed the playing cards by moving from to town to town. We lost many cards this way. This year, we decided to distribute the cards in the newspapers. We also gave extra cards to newspaper vendors and our field agents."

In total, the newspaper distributed around 160,000 cards, all in the first three days of the competition. Bingo cards were also carried in "New Vision", and handed out by 25 students, hired specifically for the task. It was a successful strategy. Wasswa notes that on average people accumulated five Bingo cards each.

Maintaining a balance between production and sales was also a challenge. "Our goal was to maximise sales while minimising waste. We had to manage the printing order," Wasswa says. The newspaper also had to ensure as best possible that it didn’t produce too many or too few newspapers to accommodate the anticipated increase in demand. "To do this, you must keep your ear to the ground. We kept in touch with our field agents and vendors to see how the issues were moving. The first day we moved from our average circulation of 18,000 copies to 25,000 copies. The next day, we distributed 21,000 copies," he says.

Despite the increase in production of copies, "Bekedde" kept with its regular distribution channels. In doing so, the newspaper has avoided incurring further expenses of what was an already expensive initiative.

The Bingo card game has been so successful that the newspaper company plans to expand the competition to its regional publications in the near future, starting with "Orumuri", a weekly Runyankole-language newspaper distributed in the Western region of the country with a circulation of 10,000. "The weekly is set to go bi-weekly, therefore it could use the boost that comes from the competition," says Wasswa.