Two Bits

The typical Dolphin Coast resident is a white, English-speaking empty-nester couple or single parent, earning top dollar, who take personal health and security very seriously – and reads The North Coast Courier religiously!
This information comes to us from the latest Roots survey, the largest media consumer survey in the country, conducted by an independent research company for our business partners, listed publishing company Caxton. The R10m survey is a distillation from 28 000 interviews with decision makers in 120 communities across the country.
Let’s call this average couple Joe and Amanda Henderson. The Hendersons live high on the hog, so to speak. They have spent a small fortune moving from Durban North, ‘Maritzburg or Gauteng to retire in one of the exclusive gated estates, playing golf and talking old times with their social peers. Though they’re not all retirees, by a long chalk. The largest single group are aged 35-49.
As well as being well off, they’re smart. They know they have to protect what they have. From 13% in 2013, when the last survey was done, 83% have now installed a home security system. The money they used to spend on life insurance is now being diverted into medical aid schemes, supplements and vitamins and gym contracts.
Amanda is most likely to shop at Ballito Lifestyle centre (72%), with The Junction, Ballito Bay Mall and Gateway being equal second choices. The writing is on the wall for the Ballito Bay Mall, where Checkers and Game are the big drawcards. Game will be moving to the new Junction early next year though Checkers will have stores at both malls, at least for the meantime.
Should they pull out, there will be little call to go there. It will serve as a monument to poor planning and greed. Block up all the entrances, fill it with water and let it be the town reservoir! And stick the taxi rank on the roof, for good measure.
Exotic cars aside, Toyota is still the number one choice of vehicle, with Volkswagen and BMW second and third. Joe and Amanda each  have their own cars, of course!
Even the rich feel the squeeze. Amanda has also been spending busily making herself pretty – on cosmetics, beauty treatments and hairdos. Perhaps that’s a sign of the times. Estee Lauder says that in tough economic times their lipstick sales go up, perhaps as an indicator that people want to feel better about themselves.
There are far fewer restaurants today than there were 10 years ago, but my personal opinion is that the quality has improved. And the Hendersons are eating out more. They’re also buying takeaways more, perhaps to take home to watch TV or surf the Net, up 29% to 81%. Though across the board, most Dolphin Coasters access the Internet through their smartphones, up 42% to 85%.
Much has been written about the death of printed media, and it must be said that reports of its death are greatly exaggerated. True, national titles are taking strain (that’s a worldwide trend) but local newspapers are stronger than ever. The newspaper that can keep readers informed of events and shopping information at a local level is acutely relevant. Knowledge is power.
A massive 74% of the community read The North Coast Courier regularly and 82% use it for shopping decisions, versus daily (16%) and weekly newspapers (14%). The most effective advertising media are local newspapers (both paid for and free), followed by TV, then flyers and daily newspapers.
The Roots survey has been done since 2001 to help the Caxton group know who their consumers are and to adapt their products accordingly. This is mainly to help the advertising agencies which control huge budgets for their national clients and decide where the money is spent.
However, a huge bonus is that this information is also available to everybody. Log onto sparkmedia.co.za and navigate to Research>Roots Insights 2016. There you will be able to download individual survey results for the entire country. Entirely free.
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We’ve heard all the arguments, taken a sceptical look at some of the outlandish claims made by the political parties, and weighed our options. Today we make our choice of the man or woman we would like to represent us in the local municipality.
When you’re alone in that voting booth, ignore the political party slogans. Never mind how you voted last time. Just ask yourself one question: “Will this person help me and my community, or only help themselves?”
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Original joke of the week, overheard in the pub:
“I’ve just thought of a new advertisement for this area. It should say:
‘Ballito, a sunny place . . . for shady people’.”