JuJuvine Combi Stickers

I saw this sticker in one of the Tlokweng combis the other day, the ones that pass by the University of Botswana.  And I was deeply impressed by its shear simplicity yet its ingenious potential to affect sales. We all know how combi men love their  stickers. One would think within the combi-man world, the more stickers you have on your combi, the more respect you earn. And the more outrageous the wording on your sticker the more outrageous the...conductor aka condae is I guess. For example, im sure most of us (ok by US I mean FCCs- frequent combi climbers) love the “mma, stop smiling at the driver, he’s married” sticker. Or how about the one that says “Lesa go jela mo officing yame, a o ka rata ha nka jela mo officing ya gago?” –“ Stop eating in my office, would you like it if I ate in your office?”   

Anyway yes, back to the topic at hand. What I saw in the Tlokweng combi was not just a sticker. It served three purposes.

1.      it is an advert for the JUJUVINE ulbum. There is Jujuvine’s face pasted on the cd to grab the commuters’ attention. Once the attention is held, the advert then proceeds to inform the reader that the ulbum is out, further giving the contact details of where the cd might be found. Consumers like convenience. Therefore, the makers of this were advert right to place this advert right there inside that combi. Here the audience, which in this case is the UB students since they are the ones that are always blasting away at Jujuvine’s music and obviously because this combi transports them from school to stats everyday. The audience has the time to read the advert, understand exactly what it is about and then take down the details so as to call and buy the cd later. No hassle!

2.      It acts as an instruction manual. These days as most of us know (by US I am referring to BD- ba dikoloto) that times are hard and it is in our best interests to cut down on unnecessary costs. That is why we do not see a lot of condaes nowadays, eish times are hard. Now that the driver has saved costs on condae they hav to take up two roles- to collect the money and pack the combi. And if the driver is not looking, he’ll never notice that he’s losing money on the empty space at the back seat where four people are supposed to occupy the seat.  This sticker is the driver’s right hand man. It instructs the passengers to fill up the back seat. Clever!

3.      Last but not least, the sticker is there to entertain the passenger. Many believe that humour is the best way to get people interested. There is humour in that the sticker instructs people to do the very same thing that combimen and condaes all over Africa are always telling their passengers- FILL UP THE BACK SEAT! Why cant we listen? I know Im getting off at the last stop but I still refuse to sit ko back seat. Well, maybe it’s because the damn thing was built to carry 4 Chinese midgets! Not voluptuous African sisters!