That’s Entertainerment

That’s Entertainerment

The coupon book seems to have entirely beaten the financial crisis, says Communicate magazine.

November 28, 2009 9:23 by Sam Potter

RUNNING TOTAL. The books launch in December each year (just in time for Christmas). This is the major print run, and Benton says the company tries to make it the only one. But if sales are high, extra runs can sometimes become necessary. This year, for instance, the Abu Dhabi books have been a runaway success, and the company was forced to embark on both a second and third print run.

Combined, the company prints between 50,000 and 60,000 copies of its books for the UAE alone, and it is witnessing good growth in the newer markets of Bahrain and Qatar. It’s a huge increase from the first-ever print run of 3,000 books, from which Benton admits, “We learnt a lot.”

“We didn’t shrink wrap the books, and people ripped out the vouchers,” she says. “It’s good though, because you need to make mistakes to further your knowledge.”

These teething problems may be far behind, but it’s not plain sailing for the series nowadays either. In a surprise move, this year Subway refused to accept the vouchers it had placed in the book, displaying posters in the windows of each outlet announcing that it was no longer honouring the coupons.

“I was really surprised with Subway,” admits Benton. “Subway has been one of our clients for the last eight years, and to be honest I’m not quite sure myself what happened. Out of 1,500 outlets you always get one or two where something happens, a small percentage that goes wrong. They’ve always been a great client so there’s no hard feelings.”

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