The Winna Mariba SMS competitions are taking a maddening hold on the
cell phone-owning populace of Namibia. New Era takes a closer look.
By Catherine Sasman
WINDHOEK
Bettie (not her real name) is a domestic worker. She lives in Greenwell Matongo with her boyfriend and two children. Her monthly salary is N$1 200.
From that, she religiously puts away N$100 every month to buy airtime for the exclusive purpose of entering the Winna Mariba weekly short message service (SMS) competitions.
After all, for N$4 at a time, SMS gamers can enter and stand a chance to win a weekly bonus of N$20 000, or a “life-changing” N$100 000, or stand a chance to win a cool N$1 million. Better still, any SMS entrant making use of any of the growing Trustco International Group products, stands a chance to double the winnings to an even cooler N$2 million.
“I like this game,” she says. “I did not win anything yet, but I know if I keep at it I might just hit the jackpot – one day.”
For as long as a year now, Monica Kennedy, single mother of a teenage daughter, makes time every Friday to send in her five or six entries for the “triple seven” SMS competition.
On average she spends N$60 per month on the competition.
“I do this for entertainment, and of course, with the hope of winning something … something big,” she says, pulling her cell phone closer for a cursory look at her last entries.
Her friend, Lynne Rudath, laments the fact that she cannot enter her favourite game anymore.
“I’ve been playing the SMS game since its introduction but now that I am not working anymore I cannot afford to spend N$4 on an SMS.”
She used to play at least twice every week. “I’ve had dreams of winning some money in the competition. I will put all the money in the bank or invest it, or set up a small place to start a small business.”
Recently a security guard from Walvis Bay was the lucky winner of N$100 000. He and his wife, also a security guard, then bought a house with the prize money.
This is Namibia entering the world of mobile marketing in a growing fashion.
First introduced in Europe and parts of Asia when businesses started to collect mobile phone numbers to send off content to potential clients, mobile marketing has taken off with a bang all over the world. Now considered a legitimate marketing channel, mobile marketing is expanding rapidly, with several 100 million advertising SMSs sent out every month in Europe alone.
The Trustco Group introduced SMS competitions in Namibia in 2003, but it was not until August last year with the introduction of the 777 Winna Mariba competition that the SMS competition culture became embedded in the national psyche.
Everybody with a cell phone has joined in the fun of mobile gaming: rich and poor; young and old; working and not working; of all hues and professional occupations.
“SMS competitions are a fantastic way to advertise,” enthused managing director of Trustco, Quinton van Rooyen. “There is no better way to advertise any product under the sun. If your cell phone goes ‘ping-ping’ you will immediately respond to it. Advertising on SMS is by far better than advertising in newspapers or on the radio. What makes the show so popular is that it is easy to enter, immediate, interactive, and you get an interesting question to answer.”
How Does It Work?
Subscribers enter the SMS competition by sending a text message to a premium number – here it is 777. Each SMS is charged N$4 – previously N$3, but increased due to market-related dynamics.
The entrant would send in their answers and receive a message back with their reference numbers – a set of six numbers followed by any letter in the words “Trustco Group”. Should any of the variation of numbers and letters match the computerized-determined winning variation, that number will win any amount from N$10 to N$2 million.
By using this mobile advertising vehicle, Trustco advertises its products to as many as 160 000 cell phone subscribers every week that appear on its database.
“The SMS competition is a product of our company and everyone can be part of it,” says Mia de Klerk, the public relations officer of the Trustco Group and public face of the Winna Mariba craze.
In the process, Trustco advertises its products making use of the MTC mobile network, with which it shares a certain amount of revenue as per the terms and conditions stipulated between the two parties.
And Trustco makes available mostly cash prizes, alluring consumers in their thousands to participate.
Every week, indicated Trustco, a total number of 40 000 SMS entrants have been registered over the last couple of months.
And every week about 1 500 winners have been listed, which amounts to about N$55 000 in prize money being handed out per week. This is calculated at N$220 000 in prize monies per month.
But no one has been able to clinch the N$1 million or N$2 million mega prizes yet.
“We hope someone will win the million-dollar jackpot because that will give the competition more credibility,” remarked Van Rooyen.
But, reminded de Klerk, a number of winners have walked away with N$100 000 at a time.
“We have had a winner who won N$100 000 in three consecutive weeks,” said de Klerk. “It is not an empty promise. With one SMS you can win N$1 million!”
To make it all possible, Trustco has invested substantially in homegrown state-of-the-art IT technology developed over nine months.
For this, it was given an international Microsoft award in 2004 for its implementation of Windows Server 2003 with Active Directory.
“We were one of the first groups in southern Africa to have installed Windows 2003. All our users are integrated into a central system using new technology to make this possible,” commented David Swindon, head of the IT department at Trustco.
The system is a combination of digital and analogue technology, pulling SMS messages from the MTC network and filing them onto the Trustco system.
The SMS is then processed and analysed, and goes back to MTC and onto your cellphone with a your reference number.
But Is It Legal?
Critics of the SMS competition charge that it is gambling – or even a lottery – in disguise.
“This is a gambling venue for the poor,” claimed a member of the public who preferred anonymity. “This is a way to make lots of money, and what makes it worse is that there are no tariff controls for the SMSs one sends in.”
Yes, responded Van Rooyen, the SMS competition product is “very lucrative” – without divulging any figures – but it is not gambling, or pulling off some sort of disguised lottery scheme, and it certainly is not illegal.
“We would never embark on anything that is not legal,” Van Rooyen stressed. “For us it is a nice way to subsidise our marketing expenses.”
According to the Gambling Act of 1965 – an antiquated and often irrelevant legislation – gambling is defined as a game of chance.
What this means is that no skill is required to enter and win a competition.
What the SMS competition requires is an element of skill.
So, for example, when entering the competition the entrant would need to have first the skill to send an SMS text message, and then must know the answer to the questions – thus bringing in the element of skill.
Another concern raised was the fact that mobile operating tariffs are not regulated in Namibia, leaving mobile and SMS competition operations free to determine the tariffs.
Deputy Director of the Namibian Communications Commission (NCC), Jan Kruger, noted that while all mobile tariffs have to be filed with the body, the NCC is not in a position to determine – or control – tariffs of operators.
But, he said, mobile tariffs should not be higher than the consumer price index for all goods published by the Central Statistics Office since the previous tariff change.
He thus stressed the need for the enactment of the Communications Bill that has been discussed and re-discussed at stakeholder forums for years.
“With a Communications Act in place, there would be clear tariff controls in place. Currently there is no regulation of prices.”
But this area is not regulated in Namibia as it is in neighbouring South Africa, where legislation has been developed fast and thick to keep up with new developments in technology.
And while the playing field is open and unregulated, Trustco obliges for the appetites of SMS competition players.
“But if the legislation changes we will make sure to align ourselves to it. In the meantime, why not?”