Multichannel solutions
Storytelling at the centre
Print remains important: A large number of the custom media submissions are in the print categories. Print continues to be held in high esteem by companies and readers. After all, corporate communication is not just about the message, but the presentation - format, number of pages, choice of paper, typography, look and feel - is subconsciously perceived by the reader and plays a major role in building a company’s image.
The increase in working from home tends to emphasise the importance of print, as many companies send the employee magazine home by post. The question also arises as to how many employees are sitting at their computer screens and have access to the intranet. If you look at the figures in your own company, you come up with a mix of channels in which print still plays a major role.
Of course, corporate publications are integrated into an overall concept. Storytelling takes centre stage and decisions are always made as to which news channel - print, online, social media, video, animated film - will be used.
Metro’s MPULSE is a typical example:
MPULSE uses targeted storytelling to help promote awareness of METRO’s multichannel offering.
Instead of twice a year, the print magazine MPULSE has been published quarterly since 2023 with a total circulation of 20,000 copies, 18,000 of which are in German and 2,000 in English.
In addition, suitable and exclusive content can be found on the German and English-language online platform mpulse.de.
MPULSE’s own social media channels, Facebook and Instagram, as well as METRO’s LinkedIn and X presences, also disseminate MPULSE content.
Classic magazine format
Extreme portrait and landscape formats
Classic portrait format
DIN A4 or similar magazine formats naturally have advantages: they are easy to layout.
In recent years, it has become common practice to use variable column grids. One story has three columns, the other only two. Some custom media magazines have a sliding column.
Agentur: Lekkerwerken
Kunde: lux-Airport
ICMA Award: Gold
Agency: POLARWERK GmbH
Client: Bremer Wohnungsbaugesellschaft GEWOBA
ICMA Award: Gold
There are large formats, especially in the area of image brochures. When it comes to topics such as architecture or furniture, large formats are very appropriate because they look prestigious and exclusive. The products are shown to their best advantage. Large formats appear generous. They are dominated by large images and short texts in an light and airy layout.
Agentur: Journal International The Home of Content GmbH
Kunde: Donner & Reuschel Privatbank
ICMA Award: Bronze
Reduced covers in trend
Covers without headlines
Typographic covers
In custom media, covers are usually focussed on one topic. Clear and uncluttered covers with few headlines are also the trend at magazine newsstands.
Covers without headlines
Covers without headlines arouse curiosity and encourage readers to open the magazine and see what it’s about.
Agency: TAOS – the art of Storytelling (GmbH)
Client: Baden-Württembergischer Handwerkstag
ICMA Award: Gold
Agency: Kammann Rossi GmbH
Client: GTAI German Trade & Invest
ICMA Award: Bronze
Agency: formdusche OHG
Client: MHP Managenent- und IT-Beratung GmbH
ICMA Award: Silver
Agency: Viglandfriends
Client: SachsenEnergie AG
ICMA Award: Silver
Agency: Kammann Rossi GmbH
Client: GTAI Germany Trade & Invest
ICMA Award: Silver
Agency: SIVK
Client: Volvo Car Netherlands
ICMA Award: Award of Excellence
People at the centre
Classic industrial photography
Employees at the centre: As in previous years, employees are placed at the centre, their opinions and expertise are in demand. In order to present major topics in a publication, various employees are involved and introduced.
People take centre stage
It is mainly portrait photos of employees that are presented in the best possible photographic way. Very often the environment, the workplace, is also depicted. This increases the authenticity.
Classic industrial photographs with workers in overalls and in an industrial environment look authentic and documentary. They are professionally taken, optimally lit and very well edited. The examples shown here are atypical for the genre, as the overalls are missing.
Book tip: Fortschritt als Versprechen, Industriefotografie im geteilten Deutschland – Progress as a promise, industrial photography in divided Germany, Hatje Cantz 2023, ISBN 978-3-7757-5426-2
There are usually double-page photos at the beginning, sometimes in the centre of the booklet. They show factory halls, workplaces or sometimes aerial views of the company. This is a good way to start, as it allows you to capture the atmosphere.
These are part of the repertoire of custom media and are usually used in conjunction with the cover story. Ideally, the cover motif is taken up inside. They are characterised by the fact that the story is mainly told through photos. The text contains facts and other aspects of the topic.
Clear entry points
Headline typography follows current trends
Clear entry points through typography
Headlines have clear statements, usually followed by a multi-line subline or a larger preamble. This introduction to the article is provided with more white space than in previous years.
OLB AG Annual Report 2022: Clear entry point through the large headline, logical transition to the text through multi-line subheading.
Headline typography
Headline typography is frequently updated. Current trends are followed. Strict corporate identity rules are a thing of the past when it comes to the choice of typeface, as an identity is designed to last for many years and is therefore rather inflexible.
Boom in font design
In recent years, there has been a huge boom in the field of font design. One of the protagonists is Google Fonts, which offers a large number of high-quality fonts. In addition, font artists are increasingly marketing their fonts themselves.
Agentur: Territory GmbH
Client: Zürich Beteiligungs-AG
ICMA Award: Silver
Agentur: Territory GmbH
Client: Zürich Beteiligungs-AG
ICMA Award: Silver
:doppelpunkt: Die Gestaltung des Magazin-Schriftzuges mit dem Font Ogg regular ist sehr auffallend. Sie ist inspiriert von Schriften vom Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts. Die Ogg wird auch für Überschriften auf Innenseiten eingesetzt. Kontrastierend dazu wird die Zurich Sans benutzt.
Agentur: Lekkerwerken GmbH
Kunde: Lekkerwerken GmbH
ICMA Award: Silver
Pastel colours
Colour gradients
Of course, most custom media are coloured. Colour comes into the magazines primarily through photographs. There are also other colour trends, which we show on the following pages.
Colour gradients
Colour gradients - for example from yellow to green and then to blue - are rare, but definitely on the rise. We had a few examples in the competition. Why are they used? They fit the theme, they create a friendly, relaxed mood, they are eye-catching, you stand out from other publications.
Agency: Coop Genossenschaft Sontent House
Client: Coop Genossenschaft
ICMA Award: Silver
Agency: ATTACKE Werbeagentur GmbH
Client: Ulm/Neu-Ulm Touristik GmbH
ICMA Award: Gold
Agency: Gastdesign
Client: VHS Langenfeld
ICMA Award: Gold
Agentur: Viglandfriends
Kunde: R+V Versicherung
ICMA Award: Gold
Agency: RYZE Digital
Client: Sick AG
ICMA Award: Bronze
There is a trend towards longer cover stories. They can run for eight to twelve pages. Topics are presented in greater depth by structuring the text, using infographics and alternative story forms. This applies equally to employee media and customer magazines.
Rainbow colours
Using a wide range of colours creates a friendly and cheerful impression. Markets International’s theme is diversity management - the diversity of employees - a very good example of this type of use of colour.
Less visual storytelling, fewer infographics: A few years ago, there was a strong trend towards double-page infographics and multi-page visual storytelling. Today, people are turning more to text again and layouts are becoming correspondingly calmer.
Comparison 1970 - 2023:
The comparison shows the rear of an estate car from 1970 and the front from 2023, with explanations in small blocks of text. Very good reader guidance. A timeline at the bottom contains milestones of change.
Agentur: Axel Springer Corporate Solutions
Kunde: BASF
ICMA Award: Award of Excellence
Agency: COPE Content Performance Group
Client: Handelsverband Österreich
ICMA Award: Award of Excellence
Creavis, Evonik’s innovation and incubation unit, launched the “Unboxing the Future” campaign in 2023 to communicate its mission of sustainable solutions for a better life and strengthen its positioning among stakeholders.
The central motif is parcel boxes that represent desirable future scenarios. Three two-minute videos, produced by Kammann Rossi, show a “flight through the boxes” with animated cities and buildings. A narrator explains the solutions and future scenarios.
Very professionally made animated films that take a realistic look at the technologies of the future.
All films in English version can be found under the following link (please copy the link into your browser):
Evonik – Creavis – Unboxing the Future – Defossilation https://youtu.be/YuWupIdKt1Q
Evonik – Creavis – Unboxing the Future – LifeSiences https://youtu.be/JaUkmqpvHYE
Evonik – Creavis – Unboxing the Future – Solutions https://youtu.be/l4gmM0KZKF8
Gamification
Gamification refers to the application of typical game elements and principles in non-game contexts in order to promote motivation, commitment and interaction.
Territory has turned the topic of information security into a game. You can give hours of lectures on the topic of information security - and all the participants get bored and nothing happens. That’s why imparting knowledge in a playful way is the most promising approach. The approach of developing a game on the topic is very good.
The visual storytelling around the management workshops was inspired by the well-known Grimm fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood and the wicked wolf. These two figures symbolise the classic protagonists in the battle for information security. The wolf (hacker) tries to deceive Little Red Riding Hood (company) in many different ways.
All in all, a very innovative workshop design. Gamification can play a stronger role in many areas of corporate communication in the future.
