Smart magazine concept combining online with offline

Our client, Sonepar Germany, has initiated the E-PARTNER concept to create its own customer loyalty programme that provides special marketing services for tradespeople and specialist retailers in the electrical business. This programme gives its partners in the electrical sector wide-ranging support, from the 5 year warranty to further training schemes to customisable advertising materials.

Sonepar, the market leader in electrical wholesaling, was looking for a new agency for its E-PARTNER Journal and selected us. This end-user magazine is a medium whereby Sonepar’s E-PARTNERS in Germany – primarily electricians and electrical retailers – can present their products to their own customers in an entertaining way. To give further momentum to the overall E-PARTNER concept, we were commissioned to develop trade campaigns, consultation sites for product catalogues, brochures and sales presentations and to optimise the e-portal website.

When modifying the E-PARTNER Journal into a customer magazine, we were given free reign in the implementation of our ideas regarding graphical modernisation, imagery and editorial design. Our concept made the journal’s product-oriented structure more relaxed, and by adding editorial texts and images, made it more informative and entertaining. Overall this means end users are more likely to browse through the magazine. The trend pages in the product range catalogues and the promotional advertising material were also adapted to the modernised layout and the more emotive imagery in order to increase user friendliness.

The result is a 32-page magazine that uses emotive imagery and editorial content to get its message across. E-PARTNERS can use it for their own advertising. Upon request, the magazine can be individualised with the retailer’s logo and can be distributed via e-mail, as a direct mail shot or displayed at the point of sale. Several editions have already been released. The next step is to rework the e-portal to encourage the partners to make more intensive use of the online service as well. The aim is to optimise user friendliness and to make the interface more intuitive.