‘Creativity is what stands out from the crowd’

This autumn sees publication of the second issue of Sparkle, the magazine that Cypres produces for bpost. ‘Above all, Sparkle has to surprise and inspire,’ says Pascal De Greef, business development mail director at bpost.

‘Creativity is hyper important for us,’ he enthuses. ‘First, we have to be constantly innovating with new products and services, because the traditional direct mail market is no longer growing. And second, in our communications we’re addressing one of the hardest-to-reach groups: marcom people in B2B. They have very little time, so to grab their attention we have to come out swinging, creatively speaking. Giving them relevant content isn’t enough. Our content also has to be creative, surprising.’

Relevant and creative: what do you understand by that, exactly?
The content, that’s the story per se. Just putting that out isn’t enough. You also have to be relevant and creative. Relevance has to do with the receiver, the person. Relevant content has to touch you and inspire you. As the receiver, you have to get it in your head to go do something. The story has to whet your appetite.

And ‘creative’ is…
For us, creativity is what stands out from the crowd, which we can use to surprise the receiver. It connects with our educational role. Some people seem to think that creativity has to do with moving images on the internet or flashy presentations. We want to show them the creative possibilities of print. Paper has an entirely different impact from email. When you send out paper, you create a ‘mail moment’. You get something in your hands, you have to open it up, it has a physical impact, you can leaf through it and discover things in it. We demonstrate all of that with Sparkle. It’s a mix of relevant content and creativity. 

Did you have other reasons for starting with a magazine?
We’re addressing advertisers and agencies. There aren’t so many ways of reaching the two together, but with a magazine you can. You can easily convey a wide range of messages. With Sparkle it’s about this diversity of messages, not about ourselves. We need this type of communication in our mix, alongside the campaigns where we position ourselves more emphatically.

"With Sparkle it’s about this diversity of messages, not about ourselves."

For you, what’s a good communications agency?
We expect our communication partner to come up with leads, to show us possibilities. A partner has to be able to take us into the experience of the receiver. Moreover, you have to see ‘leads’ very broadly. It’s about creativity, content, graphic design and so on... We don’t need a partner who only works on a single dimension. We want to work together with an agency that can grasp the complexity of communication. Our role is that of a sparring partner. We aren’t experts in the creation of an experience, but we build the bridge to the receiver. We know what occupies the minds of our target group.

How do you evaluate Sparkle?
We’re constantly looking for ROI, but dare to invest in resources that yield a return only in the longer term. Sparkle is such a resource. You can’t see the effect of a magazine in the short term. After the first issue, we did organise post-testing to study the extent to which Sparkle is read and appreciated. That’s very important. But, for example, we don’t look at the effect Sparkle may be having on our sales. That’s not what Sparkle’s about. What we’re striving for with this magazine is loyalty and awareness. Those are things you have to look at over the longer term.
What more do you expect from this magazine?
We want to continue to surprise and inspire. We want Sparkle to remain on everyone’s desk or to be kept in the drawer. It should become a kind of reference work.
 
Do you know that Sparkle has been nominated five time by The Content Council (US), The Content Marketing Association (UK) and MediaMarketing (Belgium)? Proof that creativity is appreciated!