Kevin de JongThursday, July 30, 2020

Capital ID has built up many years of experience and knowledge in the field of Publishing on Demand. The ID Manager in combination with the template generator forms a powerful basis for the development of various marketing communications. This solution is also very suitable for the creation of brochures and magazines. Rabobank has been using ID Manager for years to produce the Dichterbij magazine and has again chosen ID Manager for Rabo & Co, the bank's new member magazine. Via the CommunicationShop, Rabobank's brand and communication platform, some 84 local banks have signed up for their own Rabo & Co.

FROM CENTRAL STRATEGY TO LOCAL RELEVANCE

The cooperative structure of 84 local banks in 14 Rabobank circles poses a challenge. Rabobank's mission focuses on the organisation's commitment to society. But how do you ensure that a cheese-maker from Drenthe feels the same way about Rabobank as a young family from Amsterdam who are just about to buy a house?

NEW DESIGN IN PRODUCTION AT LIGHTNING SPEED

For many years now, the cooperative idea has been translated into member magazine Dichterbij, which many Rabobank members read. The Dichterbij combined national and local content in order to attract a broad audience. Nevertheless, Rabobank was looking for a magazine with a better look and feel for the current era and which is more in line with Rabobank's new mission. This mission, ‘Growing a better world together’, focuses on the bank's sustainable and cooperative role.

“Soon we came up with a new concept for our member communication, the Rabo & Co”, according to Roel Smit, Product Owner CommunicatieShop of Rabobank "This magazine, which should in fact be repackaging of the Dichterbij, has a few visual differences compared to the Dichterbij. A change that embraces the new mission in this way. This change also presented another challenge. In just 3.5 months, all 84 different local editions of the Rabo & Co have to be on the members' doorsteps.”

SELF-SERVICE: COMBINING CENTRAL CONTENT WITH LOCAL CONTENT

Every local Rabobank can sign up for its own edition of the Rabo & Co. The magazine consists of a mix of three different types of content; Central content (Rabobank wide), regional content (14 circles), local content (84 local banks). In collaboration with MPG, the agency that provides the designs and central content, the templates have been prepared in the CommunicatieShop. Certain sections and parts of the magazine are fixed, but there is also a lot that can be created by the banks themselves, without the user having to know about design. It is even possible to use an agency for the content, but in the end, it is mainly about dynamic co-creation.

Muhammer Yilmaz of Capital ID was active in this assignment as project leader. “It was a huge challenge to get something like this done in such a short space of time. Besides the time pressure, there were a number of other obstacles we encountered along the way. For example, during a printing test, we noticed that there were deviations in the colour profiles of the national and local content. By quickly contacting everyone within the project and having the right expertise in-house, these kinds of obstacles have been overcome. And then it feels really nice when you get to see the end result.”

THE COMMUNICATIESHOP

For some years now, the CommunicatieShop has served as a stable basis for 80% of all operational communication activities at Rabobank. Its value to the bank includes increased communication power, improved compliance, a high degree of brand consistency and structural cost savings. This is no different for the Rabo & Co. The entire process from registration to entering the content to ordering, printing and delivery is fully automated. An example of this efficiency in the printing and delivery process is the data matrix that is provided. This matrix, which resembles a small QR code, contains information for the printer. This includes the bank details required for printing, sorting, packaging and shipping.

COOPERATION

Roel Smit: “In our cooperative organisation, where many people decide something or want something, you notice that there are many interests. As the process progresses, that must find a place. This is quite demanding on project management, and Capital ID's proactivity and flexibility has helped us enormously. We have been working with Capital ID for years and we have built up a lot of knowledge and experience about the various possibilities of the software over the years. Capital ID helps you come up with ideas for the solution and the result. The goal and how to get there. And that's really great”.

On Thursday 8 November 2019, the first edition appeared on 1.5 million doorsteps.
“If you see all those different editions in such a large circulation, you'll eventually feel enormously proud and I'm very happy with this way of cooperation”, says Roel Smit.